Longest run yet

Does 4.5 miles qualify as a long, slow distance run? Well, if I'm running it, it's certainly slow and it felt long.

Our Dog Day's run this morning was the last Saturday morning run for the summer and as is tradition, it was the longest run for the summer session too. I showed up for the 7 a.m. run because I wanted to get back home to the family before the morning was shot.

Due to the construction on Kasold (where I used to live, it's a real mess that I'm glad to be away from), we had to run down St. Andrews instead of Kasold, this added a half a mile or so to the total distance. On St. Andrews I saw my old neighbors Bob and Barbara and said hello. They were surprised to see me.

The run went well for the most part. I ran until about the 2.2 mile mark including several nice hills and then I walked for one minute and then ran for five more and Gallowalked the rest of the way trying to stick with five minutes of running followed by one minute of walking. I finished the 4.5 mile course in 50:07 which I was pleased with. At the 48 minute mark I was close enough to the end that I tried to finish in under 50 minutes.

It's definitely time to recalibrate the foot pod. It shows the distance as 3.9 miles, but it may be partially off due to the walking. I'm going to put in a fresh battery and recalibrate it next week. Google Earth shows the distance as 4.5 miles and that's what Red Dog said it was this morning so that's good enough for me. It's probably a bit longer as I don't think Google Earth accounts for elevation changes.

Here's the route:And here's the graph:The dips in the blue line at the bottom show where I was walking. Check out the temperature from 84 at the end of mile one, to a high of 94 at mile three. And you can see elevation changes. Running these hills builds strength. According to the computer, I burned around 900 calories.

And here's something I didn't know, if you run four Saturday runs, you get a t-shirt! I wasn't sure if I'd run four, but I got in line anyway and tried to count how many Saturday runs I'd attended. Turns out it was five so I earned the shirt. Now I don't have the guns to wear it out and about, but it'll be nice for running on hot days.

I feel pretty good for having run 4.5 miles this morning. I have some soreness in my calves and upper thighs, but I took the girls out for a bike ride and then we went for a swim. This afternoon, bowling and tonight a cowboy party! Yahoo!

Las Vegas

On Sunday I'll be leaving for Las Vegas, Nevada to attend Black Hat Training. I've wanted to go to DEFCON for nearly a decade and though this isn't actually DEFCON, it's pretty close. I hope that next year I can extend my stay for the Black Hat Briefings and then in a couple years maybe catch part of DEFCON.

Old timers of DEFCON say it's not as cool as it used to be. Nothing ever is. But for those of us who are still on the outside of the fence looking in, it sounds like a great time.

I'm not thrilled with the idea of being in Las Vegas this time of the year. I know it's supposed to be hot, but surprisingly the weather forecast says it's going to be cooler there than it is here and they certainly have lower humidity.

I'd like to take in a couple runs while I'm there so I've been googling for Las Vegas and running and came across the web site for the Las Vegas Track Club and I was shocked to see that the heat index is lower than the actual temperature. I didn't know that was possible. As I write this, it's 106 degrees, but it only feels like 103.

I'll try and post while on the road and may even bring a camera to snap some pics. Don't know how much blackjack I'll get in this trip. I don't have much money I can throw away these days.

Need more sleep, less steep

No more caffeine for me after 12:00 noon. I could not get to sleep last night and my youngest was up at 4:25 a.m. so I was up at 4:25 a.m. I finally convinced her to go back to sleep and I was startled by my alarm an hour later. As I was leaving for Dog Days I saw her sitting up in her bed. She's passed out now, however, which is probably some sort of record for her sleeping late.

Football players were on scene today (Rock-Chalk Jayhawk let's go to another bowl game this year guys). As a result, we were doing our work outside the stadium. I was tired from lack of sleep and sore from all the other work outs this week. I probably should have stayed home and rested up for Saturday's four miler, but I need the points.

Here's the route:And here's the graph, yes there are two monster hills on this route:
I think it's time to recalibrate my foot pod. It gives the distance as 1.9 miles for the morning while Google Earth says it's closer to 2.2 miles and I'm not sure Google Earth accounts for the elevation changes.

Look ma, no training wheels!

Our oldest daughter has been working on learning to ride a bike for several months. At the end of April I we bought her a new bike with no training wheels because I thought she was ready. And she was. She was doing it, but her confidence was crushed by a crash and the training wheels went back on.

Time passed. She rode for the next several months with training wheels. I raised them up as high as they would go forcing her to wobble from side to side or balance. And balance she did. For weeks she rode round the cul-de-sac training wheels rarely touching the ground.

