Merry Christmas

1 - This Christmas enjoy the holiday trains from South Station: 2 - follow this link to a great Christmas story (be patient for the first commercial, the story is worth waiting for) http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=4003490&affil=wpvi 3 - and to recognize our countrymen and women serving in the military: Merry Christmas to one and all! PS - thanks to Joan at Songs of Experience for the link to ABC News

5 miles today

I had a good run today. Weather was a little warmer, into the 30's F. Overcast, with a little fog as the melting snow tried to rise. Went out on the hilly King-Summer-Mount-Upper Union-King loop I like. This is a good course to run particularly on the comeback route. There are three hills. The first one, a good half to 3/4 mile long incline with almost a one mile downhill to follow. The second hill is shorter (about half mile) but steeper and followed by another approximately one mile decline. The third hill is both shorter and more of a slope which leads to a flat stretch for the finish. Why are hills good for the comeback route? The hill provide resistance so you are working harder for the distance. The best part of running the route in this direction is the combination of the downhills after the inclines. Especially during the comeback, you can let gravity do the work on the downhills. Simply concentrating on form, getting a good stride and rhythm, letting the hill do the work, stretch your legs out and down you go. I'll expand upon this idea in a future podcast. One of the good things about the run was that I came up with three podcast topics: (1) hills, (2) curse of the splots, and (3) the practicality of glittens.

Pause for the train crossing

Out running a couple of weeks ago, before the snow came, I was carrying my camera to enforce a slow run and capture some local scenes. As I came along Union St, the train signals started. Good timing. Enjoy!

Best Buddies finish made the paper!

Thanks to a family friend for catching the photo in the Milford Daily News. I read the paper online and not all the printed content makes it to the web version.

Shadow running

Shadow running, originally uploaded by shersteve. I went out running this morning as Sunday's forecast is for some real messy winter weather. I will likely still go out tomorrow for a short one but wanted to go longer in the good weather. Long today was 4. A comfortable four. Running after my shadow in the early morning sunlight (above) and finally leaving it behind me as I came in the last half mile (below).

MapMyRun comes through on the road

MapMyRun came through for me again on the road this weekend. As mentioned elsewhere, I was in the northern VA area and ready to run 3 miles Sunday morning. Driving into the hotel parking lot late Saturday night, it was too dark to get a good look at what the area was like and where I might be able to run. Rather than just throwing on the running gear and going for a real "explore", I typed in the address of the hotel and scoped out where I could go for three miles. It worked very nicely. I chose not to add the route to my saved favorites but I could have if I wanted to. I don't when or if, I'd be back to this area (not that I wouldn't want to, it was a nice visit). If you are doing some traveling, check out your travel destination (domestic USA) on MapMyRun!

Passionate Runner: Birthday Run

Another in a series of podcasts on running, this one talking about the celebration run you should make on your birthday. You can run a mile per year, or a tenth of a mile or a minute per year of life to celebrate your birthday. The important thing is to celebrate! Time: 5 minutes, 10 seconds MP3 File My birthday run posting for this year.

Passionate Runner: Cold, dark recap

another in a series of podcasts on running, this one referring back to two podcasts earlier in the series. One on running in winter, how to layer your clothes to stay warm. The second on running in the dark, avoiding the blacker black to be safe. Time: 5 minutes, 0 seconds MP3 File Session 5 - Layers for the winter Session 7 - Running in the dark My additional podcasts on running can be found here Joan Nesbit Mabe can be found blogging about running at Songs of Experience The Carrboro Athletic Club blog can be found here

Birthday run - 5.4 miles

In my younger days, I would run a mile for each year of life to celebrate my birthday. Since I am neither a marathoner nor an ultra-marathoner, I have adjusted my target this year to be a tenth of a mile for each year, hence 5.4 miles. This was a doable goal. With my recovery, the longest I have gone thus far was three but I felt it would be ok without pushing it too much to go 5.4. It was fine. I had a really good run. An easy pace: running between 9 and 9:30 per mile. It was cold, 18 degrees F with little wind. Next year, avoiding injury, I should be able to go a minute for each year. On your birthday, do something special. Choose a mile, tenth of mile, or minute per year to celebrate and mark your birthday. Enjoy!