The 15th Floor Overlooking Fenway

Given the fact that it was to be more than 50degrees on Jan 8 plus the fact that I had no inpatients and no cases until noon (= no need to be at work early), I figured I no excuse not to go running today -- OUTSIDE. Weather.com said the "feel like" temp was 40 when I left about 8:30a. I donned the layers and gloves and set out. It was a bit chilly, but I took my gloves off once I started running. It warmed up quickly. The air wasn't too cold on my lungs, but certainly gave me a running nose.

By the time I got toward home it had to be atleast 50. I wanted to keep running but really did need to get to work. Plus 6+ miles always seems great during the run, but turns out not to have been so great the next day.

I like to run in a loop, since running 3 miles away from home isn't too hard and sometimes I forget I have to run the same distance to get home. One of the longest loops I have is from our apartment down and around the Jamaica Pond. (Click the link -- you really want to.) It's a nice route along the Emerald Necklace, so it relatively traffic free. As opposed to my other long route along the Charles River, it suffers from less wind off the water. My Nike+ told me that 6.57 miles was my longest run ever -- have to love Lance Armstrong giving you feedback at the end, it makes you feel like a complete rock star.

As you can see I'm not a very fast runner, but that's never been the point.

I have been running with the Nike+ iPod since June '06. Even when I was my most fit (the year between undergrad and med school when I worked out 5-6 days a week, could squat almost my body weight, leg press twice that, wore pants 2-3 sizes smaller, etc), I wasn't much of a runner. In those days I cross trained on the elliptical, stair master, and bike.

During medical school I rode my bike a lot and could rock Paul's 65 minute Spin class -- bring it you silly skinny sorority girls 5 years younger than me. I still miss Paul's Spin class.

When we moved to Boston, our first apartment had a sorry excuse for a gym. Plus being an intern did not work well with any sort of exercise schedule I previously had. Working out was hit or miss.

Enter Nike+ iPod which first appeared in June '06. I've always been a Nike girl, owning a large amount of Dri-Fit and wearing Nike shoes. I was also lucky enough to have an iPod Nano, which is the only iPod that supports the device. Saying Nike+ changed my life is a bit dramatic, but relatively true.

I wasn't much of a runner and was no longer as fit as I was once was, but this little thing motivated me. Combine the Emerald Necklace, motivation, and a good book on tape (well, now iPod), and I some place became a runner. The Nike+ iPod is a two part system. The sensor fits into your shoe. (The special Nike shoes have a cut out for it.) The receiver connects wirelessly to your iPod. The two track your speed, distance, calories, etc. All of this is displayed nicely on your iPod, and there is verbal feedback at specific intervals, or anytime when you press the center button. Workouts can be selected by distance or time. Of course you can listen to your favorite tunes, podcasts or books on tape.
The Nike+ iPod website is also fantastic. Once your iPod is synced, your workout data is uploaded. You can compare old and new runs, track your mileage, set goals, join challenges, chat with other runners, and so much more.

You'll see my last 5 runs over on the right side. They are from the fancy Nike+ website. When outsite, I map my runs, and link to the maps.

Nike has also expanded its line of Nike+ gear with pants, shirts, hats, etc that allow you to interface with your iPod nano more easily. There's even a new watch/remote.

Lots of people have blogged about their hacks to make the Nike+ sensor work with non Nike+ shoes. Given that I have no problem wearing Nike running shoes, I'll let you search for them if you're interested. I haven't tried any of them out, so can't give any advice.

More on the running theme....

Nike+ has goals (that you set for yourself -- run a certain distance, run more often, increase your speed), challenges (interact with other runners), and now resolutions. When you meet your goals or win a challenge, you get trophies added to your trophy case. I generally don't make resolutions, but decided I could for this intance. So I looked at my stats.

2007 monthly totals of miles run:

That's a total of 324.4mi run/walked in 2007. My schedule varies alot from month to month, as you can see in April at May I ran more than 80 miles each month but didn't run a single time in July (I was on vascular nights -- one of the hardest rotations). I figure I should aleast be able to run that same distance in 2008 especially if it's a priority. Therefore, I've entered 325 miles in 2008 as my "resolution". This seems not too hard since that's 27 miles a month. BUT I know there are months that I won't be running much. For instance, for most of March, April & May I will be rotating at our hospital in Cambridge to which I ride my bike -- about 3.5 miles each way. Nike+ doesn't work on a bike, so there's no way to get credit for those miles. Nevertheless, I'm going to go for it.
Nike+ spreads out the "resolution" (325 miles in 2008) and asks your goal for January which I've set at 30 miles. Here's my January goal meter as of today (Edit: the goal meters update to real time whenever they are loaded, i.e. with each page load, so the meters are accurate to when you're reading this):

Part of me says that 30 miles in 4 weeks is a pretty lame goal, but then I remembered that most of the year I work 80 hours a week, so I'll cut myself some slack.

This rotation really hasn't been that bad despite the home call, plus I didn't have to leave for work until 8am this morning. While the temperatures are still a bit warmer than usual, darkness + pouring rain = tredmill run. I usually find tredmill running a bit boring and have never liked the fact that you can just decide you're done and hop off. (See my previous entry about running away from home and then needing to get myself back.)

However, it was a good run this morning. I underestimated my snooze time (and didn't really want to get up at 6am when I didn't have to be at work until 9am), but got myself together and was down in the gym before 6:30a. BUT it meant I only had an hour, maybe 65 minutes. I had already decided I needed to run 5 miles. This was partially because my Wednesday run got foiled by stupid people and despite the 50 degree weather I was driving back and forth from Boston to Needham six times.

I'm slow, I know. So 5 miles in an hour and good for me. I didn't expect to hit it, but I did. That is at least the good thing about running on a treadmill is that I find I can challenge myself more. I find it difficult to pace myself when running outside even though my Nike+ will tell me how fast I'm going. I just tend to run faster than I want to and therefore can't run as far.

I've forgotten how good it is to work out first thing in the morning because you can generally do just about anything for the rest of the day and have it be a good day.

Hmmm, I see someone left a message for me on my Janurary goal, but I have to keep running to see it. Looks like I should get it with my next run -- which should be tomorrow. Very cool.

A strange afternoon workout because Ben wanted to come with me -- and he's certainly not up early enough to workout before lunch.

I ran almost the entirety of the first 5 miles (after a 1/4 mile warm up) though the 5th mile kinda kicked my ass in order to fit it in under an hour. Then I did an extended 1 mile cool down at a leisurely pace.

Better than the post workout shower was coming up to find out who left me a message on my goal page. But it was anonymous! Thanks for the support whomever you are. So far I'm at 21.7mi in January (my goal is 30 which I should easy make).

Now where's the beer and live music?

Yesterday clinic wasn't scheduled to start until 9:30, but there was this snow storm, so I had to allow double the time to get to work. Regardless I still should have been able to get out of bed and get to the gym as my alarm was set for. Sometimes the husband and the flannel sheets win over the treadmill and running shoes. Plus, there was a lot of snow outside. (Don't remind me that I don't have to go outside to get to the gym).

I think I was actually listening to my body that it hurt and wasn't going to run for a 4th day in a row.

By the time I left the hospital today I decided I should run. I figured an easy 3 miles would be reasonable and if that was all I wanted to do that was enough.

Yeah, well sometimes 3 miles becomes 5 miles in less than 60 minutes.

Which means I completed my January goal:

Then I did some arm/back stuff because I was still feeling good.

For some reason I thought this was run was much slower than I had been running lately. I was pleasantly surprised.

You might notice there's no warm up, that's because I actually forgot to turn on my iPod (I was watching TV at the gym), which means I actually don't get credit for the first 1/2 mile. It just occurred to me that maybe not having the 1/2 mile warm-up significantly increases my overall pace. However, who wants to not get credit for all the parts of the run?

The run itself: a standard "get on the treadmill and run". Nothing exciting. Maybe someday I'll be ambitious and do some speed work. It's still a tad too cold to run outside, because I'm not crazy.

I've also decided that Family Feud is possibly my favorite running TV. John O'Hurley might be my favorite host of the modern era. I guess I'm not the only one:

Our new host, John O'Hurley's quick wit and sophisticated style resonates with viewers who remember the Richard Dawson era.

After spending the first half of the day on the couch watching TV, knitting, and napping, I decided I finally had to get off my ass.

I'd say that 5 miles each under 12 minutes, and all but the first under 11:30 is more than decent. I've changed my Janurary goal to 50 miles, which is easily attainable as I'm at 44.27 mi right now.

