The Baltimore Running Project

BARCStoberfest Ready, Set, Sniff! 5K 2016 Race Report

noreply@blogger.com (Obi-Run Kenobi) — Mon, 24 Oct 2016 19:56:00 +0000

I've got to get caught up after a busy week and weekend. Before I get to the race report, a quick update on the mysterious knee/leg injury.

I had my appointment with the sports medicine specialist on Tuesday and she diagnosed me with a mild case of IT band syndrome. Which ultimately makes sense and put me at ease that it was minor and very treatable. In fact, by the time I went on Tuesday, my leg was feeling much better and I'd been able to run very easy 3 milers on both Saturday and Sunday of last weekend.

She gave me a referral to have some physical therapy. The idea being that since I want to ramp up my mileage to eventually complete a marathon and possibly beyond, having someone with some expertise look at my biomechanics and prescribe specific stretches and exercises to help improve them will be a good long term solution.

So, I have to call to schedule an appointment, but she said it should only be 1 or 2 sessions; long enough to analyze my gait and get some exercises that I can do at home.

By the time I got to the weekend, my leg was feeling about 90%, with very little discomfort after runs, so I went for what was supposed to be a 7.5 mile slow run on Sunday. But I got a little turned around on my route, so I think I went closer to 8.1 miles than 7.5. I say I think because I've been using my old Garmin 305 to help monitor my pace and miles a bit more closely, but it usually takes a few minutes at the beginning of each run to find the satellites. So, when all is said and done, I'm guessing my missed turns and the GPS delay link up cost me about a half a mile.

But everything felt OK, with only some mild discomfort about 4 miles into the run. But that went away and never returned once I stretched my calf muscles out. So, I'm quite happy with that result, even if I was slow. Overall, the run felt good and while tired, I wasn't winded or exhausted as I had feared, seeing as how it's been almost a month since I last did a proper long run around 10 miles. All good news as I stick to my gradual return to building my mileage.

So, this Saturday was my latest race, a 5k to raise money for the Baltimore Animal Rescue Center (BARCS) called Ready, Set, Sniff! I had not done this race in years past, but it's held as part of a larger day-long festival in Patterson Park in Baltimore, which is about a mile or so from our house. The festival brings in rescue groups from around the area, as well as vendors, food trucks, etc., to raise money and awareness for animal rescue.

What's really cool about this race is that this is one of the rare events I've seen that encourages runners to run with their dogs. You can register as just a human, or as a human/dog team, which is really cool. The teams start about 5 minutes after the humans (in theory). There's also a 1 mile walk where you can walk with your dog if, like us, you have a smaller breed dog, or if you've got an older pet who doesn't like to or can't run 3.1 miles.

The run is a bit later than traditional races and starts at 9:30am. But, in late October, this works fine, and actually was perfect this year. The weather had been, up until Friday, more like late June then late October: highs in the mid-80's and humid. But overnight a front swept through and it cooled off and got really windy. On Saturday morning, it was ~55 degrees with a 20mph wind and overcast: prime October weather.

I drove over to the park and parked about a half mile away due to city parking and to have a bit of a warm up run on the way over to the starting line. I did about a mile of very slow warm up and then made my way to the starting line. It was full of dogs, who were all very excited to be there and be hanging out with their humans. Some were wearing costumes so there were a few sharks and dinosaurs and ballerinas around, too.

The start was a bit confusing. As I said, in theory, the human/dog teams were supposed to start at the back about 5 minutes after the humans left. But in reality, there were lots of human/dog teams up front even after the race director announced that they needed to move to the back. That became more of an issue when the horn went off and dogs took off zigging and zagging into other runners. More than one pup caught sight of me as I ran beside them and decided to come over and say hello mid-stride!

But you just have to go with it and pet them and run on. I ran beside one black lab for a while and every few meters he'd look over at me with this look like, "Can you believe we're doing this? This is so fun!" and I'd have to say, "I know! This IS fun! Keep running!"

The course stayed within Patterson Park and did several loops. I tried to plot the course based on my memory on my Running Ahead entry, but I'm sure I'm off somewhere. It was a nice course and had two sections of long climbs. Thankfully, the first and longest climb was followed by a nice descent so I could catch my breath.

My goal was to get a personal best. My unofficial PB for the 5k was around 28:00...honestly I don't remember what the specific time was, but it was back in 07 or 08, I think. Anyway, my goal was to get under 28:00 and call it a new official PB. Despite the zig zagging dogs and rolling hills, I came in at 27:13 on my watch (this race was very low key and didn't use chips), which was not only a PB, but got me in the top quartile of finishers and JUST outside the top quintile.

I was really happy with that result for sure, especially considering that I had taken that full week off, and really had only gradually started back running again. So I'll take it as a nice improvement. Overall, I liked this race and would do it again next year. Running with dogs is fun, even if you've got to watch out for pups in your lane and errant leashes.

My next race is the Saturday before Thanksgiving and is a 10k down near Annapolis. Although if I find another one to do between now and then, I may sign up. My primary goal at the 10k is to break 60 minutes. My "reach" goal is to get under 55 minutes, which is a 9:00/mile pace. Slow but steady improvement is the theme!

Taking the Long View, of Sorts

noreply@blogger.com (Obi-Run Kenobi) — Mon, 17 Oct 2016 20:09:00 +0000

At some point, all healing injuries reach the point where physically, it's tough to discern if the body is actually completely healed or if the pain has subsided, while the actual healing needs more time to continue. Many times, the end of pain of discomfort truly marks just the halfway point of the healing. Like your body is saying, "OK, the fire is out, but it's still smoldering."

I have no idea if running injuries are significantly different than other sports injuries in this respect, but I doubt it. At some point your body is OK enough to function without pain, but maybe not OK enough to function at running or jumping or absorbing tackles, etc.

That point int he healing process is probably the riskiest, as it's very easy to give into the temptation of "well, it's been 3 days and it doesn't hurt. I'm sure 3 miles today will be OK. Just three miles..." I mean, maybe for some people this approach works out and they run 3 miles without any trouble and that's that. I'd guess for more of us, myself included, this is merely our mind playing the role of The Empire at the Battle of Endor: lure us in with the appearance of normalcy, only to spring the trap ("It's a trap!") and bring the pain back about a mile into the run.

That was my main concern following a frustrating week where my knee/upper leg hurt, but not terribly and felt fine after two days, only to then hurt again after I ran last Friday. Obviously, my mind had laid the trap and I'd fallen right into it, like Admiral Akbar and the rebel fleet. So, I resolved to shut the whole thing down for a full week, committing to not running again until this recent Saturday. My hope was that since the pain wasn't severe, I hadn't been quite stupid enough to create a much worse situation for myself right at the best running time of the year, and that a week of rest with some stretching and icing would provide the break needed to heal fitfully.

Thankfully, I can report that at this point, that seems to be the case. After two short, easy runs this weekend of 3 miles apiece, the leg feels OK and I've had no pain during or after each run. I had just a touch of stiffness yesterday after the run, but I iced the spot and stretched my calf muscles out and used a foam roller that my wife got me for my anniversary (awesome!) and that helped tremendously.

Today, I did the same route: a bit over 3 miles. I started at an easy pace but the leg felt really good so I gradually dropped my pace until I was around 8:30 or lower (my pace averaged 8:45 per mile for the 3+ miles) to test it a bit more. No issues at all, which was a huge relief.

So, that discipline of not trying to deviate from the plan and jumping back into running mid-week seems to have paid off. I'm still going to my sports medicine doctor appointment on Tuesday for a couple reasons. First, I made it a week ago, so I might as well keep it. Second, I want to be sure, after describing the pain and the recovery, etc., that there's nothing else I should be doing or no other possible injury I should be considering. Better safe than sorry.