And last Friday morning on our way to school she said, "Daddy, when we get home from school can you take my training wheels off?"

"You bet," I said.

When we picked her up from school the first thing she said to me was, "Daddy, when we get home can you take the training wheels off my bike?"

"Yep," I said. And when we got home, the first thing I did was take her training wheels off. She hopped on and rode away without even asking me to hold the bike up. Amazing. And she started something. All the other kids on the block who were also riding with training wheels have since shed them and aside from the occasional collision they are all doing great.

Here's a video that proves it.

Seven sets o' stadium steps

The Dog Days abuse continues. Here are the graphs for today's work:We didn't leave the stadium. Can you guess what we did today? Look at the ups and downs on the altimeter? Those are stadium steps my friend, seven trips to the top of the first section.

Why we moved

Six years ago my wife and I moved out of a small house in a nice working class neighborhood. We'd had our first child six months earlier and were feeling cramped. When the sale sign went up in the yard I explained to our next door neighbor why we were moving. She laughed when I told her we needed more room and told me that there was once a couple that raised three daughters in that house.

We moved anyway. Our new house was on the other side of town on what I like to call the "butt crust" of Alvamar, a fancy neighborhood with a couple of golf courses. We were actually a few blocks away from the golf course and the only thing separating us from a four lane road with 20 thousand cars a day traveling by at 40 miles an hour was a frontage road.

Most of the people in the neighborhood were, well our next door neighbors were great. And honestly there were some great people up and down our block, but most of the people were older, retired and generally unfriendly. People would walk up and down our block and we'd say hi and get no response.

Again, our next door neighbors were wonderful people, very friendly and talkative. But they were older and their children were long gone. We were raising two girls in a neighborhood with no children and lots of traffic. We loved our house, but the location, not so much.

So we sold it and moved back across town to a smaller house that needs a bunch of work (anyone know anything about foundation repair or mud jacking?). Our new house is in an excellent location. It's in an older part of town, but it's not an old house. It's close to downtown which is nice for taking walks and bike rides. I've been pulling the kids to school by bicycle quite a bit since we moved. Our new house is on a cul-de-sac and there are tons of kids in the neighborhood. Now the scene in front of our house on a typical day looks like this:
It was a good move.

Team Geist

The morningDog Day's run looked like this:Can you even make out the route lines on here? I wish Google Earth (awesome tool, btw) would let you set the density of the path lines, but it doesn't. I suppose I could use another image manipulation tool to map the runs, but Google Earth actually tells me the mileage for the route and drawing the route twice would be too time consuming.

Google tells me the route was about 2.5 miles. I managed to cover that distance in 25:07. That works out to a pace of just under 10:03 per mile, just a few seconds faster than my pace during Heather's Run . Our course today was mostly flat, but not as flat as Heather's Run.

I did have to stop and walk the second half of the steep hill on this course, so that accounts for some of the slowness. Not that any portion of my run could be considered fast. But I'm ok with my speed. I'm still working on establishing a good distance base. I'll introduce speed play some time in August or September.

Here's the graphs for the day, finally temperature and altitude, just what you've been waiting for:Can you spot the hill?
And here's the distribution graph. Funny the Polar fitness test predicts my max heart rate is 172 bpm and yet the chart shows I maxed out at 180 bpm. If you've looked at previous distribution graphs I've posted, you may have noticed that I've previously maxed out above 220 bpm.

When I was first setting up the Polar and had to enter my "activity level" which is supposed to be based on one's average activity level during the previous six months, I calculated mine as being "low". I'm wondering if that was a bad idea. I'd already been running for a couple months. And the other thing I'm not sure about is whether or not the "activity level" value needs to be updated or if it is smart enough to update itself as time goes on and one continues to work out.

I nearly forgot to mention the best part of this morning's endeavor was finding this on my way home. Yes, it was in a very public space, not some kid's front yard. I'm low but not that low. I did consider that removing it from the very public space where I found it might not make some kid very happy today, but it was early in the morning and within an hour someone else was going to walk away with it, so why not me.

If you don't know, this is a TeamGeist Trainer football from this year's World Cup match. When I first rode by it, I was pretty excited, thinking it was the real thing. But it's not, it's a trainer. The real thing caused some controversy this year. It's the "roundest" football ever made and as such, many players found themselves able to put more English on the ball causing it to curve and dive as it would head to the goal. Goalies hated it and complained. FIFA liked the ball because they probably thought more goals would be scored. Silly Americans don't like "soccer" because "it's slow".

