Sun, Jan 25-Sat, Jan 31

Sun Jan 25: AM. A 100 min run with MSRC, most of it with Jonathan and Kyle, over city and residential streets, various paths, and on the Lake Wingra loop route. It was cloudy and -2°.

Mon Jan 26: AM. A 45 min run on the Capital City Trail and around Monona Bay. It was dark and -6°. PM. A 45 min run on the Capital City Trail and over residential streets. It was dark and 4°.

Tues Jan 27: AM. A 60 min run on the Mendota Lakeshore Path to Picnic Pt. Darkness gave way to mostly clear skies. Temp of 9°. PM. A 60 min run on the Capital City Trail and the Starkweather Creek Path. It was dark and 7°.

Wed Jan 28: AM. An 80 min run around Lake Monona. Did 2 min surges every 10 mins. Darkness gave way to clear skies with a temp of -1°. PM. A 45 min run on the Capital City Trail and over residential streets. It was dark and 10°.

Thurs Jan 29: AM. A 68 min run on the Capital City Trail, the Wingra Creek Path, Monroe St, and the SW Path. It was dark and -7°. PM. A 50 min run on the Capital City Trail and the Starkweather Creek Path. It was dark and 6°.

Fri Jan 30: AM. A 45 min run on the Capital City Trail and around Monona Bay. Darkness gave way to mostly clear skies, temp of 4°. PM. A 30 min run on the Capital City Trail. It was dark and around 10°.

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Sun, Jan 18-Sat, Jan 24

Sun Jan 18: AM. A 2 hour 40 min run on the Capital City Trail, the Yahara Riverway Trail and over the streets of McFarland. It was mostly sunny and 1°.

Mon Jan 19: AM. A 72 min run with the old man on the Capital City Trail, the Wingra Creek Path, Monroe St, and the SW Path. It was dark and -2°.

Tues Jan 20: AM. A 65 min run with the old man on the SW Path, Monroe St, the Wingra Creek Path, and the Capital City Trail. It was dark and -2°.

Wed Jan 21: AM. A 65 min run on the SW Path, Monroe St, the Wingra Creek Path, and on the Capital City Trail. It was dark and 14°. PM. A 45 min run on the Capital City Trail and around Monona Bay. It was lightly snowing and 21°.

Thurs Jan 22: AM. A 35 min run on the Capital City Trail. Darkness gave way to clear skies with a temp of 8°. PM. A 45 min run on the Capital City Trail and the Wingra Creek Path. It was dark and 6°.

Fri Jan 23: AM. A 65 min run on the Capital City Trail. It was dark and -17° (windchill of -38°). PM. A 30 min run on the Capital City Trail. It was dark and -10°.

Sat Jan 24: AM. Met Todd and Kyle (wearing shorts) at the Velo UnderRound for a 5k tempo run. Ran the 1.5 mile loop route twice + extra in ~17:40. Footing was pretty good for most of it. Temp was -12° with overcast skies and not much wind. PM. A 55 min run on the Capital City Trail and the Starkweather Creek Path. It was dark and -4°.

Let there be snow

Let there be Winter time

Let north winds blow

All across this land

Sun, Jan 11-Sat, Jan 17

Sun Jan 11: AM. A 2 hour 30 min run on the Capital City Trail, the Wingra Creek Path, around Lake Wingra, over trails in the arboretum and on the SW Path. Took a while to get going. Mix of sun and clouds, temp in the upper 20s.

Mon Jan 12: AM. A 45 min run on the Capital City Trail and over residential streets. It was dark and 27°. PM. PM. A 60 min run on the Mendota Lakeshore Path to Picnic Pt. It was dark and 36°.

Tues Jan 13: AM. A 75 min run on the Capital City Trail. It was dark and 38°. PM. In Deerfield, ran 20 mins over residential streets, did 20x200m on the track, 20 min cool down. It was dark and in the low 40s.

Wed Jan 14: AM. A 45 min run on the Capital City Trail and around Monona Bay. It was in the mid 20s and windy. PM. A 45 min run on the Capital City Trail and over residential streets. It was dark and around 20°.

Thurs Jan 15: AM. A 90 min run around Lake Monona. Darkness gave way to clear skies, temp of 10°. PM. Ran 30 mins on the Capital City Trail then saw Jay Gilligan juggle- Great show!

Fri Jan 16: AM. Ran to the University and did 6xBascom Hall Hills. Footing was a little dicey. It was snowing and 24°. PM. A 68 min run on the Capital City Trail, the Wingra Creek Path, Monroe, and the SW Path. It was snowing and 33°.

Sat Jan 17: AM. A 78 min run on the Capital City Trail. 2-3 inches of fresh, fluffy snow on the trail made for good cushioning. It was lightly snowing and 11°. PM. No second run — Disaster! Car took a crap on me. I’d planned on doing another 78er but instead spent several hours freezing in my car with no power waiting for a tow.

This was a good week up until Saturday afternoon.

Sun, Jan 4-Sat, Jan 10

Sun Jan 4: AM. In Old Milwaukee for the Time Travel Half Marathon. Won the race comfortably in 1:15:39. Felt pretty good! I was a little concerned going into it that I’d have to do a lot of weaving as the course was a double out-and-back on the Oak Leaf Trail. The organization turned out better than I’d anticipated. There was a lead biker, which helped a lot. It only became somewhat crowded in the last mile or two. About 3-4 miles of the course was covered in slippery snow/ice, but for most of it (9+ miles), the footing was great. Temp was around 15° with clear skies and not much wind.