Now, I've mapped out a gradual return to where I was before the injury, minus the foolish speedwork. Rest tomorrow (Monday), then 4 miles on Tuesday followed by rest on Wednesday, etc. I'll plan on a short 7.5 or 8 miler next weekend, and if all goes well, will be back working toward increasing my mileage more gradually after that. The biggest shift will be largely abandoning the speed workouts for now.

I'm going to just live with being a bit slow for a while, especially since I need to gradually increase my mileage for my planned major race target in May of next year: the Flying Pig's Skyline 3-Way Challenge. The challenge is to run the 10k and 5k on the Saturday of the running festival in Cincinnati, and then either the half or full marathon the next day. I'm going to do the half, obviously, but that will still be a bit over 22 miles of running in less than 24 hours, so my winter will be spent getting my endurance up to the point where I can aim for fast (for me!) times in all three races. I don't want to just survive those races; I'd like to tackle them in good shape.

All of which is to say, navigating this niggling injury such that it doesn't become a more significant challenge to my running in the short term is key. I think taking the week was the right thing to do for sure; now I just have to stick to the gradual increase in training to make sure I avoid any setbacks.

Shutting It Down for a Week

noreply@blogger.com (Obi-Run Kenobi) — Mon, 10 Oct 2016 18:20:00 +0000

My leg pain hasn't really gone away in the last few days, but it also hasn't gotten worse, so I've decided to shut it down for a week and see how that goes. A bit more detail follows.

I took both last Wednesday and Thursday as rest days to see if the minor pain would resolve itself quickly. By Friday, I really wasn't feeling any discomfort at all, which I took as a good sign. On Friday evening, I went for a normal run of about 5 miles, but at a pretty slow pace of about 9:22/mile. Around mile 4, my right calf muscle got really tight and painful. This was the only point where I could also feel tightness in the same spot that's been painful and I eventually stopped because I could also feel some pain coming.

Interestingly, I stretched my calf out and kept running, and the tightness on my leg disappeared as well for the remainder of the run. Only after I got home and the muscles tightened up again did the pain come. It wasn't intense or acute, but very noticeable as I walked or went up and down stairs. I iced it for a bit, and massaged the calf. All that seemed to help, but the return of the pain was disheartening. Again, it hadn't gotten worse, but it also wasn't any better after just 48 hours of rest.

Additionally, the spot was sore when I woke up on Saturday morning and was uncomfortable for about half the day, before the pain disappeared completely. Yesterday, it didn't hurt at all. My calf was also really sore on Saturday, but now feels much better.

I didn't run at all Saturday or Sunday, and am going to take this whole workweek off as well to give the leg a full 7 days of rest. During that time I'm going to work on some stretching and strengthening exercises. I also made an appointment with the doctor but they can't see me until next Wednesday, so that's not really immediately helpful.

But the plan is to wait until Saturday and then test the leg with maybe a short 3 miler and see how things feel. No running before then, no matter how good the leg might feel. If that goes fine, I'll try another 3 miler on Sunday and then depending on how that goes, make a decision on whether to see the doctor next week. I may still go just to cover my bases, though.

It's definitely disappointing, but I don't have any big races coming up and if for some reason I have to bag the 5K later this month, it's fine.

Beyond that, I think gradually getting back to training will be critical, obviously. Also, I plan on running mostly in my old Brooks Ghosts at first, and then run in the Launch more and more over time since the Ghosts offer a bit more support than the Launch.

A Very Odd Injury

noreply@blogger.com (Obi-Run Kenobi) — Tue, 04 Oct 2016 20:31:00 +0000

I delayed writing a week in review post not for any bad reason, but because I wanted to have enough time to fully go through the last four or five days because it's been pretty mystifying from this sore knee standpoint.

So, my general plan had been to to rest on Thursday and then do an easy 5 miles on Friday. On Thursday, the knee felt OK. Only the occasional bruised feeling and only at seemingly random times. In other words, it might twinge when I went up the steps, but not down. And then I'd go up the steps again and it'd feel fine, but then twinge when I was walking on flat ground. There was just no predictability, but I would say the discomfort was at most a 2 out of 10, so I thought I'd likely be able to run on Friday.

But then I woke up Friday morning and it just didn't feel great at all. Not like I couldn't walk on it or put weight on it, but it just didn't feel good. The twinges of discomfort were a bit more frequent, even though I hadn't done any physical activity on Thursday to aggravate it. It really didn't feel much better after I got home from work but again, discomfort probably 2 out of 10, so not bad. Just worrying, I guess. I was worried that running on it would make it much worse and risked something that would prevent me from running for a week or longer. So, I decided to take another rest day and I put some ice on it, etc.

I woke up on Saturday and it felt better, but still not 100%. Far fewer periods of discomfort but I just didn't feel totally confident. But, by the afternoon, I decided to head out for a very easy 4 miler with the intention of keeping it very slow and turning around or even walking back home if I felt significant or sustained pain.

But, it really didn't feel bad at all on the run and I made it the full 4 miles at a leisurely pace. There were maybe 3 or 4 times when I felt a bit of
discomfort, but they were seemingly at random: twice on flat ground, twice on downhills, but only briefly. And again, never really "painful" in the same way runner's knee is...a dull bruised feeling rather than the sharp pain of runner's knee, etc. There was a bit of pain after I got back the knee tightened back up, so I iced it a bit and that seemed to help.

So I was left wondering just what the hell was going on.

I woke up on Sunday and the knee felt better than it had since Tuesday. Still some twinges, but not bad. So, I kept to my plan of a 7.5 mile very easy, no pressure longer run that would go over to Fells Point, then up through Butcher's Hill and into Patterson Park before turning back to Canton and back home. My intent was to run a route with some uphills and downhills to test the knee. I wanted to keep the pace around 10:00 per mile, give or take 15 seconds, and I was successful: my Garmin clocked my average pace at 9:42 per mile. But once again, it was a very odd run overall.

The first 5-ish miles were great. No pain at all. Only when I got to Patterson Park and started on a longer downhill did I feel some of that same dull pain in my knee. But, it subsided a bit once I hit some flat patches and by the time I was out of the park and heading east toward home, it felt mostly OK and I only had a couple twinges on the downhill overpass on the way back to the house.

It felt a bit sore when I got home, so after stretching, I put some ice on it for a while and took a couple ibuprofen. That seemed to help and it didn't feel nearly as unwieldy as it did post-run on Saturday. By Sunday night, it felt actually very good. Very few periods of discomfort.

And I woke up on Monday and it felt great and got better as the day wound on. I already had Monday as a rest day, so that was fine. And by yesterday afternoon, the knee felt back to normal. I caught a bus home that drops me a little over a mile from the house, and the knee felt strong the entire walk home, which was a very encouraging sign. Since then, I haven't felt a single twinge or any discomfort. I have zero clue what happened to help it heal or the pain to subside.

The true test will of course be this evening when I head out for my regularly scheduled 5 miles and then post-run. But I have little more idea of what I tweaked now than I did on Wednesday night. I thought it might be ITB Syndrome, but now I don't think so, given it hasn't gotten worse as I've run. It's possible I just overdid it and bruised the top of the tibia a bit, but I'm not a doctor and am just guessing.

Thankfully, a little rest and some ice and some Advil were all I needed, but it's a definite lesson in taking it slow and gradually ramping my training. Probably going from zero speedwork to hill repeats and a fartlek run was foolish, so I'm going to have to add those a bit more gradually. And I'll have to be careful about adding too much mileage. To that end, I'm working on a longer term training schedule that adds in recovery weeks every 3 to 4 weeks by lowering weekday miles and cutting the long run by 50% or so. It's a work in progress...

