11 months and counting

Last Wednesday marked 11 months since I missed a day of running, the longest streak I have put together for sometime. There has not been a day when I did not want to go out and had to talk myself into it. When I had my back problem in late October it was difficult to get out there and run, but I wanted to get out there and do it.
My plan is to keep update this blog a bit more often.

Stubbed toe

I got back from Bosnia early this morning and in my haste to get out and run I stubbed my toe on the bottom of a cabinet while only wearing socks. You know how it really hurts for a few seconds and then feels better, well it was still a little sore when I went out for my run, but got better as I went on. However when I took my sock off to go for a shower the tip of the middle toe on my left foot was purple, but not swollen. Already this morning ( after 24 hours ) it is much better and I do not anticipate any major problems running. By the way my streak is at 320 days and will hit 11 months in a couple of weeks time.

300

I have been feeling a few flu like symptoms the last few days and this morning was no exception. Mainly my head felt a little cloudy, but when I went out for my run I felt a spring in my step. This was actually my 300th straight day of running and a few days away from 10 months without missing a day. This is the longest streak I have put together for a few years.

Update

Well I went to Belgrade for the 12 hour race. On the way there I developed a cold, which just before the race start included a very runny nose. There no idea of me not running so I began the run at midnight.For the first few hours I felt good though my nose was running a lot and I was also sweating a lot, then I went through a period where my energy was quite low, but I was able to keep moving.During this time I wondered if I would achieve any decent mileage, but told myself to just make it to sunrise. I made it to sunrise and things improved, I ended up with 42 miles ( 68 Km ), which I was quite happy with and also finished 3rd in my age group. In the past when I am in decent shape I can run around 50 miles ( 80 Km ), well at this age anyway.

Saturday run

This morning a few of us went out to the track and I, along with another runner are planning to go to Belgrade next week for a 12 hour race. So this was a chance to kind of see where we are. I ran over to the track about 2 km and then did 27 laps which gave me another 10.8 km. I tried to keep a pretty even pace and did the run in 75 minutes. I had some minor twinges which came and went away and in general was happy with the 13 km for the morning. The temperature was quite nice and cool to start getting a little warm near the end.

Experience

My meditation teacher Sri Chinmoy would have been 80 years old yesterday. Among the many thing he taught me was that life is about experience and from this experience we learn to move forward in our lives. This morning when I went out to run I had a quite strong pain in my left hip and a couple of times it wanted to spasm. I started by walking about 50 meters and then try to jog, but it didn't want to let me. ordinarily my mind would have said don't run go home and rest the problem. I have been running multiday races for about 25 years now and have learned a few things. So I continued to walk and focus on relaxing the muscles in my hip area. After a few more minutes I tried again to jog. This time the pain had subsided and I could run, by the time my run was finished I was running comfortably. Of course if the pain had increased that would have been a different matter, but experience has taught me to not give up after just a few steps.

A little help

For the last year or so I have been experiencing some lower back tightness from time to time. It does not really bother me when I run so I kept putting off doing something about it. As is often the case I finally got the inspiration to do something and decided to add what I call box situps after my run. This is a variation of an Egoscue situp. Right now I do just 20 after my run each day and after only 2 days things have improved.Also my digestion seemed to have improved and also my energy levels. Go figure!

200 Days

When I am on a running streak I usually don't keep track of days after I reach 100, but due to a project I am involved in I can now say that I have reached 200 days. This of course also translates into 6 1/2 months. My experience has been that just as in some races there are days when the inspiration and enthusiasm is there, but some days you struggle and some days you just fly. You can even see it as a metaphor for life, you just have to hang in there, good and bad.

Things change

Yesterday I struggled a little on my run I thought maybe it was because I was running in the morning and I have been running in the afternoons mostly. It was also a little more humid and little warmer than previous days. This morning I went out with the idea of maybe running for 30 minutes, but when I got out there it felt good and I decided to run from my place to Brankov bridge, which is the bridge I cross to get to the city each day. On the way back I could feel that my form was quite good and it was nice to run. I saw a really nice Buddha on one of the floating structures on the river, which was cool.

Change of weather.

It has been quite hot here in Belgrade, we even had a few days where it was 40C or more. Last weekend I went to Slovenia for a couple of days, actually staying 1 night in the Olympic sports center in Planica and managing to get an early morning run in up there, where it was nice and cool. I have been running in the early evenings here in Belgrade because it is usually a little more pleasant. 2 days ago it rained here and now the high temp's are in the 24C range so that makes a huge difference, especially when I read about high temp's and high humidity in New York . Where I would have been doing my running just a few summer's ago.

Tired legs

This past weekend I was in Ohrid, Macedonia. I ran a 2 mile race on Saturday morning, which turned out to be 3000m actually. Then in the afternoon I hiked with some friends up the highest mountian in Macedonia called Galicica, so my legs were very tired afterwards. The next morning I ran in a 1 mile race which was upa hilll and back down again once again tough on the legs. So for the first few dyas of this week my running has been a bit laboured, but I have managed to maintain my runningand I think I will be stronger by the weekend. Ultimately hills make you stronger.

