Monday 1/31/11

It seems like the lucky people of Cincinnati will barely miss the "end of the world" that is coming to the midwest. I am happy for The Weather Channel, they will be having a ball with all the coverage over the next couple days. We will be getting a bunch of freezing rain over the next two days though. Since I did not get a long run in this weekend I decided to do it today. I left the house and headed for Hyde Park Square, then took a left on Erie and ran all the way down to where it crosses Red Bank Exp. I verged to the right on Murray Rd. where I found a walking/biking path. That took me right into The Village of Mariemont (that is what the sign says). This is all part of the second half of the Flying Pig course. Mariemont is an awesome area, gorgeous homes, parks, and neighborhoods. I headed back the same way, but going back up Erie is pretty hard since 1.5 miles is uphill (it was nice going downhill on the way out). I took a left on Delta and went down to Mt. Lookout Square then back up Linwood to Observatory. I ran uphill to Madison Rd. where I hung a right, then hung another right back onto Erie which took me back to Hyde Park Square. I looped around back to Madison Rd. and ran down to Oakley Square and another mile loop through our neighborhood. In total the run was 14 miles (1:42:58-7:21 pace). Totaled 160 miles for the month of January, more miles than I ran in any month last year. I cooked a nice little dinner of baked ziti for the lady tonight, which I have to say was delicious! Good luck to everybody in St. Louis and other midwest towns, and be safe over the next couple days!

Sunday 1/30/11

I had planned on running long this morning, but that ended up not working out. It's a shame because it was sunny and got up to about 40 degrees, warmest day in quite a while. I will do my long run tomorrow instead, hopefully 13-14 miles. I see on facebook a lot of people in St. Louis are gearing up for a huge snowstorm and I am wondering if the same storm will be coming to Cincy this week. The forecast does not look too bad, but who knows. Carrie and I made chicken and dumplins tonight and it turned out really good! I am going to try to cook something new tomorrow since I am off work. I love not having to work Mondays!

Saturday 1/29/11

Long day at work without eating plus having beers with co-workers afterwards equals no running today. I was going to rest up for tomorrow morning's long run, but may be sleeping in now. Not much to write today. Sorry I didn't get to hang wih Carrie's friends at the house because I was out, but hopefully I will get to see them soon. Good week of running, totaled 40 miles in 5 days with two off days. I only hit 40 miles twice last year, hopefully it will be a minimum for the next couple months. Looking to increase it a little more next week, hopefully between 45-50 miles.

Friday 1/28/11

We got about 1-2 inches of snow last night, wasn't expecting that. Went out on a shorter 5 mile run around 11am before work. Ended up hitting a decent pace (34:56-6:59 pace). Splits were 7:27, 7:11, 7:05, 6:44, 6:26. I flet like I could have kept going at that pace for a couple more miles which is good. After work Carrie and I went to dinner with three friends Nicola, Michael, and Mary Beth at a place called Wildflower Cafe...quite possibly the best meal I have had in months! The appetizers, the entrees, the deserts and the drinks were all AMAZING! Word on the street is we will be getting the biggest snow storm of the year so far on Tuesday, so I am hoping for some good runs in the next couple days. Is spring around the corner???

Thursday 1/27/11

After a morning trip to Dunkin Donuts I decided to take a little drive and do some exploring. I ended up going through the Mt. Washington area and found a cool park called Woodland Mound close to the Ohio River. They even have an 18 hole disc golf course out there. Met Carrie for lunch at Noodles and Co. which was nice. This evening I had an awesome run. Headed to Mt. Airy Forest around 6:30pm to meet some people for a night trail run along pitch black snow covered trails. A headlamp was required for sure. I ran with a guy named Michael Rioux who is a very good ultramarathoner from what I gathered. I am not sure how far we ran, but it was for 48:13. I did wipe out about a mile into the run, but at least it wasn't on one of the many icy steep hills we were going up and down. Hopefully I get to meet up with this group more often and even hang out with them after the runs.