Mid-Week Training Update

noreply@blogger.com (Obi-Run Kenobi) — Thu, 29 Sep 2016 22:36:00 +0000

While the first couple days of the week were great weather, it's now been raining here for the better part of 24 hours, with a 70% chance of rain all the way to the weekend. What better sort of weather in which to hunker down and update the training week quickly.

After taking Monday off, my upper leg felt much better by Tuesday evening, so I got a good 5 miler in without any trouble. No residual soreness or anything like that, which was good.

Wednesday I came home from work and changed but as I was walking out the door, I felt a few stray rain drops and decided to check the radar to see if the rain we were forecast to get was arriving in force. About 5 minutes after I went back inside, sure enough a downpour blew through and dumped rain for about 10 minutes before tapering off. The radar looked like I had a nice chunk of, if not clear weather, then just showers in which to get my 4 miles in, so I headed out.

That went according to plan for about 1.5 miles before sure enough the skies opened up again. At one point in my run, I could look west and see downtown Baltimore about 3 miles away. But when I got to that point, the buildings were already fading into the oncoming rain and within a few seconds, I couldn't see them at all. It was maybe 5 minutes after that the skies opened up and I got totally drenched.

But at that point, I was already soaked, so I just kept going and finished the run. It really didn't get too miserable (temps were in the high 60's with little wind) until I ran back across a busy overpass. Then I had cars going past me at 40 mph.

I definitely ran the route a lot faster than normal, though, probably because of the weather, but I definitely felt the stress in my right leg afterward. A bit of the same discomfort in my upper leg, but also some warning pains in my lower leg that if I'm not careful, may become shin splints I fear.

So, given that it's windier and still raining today, I'm not totally heartbroken to take today off. I may go ahead and bag tomorrow too and then run Saturday just to be extra cautious, as shin splints can take a devilishly long time to heal. All the more evidence that I need to take it easier than I think I do in order to avoid injury while I continue to increase my mileage.

The Week Ahead: Debate Edition!

noreply@blogger.com (Obi-Run Kenobi) — Mon, 26 Sep 2016 14:19:00 +0000

Just kidding. The last thing I'm going to do is start filling up this space with more junk about the Presidential Election. Ugh.

At any rate, last week's training went well overall and I was really pleased with how my 10 miler came out on Saturday afternoon. I wrote up semi-detailed notes in my Running Ahead log, so check that out if it's of interest. Basically, the biggest improvement came from the nearly 2 hour nap I took before going for the run. Conclusion: More sleep means better runs. Duh.

The one down note came actually after my run yesterday. I went for a short 3 mile run just to see how my legs felt, etc. During the run everything felt OK. Legs weren't all that tired, but I felt slow, even though my watch said otherwise.

But afterward, I had a very slight amount of discomfort on what I think is the top of my tibia, on the outside of my right leg. It's not the knee. It's not in the joint (i.e. runner's knee or something like that). It's not on the side of the knee (i.e. not ITB syndrome). It's not down my sin along the tibia (i.e. not shin splints). It feels like a slight bruise on the top of the tibia. Not bad...maybe 2 out of 10 in pain, and it's only intermittent.
I have to really tap the top of the tibia hard to feel any discomfort otherwise (i.e. it's not tender to the touch). There's no discoloration or swelling.

So yeah, best I can tell is it's a slight bruise and a gentle warning signal from my body to take it a bit easier. I iced it a bit last night before bed and it feels better today (less frequent discomfort). Today is a rest day no matter what, so I'm going to use that to my advantage and then see how it feels tomorrow (Tuesday) before going for an easy run. I may just be extra careful and wait until Wednesday if I have any lingering doubts and discomfort.

Regardless, I think it best to scale back my long run this weekend. I had thought about going 11 miles, but instead I'll postpone that a week and maybe do 7 or 8 instead. I'm not training for any big race coming up, so there's no sense in being overly aggressive with something that I think will go away in another day or so. And maybe throwing in an extra rest day wouldn't be a bad idea.

For right now, the week's schedule looks like:

Monday: off
Tuesday: easy 5 miles
Wednesday: hill repeats 5 by ~400m
Thursday: off
Friday: easy 5 miles
Saturday: easy 4 miles
Sunday: long run 7-8 miles

This will probably change as the week goes on, mostly likely if I end up scrapping the speed work this week or moving it later to Thursday, etc.

Doubt vs. Confidence

noreply@blogger.com (Obi-Run Kenobi) — Fri, 23 Sep 2016 15:37:00 +0000

For me, as I ramp up my mileage and try to become a slightly faster runner, the self-doubt that creeps in whenever we do something new becomes more pronounced, second only to the physical stress required to get better. We become accustomed to seeing others do something incredible like run a marathon or an ultramarathon, and thinking, "I could never do that!". Which is a normal response, I think, to some extent. Disbelief is part of wonder in some ways. If we believed anyone could run 100 miles, it wouldn't evoke so much wonder and admiration when we see men and women do it.

But I think it's when that thought crystallizes into what we think is knowledge that it becomes doubt. We go from exclaiming, "I could never do that" to "I could never do that! I'm too lazy/overweight/busy/ etc." And then we start believing that. I know I'm definitely guilty of this and it's probably going to be a much bigger part of my training and running experience as I move past the 10 mile mark in my long runs.

For example, last week I kept having nagging doubts going into my long run. What if I can't run the whole distance? What if I run too fast and flame out? Etc. I think that definitely impacted my run to some degree, as it was overall OK, but not what I was hoping. I ran too slowly, my stomach felt bad through much of the run, and I just didn't feel confident.

And that's the interesting part: confidence and doubt are two sides of the same coin, yet you can definitely have too much or too little of each. Overconfidence can prove as costly as being too doubtful of your abilities. Yet doubt in many ways is fuel for our desire to test ourselves and our capabilities, both physical and mental. I don't know if I will be able to run a marathon someday, but I'm fairly confident with the right training I can. So I'll go do it. I doubt I could ever run an ultramarathon, but I'll go attempt that someday as well.

Doubt asks the question, "You think you can do this?"

Confidence helps us answer, "Yes. Here, let me show you."

Of course reaching that point mentally isn't quite as easy as typing it out, but that's the point and it's definitely a critical part of training for long distance running. Certainly you have to have the strength of body to run 26.2 miles or 50km or 100 miles. But you also have to be able to face those doubts and use confidence akido to turn them to your advantage.

This weekend, I'm using my long run to try and work on this confidence/doubt balance, in addition to better fueling and a slightly faster pace.

Week in Review & the Week Ahead (9/19/16 thru 9/25/16)

noreply@blogger.com (Obi-Run Kenobi) — Sun, 18 Sep 2016 19:32:00 +0000

This was a pretty successful week for running, although I made several adjustments to the plan as the week went along. This was more to do with planning for the weekend schedule than anything else. All the data (distances, times, paces, weather, whatnot) are on my RunningAhead log.

Tuesday (9/13/16): Easy run, 5 miles. My legs felt fine after giving them the full Monday off after the race on Sunday. On Monday, I contemplated going for a run, but forced myself to stick to my plan, which was definitely the right decision. In the past, I have made the mistake of overtraining and then getting injured to one degree or another. I'm determined not to do that this time around.

The run felt good and I ran the entire way, which was great. Weather was nice and dry and much more fall-like, which was good. The pace was a bit too fast for what I would like to see when I run "easy", but that's OK. I made the mistake of not having a snack when I came home before heading out to run, which meant I was really hungry the entire time. Reinforced that as I get faster or simply run longer distances, nutrition will be a bigger factor.

