More on (or Moron) Running

The 8-Week Program for Beginning Runners suggests starting at running for 30 seconds then walking for 5 minutes. I did that. Ish. I walked for 5 minutes to warm up then ran for 30 seconds, then walked till the next even 5 minutes, then ran for about 40 seconds then walked till the next even 5 minutes and worked my way up to running for a little over a minute then walking till the next 5 minute mark by the end of my 45 minutes out of the house. Yeah, I went over the 30 minutes scheduled but I didn't know how far I could/would go in a half hour and I needed to get home so I might as well have added an extra run or two. The 8-Week Program page as well as several other running sites I visited said the most important thing is to listen to your body. If your body can do a little more then do a little more. I did a little more.

For our 9th Anniversary I got Jamie a pair of Sony MDR-NC11 Noise Cancelling Headphones to go with her SanDisk Sansa™ m250 2GB MP3 Player which I bought her for her birthday. I have had a pair of these headphones for more than a year and I can't say enough good about them. They have made riding much more comfortable. My hearing is going and the noise canceling headphones by themselves, without any music playing, cut down 90% of the wind noise. This saves me from having ringing ears after a few hundred miles on the Rockster. Jamie bought me the same Sandisk Sansa m250 2GB MP3 Player for our anniversary so now we have matched earphones and MP3 players (but she bought me a fancy case/clip for mines so we can tell them apart).

Anyway, this is part of my running arsenel now. Wired for sound, I returned from Saturday's run, appropriately enough, to Megadeth's Sweating Bullets, which I was. On today's run I started out at a minute, then walked for 4, then increased to a minute fourty-five by the end of it, taking a full five minutes to get home. I was only out for 32 minutes (its a work day so I cut my route for better timing). And I ran to Audioslave (I am the Highway, don'cha know).

As I said this running business is all training for my participation in the Klondike Relay. I am doing the 8.8 mile opening leg. At the end of the next 8 weeks I should be up to 30 minutes steady running each time out. I've done some math, simplified where I can, and I remember being told in High School that the average runner does a six minute mile. I don't expect to be average. I figure a ten minute mile. 8.8 miles at 10 minutes per mile, rounding up for a .2 mile margin of error, I should run my leg of the rely in 90 minutes. But I'll only but up to 30 minutes at the end of 8 weeks and I will only have another 3 weeks after to get up to 90. What should I do?

Running

"Bikers don't run." I have said this many times. At motorcycling events, when crossing the street usually, I have yelled to Jamie as she scurried across traffic, "Bikers don't run." Bear in mind this is usually said in full leathers or in textile riding gear, crossing from decent parking to good food.

Runners run and I'm whining about runnig because today I became a runner. Yesterday I purchased the potential to be a runner in the form of ASICS GT-2110 (white/navy/gold) men's running footwear.

ASICS GT-2110™

High tech? You betcha.
- Impact Guidance System (I.G.S.®)
- DuoMax®
- SpEVA® Midsole Material
- Space Trusstic System™
- GEL® Cushioning Systems

What does that mean? $90.00

Does it make me go faster? I don't know. I did some research this morning and found this 8-Week Program for Beginning Runners. I started with 4 minutes of walking (because it was 9:26am) and then ran from about 40 seconds, building up to running for a minute and walking for four. I was out for about 40 minutes and it sucked.a

But why, oh why, you might be asking, am I running? The Klondike. More specifically, The The Klondike Trail of '98 International Road Relay, a relay race from Skagway, Alaska through British Columbia, ending in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada. The race, held the first weekend in September, is divided into 10 relay legs and I was asked by friend Krista to participate with the promise that the party at the end is worth the run. Hmmmmm.

I've done dumber things for lesser reward so I'm in. We don't have a team name yet but we are working on a pirate theme. I have been brushing up on my pirate lingo at International Talk Like A Pirate Day's "How To" page and I created my not so secret pirate identity at fidius.org's What's My Pirate Name? Its a 3 page quiz but worth it. I'm Mad John Flint. Arr. Send me your suggestions for both team name and pirate-ee goodness.