Friday, September 29, 2017

Seven Hundred Four


September 29, 2017
6.73 Miles in 1:06:57
Mood: Candy Apple Trees for the win.
Soundtrack: The Allusionist / The Beef and Dairy Network Podcast / The Killers "Wonderful, Wonderful"

I swear these trees were candy apple green as I passed them. They were glowing in the sunlight with this interesting color halfway between green and yellow and I loved them.

I also ran past a Best Buy this morning and there was a crowd of about 20 people lined up at 6:45 in the morning for some reason. The guy at the head of the line looked like he had camped out since the night before. I thought maybe it was for some new iPhone as I was running this morning, but it appears through my exhaustive internet research that they were actually camped out for a SNES Classic...a retro video game console from Nintendo which looks like a miniature Super Nintendo with 21 games pre-loaded onto it. Seems like an odd thing to camp out for, but I hope they enjoy their systems.

At one point in this run, my wife called me and we discussed a very funny situation. I'm not bringing you any of the details, because they are for us, but I forgot to pause my running app while talking with her which caused my average pace to drop from 9:30 minutes per mile to 9:59 per mile. It's not a big deal in any way, and yet it annoyed me simply because I was on a pretty good pace for the second day of a back to back. This also was my final run as a 40 year old, as when I run on Sunday, I'll be 41.


Seven Hundred Three


September 28, 2017
7.26 Miles in 1:09:51
Mood: Annoyed and wet, but ultimately okay
Soundtrack: The Killers "Wonderful Wonderful"

The first half mile of my run didn't actually track, so I technically did more than 7.26 miles, but thanks to the app malfunctioning, I don't get to count it. I was kind of annoyed at that, but also annoyed that I forgot to bring my credit card and my emergency peanut butter (*for blood sugar purposes), so about six minutes into my run I was an annoyed mess.

Fortunately, things got better. It started to rain on me, but for once, I wasn't annoyed by it. It wasn't a heavy rain, more of a mist and it actually felt very refreshing. The only downside was that it caused my glasses to fog over something fierce, but I decided not to let that bother me and soon I was feeling pretty good despite the difficult start.

At one point during this run I was passed like I was standing still by a woman and her dog. She didn't really have the body of a runner, but she was hauling tail. I thought that it would be easy to keep up with her, but I was WRONG. Don't judge a runner by their body type, I guess.

Finally...today's photo is a scene from the front of a bank. I don't know if this old timey bike thing is a cool looking bike rack or just a piece of art, but either way...I love it.



Tuesday, September 26, 2017

Seven Hundred Two


September 26, 2017
7.99 Miles in 1:16:01
Mood: Chilly and Creepy
Soundtrack: Of Monsters And Men "My Head Is An Animal" / Panic! at the Disco "A Fever You Can't Sweat Out"

Fall is sweeping summer away. Today was my first long sleeves and pants running day in months, and I was still cold for the first ten minutes. In addition to being chilly as I started out, I walked up the street, and this bouncy horse was sitting on a neighbor's lawn. I've never seen this toy before, and man was it disturbing in the early dawn light to see it sitting there. It was super creepy.

I pushed past the fear and the chill of those first few moments, and had a decent morning run. My only real complaint was that the Pokemon Go servers were down, so for most of this run, I was just running and not also playing an augmented reality video game. It was funny how much I missed having that little buzz of the Pokemon Go Plus going off in my hand. It felt like I was missing a limb, my run didn't feel quite right.



Monday, September 25, 2017

Seven Hundred One


September 24, 2017
7.37 Miles in 1:06:52
Mood: Damp and cheerful
Soundtrack: Cold War Kids "LA DIVINE"

After a whole warm summer, a cold front is a shocking thing to experience. Even if it never got TRULY cold, the rain and temps in the 40s made this weekend a little hard to take. The rain was especially bad on the day previous to this run when I tried to attend an Air Force football game, but had to leave in the first quarter because I was afraid that I might get washed away.

After getting drenched in my less than a quarter of Air Force football, I had negative feelings toward the rain and cold weather in general, however on this particular Sunday morning, the cool felt really good...especially once I got moving. It even briefly rained on me, and I had no real complaints about that. The gray skies were powerfully gloomy, but I felt really good as I ran around Wash Park. There weren't a ton of good photo ops on this run, but when you're at Wash Park, you can always just shoot a picture of the boathouse with the gray clouds reflected in the water and you're good.