Wednesday (9/14/16): Hill repeats 6 by ~400 meters. A solid workout, as I tried not to strain too much and run so fast that the later repeats were slow and low quality. I had a snack before going out and that helped a lot. I also had some chocolate milk when I came ba
ck, as I'm going to try that after my hardest workouts to see if that helps recovery. We'll see. Worst case scenario is it's just delicious and not helpful!

Thursday (9/15/16): Easy 4 miles. Here's where I changed the schedule up a bit. Because I'd be spending all day Saturday down in Washington, my long run would be on Sunday this week. Therefore, I preferred to run slightly shorter runs on both Thursday and Friday, rather than to take both Thursday and Saturday off. Nothing very remarkable about this run, but it was slower than my run on Tuesday, which was good.

Friday (9/16/16): My first foray into fartlek runs. All I did was run my usual 4 mile loop, but I sped up my pace a bit at four different points along the way. I only sped up a little bit and for about 45 seconds to a minute each time, so I wouldn't flame out. That felt good overall; challenging, but not demoralizing! Obviously, the effects of these runs will take some time to show up, so we'll see. But I think it was a decent start for a novice.

Saturday (9/17/16): Off day.

Sunday (9/18/16): Long, slow, distance run 10 miles. My second 10-miler and it was overall successful. Rather than retype everything, I've pasted in my notes from my running log below. Here's the route I took:

Pre-run nutrition: protein bar and several ounces of Gatorade.
Felt OK for first mile or so, but then felt a bit nauseous for a couple miles afterward; may want to avoid PowerBar and stick with the usual "granola" like pre-run bars. Less stomach issues. Felt OK but not great for entire run.

During run nutrition: 22oz of Gatorade and took along 4 GU lemon Chomp gels. Only ate three due to early on stomach issues and feeling not great, which probably haunted me later in the run. Ate one gel at ~4 mile mark and two more at the turnaround (roughly 5-6 miles). Didn't eat the fourth gel, which likely hurt me miles 8-10.

Next week nutrition goals: sports drink for liquids and either remainder of GU Chomps or one gel packet. Pre-run: granola-like protein bar and water rather than sports drink to lower sugars hitting stomach in the AM.

Goal for this run was to get full 10 miles in without really focusing on pace. Accomplished this, although was still slightly disappointed with the 11 minute plus pace. But, primary goal was met. Only second 10-miler I've run so pace should improve as I run more.

Weather was humid again, but not super hot. Low 70's when I left and cloudy for most of the run. Humidity was high: dew points upper 60's, which is not ideal. Probably contributed to slower pace.

Course was hillier than I anticipated (forgot that miles up to Mt. Vernon are basically all uphill) so this was hillier than course from previous 10-miler in Federal Hill. Probably factor in slower pace, too.

Stops were mostly at intersections for traffic; more around harbor than in neighborhoods. Stopped briefly to eat Chomp chews as well, and final stop at Canton Waterfront Park before final couple miles back to Greektown. Not bad, and again, final stop was partly due to stomach feeling not great for much of the run.

Overall, a good week, but certainly some areas I want to improve upon like nutrition, foot striking, and pacing during both easy and long runs. Works in progress, all. But, the total distance was just under 30 miles (~29) which is great. I'm happy with that.

Week Ahead (9/19/16 thru 9/25/16)

This week should be fairly similar to last, with some room for adjustments as we get to the weekend. We have family coming into town (DC and then Baltimore) and they'll be visiting us here in Baltimore on Sunday, so I will likely do my long run on Saturday instead. Here's the tentative schedule:

Monday (9/19/16): Rest. Maybe do some stretching and such?
Tuesday (9/20/16): Easy run 5 miles
Wednesday (9/21/16): Hill repeats 6 by ~400 meters
Thursday (9/22/16): Easy run 5 miles
Friday (9/23/16): Fartlek run 4 miles
Saturday (9/24/16): Long run 10 miles
Sunday (9/25/16): Rest day.

We'll see how the schedule pans out. Friday's run is the biggest uncertainty, as I may take that day as a rest day before Saturday's 10 miler.

Running to Live Longer, Not Necessarily Faster

noreply@blogger.com (Obi-Run Kenobi) — Fri, 16 Sep 2016 18:33:00 +0000

The primary reason I run is because I enjoy the challenge (pushing to go farther and/or faster), and I find it's relaxing and enjoyable. But a big secondary reason I run is because it makes me feel better and because as I get older, I want to be healthier.

When I was young, like many of us, I didn't really have to do much to stay trim and feeling good. That's the blessing of youth. The curse is of course not being self-aware enough to truly enjoy it! But now, about a decade out from college, my metabolism has slowed ever so slightly and I can't eat ramen and pizza 7 days a week and not have it show up in my cholesterol and blood pressure numbers.

In fact, a slowly growing waist size was my impetus for starting to run back in 2007, although I luckily found that I really liked running, even though it hurt and is tough going. And gaining like 15 pounds last year gave me the kick in the pants I needed to get back to running in 2016, which has helped me rediscover why I really loved the sport to begin with.

So in the shorter term, my health goals for running are more weight based.But longer term, staying active and establishing lifelong habits like running I think will help me, quite honestly, keep ticking along for a longer time. Studies, like a comprehensive one done in Denmark (link to NYT Well blog posting about this, which contains a link to the actual study) and the results of which were published last year, bear that out. That study found that people who jogged at a moderate or slow pace for 1 to ~2.5 hours per week tended to have
lower mortality rates than people who engaged in no exercise at all. So, slow and steady may in fact win the race after all.

What's also interesting is that the study found that runners who ran more miles and at faster paces had no statistical improvement in mortality rates vs. those who got no exercise. As the NYT post explains, there are a couple of limiting factors that may or may not undermine this conclusion.

At any rate, the overall message is clear: steady, consistent running will generally lower one's mortality risk versus not exercising.

Add to this another interesting news item I came across, this time in Runner's World. The article talks about the relationship between maintaining muscle mass as we age and the number of mitochondria in our cells, which are linked to all sorts of things from energy levels to risks for diabetes and heart disease later in life. The gist is that adults who maintain lean, active muscle tend to have higher numbers of mitochondria that in turn reduce risks for disease later on and that one of the best ways to do this is to walk or run daily.

My biggest takeaway, as someone who is still 15 years outside the age group this research is targeting, is that the steps, literally and figuratively, we take today as young adults will have cumulative effects as we age. Not only that, but the effects seem to compound, like interest or financial returns, over time.

Much like saving for retirement, the longer you put off being active and living more healthfully, the harder it may be to catch up down the road. And what's also similar to saving for retirement is the emphasis on gradual progression. Neither article said people MUST run 30 miles per week or that running more miles always leads to longer lives. But rather, a gradual, slightly strenuous, but consistent schedule will do a lot to get you toward your goals.But better to start today than tomorrow.

With that, I have a sudden urge to go for a (slower, steady, not too far) run!

Experimenting with Fartleks (Insert Joke Here)

noreply@blogger.com (Obi-Run Kenobi) — Tue, 13 Sep 2016 17:45:00 +0000

I took yesterday as a total rest day, as even though my legs felt OK and probably would have been fine for a run, I wanted to stick to my original plan of taking the entire day off before running this week. I'm glad I did because while I felt OK yesterday, I feel even better today and feel totally confident that I'll be fine with my planned 5 miler this evening after work.

To follow on to my Run to Remember 11k race report, now that my mileage is a little bit higher, I'm going to integrate more speedwork into my weekly runs over time to get a bit faster and stronger and b.) see what types of workouts work best.

So this week I'm going to do some hill repeats of 0.25 mile each on Wednesday, and then try a fartlek run on Friday to vary my run pace a bit and see how that goes. I imagine it'll take me a couple tries to calibrate what sort of fartlek run is the most successful/useful for me, but over time I think it'll help me develop more speed, especially as we get into the drier, colder months.

