Totally didn't run at all during the week this week. Got home last night and didn't want to do it,so I didn't. I am planning on getting I short one in tonight and then see what will happen tomorrow. The roads have been a bit hairy with the ice and as my back already hurts I don't want to fall and get hurt again. I just signed up to run with the Wanderers in the USATF off road series again this year. I don't plan to do as many races but they need bodies and I would hate to let them down they are such great people and I have fun hanging with them. Totally selfish on my part.

so it is raining snowing and warm. I am stuck in Harrisburg with those trail running blues again. Just want to get out for a run and it is soooooo crappy out it doesn't look like a run is in my future for the next few days. My back has been acting up. It is really tender and i don't know why. It just kind of happened. i attribute it to a lack of exercise. I havent' been able to get to the gym nor have I been able to run for the last few days and I am bored with inactivity.

Wanted to get up early in the AM and run yesterday but that just didn't happen. I medicated myself against this darn cough and was too out of it when I woke up. So I got myself together in the afternoon and headed out. My nike + has been acting up and I bought a new foot pod. The nano froze up when I started so I had to run holding it to attempt a reboot (hold the center and menu buttons down and it will do a soft reboot). Once that took hold the foot pod registered and off I went. I parked at green/janrette went west to Mt. Airy and up to the upper path, taking that all the way out to Bells Mills where I crossed back going up Pain to the Meadows. The meadows were beautiful in their starkness. Full of purples and browns. As I got to the end of the meadows a red fox alighted ahead of me, into a group of startled deer. I had to head back down at Cathedral onto the Forbidden which I took back to the car. In all it was about 11 miles. I wore my new Oboz shoes, which worked great, they are the most secure shoes I have lacing is tight and they feel like part of my foot. I also wore three shirts to keep out the chill. I opted not to wear the jacket and I am glad I did because I tend to get too warm with it on.

I guess I am doing well in my training. I checked my logs from last year and I am close to what I was doing then. I need to get some longer midweek runs in and some longer weekend runs but in all I am on track.

Did the first Pickle Run today. It was a great time. I did the 4.5 trail option. They ran three races simultaneously, a trail, and two multiuse trail tarmac runs. You had to predict your time and then run as close to that time as possible. The winner got within 2 seconds of her time and got a choice pickle prize. You also could find pickles on the run and get a prize. It was a great time.
All of the races started together. Congressman Joe Sestack fired the gun. After about .3 miles the trail run people peeled off and headed into the woods. The trails were in good shape. There were two decedent sized hills, but nothing like the Reading runs. At one point I came across a guy laying down. He had just fallen. I stopped to ask him how he was and to see if he needed any help. He said he had twisted his ankle and told me to take off. I waited to see if he could get up but he wouldn't get up and kept telling me he was ok and so I took off. After about 2 miles in the woods we were dumped in with the rest of the runners to finish out on the multiuse trail which is a tarmac. It got really boring here for me and my performance fell off but as I had predicted a pretty slow time, I felt the slower the better and hung in. I walked one time on the tarmac and up the two hills. Good run all in all. They have two more in the series but I have to get some longer training runs in so I think I may have to pass. Great guys great crowd, good times.

Went out with the Wanderers last night. I foolishly wore my trail shoes half knowing that I would be running on roads. We headed out of the park going up Valley Green and then out to g town up to Mt. Airy out to stenton up to willow Grove and back to st martins and down valley green back to the inn. I ran with Cee and Susan. So great to see those guys again. Good company for a run. After the run was the annual meeting. Good to hear that they want to keep the club loose and informal. Being from Northwest Philly that is the general philosophy of life as I know it. Tomorrow is the Pickle run and the first race of the year. Yipee.

I got out in the early evening for another run. Might as well take advantage of the time off. I did a similar loop as the one the night before except I did it backwards. What a difference a day makes and working out in the A.M. probably did not help. My timing was off and I just did not have the energy that I did the day before. In the middle of my run the Haverford College Cross Country team passed me going a million miles a minute. The strength of youth. Beautiful runners. It was snowing agian and the weather was beautiful. It was also my 5th run in as many days. The first time I have done that for about a year. I also was listening to Phedipp and Steve was talking about his birthday. Not the most motivating running companion. The night before I ran to music. I wonder if there was any relationship between the quality of runs.

