Loose Ends

This is a "loose ends" posts - answering questions that have popped up in comments, further thoughts and a question of my own.

The question. A while back there was a post with a link to a blogger who had figured out how to charge his garmin while running. I can't find it again - can anyone help me out? I want to give it a shot at Pac Rim and I need to know the charger type.

Blisters, toes and stuff. Yes, I still have them - blisters and toes. I even have blisters on my toes, but that's old news. They are better or at least not of the spectacular sort that I was sporting a while back. I'm still missing toenails, and every weekend produces another level of irritation, but really, it's so much better than before that I mostly ignore it. But the good news is that my chronic bunion blister may be a thing of the past. I'm going to credit Arthur and Eric with the solution. Eric suggested it long ago, but I was trying something else at the time and didn't follow through. Arthur mentioned it last week at the 6 hour run, and when I told Eric about it, I got the look. Anyone who's married knows what I'm talking about - the kind of eye roll, exasperated sort of glare that instantly reminds you that your beloved spouse had suggested the same thing previously and that you chose to ignore their sage advice and are now taking it from someone else and that is just so frustrating for the beloved spouse - look. That one. Of course my beloved spouse has to put up with a lot, so after watching me ruin one pair of superfeet, he took over and made the modification for me. And I think it is working! He whittled away the area under the bunion till there was just a thin layer left. So simple, and yes, I should have tried it long ago.

The Brooks shoes. You know, after last week, I was ready to take them back. I don't know why, but I put them back on Tuesday morning, and suddenly, they are fine. I ran 25 miles in them over the week, took a break from them yesterday and wore my Asics for my long run, then ran in Brooks again today. They feel great, everything seems good. I guess that I just had to adapt to the stiffness. I think I'll buy another pair of Asics 2120s (if I can find them) and rotate between them.

New Runners: Our 5K training plan for new runners is going great. We are beginning week five and have a solid group of nine adults and three kids. I thought yesterday's sporadic wind and rain and general gloominess would be the true test of their dedication and guess what? They all made it (except for Mom and the kids, but they had a swim meet). It's pretty fun running with a group that is brand new to running and loving it.

Charts and graphs. I didn't realize so many people used charts and graphs! Eric and I worked up a training plan for my first marathon and I followed it faithfully. That was my last one - over 16 months ago. Since then, I just run merrily along. I figure on getting somewhere between 4-6 miles on week days, and anywhere from 5 to 25 on weekends and call it good. If I have a marathon or series of them, I'll kind of look at the calendar and our schedule and lightly pencil in the long runs. It's pretty loosey-goosey but it works for me. No charts, no formal plans. If someone is doing a race or long run that looks like fun, I'll scrap my planned run and go for it. So the plan and bar graph last week were kind of new and fun for me. Remember - I don't like training. I like to run enough races to keep me from having to lay out a training plan. That's why summer is hard for me - I can't handle the heat, so I don't marathon from June-ish to October. That means I have to keep my miles up without racing and that's just not as much fun.

Headphones. A while back I accepted a pair of AirDrives to test. Since I never listen to music, I passed them around the running club. Four runners tested them out for me. The general consensus was a reduction in sound quality but an increase in safety. All the runners found it irritating to have to cinch the wires up under the chin to keep them on. They could all hear the music fine, but found that the outside noise interfered with the music. One runner commented that he accomplished the same goal wearing just one of his regular ear buds rather than both.

Work. I've completed two of three big events in the past two weeks. One was bringing eight kindergarten teachers from six districts together to discuss kindergarten entry with parents from the co-ops and college. That went very well. Yesterday was our annual children's concert and a celebration of 35 years of parent education at our college. It went well too. Next up is the statewide in-service that I am hosting in two weeks. That will conclude all the big events that I am responsible for this year. I'm looking forward to an easier spring quarter!

That's it - that's my data dump for today. Oh, and I did meet and even exceed last weeks 40 mile goal. I got in 42 miles - the two extra by running with the new runners yesterday. Now for this week's 36 or so...