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Still running, which is helping my sanity, but I’m also leaning more and more towards Eagle Up being cancelled. Not sure if they’ll rechedule it, but I’ll at least have a fall ultra on my calendar with O24.
Wash your hands, stay home, wear a facemask when you go out and let’s all band together (by staying apart) to get through this together.
- Monday: Rest.
- Tuesday: 7 miles.
- Wednesday: 5 miles.
- Thursday: 9 miles, steady state 20 minutes.
- Friday: Rest.
- Saturday: 15 miles.
- Sunday: 9 miles.
- Long run fuel: Tailwind, Bobo’s Bars.
- BWF/Core work: Did the BodyWeightFitness Recommended Routine twice this week. I also did an at-home yoga class, and there is a new Zombies, Stay at Home mission I need to check out.
- Stretching: More stretching, although I did miss it two days.
Going through a lot of old articles, but also mixing with some new, there’s a few random thoughts I’d like to bring up about Mayor Pete.
One thing that I think got lost as his candidacy went on, was his faith. He brought up the very good point that the left seems to shy away from ideas of faith, and CNN noted that, as an openly gay man, he was the most susceptible to attacks from the religious right, but was happy to spar in that arena.
At a CNN debate in July, Buttigieg blasted “so-called conservative Christian senators” for blocking a bill to raise the minimum wage “when Scripture says that whoever oppresses the poor taunts their maker.”
I appreciate that he sees Christianity as the liberal bastion is it, something that I hope can be better reclaimed.
Much, too much, has been written about Pete’s own sexuality. Writers and columnists have been upset that he’s not gay enough, or too gay. It all showed that there is not one way to be gay, but still, for the first major gay candidate, I suppose that was to be expected.
However, much like Obama had to tread a very, very fine line surrounding race, Pete had to do the same. And part of that spilled over into his entire being, and he often showed so much intellectualism that he seemed devoid of emotion. But policing his own words, especially to such an extreme, is something that gay men have extensive experience with.
We are used to carefully calibrating how much of a “flourish” we give off when we express ourselves. We’ve spent our lives learning, by necessity, to “master” our passions and channel them into action that feels safer than acting on them directly.
I think he easily fell into another gay trope, ‘the best little boy in the world,’ but again, that’s just one ‘way’ of being gay (or responding to the world forcing itself upon you, as a gay man).
One last thing I will mention, is that while I am so grateful that Bloomberg has pledged his money to support the nominee (as have all the dropped out front runners, I believe), Pete has just announced his new PAC, Win the Era, to specifically focus on down-ballot races.
Flipping the Senate and holding the House, as well as finding and supporting Millennial candidates, is vitally important work, and I’m glad to see it being a focus.
All my best,
Mike
Getting into a groove of running even more alone than normal, but I’m also dealing with a weird state of my races being cancelled/postponed, so I’m not sure how to train. As of right now, my A race is still on (and it’s honestly on the bubble, depending on how these next two weeks go), so I don’t want to stop, but if it gets postponed, I’ll just have to modify my plan.
My other ultra, which was supposed to be a tune-up race, is being rescheduled for October, so it looks like I’ll have an A race for the fall, although I’m not looking forward to training through the summer. However, if my current A race gets cancelled outright, I’ll at least have something else to make my new A race.
It’s all up in the air and unknown right now, so in the meantime, wash your hands, stay out of groups, and let’s all band together (by staying apart) to get through this together.
- Monday: Rest.
- Tuesday: 5 miles.
- Wednesday: 10 miles.
- Thursday: Rest. Just wasn’t feeling it mentally, so I swapped two days.
- Friday: 9 miles.
- Saturday: 11 miles.
- Sunday: 18 miles. Did 11 miles at the park, which people were generally really good about social distancing, but the pollen, the sun, humidity and some stomach issues made me stop early, so I did the last 7 at home that evening.
- Long run fuel: Tailwind, Bobo’s Bars.
- BWF/Core work: Did the BodyWeightFitness Recommended Routine once this week, will add another in next week to keep an average of 2/week. I also did an at-home yoga class, as well as the new Zombies, Stay Home at home workout. The ZR workout was cute and fun, and I’m glad they’re doing it, it’s great content for the current apocalypse.
- Stretching: More stretching, although I did miss it two days. More gentle yoga, which is also helping a bit!
Alright, let’s see what we have. I’m going through a lot of news, and also quite an old back-log of stuff that I’ve e-mailed to myself over the years, so I’ll be adding in some older articles I think are worth taking a look at over the next week or so. But, first up, Randy Rainbow reminds us to stay at home and social distance!
The title of this piece makes me laugh, so hard. And the penguins are cute!
A lot of my races are cancelled and postponed, but Dumb Runner helps me keep it all in perspective. Until we’re back at it, I”m just running a lot of loops in my neighborhood!