So, my plan for this week of running (9/12/16 thru 09/18/16) is:

Monday: Off
Tuesday: 5 miles easy
Wednesday: 5+400m (appr.) hill repeats with 1 mile warm up and 1 mile cool down
Thursday: Off
Friday: 6 miles fartlek
Saturday: Off
Sunday: 10 miles long run

I may end up running on Saturday if I feel good as well. Another goal is to get up to running 4-5 days per week consistently, and eventually 5 days weekly.

Finally, I'm going to start doing some strength training on my off days, mostly things like runner-specific stretches or exercises (planks and whatnot), but also I would like to get back into yoga, which I did once per week way back in 2008-09 and really enjoyed, even though it kicked my ass. But that's an ongoing effort, so for right now, I'm labeling non-running days as just "off".

Run to Remember 11k Race Report: More Work to be Done

noreply@blogger.com (Obi-Run Kenobi) — Mon, 12 Sep 2016 00:31:00 +0000

I ran the 2016 Run to Remember 11k this morning and my overarching conclusion is that I've got more work to do on improving my fitness, but I'm also happy to have completed the race and the distance.

This race has been held in Baltimore every September 11th since 2002, and is meant to honor those killed in the terrorist attacks in New York, Washington, and aboard Flight 93, both victims and first responders alike. It's usually very well-attended (no different this year) and well organized (also no different this year). I've now run the race three times, the last being five years ago on the tenth anniversary.

This year was the first year that they offered an 11k option. Or, I guess this is the first year I've noticed that this option is offered. I signed up because I thought it would be a good test of where my mileage and endurance stand. Plus 11k is an odd distance, but it's also one that would be fairly challenging, being almost 7 miles. I had done pretty well at the Memorial Day 5k I ran back in May, but this race would be more than twice as long.

In the end, I took away some good things and some things I need to work on or improve. I finished in a little over an hour, but had to stop a couple times on the course to walk for about a minute or so each time, which killed my per mile pace. Some of that I attribute to simply not pacing myself appropriately, while some part of it can be blamed on a lack of fitness and the weather as well.

September tends to still be a hot and humid month here in Baltimore, and the last couple days before today, it felt more like July than September. High heat and humidity made the heat index crack 100 on Saturday, for instance, and even doing a 5 mile run before 8am that day left me drenched. But the forecast called for the weather to cool off and the humidity to fall finally. Unfortunately, while temperatures would be lower, they were still about 80 at race time this morning, while the dew point was still 68 when I left the house. It made for a steamy morning and it should have made me start out even slower than I did. But no, I was foolish and thought, "EH, I've run in humidity for three months now. I'm fine."

Nope. Wasn't fine. Miles 1-3 were OK, but 4-6 were downright painful and that's where my walking happened. I just felt very winded, although looking at my heart rate monitor, I my BPM stayed well under the peak levels, which was odd. But for me, humidity is insidious because it becomes very difficult for me to cool down in very humid conditions. I hope that I can improve that as I get fitter, though, over time. But today, once I got hot, even walking wasn't really enough to get me cooled down enough not to just red line again a mile later.

So, in the end, it was a mixed bag of results. Could have been better, but was definitely not a disaster. I was happy to make the distance, but getting there was tough sledding and shows me I really need to continue working to improve my endurance. I've mainly been focused on increasing mileage, but I think I will slow that down, and concentrate on where I am now (4-6 mile easy runs and 10-ish mile long runs) for a while to improve fitness at that level.

Run to Remember 11k Race Strategy

noreply@blogger.com (Obi-Run Kenobi) — Fri, 09 Sep 2016 19:24:00 +0000

This Sunday is the 15th annual Run to Remember 11k/5k. I've signed up for the 11k and am really looking forward to it. I don't remember if they've always done the two race distances or if this is something they started recently, but I like it. I've run the 5k a couple of times in the past, and have enjoyed it. I'll write up a full race report after the fact on Sunday or Monday, but the main thing I wanted to outline was my general plan for the weekend and for Sunday.

After jetting over to pick up my race packet after work, I'm going to slog through the heat and humidity to get a 5 mile "easy" run in this evening. I took yesterday off, and intend to take tomorrow as a rest day as well, so even though it's awful outside (feels more like mid-July than early September), I got to get that run done. That's the bad news.

The good news is that it is supposed to cool off considerably by Sunday, but I'm willing to bet the forecast will be slightly off, and it'll still be really humid and steamy come race morning. This may actually be advantageous, as I've been running outside in this horrible soup for a couple months now, while a lot of the runners on Sunday will have been indoors on the treadmill, making for a very terrible wake up call. The race doesn't even start until 8:45, so it will likely be in the high 70's by then and should feel like the mid 80's with the humidity.

My plan is to go out slower than I think is fair, at least for the first 2-3 miles, for a couple reasons. First, this will ensure I don't flame out by mile 5 or 6 so I can finish strong. Second, it'll be very
tempting to run faster because the temperature will be lower, but the humidity will be high, preventing sweat evaporation and cooling. And finally, I can guarantee that a large portion of the other runners will go out hard simply from the excitement of the race. This happened back in May at the Memorial Day 5k I ran. Within the first half mile people had started walking and I spent most of the race picking runners off who had poorly timed their pacing for the humid weather.

I'm not going to set any land speed records, but for me, I can't expect to finish well if I try to push a very fast pace right out of the gates. The goal is to run smart, but to also end the race 100% spent so that my time is respectable. We'll see how I fare.

The course is a fairly flat one that goes from the Inner Harbor down into the Federal Hill, out to Ft. McHenry before turning around and heading over to M&T Bank Stadium and then coming back into Federal Hill and ending at Federal Hill Park.

If that sounds and looks familiar, it should, as I ran an adjusted version of this course on Saturday when I did my 10 mile long run. I wanted to see a large portion of the course, particularly the parts around the stadium. The only serious inclines come along Fort Ave and then the two overpasses on either side of the stadium and even those aren't bad at all.

Like I said, I'll write everything up on Sunday to go through how I did and if I was able to stick to this plan, etc. Should be lots of fun no matter what and there's a free Shackmeister Ale, courtesy of Shake Shack, waiting for me at the finish line, so that's all the motivation I need.

Brooks Launch 3 Review

noreply@blogger.com (Obi-Run Kenobi) — Wed, 07 Sep 2016 20:36:00 +0000

As I said in a previous post, I have a sliding scale when it comes to how much of full price I'm willing to spend on certain parts of my running gear. For shirts, it's rarely full price. But for shoes, I will pay full price to ensure I'm running in shoes that are comfortable on my feet, won't give me blisters, and will help me plod down the road.

I've always been a Brooks fan, but I think I may have found nirvana with the Launch 3. If you're only interested in reading the Launch 3 review, scroll down, as I marked it out specifically.

When I first began running back in 2007, I had no idea what shoes to buy or really any of the thinking that goes into buying the right running shoe for your foot. I basically just looked at Runners World latest shoe review and ordered a pair of Nike Air Pegasuses because they looked cool. The Pegasus has gotten tons of good reviews and no doubt they're well deserved, but they just weren't the right shoe for me. I got blisters and the toe box pinched, etc. It was a painful lesson that I needed to do a bit more research!

So I sent them back and went to my local running store to get properly fitted and to enlist the help of someone who knew what they were doing, because clearly I did not! There, they had me walk and then run around the parking lot, took various measurements, and asked me some basic questions about my experience in running (none!) and the like. Then they fitted me with my first pair of Brooks shoes, the Brooks Adrenaline, and it was like I was running on two little clouds. Tons of cushioning for my tender newbie feet, and tons of stability too. I was hooked, and I went through several more pairs of Adrenalines over the coming years before moving to Ghosts.