Even if it's not the real thing (the real thing costs about $130!), my old football is completely shot so this was a good find. If you think it might be yours, let me know where you think you lost it and I'll gladly hand it over.

Someday, I'll post some tales about my old football, the one that's sitting at home in my shed wanting to be put down. You see, I played soccer as a kid for years and loved it. A few years after graduating from college, I tried to play again and I was, and so was the team, a miserable failure, but it was fun and there are some good stories to be told.

Dog Days are Waning

I got up this morning at 5:25 and headed out the door for another installment of Red Dog's Dog Days. My regular reader will know that I've been taking the last few days off because I've been fighting a cold and though I woke up this morning with a sore throat, I need more points if I'm going to earn that frickin' t-shirt.

I felt good. Even on the ride up the hill I stayed out of the granny-gear. Calisthenics were tough as usual. We split them up with a half mile run, twice around the track. More cals. Then the real fun began. One more lap around the track, five sets of bleachers. The first four bleachers were to the top of the first section, the last set of bleachers (try not to puke now) were all the way to the top. Brutal, but it's a nice view up there, as long as you're not puking.

Trot back down the stadium steps, run another lap and then sprint 100 yards down the field. Sprint, but don't puke.

I felt great today. I suppose that's what four days off does for a person. I won't be taking four days off this week, unless this cold gets worse. Dog Days is nearly over. Only Monday through Thursday of this week, Saturday and then next week Monday through Thursday remain. I have 20 points as of this morning. So if I make it to every session this week, I'll reach the magic number and earn the coveted t-shirt.

I have a prior engagement that's going to prevent me from attending next weeks sessions, except Thursday. So, this week is it for me.

Speaking of this Saturday's run, rumor has it we'll be "doing the square". It's a four miler with some big hills, goes right by my old house and looks like this:Should be a good challenge.

More Rest

I woke up this morning, er I was awakened this morning by my youngest shortly after 7 a.m. "Dad," she whispered. "Can we go get donuts?" Judging by the soreness in my throat and the cough, it's actually productive now, I wasn't ready for running this morning. So instead of running four miles and burning 680 calories, I ran to the donut store with my daughter and picked up a dozen donuts and some sugary coffee.

Ah well, can't be on all the time and I need the rest now more than I need the run.

Did you know there's 200 calories in a chocolate frosted donut? There's more than that in a carmel swirl latte.

The Importance of Rest

I should have slept in yesterday. I turned the alarm clock off on Wednesday night and fully expected to sleep in. I decided that night that I really should rest and not go to Dog Days on Thursday morning. I'd been fighting a cold or something for the better part of a week. And I didn't get to bed at a decent hour for someone who's been getting up at 5:30 and working out every day.

But at 4:38 a.m. on Thursday, Alice started yelling at me for some help. I walked into her room, her covers were laying on the floor next to her bed. "Can you help me?" she said. I put her covers on her and went back to bed. I laid there for a few minutes wide awake and decided that I felt good enough to get up at 5:30 and go to the stadium. I turned the alarm back on and fell asleep.

At 5:25 a.m. the alarm startled me. I got out of bed and decided not to ride my bike to the stadium, but to drive. I parked the car and walked in, deciding I was really going to take it easy that day. I walked two laps around the track and then joined the rest of the group for calisthenics which I intended not to do, but it was hard for me to just sit there while everyone around me was doing pushups and situps and suffering.

When the calisthenics were over, we were separated into two groups. I walked to the sidelines with the men and as soon as the first group left on their sprints, I decided to call it a day. I really wasn't feeling well and should have taken the whole day off from work, but I had too much crap to do.

Fast forward to this morning. I woke up with a sore throat and slight cough. I'm having a true rest day. I'll be heading back to bed. I'm hoping I feel better by tomorrow morning so I can get in a good run with the Dog Days crowd. I've only run four miles this week and if I want to follow the KC Half Marathon training schedule I'll need to put in four miles tomorrow which will also be my longest run ever.

Phedippidations

A little more than a year ago, Steve Runner started a Podcast for runners. I just stumbled across it a few days ago and downloaded the most recent edition. Amazing. I've listened to a few dozen podcasts and Steve's is the best I've heard in any category.

Not only is it informative and entertaining, he actually records much of it while running. I find it amazing that he's able to talk as well as he does during the run. His broken sentences and the rythm of his feet on the pavement give the podcast a special appeal.