I started getting blisters at the end of yesterday's run, so I wore different shoes today forgetting that those were usually the blister-prone shoes. That's my excuse for only going 4 miles and not running many of them.

Oh well, 4 is better than zero.

I had gone out at lunch and it seemed to be on the warm side though overcast. Then the sun came out and it seemed awfully nice.

Weather.com claimed that it felt like it was 40. I changed my clothes and decided to go OUTSIDE to run. If I have to wear more than running tights, a shirt and a sweatshirt it's too cold for me to run outside. I opted for running tights, a shirt, and a longsleeved shirt over top plus my dirty running shoes. (And by dirty, I mean old and messy.) They would become my muddy running shoes before it was over.

What one can't easily estimate from the 15th Floor Overlooking Fenway is how windy it is. There are a couple of visible trees, but it doesn't help much. Currently there are no flags flying at Fenway to help judge.

It cold. And windy. Regardless, I ran. I'd be pretty lame if I didn't. Though I could have go inside to the gym.

Here was my path around the short loop of the Fens and a bit of the Emerald Necklace. (Go visit -- it combines two of the coolest things: Google maps & Nike+.)

It looks like a funny run for me for two reasons: (1) I was running to a Nike+ Workout (see next entry); and (2) I kept encountering big patches of mud that I didn't really want to run through, so I'd slow to to walk and try to get the least muddy. It was a good thing I was just about home at 4 miles because my iPod died at that point.
Overall, I will not become one of those crazy people who run in the cold. When I got inside weather.com claimed it felt like it was 26. That's too cold for me.

Today is National Wear Red Day to promote women's heart disease awareness. I'd be lying if I said that was why I ran today since I didn't even remember until I was watching The View (which would be the first episode of the The View I have ever seen -- wasn't so bad).

This weekend you should call your mothers, sisters, aunts, and grandmothers and (gently) harass them about their heart health. Heart disease is the number one cause of death among women and many of the risk factors are modifiable.

Pretty good I'd say. While I still have too many pants that don't fit, I can run 6 miles.

I had this crazy thought while I was in the shower about running a marathon. Summer 1998 I spent at MIT without Ben (the last summer we were apart, I think) and I was studying to take the MCAT. I started "working out" that summer. I couldn't do much but I had lots of time on my hands. At that point I had this crazy plan that either I would get in to medical school or run a marathon. I have no idea why they were mutually exclusive. Hmmm.....maybe run finish a marathon before finishing surgical residency? That's a lot less crazy than, say, having a baby during surgical residency.

Did I really run the 4th mile in less than 10 minutes (9:50). So I was the girl in high school who couldn't finish a mile in less than the 16 minutes the President said I had to. Hmmm...makes me want to find those other stupid skills we had to do, like the arm hang and sit ups and pushup and seated reach.

Now off to a movie and dinner. What a great way to spend a Saturday.

In surfing the internet this evening, I found a very cool tool at Runner's Word. What should I wear? gives you recommendations for what to wear based on the temperature, sun condition, wind, and if you like to be cool or warm. For instance I found out that during my run last week when I froze my but off, I should have been wearing a hat, long sleeve shirt (check), tights (check), jacket, and gloves (check). Guess it sounds easy when you think about it....

I think I need to go back to work and my real life because I'm about to get caught up in the running thing.

I joined a fun new challenge today:

I've run 26.5 mi this week which means I can easily get to 30 miles for the week of vacation (my weeks start Monday) which I would say was a pretty good vacation even if I didn't put away the laundry (yet).

Today's was a short run because I have things to do:

And because 16+ miles in 3 days was starting to wear on me.

I finished with 30.52 miles which is the second most I have EVER run in a week (most was 30.72 in May 07). Tomorrow I'm back to working 80hrs a week and waking up before 5am.

Here's my plan for the next 4 weeks (the length of this rotation -- afterwhich my schedule is quite wacky and I will reassess then):

• run twice a week during weeks that I am on call on Saturday
  
• run 3 times a week if I'm off for the weekend (or just on call on Friday)
  

I somehow left work at 12:30 (how is that my service is ridiculously slow) right after Ash Wednesday mass.

Since I knew it was unlikely that I would run again before Sunday, I set out to run 6 miles. I've never before decided to run 6 miles. Usually it just happens.

Somehow this gives me 22.8 miles for Feburary.

The last two days have made me feel like a regular person -- I voted, got ashes, went running. I suppose regular people put away the laundry, too.

My random Saturday on call for transplant surgery wasn't too horrible yesterday. I came home this morning at 8am having slept a couple of random hours. Before I left the hospital I had given thought to running when I got home. However, it is amazing how absolutely different one feels during the last 10 minutes in the hospital versus the first 10 minutes at home. I came home and got into bed instead.

In the afternoon I could have sat on the couch in my pj's watching TV and knitting for the rest of the evening. But I made this deal that I would at least run twice a week despite being on call on Saturday. It's really not that much, so I decided to get off my ass.

Throughout the entire run I kept reassessing and bargaining with my self as to how far I'd run. Somehow I squeaked out 6 miles.

That gives me 12+ miles for the week and leaves me with zero of the guilt that would have come from sitting on the couch for the rest of the evening.

I can't completely explain today. After my first patient failed to show up for her surgery, I stood for most of 9 hours operating:
1. Exploratory laparotomy, biopsy of mesenteric mass (which, after several hours, we deemed unresectable), bowel resection, hand-sewn bowel anastomosis
2. wide local excision of an arm melanoma
3. umbilical hernia repair

I was leaving about 6:15 when I found out that Ben was stuck at work. I really wanted to lay on the couch until he came home. Instead, I went for a little run. Crazy. Maybe this was just my Lenten sacrifice.

Nothing fancy, and I came upstairs because Ben came home. I should be able to get my 3 runs in this week. My goal is 15 miles this week.

....it must be time for a long run.

Not sure where I got the speed from because it was the fastest 6.5 miles I've ever run. The 6 miles was under 66 minutes which is great for me.

It also means I finished my February goal already -- maybe I need to make these goals a bit more difficult.

I'm still on track for 15 miles this week (remember my week starts on Monday).

The aforementioned plan for the day is out the window, but it's still been a pretty good Saturday.

Grr, I just discovered that the old Nike+ widgets are all angry and want to be reloaded. I will, but just this once.

I should have known that if I ran the fastest 6.5 miles ever yesterday, that I should have taken today off. Except I had this silly goal of 15 miles this week, and would have been a run behind my "run 10 times in 4 weeks" goal, and there's really no projection of being able to make that up.

Alas, I "ran". It took 2 miles before I could find a pace I could sustain for even a mile. At that point I listened to by body and walked the remaining 1+ mile in order to have 15 miles for the week. I shouldn't be so hard on myself, it wasn't 15 miles for the week, it was 15 miles for 3 DAYS.

Then I did some upper body weight lifting so now my arms as are jelly as my legs are.

I'm off tomorrow, so hopefully today was some sort of rest and I can be back to my regular pace tomorrow.

I wish I was kidding.

Today started out very rainy -- windshield whippers on continuous "very rainy". Fortunately I went shopping & to get a pedicure this morning. The rain stopped and the sun tried to come out. It was also a lovely 55. It all spelled running outside. I set out to do 5+ miles. I was dressed fairly appropriately, but realized I could use a wind vest. I've done alot of treadmill running since I last seriously ran outside. I noticed a difference. With help of Nike+ I was able to pace myself which I often have a difficult time doing outside. I end up running faster than I can sustain. I had a nice little run. My apartment to the esplanade to the "end of the esplanade" and back. I ran most of the 5 miles, and it was getting a bit chilly on the way back, but I decided to keep running since I didn't know how the rest of the week would turn out. I made sure to stay out of the mud.

Mile 5.83. I had just checked my distance and time and decided I could push out the past part of mile 6. Then I tripped. I was running hard at that point. I tried to catch myself, but I went down. Hard. Onto both knees, then my palms. I yelled, and swore very loudly. It echoed. Why wasn't it atleast cold enough to be wearing gloves? My palms were quite scrapped. People from the park looked; I tried to make some motion that I was okay. I couldn't figure out how to get up without using my hands or knees and both hurt like hell. Fortunately I was less than 1/2 mile from home. I wanted to cry. I was pissed. Scraped palms are not conducive to operating.

The scrapped and stingy feeling doesn't photograph, but look, there's blood:

I was slightly pissed about the hole in my pants, but figured I could fix that without much issue.

Then I took off my pants.
I couldn't capture the large hematoma underlying the large scrape.

After a painful shower I discovered that my right shoulder and elbow are all scrapped. I guess I must have rolled.

