and on the 7th day...

...he ran six miles.

I've done plenty of running this week, but not quite as much talking about it. Allow me to rectify that.

Monday
Rest day. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. I love me my rest day. I do nothing, other than the day job, but that's almost nothing, physically at least. At the very least I start the day off on my ass and I stay planted there the whole day until it's time to go home. Once home, I replant myself on the couch and begin growing roots. I love rest day. Sadly, I'm contemplating a plan starting soon after my birthday to deprive myself of regular rest days. I'm trying to work up a list of 36 goals for my 36th year - Side Note: coming up with 36 goals is really, really hard. I guess there's just not that much that I want to do. Sad. - and one of those goals is going to be to work in two days of resistance training. I don't want to call it weight training, because I don't want to get myself into the mindset of gaining weight. I just want to do some toning, and I figure that strengthening the right muscles will help me run better. So, bye-bye rest day.

Tuesday
Tuesday was supposed to be a three mile run, but some peer pressure ended up making it closer to four miles. I think the final number was 3.8 miles, which I think is close enough to just round up. I did follow through on my plan from last week to do intervals, and it was just as good this time as it was the last. Tenth-mile intervals will now be my standard on short runs. From everything I've read it should do quite a bit to improve my speed. Even in an air conditioned gym with a fan blowing right on me the sweat was flying everywhere. When I finished I looked like I'd taken a shower in my running clothes. It was lots of fun. I enjoy cutting loose like that and I wish I could convince myself to do it on my outdoor runs.

Wednesday
I don't remember anything special about my Wednesday run. There had to be something special about it even if it was just what was on television, but I just can't remember anything about it. Speaking of television, I saw an article online this weekend that was talking about how television can be good for runners. Sadly, it didn't say that settling in to drive the couch for the evening (every evening) would help, but it did say that watching television while running on the treadmill can make the time pass quickly. From experience I know how true that is, but you have to get the right show. Not all shows on the Food Network are created equal. For instance, "My Life in Food" is a usually a completely suck-ass show to run to (this weekend's episode was an exception, but more on that later). It's worse than anything else I've seen. Sports, particularly football, are great to run to. I'll watch reruns of old games, even ones that I've seen before or that I know the outcome too, and get totally sucked in to it. Before I know it, my run is over and I've burned three or four hundred calories. Once Monday Night Football starts up, I might switch to a Monday run. I think by that time my first run of the week will be up to between 6 and 8 miles, so it will be perfect for watching football. I haven't seen the schedule yet, but it would be nice if the Cowboys had a few MNF games.

Thursday
No run Thursday. I put off my regular four-miler in order to attend the HOA meeting at our condo. Very interesting things happened at it. I'm thinking of volunteering for a committee, and I might go to these HOA things more often. If nothing else, it was a great way to hear some building gossip. My plan was to put off my run and do it on Friday, which leads me to...

Friday
Like I said, my plan was to do my four-miler on Friday, but that didn't happen. I worked the first day of of my employer's (Nordstrom) Anniversary Sale as a cashier. Department policy is that we all work a full day as corporate help at the Anniversary Sale to help support the two most important groups in our business: 1. the customer, and 2. the salespeople. My experience has been that the first day of Anniversary is the single hardest day of work I do all year long, and Friday was no exception. By the end of the day, my lower back hurt so much that I knew running was completely out of the picture. I think I can run through pain, but I'm not sure I can start off running in pain. Maybe I could have, but I wasn't willing at the time. Besides, I wanted to do some of my own shopping before collapsing into a pile on the couch. Hmm, I'm sensing a theme. Apparently, I like to be on the couch.