Totally got the car running again. It was a frozen fuel line. Once I got that cleaned out by taking a nice ride to the airport. Then the Eagles lost so right after the game I headed out for a run. I had a route in mind but then decided just to go. My Nike Plus died so I couldn't track it but I did the buckeyeoutdoors run tracker and figured the loop was about 6.5 miles. I did a slow pace but I could breath and talk. I did a fake podcast to myself. It was snowing lightly and a perfect night to run. good times had by me. I then came back and had a health issue but it turned out to be a false alarm. Life is good.

Bridlewild run

Went for a run today on the Bridlewild. Haven't been there for a while since that great run I had with Doug D. but was told about a group run today and thought it would be great. As I was going out to the meetup I got a call that the run was off, seems that 7 degrees F is not optimal running temps. As I was already out and was warm I continued on. It was a perfect day. ok so it was cold. I had a hat, two pairs of gloves, tights compression shorts and shorts over top, Bridgedale wool socks, three shirts and a jacket on so I actually worked up some sweat. Ended up doing close to ten. My footpod for the Nike plus died and kept telling me I had done 1.8 miles so I am not sure how many miles I did but I had the clock running and it was close to 2 hours and I did a lot of roads to get there and get home. On the return I had to run out to 23 and boy that gets hairy. Luckily the cold was keeping the drivers home as well. The run helped with my mouth problems as well. I felt comfortable for the first time since the surgery. Now if only my car will start again all would be good with the world. Ithink I have frozen water in the fuel lines so it it having a hard time starting. Tried a couple of times today but it just wouldnt go. As it is to be over freezing tomorrow I thought I would try it again then. Cheers.

Still dealing with the pain in my jaw. Ran a wee bit on the way home from the train and it felt pretty good. As my teeth, gums etc all felt better before the surgery when I ran, I think I will try to get out soon to get a little one in. Actually I just found out Ihave to get toothpaste and the drugstore is about a 3/4 of a mile away. A 1.5 mile run would be about perfect to test out my theory.

I went to the gym on Monday night. The place was packed. I had forgotten about the new year but this was a huge reminder. I had to stand in line for a few of the machines and if I was doing cardio I would have been out of luck. I wasn't so I did manage to get a quick strength workout in. Damn Resolutionists. I did some heavy leg lifting. I just wanted to get stronger on the hills and felt my legs were a little unbalanced. My left knee gives me trouble sometimes.

Yesterday I did some speed work in the morning just going to the field and doing 100 yd dashes. I tried to go about 80% keep my head up and exaggerate my form a lot. I was running in town the other day and went past shop windows and my form is not like I the gazelle like graceful runner I envision it in my head.

After my run I went to the dentist and had an infection removed from my jaw. This was a truly joyous experience. I haven't been feeling a 100%. I was told in early December that I had this infection which wasn't causing me any pain due to a bubble on my gum that was releasing the pressure. I couldn't get in to the DR. until early January. Well he got in there yesterday and when he opened up my gum he was surprised by the extent of the infection. He spent about an hour scraping it out and he said he left a pretty sizable hole in my jaw that should now regrow bone. He said I probably had this for a couple of years. He gave me Percocet and Amoxicillan and sent me on my way. I have to return next week to have the stitches removed. he said he was surprised that I didn't have any pain but I didn't. Every now and then I would have discomfort but nothing that an advil wouldn't kill. I guess running makes you more tolerant to pain. Actually, when I would have discomfort, if I went for a run I felt better. I wanted to run yesterday afternoon and actually had that thought but then I stood up and realized it was just the percocet talking.

This Saturday I am running the Pickle Run. Which is a series of runs in Ridley Creek State Park. There are three options and I am doing the 4.5 mile mix trail bike path option. It is a prediction run, where no watches are allowed and you have to come as close as you can to the predicted time. I predicted about 10 minute miles which is close to what I run in races hopefully I can come close. They have great trophies made out of pickles which depending on the weather, wilt in the cold. It is supposed to be in the low 30's upper 20's on race morning. Check out the pictures on the above link. They are pretty funny.

After the Eagles won I got out for a run on the trails. I headed to my usual spot and went down to the Forbidden Drive and over to the northside at allens up to the upper trail and out to the Inn. It got dark so I headed back to the Forbidden. I tried to keep a pretty slow pace. My plantar facitis is bothering me a bit again. I wore the Addias because they are cushy. I made it out to just before Bells Mill and turned around. I continued back on the Forbidden to the car. It was pretty cold out there but I wore tights and had on the Nike compression socks I picked up at Marshalls. I was listening to Run to Disney. Gordon did the race today and he did very well.

