Faster Than Usual – Runlog 6-1-17

On By Harold L. ShawIn runlogLeave a comment

After a long day of facilitator training, I needed to get out and do a good run. Yeah, I know my training plan said a rest day, but about an hour earlier a big thunderstorm went through, so when I stepped outside the air was crisp and there was a light breeze.

Great conditions for a good run.

It was actually nice to be able to breath normally – the pollen count was way down, so I started out figuring it would be a nice 3-4 miles at a comfortable pace.

Well that is what I initially thought.

I started running about 200 yards from Winthrop Street up the railroad bed parking area and ran down Rail Trail to the telephone pole before the little bump in Hallowell. I was running good and after the half mile marker, without a lot of effort on my part, I picked the pace up to catch up and eventually pass a couple of other runners.

You know something I was actually running and not worrying about my leg, Achilles or feet!!!

I simply ran!

First time in a long time, that I have been able to do that.

So I didn’t slow down and kept going. Now it is has been a while since I have done any kind of faster pacing for anything longer than one of Bennie’s vehicle intervals, so I was wondering how long I could maintain this wonderful feeling faster pace.

I got to the turn-around feeling good and continued to run comfortably hard all the way back to the mile remaining point and picked it up another notch and still felt good. However, with about 300 yards left, I lost my focus and started doing some serious wool gathering. As a result I slowed way down for about 100 yards. When I realized that I had slowed down so much, I quickly picked my pace back up and finished strong and then added on enough in cool-down to get an even 30:00 minutes.

It felt good to pick up the pace to a decent pace, after plodding and plodding and more plodding. The best part is that I wasn’t thinking about my foot and even after I stopped it didn’t bother.

As I am writing this a couple of hours later, I did my foot test, where attempt to I walk on my forefoot, not letting my heel touch down and see how much or how long I can do it before the pain become too much and I have to go back to walking heel first. Over the last few months, I can get 5 feet or so and have to stop. Tonight I walked 10 feet and then turned around and walked back, without the pain going over a 2.

First time in long that I have been able to do this.

Progress is being made.

May 2017 is Over and I am Still Running

On By Harold L. ShawIn Running, Technology4 Comments

My favorite photo from May 2017.

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Bennie warming up after a cold-rain soaked run

May is usually the month that I injure, re-injure, screw something up and all the words that I can and can’t use in polite company to describe me doing something stoopid and hurting some part of my body, so it is in recovery mode for the rest of the summer.

You know that time of year, when I get so caught up in the idea of running faster, after a fairly successful 5K race or two in April that delusions of grandeur start dancing around in my head – yet again.

Guess what!!!!

I survived May. Continue reading “May 2017 is Over and I am Still Running” →

Yep, That Didn’t Work – RunLog 5-30-17

On By Harold L. ShawIn runlog, Running Shoe Review2 Comments

Sometimes you just gotta try something one more time.

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Photo from back in April of the  New Balance Vazee Run v2’s

Now my New Balance Vazee Rush v2’s have been sitting in the shoe rack since April 7th. I stopped running in them at that time, because didn’t know if they were part of the solution or part of the problem with my left foot bothering. However, I haven’t run in them or my other New Balance shoes very often since then and the foot has improved immensely. I have walked around in the Rush v2’s pain-free over the past week and figured that it was time to find out.

It would be a good day to test them out.

Today I was supposed to run for 50 minutes easy and the weather was just about perfect. Continue reading “Yep, That Didn’t Work – RunLog 5-30-17” →

Another Week Done – 5-28-17

On By Harold L. ShawIn Running1 Comment

This has been one of those good weeks and three days into a five-day weekend (which is much needed at this point) has been, well needed.

My favorite photo from the week was:

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I am not fond of snakes, but this one has been sunning itself by the front steps and has been named Sally.

It has been a very good week for running, I don’t know what my pace has been for the most part, but at the same time I sort of, well almost followed the running plan for the week. Well not really really…take a look. Continue reading “Another Week Done – 5-28-17” →

We Got A Bit Damp – RunLog 5-26-17

On By Harold L. ShawIn runlog, Running

The beginnings of a 5-day weekend. My co-worker decided that she didn’t want today off and my boss offered me the opportunity to take today as one of my comp days. I sort of hemmed and hawed, because I knew that the weather was going to be nasty, but just as she was leaving, I decided that it would be a nice day to have off and not have the pressure of “having” to work outside and I could relax a bit, work on finishing the setup on my Linux MacBookPro and get a run in with Bennie.

That was the plan.

Yeah, it rained last night, pretty much like a cow pissing on a flat rock, but by the time Bennie and I finally got around to running at a reasonable hour (10:30 AM) it was just a heavy mist, which really isn’t too bad to run in. 50*F made it a little on the chilly side and the breeze at 10-15 mph at times made it a little chilly on the hands. Enough so that I had them inside the long sleeve tech shirt I was wearing most of the time.

We started out slowly and went by the 1.0 mile mark just under 8:30. Bennie was doing his usual vehicle intervals and I was just trying to keep up at times and then other times, trying to get him going again, where there were good sniffs.