I also like it because like me, Steve was at one time clinically obese. He admits to having put on some 70 pounds after high school or college. And in 1998 he lost it all and started running every day. This is encouraging. If Steve can drop his 70, surely I can shed my 40 and become a long distance runner.

If you've got some time, have a listen. I think you'll like it.

First Bleachers of the Summer

Another Dog Day's morning. I think I have 19 points now. Six shy of earning a t-shirt. If they have t-shirts this year. From the sounds of it, they don't have enough money. Personally, I wouldn't mind paying for my own t-shirt. I'll probably give them $20 as a donation. It's the least I can do for all they've done for me. I know there are doctors and lawyers and other professionals in the bunch who are capable of paying more than I am. Let's hope they help out.

As for the workout today, it was each calisthenic excersize for 30 seconds, then two laps around the track and then run the bleachers. There was some confusion about the run. After my two laps, I followed the people in front of me (nearly everyone) into the stadium stands, but they weren't running the bleachers, they were running the steps.

After running to the top, we came back down the steps. It wasn't clear to most folks what we were supposed to do, but I think many of us settled on running another lap and then running up the bleacher seats and repeating that three times.

Total distance was 1.1 miles, but that doesn't say much about the level of difficulty. My heart was pounding when running up the bleachers. According to the monitor I maxed at 226 bpm. One beat per pound of flesh. As many times as I've seen this thing go into the 220s, I'm starting to believe maybe my heart really is capable of beating that fast. I guess that means my heart's stroke volume isn't so good. Although my resting heart rate is regularly around 52 bpm.


Here's the Curve for the workout:I'm still not sure what's going on with the speed. I mean I know I'm slow, but I think my pacing is more consistent than what's being shown here. I'm going to replace the battery in the foot pod and try calibrating again and see if that improves things any. If it doesn't, I'm going to put it up for auction on eBay because I hear the new Garmin Forerunner 305 is really awesome, but it's kind of pricey, maybe they are cheaper on eBay.

Here's the bpm distribution chart, note that nearly 20% is above 200 bpm:

Another "easy" Dog Day

Two Dog Days in a row! I woke up this morning, put some lights on the bike and rode up 13th street hill to the KS Union Parking Garage where I coasted down through every level of the garage, that's become the fun part of the morning ride.

My legs were a little sore from yesterday but not too bad. There was no football team at the stadium today so we were back inside. We did the usual calisthenics routine and then two laps around the track and then back onto the field for more calisthenics. Then we all went to the south end zone and lined up by age groups, ran backwards down the field to the other end zone where we did 15 push ups. Lined up again and did backwards knee highs to the other end of the field and then did 15 more push ups. One more time backwards down the field as fast as we could go and then three and a half laps around the track.

Following that we were dismissed. I did my usual bit of post workout stretching and then rode back home. I felt pretty good this morning, but I'm still horribly out of shape for running. I'm big, heavy and slow. But I'm going to keep at it until the forty pounds I've put on over the last eight years are gone. So far, I've lost one pound. Hm, I must still be eating too much because I'm definitely spending more calories than usual. I'm sure all the beer I pound on Thursday nights is not helping matters.

If my legs feel up to it, I'll be back at Dog Days tomorrow morning. I'm trying to get to the magic number 25 so I can do some more running on my own and tailor the runs to meet some goals including getting to the point where I can run the entire Cross Town Unity Run, that's 10k. After that, I'm going to try and work up to the KC Marathon's Half-Marathon in October.

Ambitious? Yes, but it's good to have goals, right?

1.7 on the 17th

Red Dog took it easy on us today. The football team was working out in the stadium this morning so we had to meet outside. After our normal calisthenics, we ran the route above. Google Earth says it was about 1.78 miles. My Polar said it was 1.9 and somehow divided the run into 6 laps. Could I have purchased a defective unit? I've had so many little quirky problems with this thing that I'm starting to wonder. Last Saturday was fine except for when the heart rate monitor said I was doing 218 heart beats per minute. Maybe I really was, but I have serious doubts about it.

Here's the curve for the run, you can see the lap markers as red dots on the graph.And here's the distribution graph:

Running through MTSS

I've been taking it easy all week, trying to recover from medial tibial stress syndrome. But this morning I felt like I could push things a bit. I left the house at around 7:15 and ran over to where the Dog Day's runners start. I signed in, stretched, ate a popsicle and then left with the second group of runners at 7:45 and broke off from them where they turned to head back to the start and I ran the rest of the way home.