At least my pedicure wasn't harmed.
(That one's kind of for Amanda.)

I've forced myself to sit down, put my legs up and ice my knee. I took a nice loading dose of Advil. I'm going to hurt tomorrow.

I decided this deserved it's own post. After the fall I had almost forgotten -- with today's run I passed 100 miles since the start of the year: 102.5 miles in 49 days. I'd pat myself on the back, but my palms hurt too much.

Despite my knee still looking like this:

(I couldn't really capture the large area of blue/purple or the decent amount of swelling that remains.)

I put on these when I came home from work:

Fortunately, there was no question about going outside, because this

looked like this:

I was unable to run. Later I decided it was stupid that I tried.

I walked far enough to complete 10 miles so far for the week.

I went out later and just walked home a mile through a foot of trampled snow which is similar to walking on the beach. I'm going to have to bench myself from trying to run on Sunday. Fortunately I'm on call tomorrow, so that should keep from doing anything too stupid.

After getting some sleep this morning Ben and I went out for a late lunch/early dinner -- as we say "let's make lunch our big meal". This often happens when I'm post-call.

We were out driving along both sides of the Charles River and I was longingly staring at all the people out running. (I'll ignore the fact that it was too cold to be outside.) My knee is not good. It's worse today that it has been, and I wonder how much Friday's long walk/attempt at running impacted that. Yesterday's call wasn't too demanding and I could sit with my leg up more than a usual work day, however the swelling yesterday morning was worse than in the last several days.

I'm not dealing well with this injury, though I'm trying to remind myself it's been less than a week. I guess I should go back to taking advil and give it some more time. Where's my darn magic wand?

Since it is highly unlikely I'll be running tomorrow (I'm on call), I figured I would cap off February with some stats.

February Goal: 35 miles
February Miles: 53.91 (can I round to 54?)

January Miles: 52.31
Total 2008 Miles: 116.22
March Goal: 35 miles

February
Number of runs: 10
Longest run: 6.51 mi 2/16/08
Fastest run (on average): 11.29/mile also on 2/16/08

Number of falls: one
Injuries: Left knee, right knee, right elbow, right shoulder, right palm
Remaining injuries: Left knee

My knee is much better. The superficial wound is almost completely healed, and my leg swells much less at the end of the day. I can tell during the little runs across the street to catch the bus or the walk signal that I might be able to run for real soon. I might still give it this weekend off. Maybe I'll try a little bike riding.

I'm on to a new rotation today. It's two blocks at the same place, and will actually be 11 weeks away from the big house. I'm on call during the week, but no night float means I'm also more likely to get to leave early when I'm not on call.

Today was one of those lucky days. I also decided to see if my knee was healed and I if maybe I was over my cold. I guess all the sitting around and napping I did this weekend helped.

I appear to be better:

I'm not sure why the graph looks so funny, or flat.

Driving home I thought maybe I could do 3 miles. Ahem, so I doubled that. It may have been just warm enough to go outside, but I decided to stay inside in case I needed spend some time on the exercise bike if my knee wasn't up to running.

The new rotation schedule is nuts. All I can say is that I have to try to run when I can. I'd love to average twice a week, and there will be weeks I run 4 times and weeks I don't run at all. That's life.

I am the proud owner of this:

(SInce July 2006)

Work has been busy this week plus I'm still getting over this silly cold. Monday's 6.5 mile run was odd because I had the time to do it and because I felt well enough.

I was granted a slight reprieve today and don't have to be at work until this evening when I'm on call. I slept in much later than usual (a testament to my illness), and then couldn't completely figure out how to spend my day. I finally got off my butt and down to the gym. However, I felt like crap on he treadmill and decided I had too many other things to do to force myself to workout when I was sick. Plus I'll likely not sleep tonight and am on call for another 24-30 hours on Sunday.

I wasn't going to post this piddly little 15 minutes on the treadmill, but I decided to be honest -- much unlike then the scientific community only publishes the results of the experiments that work. Here's my negative data.

Have a good weekend.

For the non medical people, post-call refers to the day after one is on call. In the era of the duty hour regulations, one can only work 30 hours straight, so being post-call now also means not being at the hospital. Some people try to refer to being post-call as having a "day off". Sometimes it is; usually it is not. If you haven't slept and it's the second time on call in 3 days, it's not much of a day off.
I was on call on yesterday which means I went to work at 7:30a (relatively late) yesterday morning and left this morning morning about 7:45a. In that 24 hours I was responsible for my ICU patients, my floor patients, and any surgery consults that came through the ED or from the inpatient floors. It was not all that bad of day, and I even slept for 2 hours (uninterrupted at that) from 2:30 to 4:30a.

I give myself an A+ for today's post-call day.

• slept from 8:30a-1p
  
• ate lunch
  
• dressed (sorta)
  
• went to the Rite Aid
  
• put away some old laundry (including two sets of sheets)
  
• dusted my room (seriously)
  
• ran 6 miles
  
• made pancakes and bacon for dinner (then my husband claimed he doesn't like pancakes)

Not my best 6 miles, as it was plagued by blisters and chafing. It's still chillly here -- I was running outside in January, wasn't I? Just a mildly boring get on the "treadmill and run" run.

I might be a tad behind on my March goal, but as long as I stay/get healthy, I should be okay.

It's always nice to have gotten some sleep on call meaning a post-call day can be useful.

I did so serious work on my research project, and then went down to the gym what turned out to be my longest run ever.

I ran the first 3 miles at a steady rate increase. Then I ran each of the next 3 miles as intervals: walked the first 0.2 miles, then starting running and increased every 0.1 miles. I was ready to do the 7th(!) mile in the same manner but my hamstrings had had enough, so I walked out the last mile.

That's 20.5 miles for the month, and I'm back on track to complete my goal of 35miles for March, plus few extra.

The sunshine really tempted me to get outside, alas it's still only about 35 degrees.

While I'm supposed to run every post-call day this rotation (or so I'm trying), today was different because it's Sunday, and I actually was post-call AND my husband was home. After getting our acts together this afternoon we decided to go out to do some errands. The tale of the 70 minutes at the Verizon Wireless store is too painful, but I have to admit that my husband was correct when he didn't want to go because it was going to be a headache. I thought I'd just go buy a new cell phone....... I should have stuck to online.

Anyway, I decided to "claim" the miles we walked while out doing our errands, so I took my iPod with us.

Claiming today's miles makes 15.7 for week, which isn't too shabby, and is only slightly cheating.

For whatever reason, I didn't have it today.

My shins where killing me, and I could hardly march out 3 miles, running less than half of it.

Oh well, I have work to do. There's always the next run.

I had many reasons to start today out with a lovely run: not having run in a week, being stressed about work/life/family, it being Easter, it being Sunday, and it being by birthday.

Not that I was hanging everything on this little run.

All was fine save for lack on anything on TV on Sunday morning. It's been a long time since I started by day with a run. I felt pretty good though my endurance seemed to be lacking a bit. It may have been because I was trying to just be done with the run, and wasn't in the groove.

Fortunately I've almost reached by March goal, but it seems I will run significantly less than in January (52.3 mi) and Feburary (53.9 mi).

I might have kept going except that I needed to get showered and dressed for church.

We didn't leave for church quite as early as I had hoped (neither of us were ready), but we did still secure seats -- I have no desire to stand through mass even if it is Easter. We ended the morning with a lovely Birthday/Easter Brunch at Burton's Grill. The stuffed brioche french toast was wonderful with a side of maplewood bacon, though it may have negated the run.

I shall now fast until my birthday dinner tonight at Fugakyu. It's rumored that I once ate a boat of sushi by myself......

I think the only thing that could make starting the day with a run was if it was warm enough to do it outside.

I happen to be off today (don't worry, I'll work 48 of 72 hours from Friday morning to Monday morning), and went running shortly after got up.

The highlights: the first 5 miles in 55 minutes, running 3 miles continuously, followed by another 2 (after a 1/4 mile walk). Since I usually run about 6 miles, I was very surprised to actually feel my knees note the 6 mile mark and try to tell me they were done. I kept running, though. I may have gone even farther, but I decided I wanted to walk to the mall later and that's ~3mile round trip, so I figured I better not kill myself.

I don't know who Brandon Moss is, but I guess I should now know. Go Red Sox.

Because seriously, it walking to and from the mall makes 10.5 miles today, I think I have every right to claim these 3 miles.

It was just a jaunt with my mom, so speed is irrelevant.

Oh, and I updated my fun Nike+ Challenges on the side bar. (I'm running for the beautiful B's.)