Going down to the end of Pepin I thought the breeze was in our face, but coming back out, it was still in our face, so I don’t have a clue which direction the winds were blowing today, because for an out and back course, the winds stay steadily in our face. Weird.

Bennie did make us stop for a little bit though coming out of Pepin. We running along comfortably and then suddenly I felt a tugging on the leash. Bennie was behind me pooping, while trying to run. I just about bust a gut laughing so hard, but I had to clean up what had trailed behind him and throw it in the woods on the side of the road. Crazy dawg!

After that I had lost my focus and slowed down quite a bit. Although going up the Bitch, Bennie was in 4-paw drive and trying to get home. I have a feeling he was getting a bit chilled, I know I was. One more layer or a light windbreaker would have been nice.

Not a anything special kind of run, but one that I enjoyed and felt pretty good about.

So how did the rest of the day go, pretty much according to plan, we ate a decent lunch, Bennie and I bonded after doing dishes for an hour or so (we slept like logs) and the it was homemade pizza and a hard apple cider for supper.

No, it wasn’t a well planned day off, it was one of those go with the flow kind of days that was definitely needed. Sometimes we just try too hard to do so much, that we forget that it is okay to have a day where we don’t accomplish a whole lot more than get some good rest.

I think Bennie enjoyed it too, having his bonding buddy back.

Software Thoughts from a Linux Newbie

On By Harold L. ShawIn Technology5 Comments

Last weekend, I wrote about my first month’s experiences in moving over to Linux from Windows 10 and said that I would be writing about the software I have been using since I left the world of Windows.

Screenshot from 2017-05-26 11.47.33

One major change is that I didn’t stay with Linux Mint and instead went back to Linux Elementary-Loki. After I started to use Mint, not just play with it – I found that I was not as comfortable as I thought I would be and moved to Linux Elementary OS. Another Linux distro that I had been experimenting with, but that is a different post.

Getting back to software.

I might be a newbie to Linux, but I have used computer software for many different operating systems since the 80’s. So I have a bit of experience with integrating different and new-to-me software into how I use a computer. Continue reading “Software Thoughts from a Linux Newbie” →

Getting Caught Back Up – RunLog 5-24-17

On By Harold L. ShawIn reflection, runlog, Running

Yes, I have been running, well I took Sunday and Monday off and well life just got in the way the rest of the time. Also I have been playing with getting my old MacBookPro setup as a Linux laptop and that has taken time away from blogging.

On Saturday, we went up to Newport to visit Dad (he is doing a lot better) and pay respects to my Great Grandparents and Grandparents. We cleaned the graves stones off and put in the flowers.

On the way back we did the same for Mary’s parents.

Then on Sunday, we did the Berlin, NH flip-flop to pay respects to Mary’s family, clean the grave stones a little and put in flowers there.  Continue reading “Getting Caught Back Up – RunLog 5-24-17” →

After a Month of Linux – Newbie Thoughts

On By Harold L. ShawIn Aging, Technology11 Comments

Wow, it has been a month since I installed Linux Mate as my only operating system on my primary laptop (yes, I got rid of Windows 10) and during that time I have been experimenting, digging around, hell I have even started taking a basic Linux course to actually learn more about this new fangled operating system I am running.

Screenshot from 2017-05-20 20-39-52

Come on Harold, Linux is not really new fangled anything, but it is new to me and there have been a LOT of changes since I played around with it five or more years ago.

The biggest surprise for me over this last month has been that I haven’t missed or been tempted to re-install Windows on my primary laptop at any point. Which is something that I figured when this whole thing started that I would probably want to do after a couple of weeks immersion in Linux.

If anything, I wish that I had done it sooner – but then again I wasn’t ready. Continue reading “After a Month of Linux – Newbie Thoughts” →

Better Weather – RunLog 5-19-17

On By Harold L. ShawIn runlog, Running3 Comments

There the weather was a LOT nicer for running today. When I got out the gym’s door at lunch time it was a light rain and a pretty good breeze out of the NW. I wanted to get at least 40 minutes in during the run and figured that it wouldn’t be too bad at all.

When I got down to the road that leads towards Family Planning, it is a road that I haven’t gone down before and I have always wondered where it leads. About a quarter mile down the road it is closed to pedestrians and there is another NRF warehouse facility. I almost took the 4 wheeler trail I saw, but decided that it wasn’t really a lunch run kind of thing to go exploring and getting lost in the woods, when I had to get back to work.

I just turned around headed back towards the little Citgo station and used that as my turnaround point. It had been light rain and cloudy the whole way, but as soon as I turned around the sun popped out and it started to warm up – quickly.

During the run back to the gym I felt really good and picked up the pace from the stop light to the finish.

Two very different runs in one, but I accomplished what I wanted and felt pretty good

One thing that I have learned over the past couple of days is that if I run without socks in my Nike Vomero 11’s, my right foot doesn’t bother at all when I run, so there is something about the socks I have been wearing that is bothering the hell out of my foot. Time to try some others.

Overall, a good run today.