Mon Jan 5: AM. A 45 min run on the Capital City Trail and around Monona Bay. It was dark and 26°. PM. In Sun Prairie, A 45 min run over residential streets and on the Linnerud Path. It was dark and 33°.

Tues Jan 6: AM. A 60 min run on the Capital City Trail. It was raining and 33° -Great running weather! PM. A 60 min run around Lake Wingra and on the Wingra Creek Path. It was dark and 37°.

Wed Jan 7: AM. Ran to the University and did 6xBascom Hall Hills. It was dark and 32°. PM. Ran two loops around Lake Wingra in 90 mins. It was dark and in the mid 30s.

Thurs Jan 8: AM. A 68 min run on the Capital City Trail, the Wingra Creek Path, Monroe St, and on the SW Path. It was dark and 33°. PM. A 40 min run around Lake Wingra. It was dark and foggy with periods of light to moderate rain. Temp in the 40s.

Fri Jan 9: PM. Only ran once today- an 80 min run around Lake Monona. It was dark and 34°.

Sat Jan 10: AM. A 65 min run on the Capital City Trail and over trails in Olin Park. It was in the low 30s and snowing. PM. A 90 min run on the Capital City Trail, the Wingra Creek Path, the Lake Wingra loop route, Monroe St, and on the SW Path. It was partly cloudy and 35°.

Busy irritating week of work (as usual), but still managed to get in a few decent runs

Sun, Dec 28-Sat, Jan 3

Sun Dec 28: AM. In Marshfield, An 81 min run with Justin and the old man over residential streets. Darkness gave way to cloudy skies with a temp of 33°.

Mon Dec 29: AM. A 30 min run on the Capital City Trail. It was dark, windy, and 18°. PM. A 65 min run on the Capital City Trail, the Wingra Creek Path, Monroe St, and the SW Path. It was dark with snow flurries, temp 15°.

Tues Dec 30: AM. A 40 min run over residential streets and on the Capital City Trail. It was dark and 8°. PM. A 40 min run on the Capital City Trail and the Wingra Creek Path. It was dark with snow flurries and a temp around 20°.

Wed Dec 31: AM. Ran to the University and did 5xBascom Hall Hills. It was dark and 28°. PM. A 45 min run on the Capital City Trail and over residential streets. It was dark, windy and around 20°.

2025 got off to a slow start running-wise, but once my old knee finally came around, it gradually got better. Here’s 3 toots and a whistle for ‘26!!

Thurs Jan 1, 2026: AM. Rung in the New Year with a 90 min run around Lake Monona. Darkness gave way to clear skies, temp of 8°. PM. A 45 min run on the Capital City Trail and around Monona Bay. It was dark and 15°.

Fri Jan 2: AM. A 60 min run on the Mendota Lakeshore Path to Picnic Pt. It was dark and 12°. PM. A 60 min run on the Capital City Trail. Mostly clear skies gave way to darkness. Temp in the upper teens.

Sat Jan 3: AM. An 80 min run on the Capital City Trail and over trails in Olin Park. It was cloudy and 16°. PM. A 40 min run over residential streets and various bike paths. It was cloudy and 21°.

Ran 50+ miles in the past three days so my legs should be good and warmed up for a half marathon tomorrow. Taper? I hardly know her! 

Runnig Log 2026

Seven months ago, I mentioned that I always start a new “Running Log” in early June. Well, I’m mixing it up. From now on, the running logs will be starting on January 1.

This past Sunday (December 28th, 2025) was Neon Park’s birthday. To celebrate, I made a Running Log cover illustration based on the artwork from Little Feat’s “Feats Don’t Fail Me Now” album. Neon Park is probably most well known for doing the cover artwork for every Little Feat album, with the exception of their debut. Many of his designs drip with a wonderfully surrealistic absurdism that only Neon could imagine.

The artwork for Feat’s Don't Fail Me Now portrays George Washington sitting next to Marilyn Monroe (?!), driving along a steep purple mountain range in a personified car that is looking worriedly up at a threatening bolt of lightning. A strikingly beautiful piece.

The only difference I made to my illustration is substituting George and Marilyn for a runner, since it is a “running log”. 

After designing eleven running logs, you’d hope that I should know how to spell the word “running”. Apparently not. I think my subconscious brain realized it wouldn’t have enough room to squeeze in that third “N” at the top of the notebook, so it just decided to omit it all together. Or maybe it’s the fact that I’m unconditioned to doing this at the end of December as opposed to late May/early June like I’ve always done before.

It wasn’t until I’d already drawn the whole title in bubble letters with a permanent marker that I saw my mistake. Rather than starting over or crying, I decided to add Mr. N at the bottom of the page, hanging on to the side of the cliff for dear life. My theory is that he got struck by a bolt of lightning.

Neon Park was born on December 28, 1940. If he were alive today, he would have just turned 85. Unfortunately ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) took his life in 1993. When his doctor diagnosed him with the disease, Neon’s response was, “But doctor, I never even played baseball!”

Happy birthday Neon Park! And Happy New Year. 2026! Ahhhhh!!!!!!!!!!