Well, it has been 2 weeks of blissful non running, the shoes were sitting in the closet, still sporting the timer tag from the half marathon. I’d been doing some self beating up feeling like I had not run very strongly the whole route, and had to wake up and realized that all I needed to accomplish was finishing.

I’m never going to run a Boston pace, never going to blaze across the line in glory, but finishing a 13.1 mile run is something like only 1% of the people do (according to my coach, who sent a very encouraging email).

And yes, my colleagues online have called my bluff on all my “I Hate Running” attitude- if you hate it why are you doing it, they tweet.

There is a point. I don’t really like running, but doing it makes me feel healthier, and has done some good with my long term blood sugar levels. And it does feel damne good to cross that line, no matter the form.

So I want to see over the next week how it feels, and I am eyeballing a possible half marathon in April.

Today I just went out casually, doing a short run out on the muddy streets, among a lot of snow still sitting on the ground. The temperatures were nice, 50 degrees and sunny.

Did you know... "Diabetes is the fifth-deadliest disease in the United States. Since 1987 the death rate due to diabetes has increased by 45 percent, while the death rates due to heart disease, stroke, and cancer have declined." (from ADA The Dangerous Toll of Diabetes)
See more diabetic facts...

cc licensed flickr photo shared by cogdogblog

This, for me, is the nice part of running.

Being done. Looking back on it.

cc licensed flickr photo shared by cogdogblog

Conditions were perfect today, at the start at 6:30am it had to be close to 50°F and must of peaked in the 70s during the day. I was surprised at how many people were cold, shivering, huddled in front of generators for heat; I was comfortable, and if anything, you want to start out a bit underdressed as the body heats up.

With the staggered start, it was almost 9:00 by the time I ran under the start line, trying not to lauch too hard at our Senatorial greeter, maybe politicians should really “run” to get elected?

cc licensed flickr photo shared by cogdogblog

Today’s experience was mixed. I went out feeling great, and was doing good 10:30 paces til about mile 7, when I tooka first walk break, and at about mile 10, I was feeling the signs of low blood sugar bonking me. I had to slow down to take some glucose tablets, grab the sweetened sports drink, and I shut my insulin pump off, but it just sapped me of energy, and the last 3 miles were more walking than strong running.

And I was so excited to see my friends Lisa, Psyan, and Devon waving wildly as I went by at 59th Street- thanks for coming out to show support! That boost got me up the next mile. Devon got a picture of me smiling, hardly looking like a guy who hates running.

But I finished at 2:41, far from my best time, but also far from the worst. Without the low blood sugar, I ought to have come in in around 2:25 or 2:30 easy. It all counts as having it ran, run, and done. And nothing beats that thrill of finishing.

For fun, or maybe distraction, I carried by small, old Canon pocket camera, and tried to capture the look of the experience by holding the camera chest high with my right hand, and taking a photo about everytime my music changed on the ipod. I also took my own photo, by while running, they way I did this was to rotate the camera over towards me, so my images are mostly upside down, somehow fitting. I mixed this into a movie :

Congratulations to all 30,000+ runners today, especially my fellow team-mates on Team Diabetes, and thanks also to Coach Dave for tireless effort in leading us, as wel as Brian and Jose for helping run the organizational aspects.

And thanks to everyone who sponsored me, the response rate to my early requests were astounding, and I was able to raise $2600 towards diabetes education and care.

Don’t ask me now about any future plans to run! I am just enjoying being done

cc licensed flickr photo shared by cogdogblog

It’s here, the night before the run. Everything is packed, timing chip hung on shoe, alarm clock(s) set. I’ll be getting up in time to get to ASU at 5:30am, hop on the school buses that take us to downtown Phoenix, and hang around for the race start. Having done this 3 times before, I know what to expect (and not to try peeing in ther parking lot, I got nailed by a Court guard one year).

I’m eager to see how it goes this year; my training has been fair, but I’ve not gotten in all the longer runs, and I am not having any dreams of running this one faster than any previous one. I’m aiming to finish, period.

The last time I ran (full marathon in 2008, that is one thing I shall never do again), I carried a phone with me, and even managed to send a few twitter messages (once while waiting for a bathroom, 2 while doing a walk break). This time I am not taking a phone; I have the iPod Nano for music and Nike+ tracking, and I prefer not to carry much extra. I am, however, going to try taking my old Canon pocket camera (fits in the hand well) and hoping to document the journey… I am thinking it it will give me something to distract my mind,

I did, however, sign up for a service that is supposed to send text messages of my status to a fewfriends, and my sister in Baltimore. Apparently, it is able to track the chip thing on my shoe. Two of my friends will be on the course, and this will help them know when I am getting close, and they may even tweet out my status for me.

I’m just focusing on getting to that lovely finish line.

I want to send a thanks to all the people who sponsored my run for Team Diabetes, where I was able to raise $2610 for the American Diabetes Association, most of it coming in the first few weeks I sent out requests (I begrudgingly admit that facebook was pretty effective).

I wonder what the next blog post will say?

cc licensed flickr photo shared by Rev. Xanatos Satanicos Bombasticos (ClintJCL)

The Team D training schedule called for a 7 miler yesterday, but I decided to cross train and did my work out playing in the snow atop the Mogollon Rim.

Today’s run was 6.66 miles, meaning I did my map measured neighborhood loop (3.33) miles twice, once in each direction. The weather was very pleasant for early January- temps in the mid 60s and sunny, so I was out there in shorts and a long sleeve top. Coach Dave’s message said to take this week’s long run at a slow pace, which is certainly not hard to do (e.g. its my regular pace).

And it was my main goal to use this run to finally calibrate my Nike+ on my iPod nano, haivng finally figured the right key press combo to get the screen at the end of a workout to calibrate the device to a known distance. So I got the buttons right- press menu to Stop Workout then press and hold the center button to get the calibrate screen. And I was set to go, all I needed to do was to dial in the 6.66 miles down from the 7.52 it incorrectly listed– and damned if while using the click wheel, my tired fingers slipped before dialing to down to 6.66 (I dont even know where it was at, maybe 6.9).

You only get one chance to do this, there is no way back to the calibrate screen.

I’ve railed on enough about this, but this interface majorly sucks. There is no forgiveness for fiddling with buttons at the end of a run, when my dexterity is far from on target.

Oh well, at least I got in a good distance the devil’s distance of 6.66….