Days of the Phoenix

Mike MacLellan wrote:Jim - 7:20ish. 

Writing this from the junction of I-76 and I-80. 1260mi down, ~1500 to go. Have run 14mi Hahahaha. Long trip report forthcoming.

Nice!

I guess he's noticed how gas prices have dropped.

I really hope he used his Garmin to track this trip... that sort of data is vital to a quality race trip report.

Dunno, but he will be here in an hour or so and get a taste of RURAL western NY - might shock his system to know that not all of NY is the city.

Michele \"1L" Keane wrote:Dunno, but he will be here in an hour or so and get a taste of RURAL western NY - might shock his system to know that not all of NY is the city.

And the Prodigal Son returns.  

Despite Michele's warnings, NY was actually a nice change from Chicago - sorry, Chicagoans - which neither of us felt particularly affectionate towards. Chautauqua was reminiscent of Americana childhood summers, which we both enjoyed. 

We arrived at Kevin's last night, had a fun dinner at a Salvadoran place he suggested, and came back for drinks and a chat. Ran 5.1mi in Rock Creek this morning. The apartment search begins in earnest on Monday, as most places are closed on weekends. 

No Garmin data for the drive, Mark. I'm not THAT neurotic.

 I'm a huge goob in this picture.  Was definitely feeling better about life after spending a day hanging out.

Mike MacLellan wrote:  I'm a huge goob in this picture.

Oh, look! Here I am. Not saying anything. Nope! Not me. Not anything at all.

(Great shot, BTW. Glad you two got to meet up with 1L!)

Mark B wrote:

Mike MacLellan wrote:  I'm a huge goob in this picture.

Oh, look! Here I am. Not saying anything. Nope! Not me. Not anything at all.

(Great shot, BTW. Glad you two got to meet up with 1L!)

+1
What a nice way to show leadership by Mark.

Bullies.

12mi on Rock Creek/down to the Basin today.  Got lost trying to get down to the trail and spent a couple miles wandering through Georgetown, but eventually I made it there.  Tried to pull it down to MP, but after a couple miles, it was obvious that the travel + cold picked up during travel weren't going to allow that.  A somewhat rough run overall, but hey, we're still in transition.  

Busy day apartment hunting and hopefully getting an application in tomorrow.

Busy indeed, and we may have good news soon.

5.5mi heading up Rock Creek towards the trails.  Immediately rolled my ankle on some roots (after taking the "strenuous" path) and later ran into some hills, some nearly impassable terrain, etc.  Kind of cool, kind of obnoxious.  Might have to get Kevin to show me around.

Good luck on the apt search and try not to get injured until you do. 

Try not to get injured until I'm injured?  I'll do my best

We put an application in late last night.  Fingers crossed.  We have a very sure back-up if this one doesn't work out.  Knock on wood.  

8mi in a downpour this morning.  It decided to start raining - very hard - the minute I started and didn't let up until... now, ish.  So, I was the lone, soggy, crazy-eyed dude on the path.  At least it was in the 70s, so the run was actually rather pleasant.  

Running with Kevin and Chris on Thursday - maybe I'll learn how NOT to trip on stuff.

Mike MacLellan wrote:Try not to get injured until I'm injured?  I'll do my best

We put an application in late last night.  Fingers crossed.  We have a very sure back-up if this one doesn't work out.  Knock on wood.  

8mi in a downpour this morning.  It decided to start raining - very hard - the minute I started and didn't let up until... now, ish.  So, I was the lone, soggy, crazy-eyed dude on the path.  At least it was in the 70s, so the run was actually rather pleasant.  

Running with Kevin and Chris on Thursday - maybe I'll learn how NOT to trip on stuff.

Be careful, Chris might push you down like he did with me.  

Ha!  I'll have to ask him about that tomorrow morning.  

No word on the application, and I even e-mailed the guy.  Maybe a bit antsy.  

6.75mi recovery this morning.  Legs felt a little flimsy, but I also realized I haven't been eating nearly as much as normal the past couple weeks.  My shorts even fit looser.

"I did not push him!" - Chris McKee.  You'll have to duke this one out with him, Jim.   He did laugh, though.

10.2mi with the two of them, Aileen joining us for 3 before breaking off to finish with 5.  Really pleasant, beautiful day today.  Kevin guided us through "the most beautiful street in DC" (Ross Dr NW), and proceeded to put in a little dig for the last .5mi - maybe that was because I said that Chris looked the best out of all of us, despite only being prepared for 4-5mi.  

Unfortunately, it looks like DC August will be returning this weekend and hanging around.  Oh well, it was nice while it lasted.

At least you got cool weather to run with them. Those 2 know some really nice places to run out there.

Yeah they do.  We got Kevin talking about 20-milers and I think I may have signed up for a death run earlier than expected.  Chris said that once/if we move to VA, he has plenty to show us.

Speaking of, we put our deposit in yesterday, so I guess we have a place to live!  We may have to deal with painters for a couple days, but it'll be nice to have a permanent address.  We pick a move-in date next Monday.  

4mi recovery this morning.  Too nice of a day not to run, too much free time to justify sitting around ALL day.  It's going to get stupid (high humidity, high dew point, high temps) starting tomorrow through next week.

Mike MacLellan wrote:Yeah they do.  We got Kevin talking about 20-milers and I think I may have signed up for a death run earlier than expected.  Chris said that once/if we move to VA, he has plenty to show us.

