Skip to main content

More Interesting Than Your Normal Run

Running gets pretty boring. Especially running by yourself. But every once in a while, you get a run that's just...special. Transcendent, I guess? I'm trying to think of how to describe a good run without being over-the-top.

You get to see things - lots of things - that people don't often see, experience, or appreciate...and all in one hour. Today I ran, from Oakley, to Ault Park, west along Eastern to Columbia Tusculum, and then back up Delta/Linwood through Mt. Lookout. Some of the people/things I saw:
  • My girlfriend's older sister...or, she saw me. I accidentally looked like I was avoiding her (but I promise I wasn't!). Awkward turtle...
  • A pit bull with a biker gang. I was fully prepared to hop on top of a minivan if the dog (or bikers) came after me.
  • The sun setting behind golden-red hills east of Downtown.
  • A cyclist and a driver discussing Lance Armstrong's innocence. How do I know they were talking about Lance? Cyclist: "The guy's never tested positive..." I had to resist the temptation not to yell out, "Lance is innocent!" as I ran by. Again, awkward turtle...
  • Another guy running in the Chicago Marathon 2012 t-shirt. As I wore my Chicago 2011 shirt.
  • A guy rocking out on a steel drum. In October (almost November)? In Hyde Park?
Anyway, it was one of those good runs that just makes you happy to be running.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Base Training the Lydiard Way

This is a post I've been meaning to write for a while, but just haven't really gotten around to it. This is for anyone using the summer to gear up for a fall season of racing, whether that's a marathon, road races, or cross country. That said, this is especially for you high school and college athletes. Summer is the most important time of the season. It's when you build your base -- everything that's to come later in the fall is determined by the quality of this base. In fact, some might even say that your end-of-season peak is limited by how well you trained over the summer. Arthur Lydiard believed this. And his philosophies still form the foundation of modern-day distance training. You've probably heard (and maybe internalized) many of the common critiques of Lydiard-style training: it's old and outdated , or it's too hard, or, most common, it's just a lot of long slow distance. And low slow distance makes for long slow runners . The lat...
2 comments
Read more

Why I Love Running At Withrow

One of my favorite places to do workouts and strides and general fast stuff is the track at Withrow High School in Hyde Park. No, it's not because of the newly renovated surface. No, it's not because it's a perfect 10-minute warmup and cooldown jog from my house. No, it's not because I'm a nerd and it has markings for both a 1600 and a mile. No, it's not because the school building forms a perfect "L" around the homestretch and first turn, sheltering the field from any drastic wind. No, it's not because I spent four years during college running workouts there. Actually, wait, that is part of it. The reason I love Withrow's track so much can be summed up like this: it's a true public track. If you've ever been to the track, then you know how packed it can get with people using it. And it's not just Withrow High School teams and random individuals -- the track is also regularly used by many other local high schools witho...
1 comment
Read more

Indy Monumental HM Race Recap; Or, I'm Going to the Trials!

Hey blogosphere, sorry for the month-long hiatus. I got a little-stitious in the lead up to Indy Monumental and was worried that I was doing a little too much talking (well, writing) and not enough training. This is the race report I posted on reddit recapping the race, so I thought I'd re-post it here as well. Hey reddit! I'm mostly a lurker here, but I raced Saturday morning in Indianapolis and wanted to share. The TL;DR: I ran 1:04:33 for the half marathon, which qualifies me for the US Olympic Marathon Trials in LA this February. I also got 3rd overall, which was pretty cool, too. So anyway, here goes... But first, a shout-out to the staff at Monumental Those guys know how to put on a top-notch race. It's so refreshing to here the rhetoric coming out of the organization that says, "we're trying to be a professional event; we understand that most people want a fun event, but we also understand that some people want to come and  race  the damn thing; we...
3 comments
Read more