More running than blogging -- not much of either

Hmm, there has been a tiny bit more running than blogging around here, but nothing to trumpet about. Weather, Theater, Work - I have let many things push their way to the front of the priority list. One of the messiest of these was a carbon Yeti-print of a day last weekend. Kid Kate needed to head back at the end of her 5-week winter break from college, which is a 12-hour drive from home. To keep her from having to tackle such a long trip alone, we drove together, leaving shortly after 5 am Sunday. We arrived at BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport in Baltimore at just about 6 pm, where I boarded the 8:10 Southwest flight back to Nashville. Long day, and of course no run.

I did get out on 1/23 for 5 miles, 1/26 with QMH for 3 and 1/28 for 5.5, and today with snow and ice on the ground, a treadmill session of 6 miles.

Meanwhile, here are a couple of interesting blogs I have encountered, both by North Carolina runners: Runner Dude, from Greensboro, a guy who's very busy and connected with many other runners and running sites; and Charlotte-area (I think) Old-Runner, whom I admire for trimming 40 lbs as he got serious about running in his mid-50s. I am still battling my winter urge to overeat, and mostly losing this week.

Now must begin a month of dedication and discipline, or the Tom King will be an ordeal.

The Countdown to Tom King 1/2 Marathon March 13

Days until TK	Miles logged today	Comments
40	6	an hour on the treadmill

Eyes front, chin up, elbows in, headphones on

I missed a couple of days on the treadmill (don't plan to obsess over this, but I also don't intend to skip a lot of days), and it showed on the scale. All this at the time I should be adding miles in the train-up to the mid-March half marathon.

So, this afternoon I tried something a little different. I climbed on the treadmill, and set it for my typical three 10-minute miles with warmup and cool down. Then, as it started rolling, I covered the treadmill's readout, and took off my specs for extra measure, so I couldn't check progress. I put the mp3 player on shuffle and jogged away. I stopped counting songs after seven (that's when I peeked at the display and saw that the three miles was more than half gone). Then I just decided to run until the belt stopped, which it did at the end of 34 minutes, partway through Planeta Sukri by Sara Tavares. I cranked it up to speed again, to see how many more songs I had in me. After another mile (Ship of Fools by Grateful Dead, and part of Tu Recuerdo Y Yo by Lila Downs), I cranked the belt down for a two-minute cooling walk.

By looking straight ahead (mostly), and being mindful of my stride length, my arm motion and respiration rate, and most of all, listening closely to each song, I paid a lot less attention to fatigue and the countdown clock.

OK, so that's what I'll do on everyday runs whenever time permits: cover the odometer, go as far past 3 miles as time and temperament allow, then run an increasingly longer distance each weekend, according to our training calendar.

The Countdown to Tom King 1/2 Marathon March 13

Days until TK	Miles logged today	Comments
62	4	treadmill - with tunes!

Counting down . . .

Back in Tennessee, with frigid weather and snow in the weather predictions for the week, so it looks as if I'll be on the treadmill rather than the road for the next few days.

For this serious slow runner, the big annual milepost is the Tom King Classic 1/2 Marathon, which runs in Nashville on the second Saturday of March. My sort-of-daily casual jogging routine becomes a training regimen around Thanksgiving, which is to say that I get more or less serious around New Year's, and begin panicking around February.

Thus, The Countdown:

The Countdown to Tom King 1/2 Marathon March 13

Days until TK	Miles logged today	Comments
68	3	treadmill

I hope to offer a training, technique or motivational tip every time I post, beginning here.

Have you heard the saying that the hardest steps of any run are the ones from the couch to the front door? If, like me, you find it hard to get up and get going, take inspiration from the story of Jeff Clark, an over-the-road truck driver -- and runner -- as told in this article from the Runner's World site.

Now, lace up and go!