Wednesday 1/26/11

Headed into work a little early today. I did get to leave a little early, around 4:20pm and decided to take Montgomery Rd. all the way back home rather than I-71. I saw what looked like some really cool bars along the way including a place called Molly Malone's Irish Pub. I am thinking we may have to hit that up at some point. I decided to try a new route on my run tonight. Headed out around 5:30pm and went down Madison Rd. all the way to Red Bank Exp. Took a right there and ran to Erie Ave. where I took another right. I knew there was a long gradual uphill on this road, but I didn't know is was 1.5 miles long! The last mile some snow flurries started coming down...hopefully it won't snow tonight. In all I did 7 miles in 52:01 (7:26 pace). I'm hoping to get some quality running in tomorrow, we'll see how it goes!

Tuesday 1/25/11

The last two days must have worn me out because I slept 11 hours last night. Headed into work an hour early today and stayed until 9:00pm. Had our training team run tonight which means we probably will stay open a little later. I took today off from running because the legs are hurting a little after 23.2 miles in the past two days. I decided today I am probably not going to run the Heart Mini Marathon 15k on March 20th. Instead on March 27th I am going to run the Fool's 25k Trail Race up near Cleveland. I want to get a couple tastes of trail racing since I plan on doing a lot of it in the future. It was about 40 degrees today, crazy how that feels WARM now! I also bought tickets to see Guster on April 2nd, should be a good time. Haven't seen them since September 2007 at St. Louis University.

Monday 1/24/11

Woke up today, but I felt like I never really woke up. Watched the usual Sportscenter and CNN this morning before heading out to do some errands. I took a drive through some neighborhoods in Hyde Park that I have never been in and found some really cool places to run. I decided around 5pm to finally head out the door. Ran to Hyde Park Square then up Paxton towards Alpine (which I haven't done yet). When I say up Paxton, I mean UP. Once at the top of the huge hill there are some great views of the surrounding neighborhoods including Mt. Lookout Square. I then headed back up Grandin and down a private drive which lead to an amazing view of the Ohio River and downtown Cincinnati. Ended up doing 7.2 miles in 57:33 (8:00 pace). I have to say I am now officially tired of snow, and not really because of the snow itself. It is annoying trying to run on sidewalks when people do not even attempt to shovel or salt them. I am just assuming it will pay off when it warms up. Here are a couple pictures I have taken of the places around where we live, which is where I do most of my running.

Coffee Emporium on Erie Ave. Possibly the coolest coffee shop ever.

Mt. Lookout Square

Hyde Park Square

Country Day High School (looks like a small college)

Remember the movie Traffic? This was Michael Douglas's house in that flick.

Sunday 1/23/11

By the time the crew left last night and we got to bed it was close to 1:00am. Woke up at 6:00am this morning to meet a group of 15 people for a run. The windchill was about 10 degrees, but for some reason it didn't feel too cold. I ran with Mike Fry from the Coffee Emporium on Erie Ave all the way to Eden Park and back for a total of 10 miles (1:17:17-7:43 pace). Very hilly route, but a lot of fun. We must have seen 50-60 people out running over the course of our jaunt. Got back home, woke Carrie up and we headed to Dunkin Donuts for some grub. Ended up taking a nap of about 90 minutes then got ready to run with Mr. Chad Lich who was driving in from St. Louis for work. We headed out for a nice 6 miler (55:14-9:12 pace) around Oakley, Mt. Lookout, and Hyde Park. Good to see him again, great inspirational guy. Carrie and I then headed over to her cousin's house to watch the Steelers beat the Jets and go back to the Super Bowl. I am afraid of what might have happened if the Jets would have won...since I was with 5 die hard Steelers fans! Looking forward to the WARM temperature of 37 degrees tomorrow.

Saturday 1/22/11

Woke up at 7am because I had to work from 8am-4pm today. I have to say, not fun waking up when it is still dark and -5 degree windchill outside. Had a good day at work, not quite as busy as we would like though. When I got home I was asked if I would pick up a chocolate milkshake from United Dairy Farmers for Carrie. Being whipped like I am I did (also bought one for myself) and headed home. I then went on an easy, slippery, icy 3 mile run in 24:39. I almost fell again at the same intersection I fell on Thursday. We had Game Night tonight at our house which was a ton of fun with some great peeps. Wii Pictionary, good people, good food, and good booze always makes for a great night. Tomorrow is going to be a BUSY day with an early morning run with a new group (to me at least) then another run with a Fleet Feet St. Louis peep by the name of Chad Lich. Of course after that I will be with a bunch of Steelers fans watching the Steelers-Jets game in the evening. Thank goodness I have off Monday as well!

