Run, Forrest, Run....

[SW MI Planner]

I've got the Crim 10 mile run in Flint next month, a very hilly 30k in the western part of the county Labor Day weekend, the Air Force Marathon in Dayton in September, a pretty hilly local half marathon at the start of October (my office was the original organizer of this half marathon but we have since handed it over to an outside group), and the Marine Corps Marathon in NOVA/DC at the end of October. After that I usually run a handful of local 10k runs in November and December but nothing noteworthy.

So..... just a few Have fun!

 

[WSU MUP Student]

I won a free entry into the 2015 Düsseldorf Marathon. Unfortunately it didn't come with free airfare and hotel accommodations.

 

[WSU MUP Student]

Some runner motivation, Appalachian style!

[youtube]x4xLolOI9Po[/youtube]

The best parts occur when the shirtless overall wearing man first re-emerges at 1:38 and then the antics at around 4:20. The entire video is definitely worth watching.

 

[WSU MUP Student]

I had a meeting at one of our parks yesterday afternoon and luckily I had my running gear in my Jeep so I could go do a thorough site visit and trail survey after the meeting was over:

There really aren't many significant hills in SE Michigan so it's always nice when you get a chance to gain some elevation of any sort.

 

[WSU MUP Student]

My daughter did her first run this weekend. Maybe I have a new running partner?

 

[dandy_warhol]

Doing the Niagara Falls Ragnar in June. I haven't run consistently in over a year. This is going to be painful.

 

[WSU MUP Student]

I've been using RunKeeper to track and map my runs for years now but they've slowly been removing features from their free version and it's hard to find established running routes on there for times I am out of town. I'm headed to ATL in a few weeks so I decided to download Strava and give that a try since it's supposed to be better for finding local routes.

Though RunKeeper and Strava essentially do the same exact thing, I'm irrationally connected to RunKeeper just from using it for so long.

 

[WSU MUP Student]

Last week I set a goal of running 30 miles for the week (I hit 38.7 miles). This week I've set a goal of 31 miles and am already up to almost 20 with a few miles planned for Saturday and 10+ for Sunday (my app measures the week as Monday through Sunday).

 

[WSU MUP Student]

I met my goal of 31 miles by about 0.2 miles last week and set a goal of 32 miles for this week. I started out with 10k on Monday morning for Memorial Day.

I carried the Marine Corps flag the entire route and on my back had a tribute to Sergeant Major Ellis who was KIA in Iraq.

 

[Maister]

and on my back had a tribute to Sergeant Major Ellis who was KIA in Iraq.

I was stationed with him at MCAGCC 29 Palms back in '84. I recall he was a PFC at the time. Sorry to hear of his passing.

 

[WSU MUP Student]

I was stationed with him at MCAGCC 29 Palms back in '84. I recall he was a PFC at the time. Sorry to hear of his passing.

He was the 1st Sergeant when I worked at SOI East. I was a dirty IRR reservist who got sent to work at SOI as a liaison to HQMC and the IG's office and all the permanent personnel hated me at first (because I was there basically to police their work) but 1stSgt Ellis was great. He was one of the most badass Marines I ever knew but he was also one of the nicest and he made sure I was able to go where I needed and do what I was supposed to do when I was at SOI. When I was due for promotion to Staff Sergeant there were some huge delays in the authorization because I was on IRR but I was activated and was supposed to be on the active duty list so my stuff was getting lost in the shuffle. The unit I reported to was in Quantico and I was a few hundred miles away basically by myself and I never met my actual chain of command, except via telephone and email. Even though I didn't work for him or report to him, 1stSgt Ellis went to bat for me and was calling the proper office daily to make sure I got my promotion with the correct dates. When the promotion did come through, I made sure he was one of the people who pinned it on me.

During my time at SOI I also had a minor surgery that put me out of work for a couple weeks. I was living in the barracks and he stopped by nearly everyday to make sure I was recovering as I was supposed to be; probably also to make sure I wasn't screwing around and malingering, but still....

I worked with a handful of Marines and a couple of sailors who didn't come home from Iraq or Afghanistan but his death hits me the hardest. Last year I met a Marine who was in 2/4 when Ellis was killed and was in the same blast and took a bit of shrapnel to his legs. They were out on a patrol and the Sergeant Major wasn't originally supposed to be out there with them but he had come along so that they could stop at a checkpoint to quickly do a reenlistment ceremony for one of the NCOs in one of the Recon companies and that's when the explosion occurred.

 

[WSU MUP Student]

Growing up and working out in the barns and hot fields putting up straw or hay my dad would always come home and have a big glass of water (or lemonade if we had it) with some vinegar, salt, and ginger mixed in. Years later I learned this is an actual thing called "switchel" or "haymaker's punch" but back then we just referred to it as "dad being weird again". These days, it seems like every summer, folks in the various running groups I belong to recycle the ole pickle-juice-as-running-recovery-drink conversation. The switchel drink is basically the fancy version of just drinking the dregs out of bottom of a jar of pickles... something I actively do because I enjoy the taste but also because I like the reaction it gets from my wife and daughter.

Well, today I decided to go to Sonic for lunch because I remembered they had a pickle juice slush this summer and I wanted to give it a try. I have no idea if this has any of the salts or electrolytes you get from actual pickle juice but it definitely tastes like somebody just dumped some ice and the liquid from a jar of Vlasic pickles into a blender, but I mean that in the best possible way! :awesome:

 

[WSU MUP Student]

I've been a runner for years and I've been working out regularly for years as well. However, I just recently started running to the gym.