But by mid-summer of this year, it was clear to me that I needed to finally get some new shoes. The treads on the Ghosts were wearing smooth, and had worn down completely on the balls of both feet. I wanted to make a few changes, even though I was sure that if I went with the latest Ghosts, I'd be perfectly happy. But I was looking for a few differences:

First, I wanted a lighter shoe. The Ghosts aren't enormous anchors, but they're a bit weighty at a bit over 10 oz. I wanted to see if I could find a shoe that was under 10 oz, as I have big feet, so the less weighing them down, the better.

Second, I wanted a neutral shoe with not as much cushioning. Less cushioning would help dial down the weight as well. But I also wanted a shoe that gave me a slightly better feel for the road beneath my feet and a bit more pep in the feel. Although I also was very wary of buying a shoe with too little stability, which would lead to a whole new host of problems.

I considered branching out to a new brand. Maybe Saucony, as I have heard great things about their shoes, although I've never had the opportunity to try them out. My local running store where we live now sold mainly Saucony, so it seemed a logical starting point. But that store closed unexpectedly while we were on vacation, so I started with Brooks since that's what I'm familiar with. Enter, the Brooks Launch 3.

Brooks Launch 3 Review

The Launch 3 is defined by Brooks themselves as a neutral, energetic shoe, and I think that is an accurate description. Right out of the box, I could tell that these were markedly lighter than the Ghosts, which ticks one of my main boxes. My feet feel lighter and livelier running down the road in these.

The upper is not made of mesh, but of a lighter and stretchier material that is designed to be a snugger, more customized fit for your foot. They call it Air Mesh material, for what it's worth. It's like a smaller mesh that's threaded more closely together. I ordered one size up, which I've always done for Brooks, and that's perfect here as well. The toe box has plenty of room, but my toes don't feel lost. The stretchy upper does form to my foot better than a mesh upper like that of the Ghost. I think this helps keep your foot more stationary as well.

The Air Mesh material also helps improve airflow into the shoe, which helps keep your foot drier and helps minimize blisters. But again, the 3D mesh design on the upper also wraps your foot more snugly, which also prevents friction. Some folks don't like that constrictive feeling (I certainly felt that way when I was starting out) but I actually really like that sensation, so this works for me.

Perhaps the most innovative part of this shoe though, is the use of BIOMOGO DNA cushioning along the midsole, which provides a dynamic ride for your foot. See picture below.

What I mean is that it adapts to your stride and impact to provide adaptive cushioning, rather than placing static cushioning in one part of the show. There's also a segmented crash pad, which makes transitions from heel strike to forefoot planting more seamless, also a big plus.

The shoe itself is in fact more energetic in that when I'm running, I feel like my foot springs off the road a bit more than with previous shoes. All of which is to say that it provides a more responsive ride than a more stability-focused shoe like the Ghost or Adrenaline 16 GTS, etc.

In terms of the other details, the Launch comes in a wide variety of color schemes, although those options are more limited for those of us with larger feet. But, I was able to get the color scheme I liked best (the blue and lime green you see above) from Running Warehouse without much trouble at all.

And finally, the price point for these shoes is very reasonable, all things considered, at $100 even. When you consider that many running shoes are priced easily over $100 or even $120, these are very reasonably priced. Could you wait until the Launch 4 comes out and pick up a pair of these for probably closer to $75 in 6 months? Probably. That's basically what I did when I bought my Ghost 5's. But if you're in the market for shoes now, $100 is a pretty good value for the shoe you get, in my opinion.

Gear Reviews and Views

noreply@blogger.com (Obi-Run Kenobi) — Wed, 07 Sep 2016 16:44:00 +0000

One of the aspects of running and fitness blogs I enjoy, in addition to race reviews and the like, are gear reviews. They are a great way to get inside information on all sorts of things runners need from shoes to shorts to nutrition. Plus, having first-person knowledge of the pros and cons of various pieces of gear can be really beneficial if you're trying to make an informed gear purchase decision yourself.

With all that mind, I thought I'd start reviewing or at least describing the various gear I use in my running. My gear is a variety in that some of it is very low budget, while some of it is more expensive, or at least more expensive relative to the cheaper stuff I employ.

But to me, deciding what to spend on running gear is similar to deciding what to spend money on when getting married. Assuming you don't have unlimited resources, you have to make choices about where to allocate your resources. Do you shell out big cash on flowers and maybe skip the videographer? Do you get the high end photographer, but go with the more modestly priced bakery? Etc.

Running gear is a lot like this. You can choose to go top of the line on everything from your head to your toes and that's fine! You'll have the best gear at the starting line, no doubt.
Or you can go with the value options on everything and spend all those savings on additional race entries. Those options, and everything in between, will work for various types of runners. My feeling is that if you're happy with the gear and the gear budget you're rocking, then you're doing it right.

I'm somewhere in between these extremes. Generally, I will not spend a ton of money on things like shirts, shorts, hats, gloves, and sunglasses. I'll spend a little bit on other things like compression shorts, running tights, and cold weather gear. And I will always happily spend the most on shoes and socks because they are in contact with the most important part of your anatomy when running: your feet.

To that end, I'm going to start by reviewing the new shoes I just bought a few weeks back: the Brooks Launch 3. I have been a Brooks customer since I started running years ago, and the Launch has continued my love affair with the shoes. More detailed post to come soon.

Labor Day Weekend Training Review

noreply@blogger.com (Obi-Run Kenobi) — Mon, 05 Sep 2016 01:07:00 +0000

It's now Sunday night, and with the bulk of my Labor Day weekend behind me (sadly), I thought I'd review how the main part of the training went. I still have a 4 miler scheduled for tomorrow, but that shouldn't be a problem. My real test was Saturday's 10 miler. So, how it go?

Thursday's 5 miler was uneventful. The weather was pretty cool, although not as cool as Friday and Saturday turned out to be. But still, much more comfortable than the usual Baltimore late summer weather of the Three H's: hazy, hot, and humid. My only slight concern was that I felt a little tenderness on my right shin, which I was worried might be the beginning of shin splints.

Friday's 3 very easy miles also went fine and my shin felt fine, which was a relief. I've been running in new shoes for the last week or so, and I think that will end up helping a lot, as my old shoes had many hundreds of miles on them and were several years old. The short run was perfect to keep my legs from feeling too stiff on Saturday, while also not over-taxing them before the long run.

Saturday was the real test of the weekend. First time I have tried to hit double digit miles, even if it is under LSD run conditions. But it was a highly successful run and I'm very happy with how it went. I actually started the run at Ft. McHenry, which meant driving to the park and doing an out and back route. But I wanted to vary up my routes a bit so the runs don't get boring.
The route I laid out went from the fort, through Federal Hill over to M&T Bank Stadium and up past Camden Yards, along the harbor and then down to Federal Hill Park before turning around and backtracking.

The weather was great; low humidity and somewhat cloudy; temps in the low 70's. I started out slow, with the goal of taking it easy for the first half of the run to ensure I didn't flame out on my way back to the fort. That worked really well, as I got to the stadiums and felt great. I had to dodge a ton of people once up there, though, as I had forgotten that it was Baltimore Comic Con AND the Orioles were playing the Yankees this weekend. I normally do all my long runs in the morning, when nobody is out, but this time, due to my wife's schedule, I had to wait until the afternoon. So, it took me a bit of weaving and stopping and starting to make it down to Federal Hill Park. But I felt really good when I got there and ate an energy gel.

I changed my route a bit going back to avoid the crowded Inner Harbor, but basically picked up my original route when I got to M&T Bank Stadium and then followed my plan back to the fort. And I still felt pretty good as I got back onto Fort Avenue. My legs really started to feel tired and then sore around mile 8 or 9 and once I got back to the fort for the final trip around the perimeter back to my car, my legs definitely felt sore.