Speaking of, we put our deposit in yesterday, so I guess we have a place to live!  We may have to deal with painters for a couple days, but it'll be nice to have a permanent address.  We pick a move-in date next Monday.  

4mi recovery this morning.  Too nice of a day not to run, too much free time to justify sitting around ALL day.  It's going to get stupid (high humidity, high dew point, high temps) starting tomorrow through next week.

We have a lot of stupid down here, too.    Ask them if you need to do any basic hurricane prep (water, canned food, flashlights, etc.).

Heat, humidity, hurricanes...  Why did I move again?  Oh, right, adventure!  But in all seriousness, DC is starting to settle in, day by day.  

I'm trying to make more of an effort to switch over to eastern time, since I seem to be stuck somewhere in the middle of the country (waking up around 7:30-8am lately instead of my "usual" 6-6:30).  Today's alarm at 6:30 wasn't exactly welcomed, but it wasn't too terrible.  But considering work will be starting soon and I'll be needing to leave the house early...  Adulthood!  

An upside of earlier mornings is a little cooler weather, which made today's 9mi tempo run feel much easier than it could have.  After a 3mi warm-up, went for 1.75mi, 1.5mi, and 1.5mi, each with a .5mi recovery interval.  My legs weren't what I'd call "smooth," but I was never gutting it out until the very end of the last one, which is the hill leading to Kevin's house (.5mi @ ~5-6%).  I might regret the enthusiasm on tomorrow's long run, but I had to take advantage of finally feeling relatively normal again.

Mike MacLellan wrote:Heat, humidity, hurricanes...  Why did I move again?  Oh, right, adventure!  But in all seriousness, DC is starting to settle in, day by day.  

I loved visiting DC when my son was living there but I could never live there!  He lived on the corner of Connecticut and Tilden...I think I have the streets right.  It was very close to the zoo and Rock Creek Park so we spent a lot of time there.  There was a fantastic pizza place a few blocks from his house...on Connecticut heading away from town...I don't know my directions back there.

I'm going to have to start showing up here again!  Sorry I've been MIA for a few months.  Running with Mike and Kevin is the perfect thing to boost enthusiasm for all things running.  Great seeing them and catching up.  I'm in any day for a repeat run.  Cool that Mike and Aileen will be our neighbors now and Kevin and I will be pulling Mike into lots more long runs and local races soon.  Check out the first 5 routes on the attached link.  We will literally cover EVERY mile (Ok, not ALL of the C&O one out to Cumberland...) of these rail trails during upcoming runs.   And we need to take the two of them out to the same place we took Jim out near my house (the off road trails by the Potomac River in Great Falls Park).  So many routes to run - we best get to it!

http://bikewashington.org/trails/index.htm

Nancy - We almost rented a place about a mile up Connecticut from your son's.  But it was a bit far from everything, despite being a great, quiet neighborhood.  Was the pizza place 2Amys, by chance?  Seems to be the favorite of many locals here.

Chris - You underestimate me if you think I haven't already mapped out 5-6 different loops utilizing every trail within running distance of my new place.   I actually found that site a few months ago when we first committed to moving here; very cool.  There's a free fold-out map available on one of the DC-funded cycling websites, which I plan on getting.  All that said, local knowledge is always welcome, so I'll be holding you to all your promises.  If I'm not mistaken, the Great Falls area is the location of The North Face Endurance Challenge 50-miler in April.  Aileen won't let me run it, haha.

---

18mi today, and it went as well as it could have.  Reminded myself early to take it easy for the first 5 or so and to mentally break it into 3-mile segments.  The first 3 were to be effortless (and they were), the next 3 still very easy (again, they were), and the last 12 at whatever effort felt right.  After a pit-stop at mile 6.5, I felt like I could give a bit more, so miles 7-12 became an impromptu "sorta-easy" effort (~8:10-8:00 pace).  I noticed my hamstrings starting to tighten up, which was a little worrying since I hadn't done 18 in over TWO YEARS, so I made sure to back off for 13 & 14.  At this point, I figured a fast-finish was in order, since things felt good and smooth and the gel I took at 9 was finally kicking in.  15-17 were at GA effort, ~7:40 pace, with a short steep hill to finish the interval before a mile cool down back to the house.  

The legs are definitely coming around for peaking time, so I'm excited to see what the next month brings.

Chris M wrote:I'm going to have to start showing up here again!  Sorry I've been MIA for a few months.  Running with Mike and Kevin is the perfect thing to boost enthusiasm for all things running.  Great seeing them and catching up.  I'm in any day for a repeat run.  Cool that Mike and Aileen will be our neighbors now and Kevin and I will be pulling Mike into lots more long runs and local races soon.  Check out the first 5 routes on the attached link.  We will literally cover EVERY mile (Ok, not ALL of the C&O one out to Cumberland...) of these rail trails during upcoming runs.   And we need to take the two of them out to the same place we took Jim out near my house (the off road trails by the Potomac River in Great Falls Park).  So many routes to run - we best get to it!

http://bikewashington.org/trails/index.htm

Yeah.  I told Mike and Aileen to run that Vienna Turkey Trot.  It had to be one of, if not the, hilliest 10K I've ever run including many a hilly course in GA.  Now don't beat each other up too much.