Here’s a first look at the new Avengers Campus theme park being built:
Okay, the title of the penguin article above makes me laugh, but so does this: violinists playing in the toilet paper article like the Titanic going down.
This has been the talk of all my friends recently, but it was found out why Triscuits are call that, and no, it’s not what you think, it’s so much better!
And finally for today, a look at You Suck at Cooking’s best time-saving hacks:
Have a great one!
As is our new reality, this was my first race cancelled, which was a tune up for Eagle Up. So, I geared up, crewed myself and did it virtually on the jail trail and Frontrunner loops on Sunday.
The jail trail loop is 5.5 miles, and the Frontrunner loop is 4, so I planned on doing five jail trail loops and one Frontrunner loop, giving myself the option to stop at my car between each one. The day started out chilly, in the 20’s, so I was in a few extra layers I knew I would stop to take off.
Lap 1: Parked and got my things situated, using my vest filled with two bottles of Tailwind and I took off towards the South Side. Not many people out, but given the time, temperature and the social distancing, I wasn’t surprised. Got back to my car and decided to not stop, instead grabbing half of the Bobo’s Bar in my vest and kept going.
Lap 2: The sun started to peek out at times, and I thought about doing a clothing change for when I got back. Generally though, another pleasant loop, although my hips were tighter than I wanted, so I knew I’d be going slower than I wanted. Once I got back to my car, used the Porto, toiok off one torso layer, grabbed a handful of Pringles and ate the rest of my Bobo’s Bar.
Lap 3: Started to see a few more people, which was nice, and the sun was really coming out, so I spent most of this loop thinking about changing my clothes. Once I got back to my car I took off the pants (had shorts on underneath) and changed into thinner socks, which was a big help. Had a couple Pringles and a peanut butter packet.
Lap 4: Saw the president of the Frontrunners twice on this loop, which was a nice boost! Churning out the miles, still chugging along. At the end of the loop grabbed a ginger ale to stave off some stomach issues and fueled with half a Bobo’s bar. My headphones died on this loops, so I grabbed and paired my second pair when I was back at the car after a trip to the Porto.
Lap 5: saw a different member of the Frontrunners and stopped to do two quick good deeds: putting back a construction barrel from the middle of the road, and replacing a panel on one of the bike-share bikes. I started walking the bridges on this lap to give my legs a break. Grabbed some coke, Pringles and another peanut butter packet and headed out.
Lap 6: This was my short loop, which also meant leaving my car in the opposite direction. It was a nice change, even though it was only 1.5 miles shorter, but the change in direction and the new bridge was nice. Got back to my car, stopped my Strava and enjoyed being done, especially since there was a big increase in the number of people out on the trails.
Final time: 6:40:18. I had been hoping for sub 6, but having to crew myself, and the mental toll of *frantically waves at the world* I can say I’m not unhappy with my time.
Physical: Felt sore and tired, as expected. My hips were tighter from the start than I would have liked, and I think that made me slower. But maybe that’s a good thing, to take it slower than I could, this wasn’t my A race. Did develop one blister, which, all things considered, not bad to be my only injury after a race like this.
Crewing: I did better than I thought crewing for myself, I was generally really organized and did well thinking about what I’d need each time coming into my car. I spent a decent chunk of time looking for some band aids that I ultimately didn’t need, and hadn’t thought to pack ahead of time anyway. The back of my car is a little tight, but the totes helped a lot keeping things organized.
Next up: O24 is being rescheduled, but I don’t know the date yet. Eagle Up is looking less and less likely. Depending on how things play out in terms of scheduling, one of them will be my A race, but I’m sure they’ll both be later in the summer, meaning hotter and grosser and I’m going to hate it. I’m still following my training plan, and I made sure to take some good time off after this virtual.
(Virtual) Race Week! Everything is in chaos, my work shut down on Friday and I spent that night on a Zoom call and Twitch with friends playing games, so I changed my 50K run to Sunday instead. I’ll have a race report coming up for that!
Wash your hands, stay out of groups, and let’s all band together (by staying apart) to get through this together.
- Monday: Rest.
- Tuesday: 8 miles. Finished up Distopia Rising while doing tiny loops in the neighborhood.
- Wednesday: 4 miles. Tiny loops in the rain. Ran the first chapter of Rule Britannia.
- Thursday: 6 miles. More tiny loops, Rule Britannia chapter 2.
- Friday: Rest.
- Saturday: Rest.
- Sunday: 31 miles. Race report coming soon!
- Long run fuel: Tailwind, Bobo’s Bars, Peanut butter packet, Pringles
- BWF/Core work: Did the BodyWeightFitness Recommended Routine once times this week, will add another in next week to keep an average of 2/week.
- Stretching: More stretching, although I did miss it one day. More gentle yoga, which is also helping a bit!
- Race report owed: Get Lucky
A small taper for what was supposed to take me into race week. Get Lucky 50/50 has been made into a virtual race, so I’ll be doing jail trail loops this weekend to get that in. As of right now, sadly, I’m expecting O24 to be cancelled, but I’m still hopeful for Eagle Up.