But I made it, in about 90 minutes, which was fine for my first long run of 10 miles. I was wiped out the rest of the evening, but woke up this morning feeling OK. My legs didn't feel too tired, which was a good sign.

But today's short 3 mile run was a tale of two halves, really, and I think I was more tired than I felt earlier in the day. The first 1.5 miles of the run was tough. I felt sluggish, my legs felt weary, and my breathing was labored. But then things improved and the second half, while still uncomfortable, at least felt less awful and I made it just fine. Still, I could tell my body was tired from running four consecutive days.

So, I still think I will be OK to do the easy 4 miles tomorrow morning, given that 3 miles today wasn't super taxing. I'll see how I feel, but Tuesday will be a total rest day regardless, so that should give my legs some time to recover. Then it's a couple runs before next Sunday's Run to Remember 11k that goes along a similar course to what I ran on Saturday.

Labor Day Long Weekend Run Plan

noreply@blogger.com (Obi-Run Kenobi) — Fri, 02 Sep 2016 02:12:00 +0000

The Labor Day long weekend is upon us, and I've got a fairly aggressive (for me) plan for running this weekend. To begin with, I'm taking Friday off so I'll have a nice extra-long weekend with four days away from the office. That gives me plenty of time to get some good running in, I think.

One variable that I hadn't considered (or really, that I HAD to consider) until yesterday, was Tropical Storm Hermine, which is right now battering Florida, but which will eventually make its way up the coast and reach eastern and central Maryland. It's still kind of uncertain as to just how far west the storm will track; farther east and we may only get some showers on Sunday; farther west and we'll get drenched.

But, the forecast right now is calling for Sunday to be the rainiest day of the weekend, with Friday being great, Saturday less so, and Monday being fine. But the entire program here is built around my long run this Saturday, which will be my first 10 miler. I've hit 9.5 miles a couple times now, so I think I can do 10, albeit slowly. So, below, I've outlined my ideal running schedule for the weekend.

Thursday (e.g. Earlier this evening): Easy 5 miles. Nothing crazy and it felt good overall. Kind of an introductory run for the weekend.

Friday: 3 miles, SUPER easy. Nothing special, but I do want
to use my day off to get a run in. But I also don't want to tax myself too much, given I'm building this weekend of running around Saturday.

Saturday: The long, slow, distance run of 10 miles. It's a major milestone for me and my efforts to get back and then surpass my fitness levels from 2008-09. I've got a couple possible routes I can take, depending on when my wife needs the car (one route, my preferred one, requires I drive to the starting point; more on that if I end up running that route though!).

Sunday: 3 mile recovery run. Typically, I have made the day after a long run a rest day. But this time around, I'm going to try doing a very slow recovery run if my legs feel OK. If not, I'll bag it and try this approach another time.

Monday: 4 mile easy run. Same as Friday in that I want to seize the opportunity of having a free day where I can wake up a bit later than I normally do for work and get a run in the AM rather than waiting until after work.

So that's it. The goal is to hit about 25 miles over the weekend, which is a lot for me, so we'll see how it goes. The priority, of course, is the 10 miler on Saturday. The bookend runs on Friday and Sunday will depend on how I feel, as I don't want to make Saturday miserable, nor do I want to overtax my legs, which aren't used to this amount of running yet. And we'll see how the weather acts. It may make the decision for me re: Sunday's run.

Back! And (Arguably) Better Than Ever

noreply@blogger.com (Obi-Run Kenobi) — Thu, 01 Sep 2016 17:55:00 +0000

What, a four-year gap between posts is like nothing! Cosmically or geologically speaking, it's barely a tenth of a second, really.

OK, so yeah, resurrecting this blog after a presidential term seems random, but it's truly not. Back in 2012, I'd been running for a while off and on, but consistency was a big problem and so I never really got back to the constant, scheduled running I enjoyed back in 2007-2009, to be honest. Without consistent running, there was little reason for me to consistently write, and so naturally the decline of one led to the decline of the other.

But, a lot has changed in the intervening 4 years. First, we moved from our crappy, small one-bedroom apartment with rodent problems in a busy, urban neighborhood with no parking. We bought a house, still in Baltimore City, but in a less busy, MUCH quieter part of town. It's got three floors, three bedrooms, and plenty of space for us. Plus, we pay $300 more per month for 3x the space and something we own outright. For us, that was huge and our rowhouse truly feels like home. Plus the house came with all-new everything from the studs up to the furnace and roof and two-level(!) deck. Plus a parking pad which, if you live in a city, you know is a life changer.

Second, I got a bit fatter, which actually was not a positive change in itself, but did provide the motivation to return to running with renewed commitment. Before moving,
I could walk to work via a decent 1.2 mile trek. Now, we live ~3.5 miles from my office and so it's faster (on most days) to take the bus. However, losing 10+ miles of walking each day immediately brought on extra pounds. We spent the holiday with my family and then spent a few days with my in-laws between Christmas and New Year last year. By the time we got back, I had hit 215 pounds! I felt lethargic and my waist had gained 2 inches. So I needed to do something and I hate going to the gym, especially since we own only one car, which my wife uses primarily. That leads me to the third event:

My wife got me a Fitbit for Christmas. She had one before me and it had helped her lose 30+ pounds since 2015 (closer to 40 pounds from her highest weight!) so I said I'd give it a try. That gave me the motivation to get my steps up which dovetailed nicely with wanting to get back into running.

So, on January 3, the morning after we got back from the in-law visit, I got back out running, doing a painful and depressing 1.5 mile loop around the neighborhood. It was terrible, but also wonderful. I realized how out of shape I'd become, but I also remembered why I had gotten into running way back in 2007. And I made a commitment that I'd not give up so easily this time around and I wouldn't get so discouraged with slow, but steady progress. I resigned myself to taking it slow in rebuilding my mileage, but I also set some long term "soft" goals for myself:

1. Avoid injury. I can be impatient and want to see results from something too quickly. That's generally not an approach that gets rewarded in running, so I had to keep focused on the long term goal of better fitness and constant progress. This had sidelined me before, as I tried to increase my miles too quickly, only to get injured and have to stop running all together.

2. Use the winter to build fitness and get to running 3-4 times per week, no matter how far. The summers here in Baltimore are misery, and this one has turned out no differently. Running in the early morning is horrible because it's 5am and the humidity is actually at its worst. Running in the evening is terrible because the temps are high, making it tough for your body to cool itself in the high humidity. So, I wanted to use the dry, cold winter to get to the point where I could run a couple miles without dying and do a "long" run of 5-ish miles. Then even if I could just maintain that through the hot summer, I'd be in good shape for the fall.

I've been able to surpass that goal so that I can complete 4-5 mile runs during the week and 8-10 milers on the weekends. But that was gravy once I reached this soft goal above.

3. Depending on how I felt in late summer, think about doing a couple races in the fall, mainly 5k and 10k distances. I felt fairly confident that I'd be able to try the annual Celtic Solstice 5 Miler in December, but even being able to complete a 5k by fall would be a win. I huffed and puffed through a 5k on Memorial Day as a test, and it wasn't terrible, so now I'm lining up several races, including the Run to Remember 11k here in downtown Baltimore next weekend.I had held out some hope of completing the Freedom's Run Half Marathon up in Shepherdstown, WV in early October, but it's a super challenging course, so even though I feel I could stretch to complete a flat 13.1, there's really no way I could hope to do that very hilly 13.1 in a couple weeks' time.

4. Don't get discouraged and stay focused on consistently running 3-4 times per week. I haven't always hit that goal, but more times than not I have, and that's really made my improvements stick.