I didn't run the entire distance. I walked the uphill portions, and a few times on the flats when I was winded. The Polar worked out well, but I think it may have gone brain dead a few times when it said my heart rate was over 210 beats per minute. That's not supposed to be possible, but I do think my max heart rate is higher than 220 minus my age.

Here's the pretty charts and what not:

Red Dog's Two Miler

Went to Red Dog's Dog Days this morning. Getting up was hard because I stayed up too late last night. The football field and track were off limits today due to an AAU track and field meet. We did a limited version of our usual calisthenics on the hillside and then were given the course for the run.

Since I'm dealing with a nice shin splint, I didn't run the whole route, but I did run on the flat portions of the course and there was no pain, so I'm pretty sure it's not a stress fracture. Good news. I iced and elevated when I returned home. I'm going to keep the running to a minimum in hopes of a quick recovery.

I did some reading in the Chi Running book about shin splints and the author keys in on picking up one's feet as a preventive measure. He advises practicing in a sand pit like those used for long jump. First walk through it and look back at your foot prints. The goal is to have a nice flat impression, no big craters from heel striking or pushing off with one's toes.

After you master this walking through the pit, run through the pit until you've mastered it and then apply the technique to running. So I tried to focus on this while running today. I'm not sure I buy it as the solution. I think it even contradicts the other things in Chi Running like keeping your lower leg as relaxed as possible.

If I'm walking and picking up my feet without pushing off with my toes, then I have to flex the muscles on my shin to keep my feet flat as I lift them from the ground. How can I keep my lower legs completely relaxed if I'm also having to flex my shins to keep from pushing off with my calves? Dunno.

All in all, running on the flat portions of the course felt good and even as I write this now, I'm not feeling the shin pain. We'll see how the day goes.

Shin Splints or MTSS Got Me Down

In addition to the fun I had on Saturday calibrating the new toy, I also twisted my ankle during the run. I think that was enough to take a mild shin splint or medial tibial stress syndrome (MTSS) and make it more severe.

I started noticing a little pain on Saturday night on the inside of my lower left leg in the region right above my ankle. So, like any modern day computer user, I start Googling (yes it's officially a verb now). Hell most of the people I know have been using it as a verb for years. Dictionaries are so 20th century. But I digress.

Searching for shin splints yeilds a wealth of information. It's amazing how many sites seem to copy information directly from other sites, the same information is found all over the place. I did find one article that I thought was better than the rest, however.

So, I've got some things to test for to make sure this is MTSS and not a stress fracture. I've got some excersizes to start doing to prevent it in the future and I've got to cut back on the running a bit... unfortunately.

I went to Red Dog's Dog Days this morning, but I didn't run. I rode my bike as I normally do and walked half a mile around the track and then rode home, but not before watching some kid blow chunks all over the track in front of me. Awesome.

Polar S625X Calibration

So the Polar S625X showed up in my mailbox yesterday. I opened the box and skimmed through the manual. Wow it's complicated, er feature rich.

I first went through and personalized all the settings -- age, height, weight, fitness regimen over the last six months, etc. In the morning, I would finish setting things up by calibrating the running speed. This procedure involves going to a track, setting a distance on the watch and then running that distance on the track and then letting the watch know when you're done.

So Saturday morning rolls around and I set out to get the foot pod calibrated. The close track was in use for some formal organized run or track meet, so I drove up to the Dog Day's run and signed in, asked what the course would be and then walked back to my car and drove to the nearest track where I would cover the same distance.

At the track, I thumbed through the manual until I found the page for calibrating the foot pod. I went through all the required steps to get started with the calibration. I set it for 1600 meters and started my four laps around the track. Four laps later, I stopped, looked at the watch and it wasn't doing what the manual said it should be doing. Hm.

Ok, well the first mile was a warm up. Read the directions again and repeat. Same result after the second mile. Ok. Read the directions a third time, change the calibration distance to 1200 meters thinking maybe I was too slow at 1600 meters and the calibration process was timing out. At the end of the 1200 meters, same result. Damn it.

In true tech troubleshooting form, I thought about what I was seeing and decided maybe the watch on the left hand was losing the signal from the foot pod on my right foot. So, I moved the foot pod from the right foot to the left and repeated the 1200 meter experiment. At last success. The pod indicated that I'd run 1300 plus meters at the end of the 1200 meter run.

So, three and a half miles later, I had the thing calibrated. I'll have to try it again in a few weeks at 1600 meters again. Obviously, the longer the distance used in the calibration process the greater the accuracy.