Friday 1/21/11

Woke this morning to the task of shoveling the back yard path, two sidewalks, and the front walkway. It was COLD! Had a busy day at work which ended with some really good news, then headed home around 6:00pm. Carrie and I immediately headed to Target and Kroger to pick up supplies for Game Night tomorrow which should be a ton of fun! I checked the temperature when we got back and the windchill was 1 degree...no way I was going running in that especially with all the snow and black ice out on the roads. Have to work early tomorrow, not looking forward to waking up on a cold Saturday morning. Oh well, have to pay bills right?

Thursday 1/20/11

Woke up to the beginning of a pretty bad snowstorm. I just bummed around the house since work was cancelled. Carrie's office closed at 1:00pm so everybody could beat the evning commute, so she came home and worked from here. I headed out for a run around 3:00pm, right in the middle of the worst part of the storm. I decided to do a different first mile through Oakley, then the usual route up near Ault Park, back down to Mt. Lookout Square, back up to Erie and Hyde Park Square, and back to the house. Total was 6 miles (47:08-7:51 pace). In the same conditions last week I did 5.5 miles at 8:17 pace, but felt WAY better today. Just past the first mile I made a right turn from Wasson Rd. onto Paxton Rd. I must have stepped on some ice and needless to say, I bit it pretty hard. Thank goodness the cars had a red light because I was laying right in the intersection. After the run I was craving a chocolate shake, so I headed to the United Dairy Farmers store. I picked up two shakes for Carrie and I along with some Sam Adams. Nothing like chocolate shakes and beer during a snowstorm! Here is a picture of our street after I finished my run with the side of the abode on the left side.

Wednesday 1/19/11

Worked until 3:00pm today then headed to Otto Armleder Park for my first speed workout in months. There are a lot of soccer fields in this park including three that are back to back to back. After a 2 mile warmup I marked a 400m distance across these fields and decided to run 10x400m with 90 seconds rest. There was a slight headwind going one way which made it a little easier running back the other way. I have to say, running 400's back and forth goes by a lot faster than on the track. The soft, wet grass hopefully will help develop some leg strength so later in the year when I get on the track I will be able to hit some solid workouts. My times were (1:23, 1:23, 1:25, 1:23, 1:23, 1:23, 1:25, 1:24, 1:25, 1:24). I jogged half a mile for a cooldown and headed home to an awesome dinner! The great white death is approaching again, supposed to snow about 6 inches tomorrow. It is wild how this city not only shuts down when it snows, but it pretty much shuts down the day before it snows. I may actually bust my snowshoes out tomorrow and go on a little jog in them at Ault Park. Time to watch American Idol...sooooo excited, and by excited I mean it is going to be horrible.

Monday 1/18/11

Woke up this morning to my right calf hurting so bad I could barely walk. I decided not to run today and make sure I get it better for the rest of the week. It felt better as the day went on which is good. I went to get a much needed haicut before work today and I must say, it was an experience. I always tell the person that is cutting my hair I would just like it trimmed and to make it look nice...I trust you. Well lucky me, I get the girl who I don't think has ever cut hair. She asked me at least three different questions all more than once. She was also trying to make small talk which was a bad idea since she was obviously not good at it. I usually enjoy talking to people I don't know, but all I was thinking was "I wish you would shut up and focus on cutting my hair, since you don't know what you are doing." After work Carrie and I were supposed to meet some people from her work up on Mt. Adams, but that fell through since I didn't leave work until 9:00pm. I went to Wendy's to pick us up some grub, my first time eating fast food in 2011. Oh well, I will just try and run it off tomorrow.

Monday 1/17/11

Decided to run at a new location today, Otto Armleder Memorial Park. The reasoning is that the entire run would be on soft grass to make it easier on my shins and legs. Covered 5 miles in 37:49 (7:33 pace). One loop around the park is about 2.3 miles. There is a pretty cool dog park there which was crowded today since a lot of people were off work for MLK Day. After dinner Carrie and I drove over the river to Kentucky to a place called The Party Source. This may be one of the greatest stores I have ever been to...all the beer and wine you could ever ask for! We ended up getting $90 worth of booze for a game night we are hosting this coming saturday. Sadly for some of the beer, it won't make it as far as saturday. Here is a photo of Otto Armleder Memorial Park today right after my run, will probably spend a lot of time there in the next couple weeks.

