NOTHING FANCY

I either have writer’s block or I’m just unmotivated to blog. I guess that means I’m sticking to the first half of my New Year’s resolution to blog less. Now I just have to interview more runners in order to fulfill the second half of my resolution. I’m finding that it's a lot like running – if I don’t get it done in the morning, when I have all the great ideas floating around in my head, it doesn’t seem to get done. I have four people I’m trying to write questions for, but I’m struggling to come up with questions that are unique and interesting.

Part of the “problem” is that I received some old (1972-1975) newsletters from the local publication I’ve been writing for, and I can't put them down. I was going to write a “scathing” article comparing and contrasting Runner’s World from 1977 to 2007. However, I think I’m going to take that concept and apply it to this publication. Here are some things that jump out at me;

The 1 hour race used to be popular.
They seemed to race odd distances, such as 1.3, 4.3 and 6.6 miles.
There were only about 50 runners per race, but 75% of them ran sub-6 pace.
They’d run a 6 mile race but also have a 2 mile women’s race.
Prediction runs were a lot more popular.
While guys like Steve Hoag and Ron Daws were studs, they didn’t totally dominate the local racing scene – like I would’ve thought.
It’s fun to see the names people (or relatives) that are still racing 35 years later.
Finally, we’re spoiled and we take for granted things as simple as up-to-date race schedules, the number of races available, certified courses, race directors, etc.

After some unexpected expenses, my wife told me to watch my spending. So yesterday I went out and bought some new running shoes. Hey, they were 30% off. Besides, I’ll cut back on a lot of things, but I’m not going to cut back on running shoes – especially with my knee acting up. I figure $63 is better than visiting the doctor.

Speaking of cutting back, this is now officially a cutback week. Wednesday I ran an easy 6 miles. I’ve been meaning to add in a hill workout during the week, so I decided to ease into that yesterday. I ran 7 miles and included 3 hill repeats, which were about four-tenths of a mile each. Nothing fancy, just trying to make that “smooth transition” while adding something new to the training mix.

Quote of the day;

“For me, more does not equal better. I try to focus on good quality miles so I can run as little as possible throughout the season.” – Emily Brown, University of Minnesota All-American