I was fortunate to get several hours of sleep on call last night which always makes being post-call much more tolerable.

Today's agenda:
1. Nap 9a-noon
2. French toast and bacon for lunch made with love by mom
3. Pedicure & manicure with mom
4. To the gym with mom & dad (yep, we made a family trip to the gym -- Ben is still out of town)
5. Shower and dress
6. Dinner with Mom and Dad at Legal Seafood because they don't think a trip to Boston is complete with going to Legal. I don't argue.
7. Chocolate cake at home before bed.

When I got down to the gym I was thinking 5 miles was reasonable. Then I started running and felt really good from the beginning, so I quickly changed the goal to 7 miles. I ran the first 4.5 miles continuously. Not too long ago I'd run the first 2 miles and then each mile individually. Last run was the first 3 miles and today I just ran steadily. Seven miles is not so long if you can run 4 miles continuously.

I was thinking maybe I should work on speed some time.

I think I've solved the blister/chafing problem. A nice layer of bag balm in critical places like where the draw string rubs on my stomach and the instep of both feet and I haven't had any problems for the last couple of runs. At some point I ordered mine from CVS.com.

Yesterday was one of those post call days when I needed to crash and just sleep. I've been trying to do stuff post-call which usually means I don't make up for not getting enough sleep. The night on call wasn't the best, coupled with coming home early, coupled with Ben still being away, I came home, showered, closed the curtains in my room and slept from 8a-1:30p. I thought I had set the alarm for 1pm, but I guess I didn't.

I had meetings back at work at 4pm, so there was no running planned despite wanting another 3.5 miles to finish off March. Regardless here's the year so far:

Miles through March 31: 106.93
Gold stars given to myself: 5

It's trying to be a nice day -- 62 degrees but wet and windy. There was sun at times, but the 2nd half of the run the wind really picked up. It was the kind of wind that you can lay into and not fall over. The wind made it quite difficult to get any sort of pace going. I got frustrated until I decided I was close enough to just walk home.

All in all 8 miles isn't too bad a way to start April.

Route: It was a pretty nice run along the river to Science Park. Shortly after turning around is when the wind started to I cut over to the Common on the Charles St foot bridge. Then up around the Common and back home down Boylston. The route includes running through BU to get to the Charles River, 4 miles along the River including past the Hatchshell, to the Common past the State house, around the Common, past the Paul Revere impersonators, though Copley Sq, past the Boston Public Library and the Prudential Center and home.

A great Boston Run.

In my ears: The Last Precinct, by Patricia Cornwell

Last night was another not to great night on call. When I got up this afternoon I wanted to do nothing but wasn't happy sitting on the couch. It was sunny at 45, so I put on my running clothes and went outside. I still wasn't all that convinced I wanted to do something, but again, wasn't happy with sitting on the couch.

I felt pretty good despite the slight chill in the air. The sun was pleasant.

The route was from my apartment through the Fens, through Copley Square, around the Common, and back home.

Here's a nice picture from the middle of my run:

The Massachusetts Capitol Building alongside Boston Common

Given how nice it came out, I think I might start taking more pictures along the way because there are some great sights.

Call last night was reasonable (i.e. I slept for 3 hours, and uninterrupted at that), but I still didn't feel like doing much today. After watching the Red Sox loose to the evil Blue Jays, I decided to do some quick errands before dinner. Despite the cold (35 degrees) and rain (I underestimated this part), I made a quick jaunt out.

I piled on the layers and actually was pretty toasty, though my legs could have used some running tights under the "gym" pants. It made me realize I have the right clothes for some cooler weather running.

One of my stops was the Niketown where I happened upon the World Series Trophy. Unfortunately I didn't have time to stop and get my picture taken (already done that). While there I also learned that Mike Lowell will be there tomorrow at 4pm to help celebrate opening day. What's the possibility I get get out of work early?

I'm claiming the 3+ miles to make 18.09 miles for the week.

Second week in a row with 18+ miles.

I slept for a total of 30 minutes on cal last night, and that was because I crashed and was going to fall asleep wherever I was.

It wasn't a bad general surgery day:
1. incisional hernia
2. vericose vein ligation & radio frequency ablation
3. left 2nd & 3rd toe amputations
4. laparoscopic cholecystectomy
5. laparoscopic appendectomy

I slept from 9a-1p today. I thought I might be able to find some energy to run, at least walk. I was hoping the bustle of Fenway would get me going once I got out side.

Surprizingly I got myself ready and go out side (this used to be the harest part). But I was a block from home when I realized I was physically exhausted and there would be no walking. I couldn't even fathom a little 2 miles walk. Since my eyes are half open I'm going to take a nap until dinner.

Not very exciting. A little cold, and then it started to rain, so I jogged a bit.

(ETA: This run: 3.64mi, 1:06'44'', 18'20''/mi, 451 cal)

Crazy thing was that when I went running yesterday I could feel the Boston Marathon in the air. It's on Monday, and I'm post-call so maybe I'll even catch part of it.

In honor of the Marathon, I made it a true Boston run including running past (though going the wrong way) the finish line and around the Common.

(ETA: Nike+ having some kinks. This run: 6.34mi, 1:27'32'', 12'48''/mile, 785 cal)

My pace was a bit slower than usual, and by mile 6 I had nothing to give.

Here's the beginning of the staging at the finish line (in front of the Boston Public Library:

And here's the memorial a block further in Copley Square:

And half-way through the month I'm more than half way through my April goal of 40 miles:

I'm in a tremendously good mood today all because of the little things:

• Making it through another night of call without a disaster
  
• The Red Sox beating the MFNYY, and getting to watch an hour of the game while on call
  
• A perfectly sunny & 70 degree day today
  
• Being post-call on Friday and actually having Saturday off. Really, a day off on the weekend when my husband is home!
  
• Running 7.5 miles almost like I had slept all night
  
• Getting an overdue hair cut today
  
• Running into my favorite Red Sox middle reliever when getting off the elevator. His finger is better, he's off the DL, and regardless of what my husband tries to claim, still lives next door.
  

Today's run:

(Something funny seems to be happening when trying to post my runs -- will investigate further). Nike+ confirms this is a problem after a recent update to the site.

So....today's run: 7.63 miles, 1:37'20'', 12'45''/mile, 946 cal

The route: Through BU to the Esplanade, up the Charles River to Science Park, across the river, down along he Charles River/MIT, across the Harvard Bridge/Mass Ave down the Fens, and home.

I couldn't capture what a wonderful day it was, but I tried:

The Boston skyline, Charles River & the Longfellow Bridge from Cambridge

I joined some goofy Nike+ Challenges the other day. Here's a selection:

These two are more or less the same as my 2008 Resolution, but I figured why not join. It promotes community.

Obviously running for the David Ortiz team.

I don't know what to say, really.....

Of course facebook.

All the great things from yesterday continue to today. Best of all it's beautifully sunny and 60. Not much better than sleeping, going running, and being showered by 11:30a to do whatever I want for the rest of the day.

Nike+ is still semi broken. I'll keep putting up the widgets in the hope that they will get fixed at some point.

Today's run: 6.62 mi, 1:22'55'', 13'07''/mi, 821cal. The run's not as slow as it might seem. The one thing that I noticed is that when not on the treadmill, my rest spots -- i.e. a bit of walking -- is much slower.

If the widget actually worked you'd see that all the miles are less than 11min/mile (usually 10'30''/mi), but the warm-up and cool down walks are much slower.

The route: The BU bridge to Longfellow Bridge loop.

The sites:

MIT great dome. Okay, could have been a better picture, but I was supposed to be running.

And I finished April's goal today:

I've run 20.58 miles this week which is the most I've run this year when not on vacation.

.....is still a lovely walk in the park.

This:

(A beautiful day in Boston)

Plus this:

(Me in the car on the way home from work before 3pm)

Made this:

(Woohoo, Nike+ fixed the widget!)

So it was a decent 3 mile run followed by a 3 mile walk because my legs didn't have anything more to give.

But seriously, with views like this:

(Sail boats on the Charles River)

Who could care how fast one was going?

Because otherwise I would have sat on the couch all day. He suggested that we go to the gym, and almost 7 miles later I feel much better.

To be honest, I didn't feel all that great for the first half of the run. And during a trip the bathroom (bordering on TMI), I accidentally ended my workout.

But as demonstrated on the second half of the run I was feeling much better. I might have kept running except that we have plans to walk to Chinatown for dinner.

Total: 6.83mi, 85'28'', 847 cal

I had forgotten how much easier it is to push yourself on the treadmill. It takes no brains to get on, run, increase the speed, and make yourself run harder.