Sunday 1/16/11

Woke up this morning in our new king size bed, and it was GREAT! It is like we each have our own zip code. Downed a couple cups of coffee, watched some silly TV shows then headed to the Little Miami River Trail where I was hoping the snow from this past week would be melted. Instead the snow had frozen and turned to ice...awesome. I still did my planned 11 miles, but only in 1:22:02 (7:28 pace). The footing was horrible, but hopefully when the weather gets better these runs will be MUCH faster. The new shoes/new CEP socks/2 days off seemed to have helped my shins a ton. After the run I took a detour through some really cool neighborhoods up to a place called Alms Park. This will be a great run with lots of hills and a gorgeous view of the Ohio River valley. The weather tomorrow is supposed to be horrible so I may try this run. As for football, I am PUMPED that Atlanta was killed by Green Bay. I can't stand the Falcons. Hopefully the Jets can pull this win out against the Patriots...21-11 good guys right now!

Saturday 1/15/11

Just got home from work to Carrie drinking beer, watching the Steelers-Ravens game and screaming at the TV...pretty funny. I took my second day in a row off from running, but can't wait to do my second long run tomorrow. I am going to go back to the Little Miami River Trail and see if I can run 11 miles at a little faster pace than my 10 miler there last week. I also get to test out my new kicks and CEP compression socks, EXCITING STUFF! We watched The Social Network last night and I was surprised by how good a movie it was. Of course it will annoy you that a dorky kid became the youngest billionare because of a website everybody who is reading this is currently on. Anybody who hasn't seen it should check it out. Something else everybody should check out is my friend Mike Burke's running log at http://ondirtandrock.blogspot.com/ We met back in 2003 while running on the Kim Williams trail in Missoula, MT and trained together while I lived out in Portland, OR. He is training for some pretty awesome trail ultramarathons this year, pretty cool stuff. He has some pretty cool photos on there as well. H ere is a photo I took of Carrie right when the Steelers scored a TD.

Friday 1/14/11

Today was my first day off from running since December 27th. I purchased some different compression socks that will hopefully work better than Zensah, and also bought a pair of my trusty Nike Structure Triax. Hopefully this will help the shins a little. When I got home from work Carrie and I went out to eat at an Indian restaurant. I must say even though the food looked like puke, it did taste pretty good. We headed to Target afterwards to buy Wii Pictionary and our first blu-ray movie, The Social Network. I am interested to see how good it is. Looking forward to the arrival of our new king size bed tomorrow! Somebody takes up WAY too much room in the bed, and it isn't me. :-)

Thursday 1/13/11

Good to be back at work today after a snowy 2 days off. Went on a night run at 7:00pm, about 23 degrees out. Did 5 miles in a slow 40:52 because my shins were throbbing, almost walked the last mile. I think after 17 straight days of running I am going to take a day or two off. I also think I need to go back to my trusty Nike Structure Triax's, but of course we don't have my size in stock right now. It was fun seeing a group of about 25 runners out on the streets. I think it was a training group from The Running Spot which is one of our big competitors. After the run and dinner I played a little Mario Kart, kind of weird with the wii steering wheels! I am used to the old Nintendo 64 controls.

Wednesday 1/12/11

I made a very exciting discovery on my run this afternoon...a place to pee! In St. Louis there was a place to do this on every run, but through these neighborhoods there are no places to go. I can not disclose this place though since it is not a public restroom. Anyway, I had a snow run for the second day in a row of 6.5 miles (51:39-7:57 pace). Windchill was about 18 degrees, colder than I thought it was supposed to be today. Afterwards I headed to Kroger for supplies to make chili tonight. It was delicious! Obama's speech in Arizona tonight was pretty intense, hopefully everybody had a chance to watch it. It's horrible what happened and the heroism of the everyday people who were involved in saving lives is amazing...ordinary people put in extraordinary situations. Very moving.