A switch

When I first came to Belgrade I was running in the early morning and on some occasions it was quite cool. Well after about a week I strained something in my back after a morning run. I continued to run in the morning for a couple of days, but then had the idea to run in the afternoons after work. Well this seems to have done the trick and things are much better now. Sometimes you just have to switch the time of day that you run and use the conditions to help you recover from injury.

150 days

I went out at around 5:30 this morning to run by the Sava river in New Belgrade. It was a cool morning, it was also my 150th day without missing a run, so another milestone in my current running streak. However a little while after I finished I strained a muscle in the lower right side of my back just above the kidney area. It got better as the day went on but it is stil there. I was supposed to go running with some of the guys in the early evening, but that was a no for now and we will see how things feel in the morning.

The last Month

During the last month I have been travelling, but I did manage to keep my running streak going and as of today it is 139 days or just over 4 1/2 months. I also ran a 2 mile race in Munich in a rain storm in a time of 17: 11, then a 2 mile race in Berlin in much better conditions, but slower time of 17:21. Then at the end of the month I ran a 2 mile race in warm conditions on a flat course in 16:10. with a friend running with me and keeping my pace good. I will be going to Belgrade, Serbia next week for 3 months and hope to run some races there.

100 days

In America the president of the United States makes a speech after 100 days of his term. Well on Sunday I completed 100 days of running without missing a day. As I have stated before I never plan to start a running streak they just happen, something inspires me to go out for several days in a row and the next thing I know I have done 30 or 40. The day before I completed my 80th straight day a friend told me that she planned to run 80 straight days to honour what would have been Sri Chinmoy's 80th year. So the next day I dedicated the run to him. One thing that I have found is that when I am consistent with my running I feel so much better and my body gets used to the rhythm of running everyday, kind of like when I run multiday races. I don't have to force myself to go out and run it just kind of happens. Today I met a woman who is 85 years old and she said " Time goes by so fast you don't have time to worry about it". So there it is ;)

Spring is finally here

Spring is finally here and yesterday and today I went out running in shorts and T shirt for the first time this year. Today I was inspired and ran to the track where I did a few K's and then went back onto the road finishing with a total of 10Km, it was also my 70th day of running without missing a day. So I am quite happy that I have a good streak going.

Correction

Well I was a litle sceptical of my fast time in the 10k race on Sunday and it turns out that it was 9.35k, but my projected time for 10k is around 55 minutes. So I did run inside the 1 hour I was hoping for and I am happy with the time.

10 km race

I ran my besy time for 10k when I was 26 or 27 years old. Yesterday at the age of 57 I ran my first 10k race probably since starting to run multiday races. It was a well organized race on the Slovenian coast. There were around 900 runners and the race fee was 15 euro.It is between to small towns. You park your car near the finishing line and they take you by bus to the start. The soline 10k is pretty flat except for one quite big hill at around 6k, then of course there is a downhill. After running a half marathon 2 weeks ago my legs were feeling quite strong, the air was good and my breathing was good. I tried to keep and even pace, there were no K markers until the last one so it was hard to know what my pace was. There was one water station just before the hill. I would have preferred more, but it was most welcome when it came. I was thinking to run under 1 hour would be ok and was surprised when I saw the 1k to go mark and saw on my watch 44 minutes. I crossed the finishing line in 50:25. The best time I ever ran for 10k some 30 years ago is 38:48. So time as not treated me so badly. It was a beautiful morning and I was really glad that I am getting into the racing scene again and hope to do a lot more in the coming year.

Half marathon

On March 4th I went to Serbia for 10 days. 2 days after I got there I ran a half marathon in Nish. It was quite cold, around freezing but the support was really good and I ran a steady race, which was also a good training run for me. I had a little pain from my right achilles in the middle of the race and some hamstring tightness near the end, but was quite happy with my 2:28:43 time. I got a chance to do some easy training in Belgrade near the river Sava for the next week and beleive it or not I have a 61 day running streak going.

Good and bad days

In running we often say we have good days and bad days. Just recently I had a couple of days when I seemed to struggle a little during my run, of course I had the initial inspiration to go out there and run, so that was good. Then after a couple of days my run felt really good and yet the feeling I had to go out there was no different than before. What I have found over my many years of running is that it is important to just get out there, regardless of how long the consistency of running every day if you can is what helps. I never try to force myself to go out and run, there just comes a time in the day when I decide to go. Back in 1997 this led to me starting a running streak that went on for just over 4 1/2 years, that was broken on September 11, 2001. I am constantly inspired when I hear of someone who has a running streak that spans decades and who knows maybe someday I will join them, but mostly I am just thinking about the run I am doing, just about to do or have just done. ;)

Return of an old friend

I just 3 weeks in England for the Christmas holidays and while I was there I developed the same pain in my right hip that I got last winter. This time around I am a bit more ready for it and hopefully it will not hinder my training like last time. I like to feel that we learn from all the experiences we get and this helps us to overcome any problems that may occur. So here's hoping for a stronger winter training season than last year.