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I took it nice and easy on today’s run. It was the perfect temperature, there weren’t too many cars or people to deal with and the sun was out. I can’t ask for much better during a run. I took the wrong route, but I can only blame myself for that.

I should clarify what I meant by “wrong route.” Both times I’ve been injured it was on the same route. I took that route today, because I thought it was just superstition that the path I took was causing issues with my legs. As it turns out, I felt a twinge in my leg toward the end of the run. It didn’t turn into an issue, but I’m now convinced that there’s something about that route (likely the camber of the road) that’s causing issues. I’m done running there.

I’m set for 13 miles tomorrow and I can’t wait. I looked at my schedule and it turns out I was only supposed to run 5 miles today, but I went for 8 instead. Whoops! Maybe my legs will be a bit tired for tomorrow’s run so it will be a nice warm-up for my half marathon next weekend.

Happy running!

The stats
- Daily: 8 miles at 10:33 pace
- Week total: 27.67 miles
- January total: 51.42 miles
- 2012 total: 51.42 miles
- Distance to 2012 goal: 2,448.58 miles

My legs were tired today. I went out way too fast, which probably didn’t help things much. I have a problem where I speed up as I come up behind people to pass and that happened a lot in the first part of my run. I don’t particularly care if I’m passing people or not, but there tends to be traffic coming the other way too so I speed up to avoid collisions.

Other than my tired legs and speedy start everything went well. I’m looking forward to my long runs this weekend (8 and 13 miles). Then next weekend I have the 3M Half Marathon, which should be lots of fun.

Happy running!

The stats
- Daily: 4.82 miles at 9:48 pace
- Week total: 19.67 miles
- January total: 43.42 miles
- 2012 total: 43.42 miles
- Distance to 2012 goal: 2,456.58 miles

I split my run into two today. The first was a short 1-mile warm up with Luna, then I went out for about 7 on my own. It was a good run and Luna seemed to enjoy coming with me for the first part.

My legs feel good and I’m glad to be back to normal. I was in the zone for a good chunk of the run. I even “lost” a few miles in there because I was just cruising along. I looked down at my watch and two miles had gone by like nothing. I love it when I can run without thinking about an injury.

I have 5 miles on the schedule tomorrow and I’m already looking forward to it.

Happy running!

The stats
- Daily: 7.69 miles (1.08 miles at 14:49 pace and 6.61 miles at 9:54 pace)
- Week total: 14.85 miles
- January total: 38.6 miles
- 2012 total: 38.6 miles
- Distance to 2012 goal: 2,461.4 miles

I felt great on today’s run. The weather was perfect, my leg felt good and I cruised through the miles. I probably could have gone faster, but I don’t want to get injured again. I don’t think today’s run could have gone better.

I forgot to mention on here that I got a pair of Merrell Trail Gloves and I’ve been wearing them for my past few runs. They are great and I’m starting to like them better than the FiveFingers. I felt like the FiveFingers caused my small toes to splay out in a way that wasn’t natural, which affected my gait. My toes want to splay out some as I touch down, but the FiveFingers spread the small toes so much that they became useless for balance. It’s amazing how much different my stride feels with the wide toebox on the Trail Gloves. I have enough room for my toes to spread out, but they don’t have material in between them like they did in the FiveFingers.  I feel like I have more balance and my foot isn’t rolling around on the ball like it was with the FiveFingers.

I still think running completely barefoot or with minimalist shoes is the best plan for me. I think my toes just happen to be of a certain length and orientation that makes the FiveFingers somewhat of a hinderance. If I could get the shoes in a custom fit to my toe length I’m sure things would be different. That’s not the case, so I’m going to stick with the Trail Gloves for now.

I have an 8-miler on the schedule for tomorrow and I’m really looking forward to it. I wasn’t sure if going the whole distance was a good idea, but after today’s run I think it will be just fine.

Happy running!

The stats
- Daily: 5.08 miles at 9:50 pace
- Week total: 7.16 miles
- January total: 30.91 miles
- 2012 total: 30.91 miles
- Distance to 2012 goal: 2,469.09 miles

I felt great on today’s run. My leg is very close to 100 percent and hardly bothered me at all. That said, my stride must still be compensating some because things started to get a bit sloppy around mile 6 so I came back home.

I’m glad my leg is continuing to get better. I think it will be back to 100 percent this week, and hopefully it will stay that way until my half marathon the next weekend. I don’t need to finish in a blazing fast time, but I would like to finish and do it at a decent pace.

Tomorrow is a cross training day. I’m flirting with the idea of going for a nice and easy 2-miler on my cross and off days but I haven’t decided yet. We’ll see how my legs feel and go from there.

Happy running!

The stats
- Daily: 6.68 miles at 10:06 pace
- Week total: 19.99 miles
- January total: 23.75 miles
- 2012 total: 23.75 miles
- Distance to 2012 goal: 2,476.25 miles

I went for my first real run since my injury today. I had 8 miles planned but told myself I would cut it short if anything felt weird. I ended up doing just short of 5. My left leg (the injured one) felt fine but the right one started getting sketchy toward the end. I think it’s because I was compensating for the other leg in my gait, which was putting too much stress on the right leg. I decided to head back instead of causing another issue.

Everything else on the run was good. I wanted to keep it around a 10-minute pace and I succeeded (on average) even though I started out way too fast. Speed isn’t really my concern at this point. I’m running the 3M half marathon two weeks from tomorrow and the Lost Dutchman Marathon with my aunt a few weeks after that. I really want to make sure my leg is 100 percent so I don’t have any issues.

I’m supposed to go for 13 tomorrow but I don’t know how likely that is. I’m going to go until my legs tell me it’s time to stop.

Happy running!

The stats
- Daily: 4.87 miles at 10:05 pace
- Week total: 13.31 miles
- January total: 17.07 miles
- 2012 total: 17.07 miles
- Distance to 2012 goal: 2,482.93 miles

I wanted to go for 5 miles today but I only ended up doing 2. My leg just wasn’t up for more and I didn’t want to push it. That said, it’s continuing to feel better during walks so the healing process is at least coming along somewhat.

I’m slated for another 5 miles tomorrow so we’ll see if I can do any more than I did today. I might not even go out depending on how it feels after recovering from today’s run. Staying in sucks, but it’s better than being injured for a long time.

Happy running!

The stats
- Daily: 2.08 miles at 11:25 pace
- Week total: 2.08 miles
- January total: 5.84 miles
- 2012 total: 5.84 miles
- Distance to 2012 goal: 2,494.16 miles