It's about 2.5 to 3.0 miles to my gym from my front door (depending on the route) so I run there, work out for 30-40 minutes and then run home. I've done this now 6 times over the past two weeks and it's killing me... in a good way. I've never been opposed to doing a few miles on the treadmill at the gym but my limit was generally 3 miles and more often than not I just did a single mile (but fast). Besides the extra soreness from this new routine, the biggest downside is that since I don't have a change of clothes with me and am not showering there, I no longer get to spend 15 minutes relaxing in the steam room after working out.

 

[WSU MUP Student]

In the political thread I posted about destroying a pair of Nikes. It wasn't really an act of political protest though.

anyway, a friend in a local running group sarcastically suggested I call Nike and try to get a free pair. I didn't call but I did fill out a warranty claim through their online form. I had to pay a few dollars postage ($6 and some change) to send them in to be inspected and figured it was worth the cost in case they did actually approve the claim.

Lo and behold, today I received an email response that, "based upon the amount of outsole wear (they have) determined the the internal airbag deflated prematurely" and they sent me a coupon code for a free pair of shoes.

+1 for Nike customer service.

:thumbsup:

 

[Michele Zone]

Trifecta of Thread Topics

In the political thread I posted about destroying a pair of Nikes. It wasn't really an act of political protest though.

anyway, a friend in a local running group sarcastically suggested I call Nike and try to get a free pair. I didn't call but I did fill out a warranty claim through their online form. I had to pay a few dollars postage ($6 and some change) to send them in to be inspected and figured it was worth the cost in case they did actually approve the claim.

Lo and behold, today I received an email response that, "based upon the amount of outsole wear (they have) determined the the internal airbag deflated prematurely" and they sent me a coupon code for a free pair of shoes.

+1 for Nike customer service.

:thumbsup:

:thumbsup:

You could cross post this to the clothing thread to make a perfect trifecta.

 

[Hink]

I am running the Air Force Half Marathon on Saturday. Not really racing it, just running it. My brother-in-law wanted to do it, so I agreed. Here's to hoping the weather is nice for my Saturday morning.

 

[WSU MUP Student]

I am running the Air Force Half Marathon on Saturday. Not really racing it, just running it. My brother-in-law wanted to do it, so I agreed. Here's to hoping the weather is nice for my Saturday morning.

I know you're from that area so you are used to it, but that was a much tougher course than I had pictured going into it. There are a lot more hills down there than I realized. Even worse than the hills though was the backside of the runway areas and back behind all the aircraft hangers where there were long, boring straightaways with no shade and almost no spectators at all (it was a sweltering hot day the year I ran it). Looking at the course maps it looks like the half marathon thankfully avoids all of that. It looks like Saturday will be another hot one down there, hopefully the heat and humidity holds off until the afternoon for you.

Have fun!

 

[Hink]

I know you're from that area so you are used to it, but that was a much tougher course than I had pictured going into it. There are a lot more hills down there than I realized. Even worse than the hills though was the backside of the runway areas and back behind all the aircraft hangers where there were long, boring straightaways with no shade and almost no spectators at all (it was a sweltering hot day the year I ran it). Looking at the course maps it looks like the half marathon thankfully avoids all of that. It looks like Saturday will be another hot one down there, hopefully the heat and humidity holds off until the afternoon for you.

Have fun!

So you might as well have been clairvoyant.... it was hot, humid, and the last 2 miles were painful. The hill at 9 going up the on ramp sucked, but I was fine until I got back on the base and had to run on the runways for a mile or so with no protection. The guys handing out beers at mile 12 weren't super helpful either... as water would have been nice there...

Lots of people were in the medical tent, and they put both races on a black flag (which means people have to walk) after like 5 hours of the marathon and 4 hours of the half.

I was fine and ran under 2 hours for the half, which is all I really was trying to do.

On to the next race!

 

[WSU MUP Student]

So you might as well have been clairvoyant.... it was hot, humid, and the last 2 miles were painful. The hill at 9 going up the on ramp sucked, but I was fine until I got back on the base and had to run on the runways for a mile or so with no protection. The guys handing out beers at mile 12 weren't super helpful either... as water would have been nice there...

Lots of people were in the medical tent, and they put both races on a black flag (which means people have to walk) after like 5 hours of the marathon and 4 hours of the half.

I was fine and ran under 2 hours for the half, which is all I really was trying to do.

On to the next race!

Glad to read that you met your goal of sub-2 hours.

We had similar weather here in Metro Detroit this weekend. I wasn't out on any sort of organized race but I was planning on running about 12 Sunday morning. Originally I was going to get up around 7:00 a.m. and go but I happened to wake up just after 5:00 so I decided to lace up and head out early and I'm glad I did. I was all done before 7:30 a.m. and by 8:00 a.m. I think the temperature was already around 80º with probably 80% humidity and no breeze to speak of. I wasn't out running today but it was even muggier this morning. I think it's supposed to be like this throughout the week. I'm ready for some consistently good fall running weather.

 

[WSU MUP Student]

This happened about five miles south of me: Oh Deer! Man Runs Through Oak Park with Three Deer

I've seen plenty of deer in our area and they are often tame enough that I can get pretty close but I've never had them following me down the middle of the street.