Merry Christmas from Dr Juls!

Special thanks to my training partner Julia who surprised me with a giant and fantastic Christmas present. I now have in my proud custody plane tickets that will take me from London to Spitsbergen Norway! Thanks to her I'm at least getting my butt to 80 deg North!

Merry Christmas Mr Schroeder!

Special thanks to my best friend and hero Kyle Schroeder for his special Christmas donation. That puts me over the $3,000 mark. There is still a long way to go, but we are getting there. Thanks Good Buddy.

18.6 miles and a metoer shower

Sunday night I made my longest run to date. 18.6 miles, which is two laps around the Mojave airport. The sun went down about 2/3 of the way the way through the first lap. The second lap was in the pitch black of a dark clear night. The sky was clear and I was treated to a private meteor shower. My legs look like I ran though a barbed wire fence from the bits that are off a trail and though the open desert. I consumed one and a half liters of water, one ounce of honey, and my entire collection of Steve Earle and most of my Romi Mayes. It was exactly three hours on the move. I was tired when I got done but thanks to some serious post run streatching, I'm not as sore today as I was after the 16 mile run.

Also last week, I made my fasted pace on the 9.2 mile course at 8.3 min per mile. Still not fast, but getting there slowly but surely!

Also. During Sunday's run, I got to thinking about how when you run far, you take alot of steps. Sure enough 18.6 miles is something like 33,000 steps!

One foot in front of the other kiddos.

Thanks to Mike Mangold and Things that Come in 3's

Special thanks to aviation and air race legend Mike Mangold. Mike says that good things come in three's, and his support is proof enough for me.

Check out his website for more info on a guy that is a true competitor and a hell of a stick.

http://www.mikemangold.us/

Busy Week

This week is pretty busy one at work. I did manage to squeeze in a three mile last night and a seven in today at lunch. Last night's three was a new fastest pace at 7.6 min per mile. Not a big improvement, but something. I think the full moon made my usual night pace better. The lunch run today was good, it was warm and clear out.

I was looking at the seven mile course today and it is starting to look well worn. Even the parts that are not on a trail, have sort of become a trail. Part of me is tickled to have done something significant enough to be visible, part of me is just surprised that it is so easy to leave a mark on the land

Iron Mike Saves the Day!!

Thanks to Micheal Albright for his awesome Donation!

16.2 Fueled by Leftovers

It was a windy and clear Sunday in Mojave today. I set off on my longest run yet in the early afternoon. A sort of ritual seems to be emerging in preparation for the long runs. The short ones are easy, throw the shoes on, stretch, and you're off. The long ones are more complicated. Maybe because there is a little more excitement, maybe a touch of fear. I carefully tie my laces and tuck them in so that they won't chaff but so the also can get snagged on any of the crap in the desert. The camel back gets filled to the brim. Nipples get a dab of neosporin. Stretching is almost meditative. It is sort of like preparing a deep space probe. The run today wasn't impressive by any standard 16.2 miles in 149 min. That is something like a 9.2 min pace. After I was finished I realized that I could have gone faster, maybe I was a little afraid of not making it.

I seem to be haunted by some sort of pace demon. I feel like I have grown my own personal sound barrier. By and large I find my self at a regular 8.4 min pace. I have been thinking of my short runs as 'pace runs' but for the last three weeks or so I'm not any faster. If the cadence of breath is your bodies rpm, then I find that the peak of my power curve is about the speed of Fred Eaglesmith's song "Georgia Overdrive". The stanza of breath is a quick in-in-Blow. The runner's transmission is their stride. My transmission only seems to have two gears. One step to a breath stanza or two steps for a breath stanza. Now I have tried runs in both gears and a few where I swap back and forth. The only difference is where I'm sore the next day. The kicker is that gears are the same speed. ...At least for now!

Special thanks to my Mom who sent me fifty bucks and moved my sponsorship ticker closer to the goal! (she also sent me some really awesome granola)

Also special thanks to Mrs Sara Reed who not only fed me on Thanksgiving, she sent me home with a big pile of leftovers. Some of which fueled today's run.