Saturday
By the time my Saturday run came around, I was just not into it. I didn't want to change into running clothes. I didn't want to walk over to the gym. I didn't want to start the treadmill. I really didn't want to go four miles. My normal Saturday run is only three miles, but since I missed a day earlier in the week (Thurs/Fri) and I had a running partner that was going four miles, I went four instead. My television viewing was the aforementioned "My Life in Food." This was one of the more interesting episodes about competitive eaters. Lisa pointed out how ironic it was that I was exercising to a show about people who gorge themselves on hot dogs, pizza, angel food cake, and all manner of other things. The really strange thing is just how skinny some of the competitive eaters are. Their "pre-game" preparations are hilarious. One of the female competitors had someone helping her stretch her legs like she was going to go run a 5-k, and she said it was to help keep her from pulling a muscle. Hilarious! Another one did jaw loosening exercises and did a motion like he was eating a slice of watermelon fast. It was surreal. I can see professional athletes doing that kind of motion, but seeing competitive eaters doing this sort of thing is just weird.

Sunday
That brings us to today. Six miles in an hour, so says the iPod, which I still suspect is a liar, but I'm willing to take its word for it until I get a better solution. Seattle was crowded this weekend. First, we have the Anniversary Sale going on, which probably didn't add all that many people to the city, but for continuing employment's sake I would like to think it did. Second, there was this thing going on called the Bite of Seattle at the Seattle Center. I assume that it's like any other city's food festival. They happen everywhere, so it can't be all that different. Third, and this is probably the item with the biggest impact on the city's population, our new light rail opened this weekend and they were giving free rides this weekend. So every annoying person that lives near the new light rail and wouldn't normally come into the city came this weekend. I think some of them made it a family day of sorts and stayed the whole day. We passed a group last night that had obviously had too much family.

It was a bit too hot for a good run, but it was nice and clear with good views down by the water. There was a group of three guys throwing a frisbee next to the path. As I was running by one of them over threw or the receiver under-caught, and I ended up veering just a step or two to catch the frisbee and toss it to its intended receiver. Then I just kept on going. It was an fun moment. Then, just a little further on I had to play a game of doggy-dodge. You know this game. It's when someone lets their dog step into your path and you're faced with the instant decision to dodge or trample the poor beast. If you choose poorly, you can be bitten and find yourself facing a really pissed off doggy daddy. I chose wisely.

I've been experiencing a certain sensation during my runs that I would prefer not to have ever happen again. It's a chafing issue, but it's probably not where you immediately think it is. I wear shorts that are tight on my thighs specifically to keep my legs from rubbing together. No, my issue is further up. On my chest. Specifically, my nipples. There are a few things about the human body that I'm annoyed/confused by. One of those is nipples on men. I have no use for the damn things, and I'd like to know why evolution hasn't recognized their lack of purpose and removed them. So, I suffer from nipple chafing, and while it's not debilitating it is extremely annoying and somewhat painful. So today when I was halfway through my run, I went shirtless. I feel very sad for all the poor people I blinded today with my ghostly pale skin.

Now, one minor complaint: other people. Other people, you need to be aware of your surroundings enough to make some room for me. I'll dodge you if I can, but if there's nowhere for me to dodge, it will be up to you to get the hell out of my way. If you choose not to, I have no problem rubbing my sweaty arms on you. It's no problem to me, I'm already wet and it's my sweat anyway. But my putting my biological excretions on you should be a big issue for you. You don't know where I've been or what I've been doing, and in any case, other people's sweat is pretty nasty. This goes for when we're outside and I'm running and you're strolling in a crowd, and it also goes for when I stop by the closest Emerald City Smoothie for my after run re-fueling. The most convenient one for me is in Westlake Center. I understand that is customary for people to be clean and reasonably groomed when going into a shopping center, but it's right at the end of my run and I'm not trying to hide the fact that I've been working out. First, I'm in a bright yellow running shirt that says "Training" on the front. Second, I'm sweating like a whore in church. Third, my face, after six miles of running, should be beet red. Unless you are blind and have lost your sense of smell, you can tell that I've been doing something active. So don't stop right in front of me, and don't get too close to me. You have been warned.

In just a couple of weeks I'm taking a short trip for a couple of days. Once I come back, we'll stop with the pre-training and start with the real training. That means that things should get a bit less repetitive. I don't know what's going to happen when the sun starts going down earlier. I should buy a reflective vest or something like that before that happens. Eh, I'll probably be doing a little athletic shopping soon anyway, so maybe I'll slip that in my cart too.