Yeah, I'm still here.

Yeah, so, I haven't been so much for the running and exercising lately. It's not (entirely) intentional; I've had a busy couple of weeks. I have to take this class in New Brunswick twice a week after work, and I used most nights other than those to do homework for it, and that's going to be going on for the next 4 weeks. I have not been getting out anywhere near as much as I hoped, but I tried to make up for it the past few days with the great weather we had here.

Beth said Chicago had crummy weather all weekend. I say she was just looking for an excuse out.

Since my last post up to this past weekend, I think the only exercise I did was 6 miles at the gym, so after basically doing nothing for a couple weeks (although more than Beth if I had to guess), and with the temperature in the high 70s to low 90s (yes, 90s) all weekend, I went to make up for it. Saturday I circled around Lake Success. My goal when I went was 5 or 6 miles, but after about 3 and a half I ran into my grandmother (not literally) and stopped to chat for a minute, and when I started up again I got that stitch in my right abdomen and it kept me from going past four.

Here's my question: what's with runners not acknowledging other runners' existence when they pass from opposite directions anymore? It used to be that there would be a little nod or maybe a hand raise, creating some sort of a silent "yeah, I'm feeling it too...keep it up" moment between the two of you. Nobody does it anymore, at least not around Great Neck. It's a shame. Camaraderie is a positive motivator.

Sunday I took the bicycle out for the first time this year and rode up the path next to the Cross Island Parkway for the first time. There's a jetty at the end (a bunch of rocks jutting out into the water) so I sat down on that for a little while and then headed back. Great view of the Throgs Neck Bridge. It was 10.14 miles round trip, with an average speed of 12.2 mph and a top speed of 22.3.

Tonight when I got back from work I put my running shoes and went out to try that 5 to 6 miles thing again, because it worked so well the first time (see above). I started running up Bayside through Great Neck Estates. I've always made a right on Cedar, but today I went further north to Old Mill (or "Temple Row," if you prefer) and then came back down Middle Neck. I kept an eye on my pace the whole time but I took the distance information off the screen, so I didn't know how far I had gone, but when I was getting close to home I figured I had to be at about 5.5. I was close....I was already up to 4.25. Clearly I had my work cut out for me. I did the one mile loop near my house that I used to do all the time with a few twists and ended up finishing with...6.5 miles done. New longest distance this year. I finished in 1:03:35, a 9:47 pace (6.1 mph). I have to say, I was very pleased with that.

Then I went to get dinner, and right in line with the 1100 calories I burned running, I had...Wendy's. Yeah, it probably wasn't the best choice, but come on, you know you're thinking about a spicy chicken sandwich now.

Oh, I have a new pain. I was just barely starting to feel it when I got home from my run, now a couple hours later, it hurts a decent amount whenever I step with my left leg. It's on the outside of the top half of the leg. Dunno what it is, hopefully it's fine tomorrow.

I probably won't be posting much for the next month because of that class, but training (and fundraising) for Delaware starts only a month or two after that. In the meantime, don't get swine flu!