Wash your hands, stay out of groups, and let’s all band together to get through this together.
- Monday: Rest.
- Tuesday: 8 miles
- Wednesday: 5 miles. Tiny loops in my neighborhood, did the second ch apter of Distopia Rising.
- Thursday: 7 miles: Tempo: 9:05 pace: 18 min/4R/12 min
- Friday: PRANK: 18 miles. In honor of Friday the 13th, we ran RPANK goes to hell. Which spilled over into Pi day and we had mimosas to celebrate!
- Saturday: Rest.
- Sunday: 6 miles. Jail trail with a bit added on.
- Long run fuel: Tailwind, Doritos, Clif Bar
- BWF/Core work: Did the BodyWeightFitness Recommended Routine three times this week, to catch up from last week.
- Stretching: More stretching, although I did miss it one day. I also did some yoga while live streaming church on Sunday, which was actually really great, looking forward to doing that again this week!
Alright, let’s see what have today. First up, and most importantly, a reminder for November:
Tom Holland and Chris Pratt want to start an Avengers DnD game and I’m all for it!
This comic is relevant to my career.
There were so many things I loved about Mayor Pete (and of course, things I didn’t), but his representation matters so, so much. Here is just one example of it, something I would have never dreamed of seeing growing up.
Also in political news, and especially after he’s been attacked for it, I love this ad from Bernie.
And in great news to help flip the Senate, Democratic challengers are leading in four tight races against incumbents!
An amazing look at the sets of The Mandalorian.
Aaron Schock is fucking trash.
Romero’s Day of the Dead is getting a new treatment as a short-run series on SyFy.
But in sad news from SyFy (although not wholly unexpected), The Magicians will end at the end of this season. An amazing show and book series, although both very different from each other.
And finally, bringing it back to the comic linked above, here’s some trucks in a towing contest:
Another 50+ mile week, as well as my introduction to trail running, not a bad week!
- Monday: Rest.
- Tuesday: 8 miles: Tempo: 9:05 pace: 18 min/4R/12 min
- Wednesday: 10 miles. Picked up my first pair of trail shoes (after returning some Asics that were just bad for me) and did a couple loops of the Frontrunner trail in Schenley. More rocks and loose gravel than anything, and easily doable in a road shoe, but broke them in (and saw a lot of other nightrime runners, which was fun).
- Thursday: 5 miles.
- Friday: Rest. Baked scones and took them to packet pickup for the first ever Pittsburgh 30K trail race the next morning.
- Saturday: Pittsburgh 30K (20 miles). Ran with the ‘party in the back’ for my first trail race! It covered a lot of green spaces, and specifically went to places that will most likely be gone in the next few years to development.
Had a blast and found some new bits to go back to explore, talked with some locals wondering what was going on (there were about 50 of us in total) and got yelled at by a cranky woman who doesn’t understand that she doesn’t own the road or the land that is the city’s.
Also got a ton of compliments on the scones, so that was cool, I’ll have to make a batch and surprise 3ROC (the store that sponsored the race, and who’s Instagram I ended up on) with another batch sometime. - Sunday: 7 miles. Was going to meet a friend for another 3, but timing didn’t work out and I was more tired from the 30K than I expected (over 3,200 feet of elevation).
- Long run fuel: Tailwind, scones, Oreos, Clif bar.
- BWF/Core work: Did the BodyWeightFitness Recommended Routine once this week, need to add in one more this week to keep it averaging twice a week.
- Stretching: Stretching every day, not just run days, and it’s helping. I’ve been watching Schitt’s Creek each night as I stretch, highly recommended (both the show and stretching/rolling). I did the Adidas women’s running yoga on Sunday and I’m not a fan of the instructor at all, will find a different course to do this week.
Second 55 mile week in a row, and I’m feeling better than I thought I would, but still a bit tired/sore. Onward!
- Monday: Rest.
- Tuesday: 9 miles: Tempo: 9:05 pace: 18 min/4R/12 min
- Wednesday: 10 miles.
- Thursday: 5 miles. Tiny loops in my neighborhood, started Distopia Rising, one of the new adventures from Zombies, Run.
- Friday: 15 miles. PRANK run, went from 8 until about 11:30, had a wonderful time as always.
- Saturday: Rest.
- Sunday: 15 miles. Met a friend from the Frontrunners to do some loops. Great conversations and enjoyed the sun for the first time in a while (or at least it felt like it).
- Long run fuel: Tailwind, Bobo’s bar.
- BWF/Core work: Did the BodyWeightFitness Recommended Routine twice this week. Still making progress, slowly seeing some improvements.
- Stretching: Stretching every day, not just run days, and it’s helping. I’ve been watching Schitt’s Creek each night as I stretch, highly recommended (both the show and stretching/rolling).
