Ran

Sometimes going for a run sucks. It can be hard to get started, and every step can be a grind.

The good news is that the longer you are a runner, the less often bad runs happen.

For me, most runs are kinda neutral events now. A few are hard, but not many. Every so often I get on the road and feel that nothing could be better.

Today it was a great run. We are visiting friends in Vernon right now. I head out when everybody is still in bed, and get back around breakfast time. They have a bunch of Starbucks places here and I usually break the run by including a cup of joe.

Ran passed all of the shops; just didn't want to stop. Weather was flawless. The sunlight made everything perfect.

Finished soaked with sweat and happy.

A New Watch

I am not a minimalist. When I do an activity, I get lots of stuff. This makes it more fun.

As a runner, I carry my iPod and wear a GPS watch. Their purposes are pretty self explanitory.

On my iPod, I've got a selection of music, podcasts, and audio books. I find running pretty boring and this all helps me to enjoy the time.

I use my GPS to keep track of how far I've run, and how fast I'm going. It does a thousand other things, but for me it's all about distance, speed, and just maybe the current time. I've had it for three of four years, and it's done sterling service.

My GPS has died, which is a minor disaster.

I have another portable unit, which is about the size of a cell phone, and used that for my last couple of runs. This is my bike GPS. The only problem is that having it in my hand while running interferes with my comfort more than you'd think.

I want a new running watch. How do I know which one I want? There are certainly a lot of models out there these days.

Using the internet, I've read and watched many reviews. If one sounds good, I find their manual online and look up all the piddling little things that are important to nobody but me. I eliminated the just-introduced TomTom Runner when I discovered it will display pace, but cannot be set to show speed.

When I bought my current, broken one, it was priced at about $300. The new one that best suits me is $129. It is Garmin's Forerunner 10 in sexy day-glow orange. Checking the online manual reassured me that it will display time of day, distance, and speed. It will also use either miles or kilometers. I like kilometers.

I'll probably get one, but will dither about it for a while. I shouldn't, but I will.

Future Pattern

My future, as planned, looks very good to me.

My wife and I love to travel a bit, and also love being at home. My passionate activity is martial arts.

How will that all fit together?

Loving travel and also home-time works well. We will just alternate the two. Go someplace neat, then go home for a while; repeat as required.

Martial arts works well when we're at home, but not so well when on the road.

Sometimes it can. Take this coming September. There is a big Gracie seminar weekend in Seattle. That's not very far in the big scale of things. Helen and I will go down for a couple of days, and I'll train. I think she'll shop.

However, as good as seminars are steady training is much better.

This coming winter we're headed to LA for a couple of months for me train at Gracie HQ. This certainly counts as steady training. Likely we will never repeat this type of trip. When we travel we like to spend more time enjoying things together.

The way it will work after this one-time-only training trip will be more leisurely.

Some time at home with training, then some time traveling without training. With all the breaks in training, rank progress will end up on the back burner. I'll be training for the love of the art, and the process of learning. I like learning. Rolling around with people is also fun. I also like helping others to learn.

My lesser physical activities are often better during travel. Biking in Juneau is sweet, and early morning runs in Vegas are great. They also give me a way to keep fit when out of town.

Don't know about you, but to me it sounds like a pretty perfect system.

Lost Running Knack

When is the last time you ran?

Simple question if a person goes for runs, but what if they don't?

Tennis has running, but golf does not.

If you haven't run in a very long time, and if you are heavier than you were back when you last ran you may have lost the knack.

Have you ever seen someone like that break from a walk into a run? They start bouncing up and down; clearly working hard. Their velocity, however does not actually increase. Sometimes they seem slower than they were when they were walking.

I hope that I notice if and when I reach that point.

I'd hate to exhaust myself running to escape a bear when a brisk walk is actually a more effective way to flee.

Run and Roll

We're pretty set for our summer travels. Schedule penciled in and friends already living downstairs ready to babysit our place.

Some years we head off with me all ready to train at various places we visit. Not this year. Doubt I'll get to Karate, Judo, Jiu-Jitsu or anything else except when we are home.

I will be running and biking a lot.

The major bits are visits to Victoria, Vernon, camping, and an Alaskan cruise.

In Victoria we go visit my mom every day. That's a lovely 15km round trip on the bikes. I usually run daily through the University of Victoria grounds, or along Dallas Road. Helen also likes to do extra rides for fun, so we do.

In Vernon we stay with our best friends. They, and Helen, don't get up as early as me. Vernon in Summer counts as a desert and is warm all the time. I normally hit the road as soon as I'm vertical and get back all sweaty in time to join the gang for the day's first cup of coffee.

When camping, I think I'll be going for two runs a day, or one big one. Everybody I'll be with adores camping, but for me the hours flow kinda slowly. Running twice, for about an hour each time, will break things up nicely.

On our Alaskan cruise we take our cute little folding bikes and tour about in all the ports on our own. We will be visiting Skagway, and I love going for a long run there. On the non-port days I run the deck, and also on the treadmills. This doesn't add up to a great deal of distance. The deck is usually clogged with oblivious walkers, and the treadmills are very boring, but it helps.

We'll also be at home a lot, and my regular routes will all be beckoning.

Vegas Style Run

I used to be a teacher, and have loved Las Vegas for a long time. This means that we go there a lot, and always in the summer. Why? Cuz that's when teachers get their lovely holidays.

I also like to run. Would you like to go for a run in Vegas in the summer? Today it was 46 degrees there. That's 115 fahrenheit.

Did you know that when they take official temperatures, they do it in the shade and 8 feet above the ground. If you go for a run in Vegas, you never find yourself 8 feet off the desert, and never in the shade. The temperature there in the sun is about a zillion, both fahrenheit and celcius.

When we are there I run every day and I have not died yet.

I mention this because we're at home today, and it was stupid hot. I went for a run, kept it short, took extra water, and almost killed myself.

Time to switch to my cunning Vegas running method.

The trick is easy. I wake up freakishly early, but Helen doesn't like to roll out of bed until a more human hour. I get up as quietly as I can and get running. It is much better. At 6am today in Vegas it was only 33 degrees (91 fahrenheit).

Still too hot? Not really. The early hour also lowers the sun in the sky, and the massive cassinos throw shade all over both sides of the strip. It's quite do-able.

Around here early running might actually call for long sleeves.

The other great thing about early running in Vegas is it gets the run out of the way. The entire rest of the day is free. It will work the same way here.

I'll start tomorrow.