Friday, September 22, 2017

Seven Hundred


September 22, 2017
8.63 Miles in 1:24:31
Mood: Back in the saddle...you know, if running required a saddle.
Soundtrack: 99% Invisible / Benjamen Walker's Theory of Everything / The Memory Palace / Future Islands "The Far Field"

Ah, after the gassy disaster that was my last run, it felt so good to just feel normal today. I wasn't going all that fast, but at least I was going and each step wasn't an adventure in pain. I ended up going further than I intended just because it felt so good to be out and productive after having missed a lot of time lately due to falling and jury duty.

Today's picture is a fence that can been seen along a mildly busy stretch of Littleton Boulevard. Someone decided to paint a rosebush on a fence for some reason. I can't decide if I like this, or I think it's stupid. Perhaps a little of both. Either way, as with all deviations from normal yards, I am glad it exists.


Wednesday, September 20, 2017

Six Hundred Ninety-Nine


September 19, 2017
4.03 Miles in 41:02
Mood: Gassy and awful
Soundtrack: The Shins "Chutes Too Narrow" and "Oh, Inverted World" and "Heartworms"

This run was painful and awful. I spent more time walking than running because my stomach was awash in gas pains and although I wasn't getting tired, I had to stop to rest because my belly hurt. I somehow managed to get four miles in, but it was a very unimpressive four miles. At about the halfway point on this run, I stopped in to the Goodson Rec Center hoping that a little time in the bathroom could help "the situation" I was facing. It didn't really help at all, although I was in a stall so long that the auto-timed lights shut off on me so that I was forced to finish up in the dark.

This run was memorable for more than just gastronomical distress, thanks to my wife being selected to serve on a jury, I was pressed into "getting the kids to school" duty. No big deal, but it meant that I couldn't run in the morning, so I waited until after dinner that night, which is why the photo above is so dark...as I took it in the middle of the night. The light in the background comes from the lights above the baseball field which was being used this night for adult flag football...a sport I didn't know existed, but watched a bit as I circled the field a few times on this outing. Hopefully next time I go out, my belly will cooperate and I'll actually do a pleasant run. At least I got a cool photo out of it which makes it look like I was witness to a UFO landing.


Monday, September 18, 2017

Six Hundred Ninety-Eight


September 17, 2017
7.99 Miles in 1:11:31
Mood: Happy and healthy and using my arms.
Soundtrack: Barenaked Ladies "Barenaked Ladies are Men" and "Barenaked Ladies are Me"

My knee's skin is still healing, but the good news is that despite the scrapes I was able to put in a super amazing morning of running. Wash Park was slightly cloudy and with the darkness came a slight chill which was perfect for running. I managed to get in almost eight miles while averaging under nine minutes a mile, which felt pretty spectacular. It was nice to get a real run in and not fall and maim myself, for a change!

The most noteworthy thing I saw on this run was a woman jogging without using her arms. It was the weirdest looking thing. Her arms just dangled there at her side. I did see her raise her arms a few times, so it wasn't as if she didn't have the use of her arms, she just ran without pumping them, which looks remarkably weird. I don't know how one develops that style, but it seems so unnatural that it's almost like she was trying to do it weird.



Friday, September 15, 2017

Six Hundred Ninety-Seven


September 15, 2017
0.07 Miles in :59
Mood: Ouch
Soundtrack: Tyler Stinson "Some Days I'm A Lion"

I was hesitant to leave for my run this morning. In truth, I almost just didn't get out of bed and slept in instead. I wish I had done that, now. I forced myself out of bed and decided to head out despite not feeling quite 100%. My legs were a bit tired and I just wasn't feeling it. I walked from home towards the Streets of Southglenn and as I crossed University, I began jogging as I crossed the street.

This run officially was clocked at 59 seconds, but it truth, it probably only lasted 20. Right after crossing the street I began running down the sidewalk and almost immediately tripped on the jagged sidewalk and banged hard against the ground. I hit really hard. I stood up a bit confused from pain, and I got a little dizzy and my sight went black. It hurt a lot and for about 15 seconds I couldn't see. My vision cleared and I hobbled over to the mall area. I was determined to try and walk it off, but I was hurting too much, bleeding too much (as you can see in the photo), and just realized that perhaps this was God's way of telling me I really shouldn't run today.

