I haven’t run consistently in weeks. Here are the excuses: I’ve been reading through 41 grant proposals. I’ve been directing my energies toward job searching. Running is destroying my knees. See? I don’t have very many of them. This is why having someone to run with is important. You don’t want to let them down [...]

I had an unintentional week off from running, mainly due to being back in the Bend, but also with job related business. I was supposed to run 7 miles today and I got in 5.5 before my left calf went Gordian on me. Stretch, test-run, walk::wash, rinse, repeat. I gotta just take my time and [...]

I had a crummy run today. I was supposed to put in six miles, but only did 2.5. My calves felt like bad clockwork. I think If I’d run much farther I would have torn something. No matter how much I stretched, they were still tense. Better take it easy.

They say that it takes six weeks of any exercise program before you start noticing results. And by results, they usually mean weight loss. I don’t think I’ve lost much weight, apart from maybe a pound or two, but my body has definitely changed shape. I dropped a waist size and am now back to [...]

I think 12 miles is the longest distance I’ve ever run. I managed to do it in three minutes under two hours today, which is three minutes faster than pace. About 5 miles in I started singing “Venus in Furs” to myself, which is a very bad idea. “I am tired/I am weary/I could sleep [...]

After a week like this week, it isn’t really a surprise that I ran like a fiend today. Only three miles, but I busted it out like the fat kid in dodgeball and was raring for more at the end. I’ve got a 12 miler tomorrow though, so I didn’t run more. I finally got [...]

A little over 6 miles in a little under and hour today, but I was bushed. I did a truncated version of what I’m already coming to call the Bridge run, since I cross over Abbey, Carnegie and Detroit bridges, not to mention Bridge Avenue. When I extend it, I’ll also run over the W. [...]

Three miles – check.

A run across Carnegie Bridge, I see for miles. The north rock towers, Lake Erie distance. Underfoot swans tack the Cuyahoga snow crust. Art deco, overhead eyes swaddling Cleveland, steel carved in stone on steel under stone. Traffic is light. There is silence even in my stride. The pace a great muffler: my girl, her [...]

I was supposed to run 10 miles over the weekend, but the weather was so bad that I had to put off the run until today. I put in 4 to 5 instead of the full ten, because the streets and sidewalks were still pretty ice-covered. My time was good nonetheless, and I’ll just crank [...]

3 miles in about 24 minutes today. I need to keep pushing the short runs to build my strength and high gear stamina.

I had a 5 mile run in the rain today and I finished it in about 40 minutes. My shoes are well and truly broken in now that they’ve gotten their first soaking.

I was supposed to run on Tuesday but I ended up sleeping instead and moved my schedule up one day for this week. So instead of getting next Monday off, it’ll be a cross-training day. I ran three miles again, but harder this time and cut a couple of minutes off my time. The wind [...]

I’ve’nt run 9 miles in something like 10 years when the cross country team used to haul ass from the highest point in the county [the high school] to almost the lowest [in a van down by the river]. I did it today though. And my legs friggin’ hurt. I think I’m pretty well cardio-vasculared [...]

So I was a jackass and didn’t run today. I had a three mile run scheduled but the motivation just wasn’t there, my calves are still pretty knotty and it was bitchass cold out. I’ve got more excuses than Wrigley has chewing gum, but I’m hoping that this tactical day off will let me do [...]

Well, it is definitely the cold air that makes my right knee wig out. Today was the first really cold day I’ve had to run in since the last time my knee hurt, and it started hurting again. I don’t understand why it is my right knee though. The left one is the one that [...]

Tuesdays will be three mile runs for the next forever. My times are improving, however. I’m not sure if it has to do with the new tires or if my body fully readjusted back into training mode. In any case, I did my three miles yesterday at my average time during high school and I [...]

I bought new shoes today, New Balance 808 Trail Shoes from Dick’s Sporting Goods. The 808s are last year’s model, and since the 809s just came out I got $35 dollars off the price of the 808s. New shoes are an important purchase, and it is incredibly hard to find good shoes when you have [...]

Today was a perfect day for running. I did my three mile workout in good time and then made myself a bowl of sausage and vegetable soup and a quart-sized smoothie. One smoothie for me fills up the whole blender, but the fat-free yogurt is just the sort of protein I need after a good [...]

My run happened a bit later than usual today because a buddy needed hauled out to Fairview Park to pick up his car. Despite the later running time, my gear was still wet from the rain the day before. That meant I was going to have to run in the craptacular cold in wet clothing. [...]

My knee doesn’t hurt anymore! I put in my three miles in good time with nary a twinge. Unfortunately, the Cleveland weather has sorted itself out and settled on the expected: nice weather on days I don’t have to run, rain, snow, ice, and cold on the days I do have to run. Motivation becomes [...]

Today was like running the gauntlet, wind, ice and suburban soccer moms doing kerb-checks in their Ford Planet-Eaters while making their weekly trip to the West Side Market. I had a seven mile run, but only completed four and change; the grillionth time I almost died from a wind gust pushing me off a bridge [...]

In which Adam talks about finding people to run with.

In which our hero talks about yet another three mile run.

In which Adam relates his ninth day of running and talks about a stray dog.

Today I had a 6-mile run, the first long run of my training session. I ran an average of 8:30 per mile which is pretty good considering I had to stop a few times to rest my right knee. I don’t know what is going on with that. I think it might be a pinched [...]

In which Adam talks about his quadricep.

In which our hero battles lactic acid.

Today was the second day of my training for the 2006 Cleveland Marathon. I didn’t write about the first day because the first day was a day of rest. Jeff Schuler recommended Hal Higdon‘s training programs and I naturally selected the novice program to help me prepare. Here is a week by week look at [...]