5.60 miles / 548 for 2013

I really didn't feel like running today, remember the liver & onions followed by the late night run? So do I. But, it's the last day of the month and wanted to finish on a strong note with at least 3 miles to keep up the average to 1000. I procrastinated as long as I could. I didn't want to wait until tonight- I doubt I'll have liver & onions again, but I can bet it will be something that's not good to run after eating.
I have thought a lot about what keeps me motivated while running, remember it's boring- there's not much to do but think. For me there are 2 things that make me keep a good pace and not go into the slow jog that most people call walking.
Here they are...
The first is music. You're saying 'No Shit!' (I know You're = nobody - since I can't imagine who would read this, but I digress). I have an eclectic list of music that I listen to when running from Tupac, Eminem, Journey, Florida Georgia Line, John Denver, Barry Manilow, and more. Yes, Barry Freaking Manilow. There needs to be an app that measures your pace based on the song. I know, or at least feel, like I run faster when I listen to Lose Yourself vs. Take Me Home, Country Roads.
The second motivator is embarrassment. If I feel like I could go into slow jog (walk) mode, I run to a busy road. That can be hard to find in Sunset Beach where the traffic count can be 10 cars per hour. That being said, someone in those cars may know me, and I don't want them to see me walking. Not because I don't want them to think I couldn't run the whole thing. No - the real reasons are

1) I don't want them to think my car broke down and stop to help ----
'Thanks Mr. Kind Friend Who Stops for Everyone for stopping. No, my car is ok. I just couldn't finish my run so I'm dragging my tired, overweight rear home. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.'

2) I don't want someone in those 10 cars to think I got a DUI and lost my license.

4.30 miles / 542 for 2013

I ran late tonight, just finished a little after 9pm. The problem with running at the end of the day is having to run after what you did that day. For example, tonight I had liver and onions for dinner. Have any of you read any health/diet mags that recommend that as a pre-run meal?? If so, my grandma was way ahead of her time - minus the running.

Earlier this month I ran a glow run with Kelly and Cindy that started at 8:30pm. 1st - it pisses me off when I run in a 5k race and it turns out to be less than 3 miles. Come on! I'm going for 1000 miles, I need every .10 of a mile I can get. Back to my point of running late in the day- on this particular day I played golf, sat on the beach for a couple of hours, and drank +/- 10 beers. Although I think most of them were Coors Light, still more than the recommended dosage of beer before running. I ran it without fail. If I remember correctly, I had a pace under 10min/mile - not bad for me and a slushing stomach of beer. That being said, there is no way I was the only one that had been drinking that day. I saw at least 3 MEN wearing cutoff jeans (In all honesty they could have been a new style by UnderArmour or something) and some dude passed me in an all out sprint wearing blue jeans.

I passed him a few minutes later as he was heaving on the sideline.

Ready, Set, Go

This is my first attempt at a blog. We'll see how it goes. I am writing this to document my path to running 1000 miles in 2013. It's July 30, so I'm starting a little late - starting the blog, that is. My current mileage is 538 for the year. It's still possible for me to reach my goal.

A few people have told me to start this blog to share the story. My thought is- who would read it? Are there people so bored they'd read about someone else running? Have you ever run for more than a mile? It's pretty freaking boring. So reading about it can't be much better, right?

We'll see....