Hi. Sorry about the complete blackout. I’ve been rethinking the whole “training blog” concept. Apparently, I’m not a multi-tasker because somehow I can’t update the current blog while trying to design a new one.

When I say “design a new blog” I really mean it. I realized that Wordpress and every other blogging software out there is designed for journal-like entries (duh). And that’s great if you’re writing an online journal. But a training blog doesn’t necessarily work the same way. I doubt people come here and pore over my explanations of past runs. I bet they look at the most recent entry, possibly look at the race links, and then go somewhere else. And that’s…okay. (Frankly, I’m not really sure why anyone would be interested in any of this, but I’m grateful to those who are.)

So after much thought and sketching and graphic-making and throwing away and starting over — I’m basically right where I started. I have a useless blog and an idea for a better one. Awesome.

At first all I was going to do was revamp the look. But now I’m trying to write custom PHP code. And that’s a lot trickier when you know PHP about as well as Swahili. Not only that, but I’m trying to use already existing code for things I know already exist. This is both cool and painful because you have to figure out what that code does and which parts are appropriate for your applications and which are going to bite you later. I’m getting better. However, I didn’t really have anywhere to go but up so…

Anyway, at some point down the line, there will be newness here. It will be interesting if not downright spectacular. Most likely, no one will even notice there’s a difference or that they’re witnessing a new way of thinking about training blogs on the web. So much to look forward to after all this hard work! In the meantime, I’m still running. And coding. And designing. And throwing computers out windows.

Web design is fun!

I was totally gonna run this weekend. I was even thinking of running both days. I missed it. I wanted to get out there and prove that this sinus hootenany wasn’t going to bring me down. I was ready.

I decided to do some core training on Saturday instead. It felt good. It was warmer than going outside. And I had a lot to get done. One of those things to get done: stain the little media cabinet I built. But Sunday…Sunday was going to be a glorious long run (of six whole miles). It was going to rock.

Saturday afternoon I set out all of the necessities: clean rags, gel stain, the cabinet, paint can opener, plastic to protect the patio, rubber gloves, a couple of strips of scrap wood to rest the stained piece on. I forgot one thing.

I popped open the stain and got to work. Rub the stain on with one cloth, rub it off with another. I was outside and there was a breeze, but that didn’t stop the fumes. About twenty minutes later I didn’t feel so good. By the time I was on the last surface, I was sweating profusely. It was chilly outside so that didn’t make any sense.

I wiped the last bit of stain off as carefully as I could under the circumstances — the circumstances being that I pretty much wanted to hurl the entirety of my internal organs onto my newly stained cabinet. I raced inside, stripped off most of my clothes, switched the fan to high and collapsed onto the bed…and stayed there for the next three hours while I contemplated the benefits of a self-applied death.

The cats sat on the bed and watched me. It was their intense looks that finally got me up — because they had to be fed. That done, I decided to change things up a bit and collapsed on the couch where I stayed for the rest of the night.

I didn’t feel like running Sunday. In fact, I didn’t feel like getting out of bed.

And that’s why you should always wear a mask when using stain. Cripes.

I’m hoping to go running today. After Jury Duty. There’s nothing like attempted murder to get you ready to take down some miles.

I decided to suck it up and commit to a schedule. Since discovering SmartCoach, I’ve been pretty loyal. Almost all the training I’ve done in the past two years (whoa, and that’s pretty dead on — I started taking running seriously in March of ‘06) has been planned out on that one system. I thought it might be fun to try something new, and I figured that since the SF marathon is in August, I’d have a month or two to get up to speed before I even had to think about actual workouts.

Wrong.

NikeRunning says I’m three weeks in. Not only that, I’ve got 5mi with 4 x 800 @ 3:31 today. Uh, what?! The race is over 5 months away! Wait, there’s more. Guess who’s supposed to run 10 miles on Sunday, 10K of which is a time trial? That’s right. This guy!

There is no way I’m running 10 miles on Sunday, time trial or no. I was lucky to survive 4 a couple of days ago.

What to do? Slink back to SmartCoach where I can tell it when I want to start? Try that Furman program with the three-days-a-week plan? Or stare Nike down and show it what for.

I really, really wish I could say I was moving ahead with Nike, turning my back on the last couple of weeks and jumping in full bore. But I don’t want to break myself — I’m gettin’ up there, you know. So I’m going to go for my nice little 3 miler after work and try to figure out a plan of attack that doesn’t involve time trials out of nowhere. This was supposed to be easier.