Tuesday 1/11/11

Woke up to a nice snowstorm this morning. I was supposed to go in to work at 2pm, but that got cancelled. This city pretty much shuts down when it snows just a couple inches. I am guessing we got about 4 inches today. Around noon I headed out for my run in ankle deep snow on the sidewalks of the neighborhoods. I again did the normal loop of Hyde Park, Mt. Lookout and Oakley Squares. The snow made the run really tough, especially since it was still coming down pretty hard while I was out there. Did 5.5 miles in 45:32-8:17 pace. As soon as I got back I went to shoveling the sidewalk at the house. Days like today it is not good to live on a corner...twice the sidewalks to shovel! Finished up season 3 of True Blood tonight, time to finish up season 3 of The Sopranos. On a sidenote, Carrie and I just booked a vacation for May 18th-22nd, our first vacation by ourselves! Can't wait!

Monday 1/10/11

Finished up at work today at 3pm and headed back to Little Miami River Trail for the same tempo run as last week. It was still fairly slick with snow and ice, but not too bad. Ran out 3 miles very easy in 24 min and came back in 19:26 (mile splits were 6:33, 6:27, 6:24). A massive snowstorm is suppose to start sometime tonight and continue into tomorrow night. I figured this would be the only chance for a quality run this week. Time to watch the SEC continue college football dominance! This national championship game is going to be great! I even have a t-shirt from a cross country meet I ran in 2000 while at LSU, the Auburn Inv. that I am wearing. Go Auburn! (It kind of hurts the soul to say that)

Sunday 1/9/11

Slept in today until 9am, went to Bed Bath and Beyond (a certain quote from Old School was said) and then headed out for a run at a new location: The Little Miami River Scenic Trail. It is a 78 mile paved path where a railroad used to be. I did an out and back 10 miler in 1:13:52 (7:23 pace). There was a thin layer of snow on the path which made the pace a bit slower, but it was much easier on the shins. Went to dinner at a sports bar in Loveland with Carrie's aunt, uncle and cousins. On a side note it is kind of crazy that the only wildcard game in which the home team won was the Saints-Seahawks game. Awesome.

Saturday 1/8/11

Worked my first weekend day today at Fleet Feet Cincinnati from 9am-3pm. It was fun, very busy. I found out that the Bengals coach Marvin Lewis shops with us quite a bit which is pretty cool. After work I headed out for a 5.4 mile run (40:57-7:35 pace). It was 21 degrees with a windchill of 9 degrees. I think the Asics storm shelter jacket is the best piece of running apparel I have ever owned. Totaled 38 miles for the week, good first week of buildup for the marathon. I'm hoping to get get the mileage up a little more this week, but we are supposed to get a big snowstorm on Tuesday. I was pretty excited about the Saints playoff game today since we were playing a team that was 7-9. That didn't turn out well. The fact that we were missing our top two running backs, starting linebacker, and our best defensive back showed why our defense was horrible and Brees threw 60 passes. We went over to Carrie's friends from college Bryan and Deanna's house for dinner (which was delicious) and beers this evening. Since the Saints are out I am required to pull for the Steelers, which is cool because I actually do like the Steelers. I am just ready for college football to start next year!

1/7/11

Had work from 11am-5pm today, so when I woke up at 7:45am I had to decide if I was going to run before work, or drink a pot of coffee. Pot of coffee won. Around 1pm while at work I noticed it was snowing pretty hard outside. Nobody at work knew it was supposed to snow today, and it didn't let up until later in the evening. I learned on my way home how horrible drivers are in Cincinnati when it snows. I mean come on...I am from New Orleans and I can drive better in this stuff than the people that were on Kenwood Rd. and I-71 today! I got home to Carrie shoveling the sidewalk which was nice because I wanted to get my run in and still have time for dinner before the LSU game. Ran a slippery, conservative, snowy 4.2 mile run in 33:43. I hit up the usual spots on the run: Oakley, Hyde Park, and Mt. Lookout Squares. I actually saw 4 other people out running which was kinda cool. LSU looked pretty bad in the 1st quarter, but are winning in the 3rd quarter 35-17 right now and looking good. If I know these Tigers though, they will find a way to make it interesting by the end. Time for another beer! (testing out a Dundee IPA...pretty good)

