True to the blog's title...

You can check out my run by clicking the picture to the right. I know it's been some time since I've posted, but [fyi] I've definitely been doing more running than blogging. Last week was my "easy" week, so my three runs were 6 or 7 miles, depending on the day. This week I ran 5 miles on Tuesday morning, 7 miles on Thursday morning, and [accidentally] 20 miles today. I've noticed that there are a lot of new runners [and walker's] on the street as of late. My guess is because of New Year's Resolutions. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the company. It is just a little more interesting to see how folks are literally coming out in droves. Tuesday morning I ran through a pack of runners [well, not actually through; they were on the other side of the street running the opposite way]. It was just below freezing out. They look nice and bundled. The interesting part was that I saw no less than 4 head lamps within the pack and no less than 2 "tail lights." About today's run, a few shout outs if you will. First, to the fine folks at the McDonald's on Clairmont next to St. Vincents, the Oporto Animal Hospital on Oporto Madrid Blvd, and Starbucks at the corner of 20th St and 8th Ave S - thank you, because when I was thirsty you gave me a drink. Secondly, to those girls who screamed out their window at me on the corner of 20th St and 8th Ave S, thank you for your exuberance at the fact that I was bent over catching my breath after just running 20 miles. To my lovely wife, thank you for coming at the precise time that I walked out of Starbucks to come and pick me up [I told her if I wasn't back by 12:45 to come and look for me - driving my route backward - and she did! With Powerade!]. I bought a variety pack from E-Gel and today's flavor was vanilla strawberry. I was very tasty and I was happy to actually drink water with it. E-Gel is to be taken in place of a sports drink as it is filled with electrolytes for that athlete who...um...expends a lot of sweat. I bought the pack off of their website for a very reasonable prices [about 33% cheaper than what you or I could purchase it from a local store for]. So, like I said...today was 20 miles. It was a quite hilly 20 at that; you can check out the elevation profile on the left in more detail by clicking on it. Each vertical line represents 1/4 of a mile. This is [thankfully] a feature that was recently debugged on mapmyrun.com and a helpful one at that. The run itself took me through some areas that I've never run before. I started out in southside, ran through Highland Park, then Forest Park, through Avondale, then Crestwood, Eastlake, an area called Gate City after that, back through Avondale, back through the Medical District and finally back into Southside. It was an accident because my plan was actually 19 [the actual training schedule says 18]. I ran completely past my turn because I didn't check out the detail when I mapped the run. This mistake took me about 1/2 mile in the wrong direction. Again, the fine folks at Oporto Animal Hospital showed great kindness in directing me on the right path and I am very much indebted to them. I did walk some today - maybe 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile total - but I needed it. Today's lessons were hydration and nutrition. I actually ate breakfast this morning and yesterday I drank and drank and drank [non-alcoholic beverages]. Breakfast consisted of instant oatmeal, Ugly Fruit, and a cup of coffee - and it all made a huge difference in my performance. Part of the reasoning, unfortunately, was because I thought that to get my money's worth at Jason's deli, I needed to drink at least three glasses of Powerade [it was $1.75 for a fountain drink for crying out loud!]. Part of it too, was that I was [and have been] noticeably dehydrated. In all, I ran a lot more than I thought I'd be able to - 6 more miles to a marathon...4 weeks until the marathon.