Hmm...less than 5 more miles this month and I'll hit 60 miles for April.

There are still a couple days left, but today I reached 60 miles for April which is my highest millage month so far. It's cold & raining outside, so I stayed inside which was actually a nice change of pace given all the outside runs I've been on recently. The controlled climate, TV, and ability to push myself harder was nice. I somehow even found an episode of Law & Order Criminal Intent I hadn't seen before (hope it's not on my TiVo).

Pretty darn good. I felt like I had too much stuff to be doing to keep running, and really my goal was only to get to 60 miles for the month. Of course now I'm thinking that if I get home early tomorrow or Wednesday I could get to 65 miles....

After I showered I donned this number which I just bought on sale:

However I'm now at 610 miles since July '06.

There are no 1000 mile shirts yet, but there is this one which I might have to buy:

There's no baseball tonight....but some of us have decided the team needs an off day.

Only a tad late:

2008 miles: 217.64

I have no idea where the energy for this run came from. I hadn't slept much, was feeling truly "post-call", had a headache, and when I finished I showered and got into bed.

I set out thinking 3 miles would be reasonable, and was running at a slower than usual pace (11'/mi). I kept running finding a pretty easy rhythm.

Three miles some how turned into my usual 6 miles with an additional mile walk at the end. Not bad especially since I was significantly behind for May miles.

I almost forgot to mention what a beautiful day it turned out to be. Started with rain in the morning but by lunch was sunny at 77. I think the sun and warmth somehow fueled me.

I'm still a bit behind for the month of May, and as I start a new rotation (i.e. new work schedule) on Monday, I'm unlikely to be able to run during the week for the next 5 weeks. That is of course, excluding the week I am on vacation.

My goal for this weekend is 15 miles. Seriously, where did I get the audacity to think I could run 15 miles in two days?

Here's the first half.

I accidentally ended my work-out at one point so the run was split.

Total: 7.67mi, 1:37'02

Getting there:

While my official goal is only 35 miles, I've run more than 50 miles a month this year, and to be honest if I don't run 50 miles this month, I will be somewhat disappointed.

One of my best qualities is being creative.

So, I creatively worked in another 3 miles this afternoon as a walk to the movie theater and then to dinner.

Total miles for today: 11.51

I made my goal of 15 miles this weekend to get to 31.6 miles for the month so far.

I stayed inside today so I could go to the gym with my husband, but I think it's time to head outside since it's a gorgeous day out.

I rarely get home before 7p on this rotation and have no call during the week which means no post-call days. And no post-call running. So the vast majority of the miles will need to be on the weekends. Add in the normal living I do on the weekend means I'm running out of time.

This weekend I'm on a very short trip to my parents, but still have the goal of 10 miles for the weekend (would be 15 had I been at home).

I tackled the majority of that today.

Now I just have to get up and run another 4 miles in the morning. It's a shame the kids don't take naps anymore.....

Yesterday's run:

Not a particularly good run, but I guess it doesn't look at bad as I thought....it was awfully slow, though.

I miscalculated my weekends, and am on call this Saturday which is the last day of May. So far I'm at 48.36 miles for the month. Guess that means I have some running to do this week to get to 50 miles. On Saturday I passed 650 miles with my Nike+ which is pretty nice.

Since I've been running 50 miles/month since the beginning of the year, to finish May with only 48.1 would have been quite lame.

So I made plans to finish out the month tonight. By the time I got home and got to the gym it was 7pm, so I opted for a quick 3 miles. And quick it was. Since when I can run two consecutive miles under 10 minutes?

I feel great, but way to energized to go to bed in an hour like I should. Plus there's the whole idea of dinner......

Year to date totals next time unless I throw in a couple more miles somehow.

We're currently en route to Nassau with a 2 hour lay-over in JFK. Jet Blue flies out of the old TWA terminal which is very 1960's. However, the free wifi is anything but. Ben just informed me this terminal is on the list of the registry of historic places.

Yesterday's run:

Not stellar, and for the first mile I was unsure if I was even going to be able to run at all. I guess I've been working too much and running too little recently. But I pushed through and finished a long (but slow) run. The weather in Boston is very warm and sunny, which makes me wonder a bit why we're going to the Bahamas.

I forgot my end of the month post.

2008 miles: 269.42

Sometimes running is not meant to be. During an island vacation is one of those times. I didn't feel much like running, but had to do something to justify the laziness of this vacation. I generally woke up hours earlier than Ben and needed to get out of bed cause it didn't agree with my back. So I ventured out three mornings before it was too ridiculously hot & humid. The 10 miles below doesn't do justice to the beautiful surroundings I walked through. (Island vacation = no cell phone, not even for pictures.)

There will need to be some serious, actually running this weekend, however.

I had little desire to run...actually, I put on my running clothes and then cleaned the apartment for 3 hours instead of running. Seriously, who cleans instead of running? I needed encouragement to even get down to the gym once I had my shoes on. I was feeling high maintenance enough not to even attempt to run outside. I certainly need all the help I could get and the gym offers climate control, TV, some place to put my water, and a treadmill to kick my butt.

I think I may have actually found my running mojo by the end which has been seriously missing lately.

Maybe it had something to do with the bad made-for-TV movie I was watching: Eight Days to Live. A mother's love... A son's survival.

Nike+ Training
I'm trying out the Nike+ Training program to train for the Nike+ Human Race 10K.

To be honest I'm not sure if I'll change my running schedule since I run when I can, but it might help to make sure I run as many miles as I should.

The Human Race is a race in 24 cities on 8/31/08, or you can run anywhere with your Nike+. Boston is not one of the 24 cities, and I can't really dedicate going to NYC (especially since I may well be on call and this might be moot anyway). I've tried to do other Nike+ events, but have ended up on call. So I'm hoping to run my personal 10K on 8/31/08.

Today's run sponsored by Can't Hardly Wait.

We actually went to college with Charlie Korsmo; Ben even took 6.002 with him.

Over the past 2 days I've confirmed that when running outside I take it too easy. I find myself enjoying the weather and the "outside". I'm not sure how to change that, but for now I'm on the treadmill and working harder.

This ends to week with 27+ miles which leaves me at 34 miles for June. I'm going to try to push for another 20 miles in the next 2 weeks.

This past weekend included a night on call, a graduation party, getting Ben from the airport, and graduation dinner. I didn't manage to run on Saturday, and I tried to make up for it on Sunday.

This made three 7-mile runs in a row. I ran outside before the rain came. It was already pretty warm humid which took some getting used to.

I could have continued sleeping post-call today, or at least laid on the couch.

Since I got myself down to the gym, I'm giving me a gold star. I didn't think there was any chance I could run.

And there wasn't! The walk wasn't very notable.

Just trying to get in the miles. Though I haven't been running to many of them lately, or so I feel.

Saturday's walk with my husband which really should have been a good 5-mile run:

And today's short little run (in two parts by accident):

To follow, June wrap-up.

I usually dislike when the Red Sox aren't on NESN because nobody is better than Don & Jerry. Watching a Red Sox-Yankees game on Fox feels like you're in New York watching a Yankees game rather than in Boston watching a Red Sox game, i.e. there's too much of a New York slant.

Nonetheless, there's no NESN in our gym, and the game on Fox meant I had serious entertainment.

The good run was a combination of:

• a good night's sleep
  
• a nap
  
• a week since I last run
  
• the Red Sox on Fox.
  

No seriously...I didn't even have a mile in my legs today.

In an effort to make up for my laziness/tiredness/post-call-ness yesterday, when I left work a tad early, I came home and went to the gym.

Having a time frame plus a twinge of guilt, plus this girl I know with her personal trainer made me run.

...that this does not count as blogging. A treadmill run that didn't start out so well. I dug in and pulled out a pretty decent run.

I got home from work early with plans to go running. I got down to the gym, turned on the treadmill, started warming up, turned on my iPod, clicked Nike+ iPod, and got this message:
"Connect receiver before beginning workout."
I unplugged the receiver and put it back in...several times....nothing.
I called Ben for as assist as to how to reset my iPod. He started to tell me "press a couple buttons simultaneously". Yeah, I got that part, look on the internet for me, please.
Tried resetting several times. Same thing.
"Connect receiver before beginning workout."
I considered going back up stairs. I considered running anyway. But, seriously, what would I do if I ran and couldn't log the miles? I was standing on the treadmill, after all.
Still, I couldn't run. I decided it was the sign to do some cross training & got on the elliptical. Formerly I elliptical trained almost exclusively as my cardio workout.
I was bored. Seriously bored despite watching David Letterman on Oprah. Bored.
Why would I be bored on the elliptical and not when I run?
I mustered 30 minutes.