Pictures from the nature trail at Haverford College. I ran over here today in the AM on my first run. In the evening I headlamped it on the Wissahickon trail and had to cut the run short because i couldn't see and it started to snow pretty hard. Psyched me out it stopped snowing on the way home.

Did my first 4am run of this new year. I arose on time and dressed quickly went to get my ipod and it was frozen. Did a soft boot which took a couple of minutes. When the ipod freezes hold down the center button and the menu button at the same time. This causes it to do a soft boot and reset itself. I could only run for about 40 minutes when all was said and done so I did a 5k+ loop. It felt great to get a run in early in the AM. My plan is to do this run and a couple of longish 12+ mile runs this weekend and end up with a marathon's worth of miles by the early morning on Sunday so that I can jack up my numbers for the 2009 Feet running challenge on Buckeyeoutdoors.com.

I signed up for the Foxcatcher 50K yesterday. This is an inaugeral 50K in DE run with the Foxcatcher 50mile horse race? It's run by Phil of the TrailDawgs and for that reason promises to be a class event.

Sorry I have been away. Busy weekend and then I broke a couple of teeth and have an infection in my gum/jaw so I have been a bit more miserable than usual. This past weekend I got out for a great run on Saturday. Started out at my usual spot and headed up the Forbidden to Northwestern Ave. It has been a long time since I have just run flats so this felt really good. It was pretty dark when I started out in fact at one point I was fixing my songlist on my ipod in the dark and wasn't paying attention to where I was going and walked right into the fence that protects inattentive people like myself from walking straight off the cliff into the creek. That was a disconcerting. When I got to Northwestern Ave, I turned around and ran back to Bells Mill and then crossed over to the lower trail and went out to Kitchens lane on the lower trail, I stopped at the inn for a bio break. I have never run past the car before but this felt incredibly right. the day was clear and crisp. My legs felt good, and I was kind of pissed that I was missing the PHUNT so I wanted to do a little extra time and I was in no rush to go somewhere and sit and eat all day from boredom. By the way the playoffs did not have to be late afternoon. They could have put them on in the early part of the day so that I could have a game to watch. The International Bowl was not the crowd pleaser that the network thought it was going to be. I ended up doing a little over 10 in a little over 2 hours. Good comfortable workout.

Speaking of the PHUNT. A bunch of people from the Wanderers ran the race and did very well. Bob Reynolds did the 50k in 4:02 which is lighting fast. I hear they had a great turnout.

My training thus far is going well. I am pleased with my progress and the fact that I really haven't lost too much in the way of stamina. yesterday, I did some speedwork. After listening to Trilogy Running talking about plyometrics I decided to put a few of them into the routine. I did skipping, butt kicks, side runs and then some regular sprints. I also did one legged hops up and down stairs. These in particular felt great especially on my left leg which is where I have my most ankle pain.

Today I found a new trail. It was on the other side of Lincoln Drive. I have lived here my whole life and actually lived about 300 yards from this trail for three years and never knew it was there. I headed out from Green/Jeanette and went east on the upper trail to the bus turn around. Crossed over the bridge and went under Lincoln drive and there was a trail. I followed that north and went above the 92nd Police Station and out to Rittenhouse town. There I crossed back to the main valley and went to Kitchens lane and crossed back over. Great 6+ mile run. Above are some pictures from the run. It was a perfect cold clear day.

I wore my addias shoes which I haven't worn much since last year. Over the summer my feet swelled and I couldn't fit in them. Today was cold and they fit nicely. They are a 1/2 size smaller than my other shoes. I like them because they are kind of bouncy and the soles are sticky on the rocks. I took the nuun with me and wore tights with shorts over top a long sleeve technical and a cotton shirt over with a jacket and then Hind hat I found the other day. I also wore the injinji gloves my sister got me for xmas. I heated up really well and had the zipper down after the first mile. I intended to take pictures the whole way but the battery died shortly after the beginning of the run so I only got a few shots. I am hoping to get a good long run this saturday and sunday. I was hoping for 4 corners one of the days but as I have family coming in time is at a premium.