Just in time for summer sandal weather! The black toenails were indirectly caused by the heat wave that hit Minnesota this week. The weather was so bad that I moved a couple of runs indoors on the treadmill. My form changes dramatically on this contraption and the proof is evident on both of my big toes today. I haven't lost a nail in over two years and yet after doing a couple of work-outs indoors, I will be losing two of them. They are past the point of being painful; I ran 22.5 miles today and even though I had a bloody sock I wasn't in much pain. I do know of people that drill through the nail with a pin to relieve the pressure, but I haven't braved that. Sounds like some sort of torture you would receive in a prison camp! Runners are a strange and immodest bunch. They are willing to talk about blackened toenails, bleeding and chafing in casual conversations. They will pee just about anywhere, including a Gatorade bottle at the start of a race or simply wet their shorts because they don't want to stop for a bathroom break. They spit, sweat, fire off snot rockets, fart, and spit some more all with reckless abandon! We go shirtless with short shorts in public whether or not we have the body for it. When we are running we just don't care. Apologies to the rest of you non-runners out on the trails, you just have too avert your eyes; runner coming through! Speaking of immodest, I was working at the running store yesterday and a gentlemen comes in and without hesitation tells me he needs some nipple cream! In fact, it less of a question and more of a pronouncement! A proclamation! I then continue to have a 5 minute conversation with a complete stranger about the benefits of Body Glide and why it is needed. Then there was the biker that came in and asked if we carried "butt butter!" It's nice to know that running isn't the only sport where people just don't care!
I had a pretty good running week, despite the weather. My miles dropped from last week, but I did complete a 22.5 mile run today. I managed to gradually increase my pace and run the back half a full 45 seconds faster pace per mile than the front half. Looking ahead to week 9 (the half-way point) and I'm seeing no increase in mileage, but a big increase in intensity. I have two long mid-week runs, while Sunday's run is only 18 miles, but 12 of them will be at 6:50 pace. That will be a good fitness test. Also, I have a race on Thursday night; the Rice Street Mile is 7:00 pm. I've never raced it before, but it's a flat, straight mile street course with one heat only! Should be fun. I don't know how fast I can run a mile these days. I ran an indoor 5:27 in February, so I'm thinking somewhere in the neighborhood of 5:40? We'll see.
My "music moment" of the week goes to one of my all-time favorite songs and one I never tire of. I had my MP3 player on shuffle and this song came on around mile 19 today and it gave me a bit of a boost.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2T-ZAharmYHappy Running!
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