Running is therapy

Over the last year I have been slowly getting back into shape. In addition, during the same time period, I called a truce on my long standing War On Music.

Many years ago, I was pretty disgusted with music in general and decided that it was a waste of time to listen to it. Periodically I would hear a song I liked or listen to it with friends, but on the whole I didn’t spend time buying or listening to music. I decided that was lame and that I was missing out on some great music. The nice part about getting back into music after a long lay off is that there are a billion songs that you missed, just waiting to be listened to.

Todays favorites:
The Killers - Mr. Brightside, Somebody Told Me
Death Cab For Cutie - I Will Follow You Into the Dark

Now, this brings me to a conundrum. Namely, should I listen to music while I run? It seems like a natural fit, and it could help pass the time on some of the more lonesome long distance runs. I see two downsides though. The first and more trivial one, is that I suppose I should run with ear buds, and they might drive me crazy if they fall out. The second and more serious of the two, is that I use that long distance to think, and settle the contents of my head. The current title “Running is therapy” isn’t an accident.

I don’t know. I suppose I should just try it.

I have a lot of workouts to catch up on. I was recently on vacation and so I didn’t get a chance to update my blog like I normally would have. Here goes.

I am back to my regular mileage and my shin is feeling pretty good. I am trying not to run too many days in a row, and keeping it to 3 days a week, but I am at least able to get all my miles in and am not injured.

Friday I got a 3 mile walk in before taking off for Canada and Saturday I walked part of the route I would take on Sunday’s long run.

Sunday was awesome. I had a running partner for the first 1.5 miles, before she turned and headed back for the cottage, and I kept on my merry way. As luck would have it, from the end of the driveway to the entrance to the nearest town was 4.25 miles. I hoofed it up the highway and into town where I could turn around and run back to the end of the driveway. This put me at 8.5 miles. The driveway was .75 miles long, so I ran 2/3 of that as well and then walked the last quarter mile to the house. It was a pretty fantastic time. I didn’t go super fast or anything. My intention, as usual, was to finish.

1 Mile splits: 10:54, 10:44, 10:50, 10:49, 10:44, 10:35, 10:40, 10:38, 10:44

In the last mile I was pretty tired and my legs and back were getting sore, but I could have gone further. I was in a groove that would have let me run and run. Yesterday my legs felt fine and I was actually able to drive 10 hours home.

I have 11 Miles on Sunday this week. It will be a challenge, but I am pretty confident I can do it.

Motionbased Link

Some stats:
Distance: 9.00 mi
Time: 1:36:41 (pace: 10:44)
Average Heart Rate: 148 bpm
Calories Burned: 1418