I came upstairs to try to fix my iPod. I charged it fully. Reset it a couple times. Synced it. All to no avail.
I searched the internets. Nothing.
I remembered that when I synced yesterday I also downloaded a new version of iTunes. Had this new iTunes sabotaged my Nike+ iPod?!
Would I ever run again?

Nike+ says the sensor (the shoe part) needs to be replaced after about 1000 hours of use as the battery dies. They sell a separate replacement sensor indicating that the receiver should continue working indefinitely. All the more confounding.

Ben's solution was to wait a while to see if other people were having problems with the new version of iTunes & Nike+. Was I not going to run for a week? No.

I decided the easiest thing was to go buy a new Nike+ kit. All the easier as we live across from the Best Buy.

Ten minutes later. Plugged in, and viola. All fixed. Good as new. My running career is intact.

While I was writing this I did some math:

735 miles at an average of 14'23'' per mile = 175 hours of running....hmmm..... That's a bit shy of 1000 hours. However I guess the wear and tear over 2 years of use adds up. And for $30 it's not worth the effort of seeing if someone wants to replace it.

In searching the internets, it appears that someone else really wanted to claim the miles he had run when forgetting this Nike+ iPod sensor all together. This comes dangerously close to cheating, but he states he only uses it for good & not evil.

I set out this morning knowing it was going to rain, but not caring. I needed to run seriously. Outside. Sometime about mile 3 it started raining lightly and the clouds looked ominous, but I kept running further from home. It actually felt pretty good.

I didn't exactly start heading home once it started pouring, rather headed to pick up my new glasses. By the time I got there it was seriously raining. I wrung out my shirt before I went in to the eye doctor and apologized for being so wet, but they were more than happy to have me in from the rain.

I left and had 2.5 miles to get home. I hadn't been so wet possibly ever. As Scott was writing the other day, I couldn't have been more wet if I was in the shower.

About a mile from home I remembered that I own a very nice, very expensive, paper-thin, Gortex running rain coat. It even has a waterproof pocket for my iPod. It was shortly thereafter that my iPod starting freaking out a bit and again decided it couldn't find my Nike+ receiver. Fortunately, I only lost credit for about 3/4 mile.

By the time I arrived home it was sunny & not raining......

Here's the radar from 30 min after finishing my run. All the green over the coast? That's what I ran through as to moved from Worcester out to see.

My iPod's still freaking out, so I'm giving it some time to "dry" before I freak out. Though I'm beginning to think that maybe the problem is with my iPod & not with my Nike+ receiver.

....so that Ben could come to the gym with me. I'm feeling a bit behind my pace of 50mi/month because of the day my iPod didn't work. So I have 9 miles left for this week....

In the push to get to 50 miles this month, I pulled off my 3rd straight 7mi run in a matter of 5 days. Today was significantly harder than the previous two. There are probably a number of reasons for that, but I was able to finish fairly strong. Not sure while mile 6 was easier than mile 4.

Compared to Saturday's treadmill run:

And Thursday's run in the pouring rain:

I'll have to admit that Thursday I took a ~20 min break after ~5 miles to pick up my glasses. Easier to run another couple miles if you stop for 20 minutes.

Now to fit in 1.6 miles tomorrow or Wednesday -- seems pretty reasonable!

For several minutes today I considered running another 7 miles today, but realized I really didn't have much more than the 1.5 miles in me to get to 50 miles for July.

I walked......


Monthly wrap up:

2008 miles: 372.58

The Nike+ Human Race 10K: 083108 the day the world stopped to run.

10K's do's and don'ts:

Don't:

• Get sick and stop running abruptly for 29 days leading up to the race
  
• Work the previous 20 days straight
  
• Make a cool pumped up 10K play list the night before but fail to notice it didn't make it on to your iPod until you're standing at the start line.
  
• Set your Nike+ for a "10K" run instead of a "6.2mi" run so that while running all the data is in metric (i.e. kph, km run) given that math while running a 10K is no fun.
  

Do:

• Get up early on your first day off in 3 weeks because this only happens once
  
• Remember that even if you walk you're more than able to finish 6.2 miles (or 10K)
  
• Make your first 10K an unofficial, laid-back, fun run
  
• Enjoy a lovely run around the Charles River, enjoy the view, and the wonderful weather
  
• Walk when you can't run any more, but remember to pick the pace back up.
  
• Do it for the free shirt
  
• Get a free 10-minute massage when you're done
  
• Do it for you, because you can
  
• Just do it.
  

(where's my Nike contract?)

I ran the unofficial Boston run which started from the Finish Line at the Cambridgeside Galleria. We ran around the Charles River, though in the opposite direction that I usually run, which was a bit odd. It was unofficial as it was timed, so we were on our own to upload our runs. We still got the shirts (for free), and had fun stuff like refreshments and massages.

Overall, it was a very respectable 6.2 miles for me. It could have been a much better 10K race, but seriously, I'm not bothered by it. I like the idea of running an event, and pushing myself for a "race".

How cool is it that the shirts all have different numbers?

I got knocked out from running this month from a bad cold and a couple bad weeks at work. I knew this would happen at some point.

Monthly wrap up:

*Somehow I never created by August goal (foreshadowing), until today. I sort of cheated and made my goal only 10 mi.

2008 miles: 383.24

Here's to a better September.

I actually didn't have to work today. I didn't make any plans for the day until after I had gotten up. I did pretty well:

1. Sleep in. Check.
I believe the alarm said 8:45 when I got up.

2. Get outside & enjoy the weather. Check.


3. Do errands around town. Check.
CVS
Marshall's
City Sports
Niketown

View Larger Map

4. Log some miles. Running would be nice, but walking is acceptable. Check. (See #5)
(See the extra route around the Common?)

5. Learn how to hack my Nike+ when my iPod freaks out in the middle of the walk/run/errands and looses my run. Check.

http://gabeanderson.com/2008/03/02/how-to-hack-your-nano-nike-run-data-when-ipod-freezes/
http://www.osxfaq.com/dailytips/02-2005/02-01.ws
So, the first run up there is simulated. It's less miles than I logged (but not that significant), but a bit faster overall. Given how annoying I found this process, plus I don't lie very well, this power will only be used when disasters happen.

I'm feeling quite refreshed after a crappy couple of weeks at work. Now I only have 4 days of work until I'm on vacation. That also means only 4 days to get the laundry & packing done.

After 4 weeks of not running, a shotty 10K, and two weeks of trying to convince myself to run, today I had the first really good run in a long time.

I am at my parents for a couple days, and went to the gym with my mom today. I stepped on to a treadmill I'm not used to and started my warm up, thinking it seemed a bit faster than usual. Then I started running, and felt good, but still thought it seemed faster than usual. I kept running in a nice groove realizing how good I felt, but still thinking it seemed fast. Then I checked my iPod. Sure enough at 2 miles on the treadmill, it said 3.4mi...... On my home treadmill there can be up to a 10% difference, though it all seems to even out in the end, or isn't enough to care about.

So I mentioned to my mom that the treadmill seemed funny. She said, "Oh, yeah, that's the funny one. Some times it doesn't even turn on." HA. So I switched to another machine, and sure enough it felt like normal.

In reality I have no idea how far I ran. Looking at the Nike+ graph I realize it was also screwy...... A 4:40 mile?! Unlikely. In all the treadmill total was 5.25 mi, and I paused my iPod for at least a mile that distance would be so far off.

Regardless, it was a good run, and the first in a while. Hopefully, it means I'm back on track.

Yesterday late morning when I was getting dressed in the morning I put on my running clothes though I wasn't ready to go running. I spent the morning/early afternoon cleaning the apartment. Then it was 3pm and I was realizing I needed to think about things like showering and looking presentable.

However, I fell for my trick and thought it would be ridiculous to take off my running clothes without having gone running. I headed down to the gym.

After 1/2 mile I still didn't feel warmed up, had no desire to run, and considered going upstairs. I tried to run a bit, but it didn't feel right. For some reason I actually increased the speed on the treadmill and started running. Running at a speed I usually have to work up to. And I felt great.

It almost seems like I need to take a month off from running, and that my running has been better as a result.

This morning I used getting to and from the dentist as my work-out. Because I never get tired of these little widgets, here they are:

While I was hoping for clear skies this morning, the weather was awful without hopes of it letting up before lunch. I gave in an went down to the gym though I was really looking forward to a long run outside.

Fortunately I had a good audiobook that I was invested in after 5 hours of driving this weekend. (Trace, by Patricia Cornwell) So I hunkered down and ran.