Thursday 1/6/11

First thing this morning (and by first thing I mean 11:00am) I had to go take an exam for a life insurance policy. They asked me a bunch of questions, checked my blood pressure, took a urine sample, and took two tubes of blood from my arm. About 2 hours later I headed out for a run...not a good idea. I made it 2.6 miles at 8:00 pace and struggled to do that. I couldn't lift my left and was lightheaded the whole time. I guess blood is important or something. Worked from 3pm-8:30pm and had a pretty good time. Everybody at Fleet Feet Cincy is VERY laid back and I seem to be clicking really well with them. When I got home Carrie was watching the Miami (of Ohio) bowl game, her alma mater....or so I thought. She was actually playing Angry Birds on her phone. Big weekend coming up...LSU-Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl tomorrow night and Saints-Seahawks Saturday evening! Geaux Tigers and Who Dat!

Wednesday 1/5/11

I had off work today so I woke up around 7:45am and drank a pot of coffee while watching Sportscenter and CNN...not a bad morning at all. I took about an hour and drove around some parts of town scoping out some places to run, but sadly the places I drove ended up being pretty ghetto. Later in the afternoon I headed out for my first long run of the year. I ran about 5 miles of the Flying Pig course then tacked on some more miles through the neighborhoods around the house. About 3 miles in I passed a couple thugged out high school kids. They yelled some stupid comments at me as I passed them from behind and I blew it off. I turned around about a mile later and  came up on them. Let's just say I scared them a little with some comments of my own. No respect for runners. Ended up running 9 miles in 1:07:07-7:27 pace. You know you are getting used to colder weather when it is 34 degrees and there is no need for gloves or a hat.

Tuesday 1/4/11

Woke up today and didn't do too much. Headed to the grocery for some supplies then went out for a run around 1pm. Decided to try a sort of tempo run since I haven't gone under 7:00 pace in forever. Have to start somewhere right? I did 6 miles: first 3 miles easy and second 3 miles a little faster. Splits were 7:42, 7:42, 7:30, 6:38, 6:28, 6:42. It felt really good until the last half mile which was straight into a headwind. Next week if the weather is ok I may head to a track for a workout. At work this evening we had our first half-marathon/marathon training run for Flying Pig. I am guessing we had about 80 people there which made it pretty fun. I won't find out what group or distance I will be coaching until this coming week most likely. Time to watch the second half of the Sugar Bowl...hopefully Arkansas can comeback to take down this Big Ten team!

Monday, 1/3/11

Today was my first day working at Fleet Feet Cincinnati. It was short, 11am-3pm. Had to fill out paperwork, then shadowed the store manager Meredith while she was fitting some people. It was crazy busy the whole time which is good. I do better in a busier setting. One crazy thing happened: Jeremy, Katie and I were talking with the guy who delivers water to the store, and he told us how he was headed up to Washington D.C. this week because his brother is John Boehner who is being sworn in as the new Speaker of the House!!! Crazy! After work I headed out on a 6.3 mile run (47:45-7:35 pace) from the house through Oakley Square, Mt. Lookout Square, and Hyde Park Square. One thing about running through these areas, it is NEVER flat. Just chilled with the lady this evening, grilled some fish and asparagus, made some couscous and steamed some carrots. Trying to eat healthier and drop some weight before Flying Pig!

Sunday 1/2/11

It has been great weather the past 2 days (50-55 degrees), but a cold front decided to come through last night. I headed out for a run at 11:30am on a beautiful day...only bad part is that it was 28 degrees with a windchill of 18 degrees. I planned on doing 7-8 miles, but I felt horrible from the beginning. Ended up running 4.5 miles in 33:39-7:28 pace. I did run down a new road called Grandin. There were some huge mansions, a nice golf course, and a nice view of the Ohio River which made the run bearable. The Saints lost today, but it didn't matter since they will be the #5 seed and playing at either St. Louis or Seattle in the wildcard. I start the new job (doing the same thing as when I was in St. Louis) tomorrow!

Saturday, 1/1/11

Pretty laid back New Year's for the second straight year which is nice. Headed out for and out and back 5 miler (36:48-7:21 pace) from the house down Madison Rd. towards downtown through O'Bryonville. It is mostly uphill on the way out and downhill heading back. This will be a great morning/second run of the day route. Headed to Carrie's aunt and uncle's house for dinner this evening then watched the Winter Classic. Hard to believe we were at that stadium watching the Steelers-Panthers game just 9 days ago!