I went home, cleaned and bandaged the wound, and decided to just chill on the running front for the rest of the day. I feel just fine, now. My knee is a little sore, but I'm hoping that all goes well and I'll be ready to do a slightly longer run on Sunday morning. And that is the story of how I came to post what the shortest run in the history of the blog. May it be a record that is never broken.


Thursday, September 14, 2017

Six Hundred Ninety-Six


September 14, 2017
7.87 Miles in 1:16:24
Mood: Annoyed that my earbuds are never perfect and occasionally even worse than adequate.
Soundtrack: The Brilliance "All is not Lost" and "Brother" / Barenaked Ladies "Maroon"

My first pair of wireless earbuds were bought in February and they lasted me all the way to September. This is a pretty good run as far as the history of my running buds, but I was hoping they'd make it a bit longer. I went into Best Buy Tuesday to exchange them (It is a long standing tradition for me to buy the 2 year protection plan on earbuds and then exchange them every other month because they break so quickly. I'm probably on my 17th generation of earbuds that were exchanged rather than purchased. It's a strange business model for them, but it works for me.) Today was my first run after the exchange, and I am hear to report that they work amazingly well as long as I am not running. Seriously, they sound great, but they have a little remote dangling just below the right ear which jangles when I run and has a very unfortunate tenancy to dislodge from my right ear. They got slightly better halfway through my run as I adjusted them a tiny but, but things are not looking good for their continued use. All I want is a pair of dependable and durable and cheap ear buds that don't break and sound great. Pretty sure such a thing does not exist, but I will continue in my ongoing quest at Best Buy.

As for the non-earbud portion of this morning...the clouds at sunrise were pretty epic. Also, I ran for about a quarter mile without my running app active, so I think this run probably went over 8 miles, but I'll only post what it actually tracked. I hate when I do that. Not that it matters that much. I'm already 63 miles logged for September, so the 100 mile mark shouldn't be too difficult to reach.


Tuesday, September 12, 2017

Six Hundred Ninety-Five


September 12, 2017
7.84 Miles in 1:15:27
Mood: Amused by chalk
Soundtrack: Lord Huron "Lonesome Dreams" / The Wombats "Glitterbug" / Barenaked Ladies "Born On A Pirate Ship"

This chalk drawing of this midriff baring girl was a little terrifying. First off, her right eye doesn't exist. It's like whoever was drawing her got the eyebrow and eyelashes done and figured that's good enough. Then factor in that she has no knees. Just twin towers for legs with no indication that bending is something that should ever happen with legs. Also, she is about nine feet tall and half of that is lips. I was very excited to take this picture.


Monday, September 11, 2017

Six Hundred Ninety-Four


September 10, 2017
7.33 Miles in 1:08:53
Mood: Needed a brief break from the norm.
Soundtrack: Jason Isbell "Something More Than Free" / Barenaked Ladies "Stunt"

I began circling Wash Park on this morning, but quickly realized that I wanted to take a detour and scout out a slightly different area than normal on this run, so I veered West as I saw there was an open slot in a Poke Gym, and then just kept going west and then ended up heading a bit south. I ended up discovering this mural on the side of a random building which was a bit psychedelic and then wandered around a tiny bit before finding my way back to the park and completing a couple of laps around it in my usual fashion...wanderlust satiated.  


Friday, September 8, 2017

Six Hundred Ninety-Three


September 8, 2017
7.19 Miles in 1:09:45
Mood: Settling in to September
Soundtrack: Arctic Monkeys "AM" / Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness "Zombies on Broadway" / Dispatch "America, Location 12"

It's really starting to feel like September. The NFL season kicked off last night (holy cow, the Chiefs looked good in thumping the defending champion Patriots), the mornings are getting significantly cooler, night comes earlier, and this tree is turning yellow. This is not a bad thing, as I would say without any hesitation that September is the best month of the year. It's taken about a week to really get used to being in my favorite time of year, but I'm there. This run was a great exercise in September appreciation. I was a bit worn down, as this is my second run in two days, but I still managed to pretty much equal my pace from yesterday and see some truly beautiful scenes as I checked out my world this morning. It's a shame September is only 30 days.


Six Hundred Ninety-Two


September 7, 2017
7.03 Miles in 1:08:26
Mood: I will overcome
Soundtrack: Counting Crows "Somewhere Under Wonderland"

I actually felt pretty good about this run despite my average pace and miles. I felt like I had to overcome a lot on this one just to achieve average results, so I was pleased that I made it at the end.