Man I’m sore. Do not, under any circumstances, stop working out for any extended period of time. I think this is one of the few times where being lazy is less relaxing than running three times a week. Weird.

I’ve been trying to run for two weeks — ever since we finished our bathroom, but it hasn’t happened yet. Weather, mood, pick a reason. But now I’m getting antsy again. And it’s still light out when I leave work which is new and makes me think I might be able to go for a short jog during the week sometime. This assumes I can muster the will after a ten hour day which was probably preceded by not enough sleep the night before. Going to bed at 9:30 seems wrong even if you know you have to be awake at 5 the next morning.

Anyway, here’s to putting some well-deserved pressure on myself. Maybe I’ll have some running to blog about by the end of the weekend.

I was supposed to run a little over 4 miles today (2 x 3200m w/ 400m rest). It’s been warm, but not uncomfortably so — maybe a little warmer than perfect for a run like this. My shoes were in the car, my running stuff packed away in my one-strap backpack. I was set.

By the time I got out of work, it was dark. This was two hours later than it should have been. A string of issues well out of my control repeatedly interrupted what flow I had managed up to lunch. No amount of anticipation could have stemmed the tide. I know this because if I do one thing well, it’s anticipate the worst and prepare contingency plans in the event that something approaching the worst happens. A certain amount of imagination is required. Mine wasn’t good enough to concoct the reality that unfolded before me and measured 99% on the worst-meter.

OK, I’m exaggerating. It could have been worse. No one died. That was last week.

Yes. Last week. Someone died. In the parking lot. While in their car. On break. He’d been missing for three days.

I couldn’t figure out what the police cars were doing in the corner of the parking lot at 3:30pm, most of the uniforms just standing around casually. I shrugged, got in my car and went for a run. No one told me until Friday.

Deluxe shares a building with two insurance firms — one government, one not. He worked for the government. I guess he was taking a nap or something. He never came back from lunch.

I don’t want to die in the parking lot on a break. Nor do I want to die while surfing the internet which, statistically for me, is far more likely. I really wish I’d been able to run today. I think running may stave off death a little bit longer than not running. At least in my case.

I really wish I’d been able to run today.

I’m sure you hadn’t heard anything about this but it turns out there are some fires in the LA and San Diego areas. They’ve only burned upwards of 700 square miles. No biggie.

 The news is now full of information about the fallout of these fires and how, if you can avoid it, you shouldn’t be outside. If you are outside, you really shouldn’t be breathing more than normal. This is the one time in your life that exercise could be bad for you.

Who needs to train for a half marathon anyway? What’s thriteen miles? Chump change. That’s what it is.

Or chump miles. Okay, that didn’t work at all.

 Anyway, I’m attempting to avoid cancer by listening to the professionals. I’m also doing some interesting reading about eating. Three square meals? Lies. Check it out.

I did not feel well on Friday. I wasn’t feeling great on Saturday. I figured I would not feel much different at 5am on Sunday when I would have had to get up in order to make it down to Santa Monica to register before the race. I decided it wasn’t in the cards.

So now I’m trying to figure out what’s next. My job has made running a lot more challenging. I’m so tired after work that all I want to do is collapse. And yet the LA Half Marathon is just on the horizon. If I don’t take a break, I think I’ll be able to segue into training fairly easily considering that I’m already running 9mi long runs as it is. And the FIRST program has that three-day-a-week thing going for it. I may be working a four day week in the near future which would probably mean one run on a work day and two runs on my long weekends.

I have one day to decide. If I’m going to do it, I start tomorrow.

So this is great. I spend three weeks putting my running blog together which involves re-learning what it means to make a website. It’s all about running.

I just got moved to a new position at work that sounds like it’s going to be just the other side of insane in terms of time-commitment and general stress levels. And I’ll probably be working the day shift. And it’s moving into winter which means the days get shorter which leaves much less opportunity to run and not become roadkill.

So my blog may be prettier, but I may be writing more about how I’m not running than how I’m running. Perfect.

I subscribe to this email-list thingy from Runner’s World called “The Daily Kick In The Butt”. It just spits out an inspirational quotation every morning. There have been some good ones, but since I’m sitting down to do some screenwriting this morning, this one struck me as particularly appropriate.

“The will to win means nothing without the will to prepare.”

Juma Ikangaa

I don’t have a run today. But this almost made me want to gear up and go outside. Hopefully I can shift my enthusiasm into writing instead.