I can't argue with 7 miles. I felt good. That's 33 miles during vacation which have gone far toward my much improved spirit.

This isn't it, however.

A nice 6 miles on the treadmill. Drew Carey & The (new) Price Is Right kept me company.

Not much for a blog post.

I have finished knitting, but pictures still need to be taken.

On my way to work this morning I passed folks heading to the start/finish line of the Boston Half Marathon. I felt a twinge of jealousy.....then I was walking home from work and ran into mobs of people walking the other way with their race bibs and finisher medals. Plus it was 70 & sunny. As if I could think twice about running.

I headed out for the 10K loop around the Charles River and pushed myself.

I finished the 10K part in 1:15, and then walked another 1.5 miles.

Interestingly, today's 10K wasn't any better than the Nike+ Human Race:

Though, I really thought it was.

Tonight I went to get an overdue pedicure and 2/3 of the way through the chic asked me if I had been running. I said yes, she said "because you feet never look this bad". Well, thanks. Now only if my ass could figure it out.

Next week is the Women's Nike Half Marathon that I also wish I was running.

Being the chief, and being in charge means you can run things according to your schedule...... And can steal some extra running time.

I had the pleasure of having a running partner (on my attendings who's the same age as my sister). I don't think I've run with someone since college. We're a good match, though because I run a bit farther than she normally would, and she runs faster than I sometimes do. So we both push each other without having to say anything.

The weather was gorgeous both days, perfect fall running weather. Of course this makes 17.5 miles in 3 days and my legs feel like it.

Congrats to my friends who ran the Chicago Marathon this weekend -- I'm sure you're legs still feel worse than mine.

For the last two days my runs have been kicking my butt. It's taken me longer to warm up and a couple miles to convince myself I could run. But ultimately, I finished strongly both days. I suspect being on the treadmill has something to do with it, as it's harder to find the pace that feels right. Interestingly, I felt better running FASTER than slower. This I can not explain.

Saturday's Run:

Today's Run:

As the pictures show, today was better than yesterday - a whole minute/mile faster today. Plan is for another 5 miles tomorrow on my random day off.

Go Red Sox!

I've been running with someone from work recently -- the first time I've run with anyone since college -- and I could hardly run back then. It's been nice, and she has this expectation that we'll run (outside) through the winter. I was ready to back out of today's run and it's only 40 degrees. We ran, however, and I didn't whine about being cold. The truth is that I really do have a wardrobe of athletic gear that will get me into the winter. (I'm not so sure about through the winter.)

So when dressed appropriately, the cool weather was just fine.

And how did I decide what appropriate is? My favorite Runner's World "What should I wear?". Today was 40, windy & raining. I did as I was told and wore a longsleeve shirt, windbreaker and running tights. I had on gloves to start, but I took them off shortly into the run. I realized once I got back that I was much sweatier on top that I noticed, but my windbreaker kept me from being cold even though I was wet.

I'm already at 45 miles for the month and should be able to get in atleast 2 runs before the month is over. The most I've run in a month in 2008 is 60 miles in April, so I'm setting that as my unofficial goal for October. My official goal is still only 50 miles, however.

I didn't realize I never did a September summary until I was looking for it to copy into this post.

Monthly wrap up:

total 2008 miles: 493.27

[Edited] I have some crazy new goal of 500 600 miles for 2008.....that's only 107 miles for November & December. I might have to get creative. If only August hasn't been such a horrible month.....

Not really sure why I was so (relatively) speedy today, except that I hadn't run in 4 days.

I felt pretty good, the company was good, the weather was decent, and run we did.

Despite my wanting to lay on the couch all day and two naps before 3p, I actually convinced myself to go out running. I was smart enough to put my running clothes on after my shower this morning. Who wants to admit defeat by taking off running clothes without having actually run in them?

I got outside to find that it was the perfect day to run: 60 and overcast. There wasn't even the tiniest bit of chill in the air and my long sleeve shirt and capri tights were just right. And they were two of my favorite pieces of running clothing. Regardless, I still wasn't sold on the whole running thing. I was wishing my running partner wasn't on a plane some place.

This all lasted about 1/4 mile, and then the running took over. What is it that initial getting dressed and out of the house so hard?

It was a good run and I might have kept running except I more or less came to the end of my route at 6 miles, and I plan to run tomorrow though it won't be quite as warm.

I basically did yesterday's run again today with a small extra bit at the end to top 20 miles this week.

It was pretty good the second day in a row, though a bit chillier when I started out. However, at this point my legs are wondering what I've done.

When I uploaded my run, I was greated with this:

Getting to 1000 this year would be only another 7.33 miles beyond my goal of 600 miles for 2008, but requires 115 miles over November & December.....we shall see.

This week got me down for a number of reasons. Changing services is always stressful especially when it means leaving a great rotation an awesome team.

I hadn't gotten to run since last weekend. Not running alone was bad enough, but no running during a bad week was even worse.

So I went for a long run Friday since my husband had left town, and who really needs dinner? It was surprising quite warm and I was actually overdressed.

This is what it looked like to run all the stress away:

And I like the trend in my running (though I'm sure the upward slope will stop with this run):

I only had time for a quick run, and I was tempting fate with this radar:

My legs initially said no, however. After 8 miles yesterday they didn't want to go. I felt better after mile 2, but I wasn't sure if that's because my legs knew I only had time for 3 miles.

Half way through the month I'm at 30 miles, though the second half of the month will be busier, so I better keep get some more miles for padding.

I'm again amazed how putting on my running clothes after I shower in the morning provides hours of reinforcement that I will go running today. Plus, it's a good outfit to clean the apartment in. Much like yesterday my legs took an awful long time to stop arguing. After about 2 miles I felt back to normal. But until then my quads, calves, abs, and even delts protested.

Slower than usual on purpose:

I was planning to run outside, but when I got there I realized I didn't have a wind layer on and that it was colder than I had thought. Running on the treadmill was much less work than going back up and changing my clothes.

Plus, it meant an hour of Will & Grace followed by the first 30 minutes of Monarchy: The Royal Family at Work: The State Visit on WGBH which was actually quite interesting. Yes, I'm a big dork.

A few things for which I am thankful:

1. My day off this week is Thanksgiving
2. My parents still being able to come visit for Thanksgiving
4. My husband being home for Thanksgiving
3. A great 6 1/2 mile run:

4. Spending several days with my entire family at once the week before Christmas

Happy Thanksgiving!

Ignore the fact that it's almost January....there were a couple of minor life-changing events leading to less blogging and less running.

Here's through November:

Monthly wrap up:

total 2008 miles: 558.31

Seems like the 600 miles for 2008 is still doable. I was one run shy of 70 miles for November.

Some decent vacation runs, on the treadmill because it's Chicago in December and I am not as crazy as my cousin*.

*Of course said crazy cousin is training for her second marathon, so I have serious respect for her snow running.

I was calling my cousin crazy for running outside in December in Chicago. I guess this might make me crazy, too.

It looked like this:

And I was only willing to go out for one person.

I bundled up with the help of

I'm not sure I want to admit that I was actually pretty well dressed with my slight tweak on the Runner's World recommendations. I had on a Nike Headband instead of a hat because I don't own a hat that covers my ears. Plus I had a lightweight tech-fleece on between by Dri-Fit longsleeve short & windbreaker. I was pretty toasty. I got a bit over heated at one point, but the sleeves of my windbreaker come off, so I unzipped them. Ultimately my thighs and butt were cold and could have used another layer.

The run/company was great. It wasn't until the end that we noticed it was cold and dark and our legs were done. Then I still had to walk home.

I uploaded my run today to find my "2008 Rundown" which was pretty cool:

Plus, my Nike Mini has new clothes!

And will keep getting new stuff the further I run. I'm putting her up on the side bar of the main blog page.

Here's today's run:

I wasn't going to run but after walking for a mile I was bored and realized walking was too slow, so I ran miles 2-5 and walked the last mile. That's 34 miles for vacation.

I'm off today because I'm on call tomorrow, and I actually started the day with a long run out in the cold.

I was one layer overdressed on the top half only in the following:

• Nike Dri-Fit Running tights
  
• Second layer of thin running tights because neither is particularly heavy
  
• Long sleeve Nike Dri-Fit Shirt
  
• Second long-sleeve Dri-Fit top (this is the layer I should have omitted)
  
• Nike Therma-Fit fleece running jacket (not exactly the one linked, but essentially the same)
  
• Nike Convertable Running Jacket (with removable sleeves) -- one of the best running pieces I own. I wish mine was in this cool red color, but it's not.
  