I was more than a little out of sync this particular morning. It all started when I awoke to discover that I hadn't charged my phone the night before and it was sitting at 28% battery remaining. This meant that I had to wait a lot longer than normal to get started, so I ended up leaving about 45 minutes later than I usually would have. Not a good start. After waiting as long as I could, the battery was up to 72% and I felt I'd have sufficient juice for a run, so I took off.

It was about a mile into the run when I looked down and realized that I was wearing my old running shoes which I have retired due to the fact that they have around 600 miles on them and are pretty worn out for running. About six seconds after I realized this, I was crossing a bridge and caught my foot on a wooden plank and toppled to the ground. I sat up and laughed at myself because this morning was not going my way. The only thing hurt in the fall was my pride and my eight month streak of not falling on a run.

Despite non-optimum conditions, I was able to get into a pretty decent groove and was able to eek out seven miles even though with such a late start I was figuring I'd only get five at the most. By the time I was finished I felt pretty proud of what I had accomplished on such a funky Thursday.

Today's photo comes from the Streets at Southglenn. With all the fires burning in Montana, the skies have been red lately, and on this particular morning the sun was a deep red. You can sort of see it in the photo, but it was much more dramatic being there.



Wednesday, September 6, 2017

Six Hundred Ninety-One


September 5, 2017
9.48 Miles in 1:29:44
Mood: Supercharged
Soundtrack: Panic! at the Disco "Death of a Bachelor" and "Too Weird to Live, Too Rare to Die!"

I had one of those rare and wonderful mornings where I could just run and run and never get tired. Since I hardly took any breaks, I was able to get in a long run while still getting home at around the same time as normal. The down side to this is I barely stopped to take any photos at all, so I had to make do with this passable picture of the Highline Canal Trail, but an uninspired photo is a small price to pay for a glorious run. It's hard to express just how good this one felt!


Six Hundred Ninety


September 3, 2017
7.43 Miles in 1:08:06
Mood: Super happy to meet someone who isn't REALLY famous.
Soundtrack: The Decemberists "The King is Dead" "Long Live the King" and "What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World"

I started following Lindsay Jones on Twitter back when she was a Broncos beat writer for the Denver Post. (She is now an NFL writer for USA Today) When I started with Instagram, they checked my Twitter feed and saw I was following her, so they recommended I follower her on Instagram. She has an okay Twitter feed, but an outstanding Instagram feed, so I really got a feel for who she was based on the pictures she would post.

She loves dogs (and has several), she has an adorable toddler daughter, and she loves running. She posts photos from runs of places that I frequent, and I always thought that someday I'd probably bump into her. I was in the middle of my second lap at Wash Park on Sunday and I saw a woman pushing a jogging stroller who looked remarkably like her running in the opposite direction I was. I kept running, but when I saw her half a lap later on the other side of the park, I had to see if it was actually her.

I ran to catch up with her and had the very 2017 conversation that went like this...

"I know this is weird, but are you Lindsay Jones?"

"Yes???" she said hesitantly before looking at me. Followed by a very friendly, "I know you from Instagram!"

We said hello for a few minutes and so as not to be overly creepy, I said it was nice meeting you, and then peeled off in the other direction.

It wasn't really a big deal. It's not like she's super famous or has an ultra glamorous job, but I was more excited to meet her than I would have been to meet 98% of the Denver Broncos players because I have followed her for years on Instagram and gotten a sense of who she is. She was my internet celebrity, and I got to meet her. It was all very exciting in a very ridiculous way, but it made my Sunday morning. I was especially glad to find that she seems to be just as nice as she projects on her social media. Yay for Lindsay.



Friday, September 1, 2017

Six Hundred Eighty-Nine


September 1, 2017
8.64 Miles in 1:22:46
Mood: Befuddled by summer snow
Soundtrack: The Wood Brothers "The Muse" / The Local Strangers "Left for Better", "The Local Strangers" and "Devils & Ghosts"

I turned the corner, and I saw a pile of snow. Nevermind that it's the first day of September, and it's WAAAAAAY to early for snow. It was there. This messed with my head for a good solid ten seconds until I figured out that I was right next to an ice skating rink. I turned the corner to see several piles of "snow" along with a zamboni. These are weird things out of context.