Unfortunately, I couldn't use any of the other features while calibrating so I don't know how many calories were burned, nor what my heart rate was doing during the runs and I won't be able to upload any of the run stats to my computer to store them in my work out calendar and no fancy charts to look at.

Ah well, next time.

Heather's Run Time

After weeks of checking the Heather's Run web site for the results of the 5k and not finding them posted, I finally got impatient and sent an email to the race organizer. I didn't want to be a pest but was curious about how I'd done. You may recall I was too tired to look at the clock as I crossed the finish line.

I'm happy to report that I placed eighth in my age group. Of course, there were only nine people in my age group. It wasn't about winning for me, it was about running the entire distance without stopping to walk, which I did, though you wouldn't know it from my time.

Speaking of my time, it was officially 31:27. If you're not so good at math, that's a 10:07:37 mile pace. I don't think it's too bad for an obese person and I'm confident that if I ran it today I'd be under 10:00 per mile.

I went out for a very short run this morning. I set the interval timer on my watch for a five minute warm up fast walk and then alternating minutes of running and walking. It's very similar to the first week of Couch-to-5k that I started a few months back. Unlike when I started though, the running minutes flew by and were over before I really wanted them to be over.

Why did I back step to week one's workout after I've been making such great progress, including a 3.5 mile run last Saturday morning? Because I've been reading about running barefoot and wanted to try it. It wasn't too bad actually. I definitely ran more on the balls of my feet. I'm a mid-foot runner typically, but landing on the ball of the foot feels better when running barefoot.

I don't know if I'll try and work up to running barefoot all the time or simply do it once or twice a week. Everything I've read, which isn't much actually, indicates that running barefoot makes runners better. Nike knows this, they learned it from watching Stanford's workouts. All this makes me regret the purchase of my last pair of Nike running shoes, they are heavy trail running shoes and I believe they are far too stiff to be good for me. I see where people are selling used shoes on eBay, maybe I'll put them up there and buy a pair of Frees.

Speaking of eBay, I dropped some dough on a Polar S625X Heart Rate Monitor. I used to have a really basic Polar HRM years ago when I worked at the bike shop and it was pretty handy. The new ones have far more features and come with computer software for logging one's heart rate through the course of a workout. I'm pretty excited about it. Fortunately, I had enough money from selling stuff on eBay that it didn't set me back too much out of pocket. I'm hoping this contraption is here by the end of the week so I can try it out this weekend.

Happy Fourth of July everyone. Don't lose any fingers.

Another Ace Gone

I received bad news from a good friend yesterday evening. I'm sorry to report that Brandon Crotty, "Bone Don Cooty" to a small number of folks, has passed away.

Brandon and I went to high school together. He was hilarious and always good for a laugh and a smile. I don't think Brandon and I had many classes together, maybe photography and a history class or two. He was a hell of an artist. Everything he did he did with great passion and enthusiasm.

Right after graduation, Brandon went boating with another high school classmate and probably his best friend at the time, Brad Barnhart, and two young women from their work. Something bad happened that day, one of the girls was struggling to swim and Brad went in to help her out. She survived but he didn't. I recall going to the funeral. Even to this day, Brad's funeral was one of the biggest and most depressing funerals I've ever attended.

So many young people had been touched by Brad. I can still see the young woman who was in the water with Brad that day. She was greeting Brad's family at the graveside service, sobbing, holding her hands out in front of her saying that she just couldn't hold on to him and had to let go to save herself. Imagine living with that for the rest of your life.

Brandon's loss, like Brad's was sudden and tragic. If there is an afterlife, I hope that the two of them are sharing a laugh together now and hanging out with Sam Bushey and Alexis Dillard.

I took a call this morning from Grant Dotson. He was calling to share the news and said that some guys from high school might get together soon for dinner and to celebrate the life of another great Ace from the class of '88. I hope I can join them.

Brandon, you will be missed.

Red Dog's July 1 3.56 mile Run

I showed up for today's Red Dog's Dog Days morning run having talked to an insider and knowing what the route would be. I knew it would be a challenge, but thought I was up for it. I made it all the way to the bottom of 13th street, nearly half the total distance without walking. I did walk all the way up 14th and then almost all the way up the hill between the dorms on Daisy Hill.

Some 650 or so calories and 3.56 miles, lots of huffing, puffing and 41 odd minutes later, I had a popsicle at the end, stretched a very little and then drove home guzzling three liters of water from myCamelBak. Amazingly, I felt better after this run than I did after Heather's Run. I guess that means I'm getting stronger because Heather's Run is flat.