• Nike running gloves
  
• Nike Dri-fit headband/ear cover (similar, though mine is several years older)
  

I'm not sure I complained about the weather once. Okay, maybe once. The run was good, the company was great, I was warm and the air wasn't too cold on my lungs. Oh, and the salted caramel hot chocolate when we were done.....

Guess I could have gone another 0.42 miles today, but I will save the 1000mi milestone for next run.

A short little post-call run on 12/30 (on the treadmill):

And I was greated with this when I uploaded the run:

I had honestly forgotten. And since I wasn't really sure how I ended up running that day*, it was all the more a reward.

*somehow I just ended up with my running clothes on in the gym

Monthly wrap up:

total 2008 miles: 610.6 I recovered from August and was able to average 50 miles/month for 12 months straight. I'm quite pleased.

The whole Nike+ Community:

1. Keep running. This is the important part. Who cares how fast or how many miles as long as my resting pulse continues to be 56 as a result.

2. Top the 610 miles of 2008. I am tempted to make of goal of 730 miles which is an average of 2 miles per day. It seems to be too much of a stretch, though. And who wants to make a goal she can't keep? So 730 miles will be my unofficial goal.

3. Run a half marathon. There I go. It's been announced. It shall happen. It will likely be this one. Hmmm, if I ran my first 10K in 2008 and plan for a half marathon in 2009, I wonder what might happen in 2010?

4. Spend less money on clothes. All the goals don't have to be about running. Maybe I can put the a day of shopping money into the vacation savings account. (This might just be a test to see if my husband reads the blog.) And there might have to be an exception for running clothes, right?

If I'm going to make such goals, there's no time like the present to get started.

That's 7 miles all under 12 min/mile which is pretty darn good. I think it has to do with this:

That's my run mileage by weeks, and that's 29 miles two weeks ago when I was on vacation. Then only 7.6 miles the following week. A little rest helps. Plus it's nice to have the treadmill tell me to get running.

How to run further than you plan. In the cold. Without your running partner.

(Boston Common Covered in snow)

1. Dress warmly
• Nike running tights
  
• 2nd pair of thin, slightly large running tights
  
• Nike Dri Fit Shell
  
• Nike Dri Fit Long sleeve shirt
  
• Champion Fleece lined wind-stopper short ski jacket
  
• Nike Running gloves
  
• Nike fleece Running headband
  


2. 2. Have some good tunes



3. Sleep for four uninterrupted hours on call overnight


4. Need some time to think or some emotion to work through (i.e. anger works well)


5. Run 3.5 miles in the same direction away from your apartment


6. Turn left in Chinatown.


7. Keep running despite being "lost", and not particularly in the general direction of home


8. Come upon a known destination at the end of mile 5


9. At some point in you running career stop carrying money or a Charlie Card such that if you are going to get home it will be via your own two feet.


10. Realize that the shortest way home is 2.5 miles


11. Start running toward home


12. Opt not to take the shortest way home

Yes the widget really does say 8 miles.

I'm trying not let this away rotation and the driving associated with it keep me from running.

There's been enough excitement in the world that my part can be boring.

I've had some extra, nervous energy built up. Monday I ran away 7.5 miles of said energy while watching Oprah do her thing from the Kennedy Center on inauguration eve. As if I hadn't had energy that needed to be worked off, I couldn't help be a tad bit inspired at the history being made.

Monthly wrap up:

2009 total miles: 50.18

I start 6 weeks of nights tonight, but first I sort of had the day off since I didn't have to go to work until 6pm. Plus it was 45, and snow is melting. I had a good, long run.

The obligatory "what I was wearing":

• Nike dri-fit running tights
  
• Nike dri-fit long-sleeve shirt
  
• Nike dri-fit long-sleeve top
  
• Nike fleece vest
  
• Nike running gloves
  
• Nike fleece headband
  

As much as I miss my running partner, it was good to get outside, listen to some good music, and just run. The weather goes down hill from here, and there should be more snow. So I'm all the happier I got outside today.

Interestingly, this was already a blog title.....I guess my life repeats itself.

I got out of the house earlier than I would have planned because I needed to go to the post-office before they closed at noon. It was chillier than I wanted (25), but I wanted to get my errands done. And if I walking the 1/2 mile to the PO, then that might as well be the start of my run.

I donned:
my new Nike Thermal cold weather running tights (though I wondered if it was too warm for them)
Nike Dri Fit Long Sleeve Shirt
Nike Dri-fit long-sleeved medium weight top thing
Nike Therma-fit fleece
Nike Gloves (the heavy ones)
Nike Hat

I got to the post-office at 11:45 to find a line of atleast 30 people out the door. After 10 minutes in line I had not moved and only 1 person had left. I decided I didn't need to mail my stuff that badly.

I ran. I occasionally though about the fact that I was over dressed and then the wind would pick up and I would be cold.

But I really thought about just one thing for 8 miles: being a transplant fellow. I'm super excited.

And now I'll go spend that 1000 calories at:

I've officially registered for the Boston Run to Remember half marathon on May 24, 2009.

At some time I've run almost this entire course, and very much like the route.

While I was looking at my Nike+ stats yesterday my husband asked how my February running was going. Then he reminded me that February has fewer days - "10% fewer days". I guess that's actually a sizable amount when you think about it. Regardless, I seem to be doing just fine.

I haven't blogged about any of last week's running. There was a lot. Almost too much, I think. A quick recap:

Wed 2/11/09: It was 65 degrees outside, so I had no choice to run.


(I hate then I accidentally end the run while I'm trying to change the music or something.) That's a total of 8.55 miles.

Thurs 2/12/09: I was still high from yesterday's run, and decided to run more.

Saturday 2/14/09: I had to do something on my one day off for the week. Alas, I couldn't convince myself to run.

Then I specifically made myself take a couple days off.

Today (well, yesterday, technically) I was back to running:

Overall, a but slower than I had hoped, but it WAS 35 degrees outside. Fortunately the snow is gone and things were pretty dry. Until it started raining tonight.

How I was overdressed for 35 degrees:

• My new favorite Nike Heavyweight running tights -- sooo toasty warm. I am sorry I only splurged on one pair when I found them on medium* sale.
  
• Nke Drifit long sleeve shirt
  
• Brandless** tech intermediate weight sport jacket***
  
• Nike Thermafit Fleece
  
• Nike running gloves
  
• Matching Nike hat.
  

Unzipped I managed to cool down, but I was still sweatier than I prefer.

First a smooth, steady (slow) run outside on Thursday 2/19:

Then a smooth, steady, faster run on the treadmill today. I could have run outside but didn't really want to don all the layers and deal with a runny nose.

I think the treadmill runs are a good thing because I can set my pace and force myself to keep up. While I could certainly stare at my Nike+ read-out the whole time while running outside, it's not really the same.

There's still 7 days left in this short month, but I've already run 56 miles. Hmmm....14 next week?

Last week I commented that I had already run 56 miles in the first 3 weeks of February, and then thought it would be "easy" to get to 70 miles for the month. Plus I realized it would mean that I would be averaging 2 miles/day for this calendar year. So....once that was the unofficial plan, anything less would sort of be failing.

But I didn't factor in having a crappy weak and not running for 5 days straight, which left 14 miles for a day and a half.

Fortunately it was 50 on Friday, and I could overcome the lack of sleep and just run. I knew if I was going to get these 14 miles in, Friday's run would have to be considerably longer than Saturday's. Who runs 7 miles one day knowing I still had to run 7 miles the next day.

My goal was 9 miles. I just didn't think I would be able to run it all. It was good. It was very good. I averaged just over 12 min/mile for the entire run.

This is a run that only happened because of this whole Nike+ thing. I VERY easily could have spent the entire day on the couch doing absolutely nothing. But once I start logging runs, seeing the pretty little graphs and widgets, and making goals -- even ridiculous ones like running 70 miles this month....well....runs happen that I wouldn't otherwise take.

This finishes February, which will be summarized in the next post.

Monthly wrap up:

2009 total miles: 120.29
2009 average miles per day: 2.03

I had no idea I hadn't run 70 miles in one month before. I suppose that might be the only perk to this awful night rotation.

It's 3:33 am, and I may have discovered I tie my shoes incorrectly. I don't have any shoes with laces in the hospital, so I can't test it out. But I always double knot anyway....maybe it's because I tie them wrong.

No, you didn't miss the week 1 post - there wasn't one. I was sick for what was to be half-marathon training week 1. Since I already run more than week 3 even calls for, I figured it would be okay to "