So that's where I stand, roughly speaking, now. I'll write up a post about the races I'm hoping to run this fall (looking to do ~1 per month) as well as medium term training goals for the fall and winter.

Flamed Out...Like a Boss!

noreply@blogger.com (Obi-Run Kenobi) — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 20:26:00 +0000

This weekend, I'll admit, I fell off the wagon. I suspect many runners go through this sort of post-race drift. Where your body is no longer as exhausted and tender as it was the 24 hours after your race, but your mind remains in a stupor.

I ran a few times last week, but nowhere near to the schedule I had set for myself. I kept saying, "Well, another day won't hurt. I need tor est. I'll get my long run in on Saturday/Sunday and it'll be fine." The same could be said about yoga, which I skipped on Thursday. Thursday was also my wedding anniversary, so it was a convenient screen to cover up my own laziness. In the end, I went through this weekend having logged 5 measly miles, versus the 15 I had aimed for, plus the Sunday morning yoga class.

But, like I said, I think that's to be expected somewhat and I'm past the point of beating myself up over it. Instead, I chose to re-focus on this week of training. This morning I got out for my usual 4 miler, but made the rookie mistake of trying to run it hard, which was dumb. What's worse, I KNEW it was dumb as I was doing it. Yet I continued on anyway. Needless to say, I flamed out in fine fashion on the return trip up to Mt. Vernon, although my overall time was still completely fine. So, I probably won't do that again for a few months...I hope. But it felt great to get back out, and the unseasonably warm weather (it's nearly 80 here today) made the dark pre-dawn run less painful. January's runs won't be so enjoyable, I think.

Training for what, you might ask? Well, nothing quite as singular as a half marathon, although I'm going to keep my eyes out for a half sometime after the first of the year...maybe in DC, we'll see.

No, between now and December 31, I'm focusing on some shorter races interspersed throughout the holiday season. The next likely candidate is a 5K in Charleston, SC, where my family is meeting for Thanksgiving. My uncle as rented a house on the beach near Charleston, and the $30 entry fee, coupled with the proximity and flat course, should make for a good race. That's about a month away.

After that, there's a 5K up in Towson called the Man Cave 5K, that looks fun. It's partially sponsored by the Big Screen Store (sells ungodly large TVs, recliners, and obesity), so some of the door prizes include a huge TV, recliners, beer, wings, etc. I have no hope of winning an age group prize, of course...but I'd take a free new TV that would be way too big for our apartment. I've not signed up for this race yet, though. Still tentative.

I did register for the 2012 Celtic Solstice 5 Miler on December 15. It's a great local race, and the typically bitter cold weather keeps a lot of unserious runners away. Not that I'm some hard core runner, but you get fewer walkers out there when it's 8:30 AM and below freezing. You got to REALLY like to run to do that to yourself! The way the registration works is they open it up to runners who want the race premium, which is usually a really nice shirt or, in recent years, a jacket. It's nice, but they also charge $65 for the race for those folks. To each their own...those entries help keep the non-premium entry fee low for the rest of us, so who am I to complain?

However, historically you've been able to register for this race without the premium, which makes it really affordable. As in, it used to be $20 for a well-organized race with a nice post-race spread. Now, it's $30, but that's still a nice bargain for this race. As it got more popular, they instituted a waiting list for this option. Usually by mid-November, they'd open it up to the waiting list and you could register for the lower price (sans premium, obviously). I've always done this, as I just want to run the race. This year was no different; I registered for the wait list way back in August. Last Friday, they sent the first 100 people on the list an e-mail with a password to use on Active.com to register early before they opened the race up. So I went ahead and registered on Friday to secure my spot. A. has no desire to run this race due to the cold weather, so she didn't register.

Beyond that, who knows? We're spending the final week of the year in Cincinnati, so we'll probably seek out a race while we're out there as well, but that's well down the road. For now, I need to make sure I get up tomorrow and get to the gym to re-start my dormant interval training routine!

New Comic Wednesday!

noreply@blogger.com (Obi-Run Kenobi) — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 19:37:00 +0000

Now that work has died down a bit, I have time to actually leave my desk during lunch and walk around, rather than staying chained up in the office all day, feverishly trying to keep my head above water.

So, I walked down to my local comic shop (~10 minute walk from my office) at lunch to pick up the new books from both this week and last that I missed. I'm going home tonight with:

Batman #13 - The much-anticipated return of The Joker! Can't wait.
Walking Dead #103 - After seeing a main character's head bashed to pieces, how are the survivors going to respond?
TWD Michonne Special Issue - The back story of how Michonne became the kitana-wielding badass she is in the comics.
Star Wars: Agent of Empire, Hard Targets #1 - Beginning a new arc that combines James Bond secret agents with Star Wars. High hopes for this one!
Green Lantern Annual #1 - Back story on the Third Army and the coming war with the Guardians of the Galaxy. Filling in the gaps for me.

A pretty good haul, for me. And we're getting close to the release of some really great new books in December and January:

December

Avengers #1, the new book of the iconic superhero group, is set for release on December 5.
Blackacre #1, a post-apocalyptic story about a retired soldier sent out into the blasted wilderness for a mission, comes out on the 5th as well.

January

The new Star Wars book, set between Episodes IV and V, comes out in early January.
The re-launch of Wolverine is slated for sometime in January.
The re-launch of New Avengers is also slated for January.

So, it should be a very good couple of months for my comic habit, and that doesn't even count the one-offs I'll pick up along the way and check out. Should be awesome. There arw a couple of books like Nowhere Man #1 and Justice League of America, which I want to check out before adding them to my pull list, too.

2012 Freedom's Run Half Marathon Race Report

noreply@blogger.com (Obi-Run Kenobi) — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 19:29:00 +0000

Mission accomplished, as someone once prematurely said. But in this case, it's true. We successfully completed the Freedom's Run Half Marathon on Saturday morning, despite what I would call a very challenging course and frigid temperatures. We'll take it in chronological order. To wit:

A. and I arrived at my parents' house around 6 PM Friday night after dropping off the dog at the kennel and picking up our race packets. Our packets were really just our shirts and bibs, as all the local racing stuff didn't really apply to us, being from out of town and all. We went out to dinner at a local Italian food place, where I feasted on spaghetti and meatballs and A. had veal parmigiana. Temperatures are generally anywhere from 5 to 10 degrees cooler out in the mountains than in Baltimore, and by the time we were done dinner around 8, it was already dipping into the high 40s. The region west of DC and Baltimore was under a freeze warning that night.

When we got up around 6:30 AM the next morning, it was cold and dark...temps were hovering around freezing and nice frost had coated the lawn and fields around my parents' house. We bundled up, ate a little bit, and were on our way to Shepherdstown, WV (the starting line) by 7 AM.

The race was well organized and we easily found the starting line (Shepherdstown isn't very big, being some neighborhoods, a downtown and then Shepherd University). We donated three pairs of old running shoes to be recycled or donated, which was awesome because we'd been waiting for that opportunity to get rid of those old shoes, and checked my backpack about 10 minutes before the race began.

The field was fairly small...I'd say there were no more than 700 half marathoners. Compare that to the 11,000 who ran the Baltimore Half Marathon on Saturday! We made our way to the starting pack after a quick visit to the port-o-potties (plenty of them around, which was great), and waited in the 32 degree air. Luckily, it was crystal clear and sunny with little wind.

Just after 8:05, the horn sounded and we were off! A. and I started in the back of the small pack but we separated quickly as we settled into our race strategies. The course (see below) took us across the Potomac River, along the C&O Canal Tow Path, then up into the countryside to Antietam Battlefield National Park, through the park, then back down Sharpsburg Pike across the river back into Shepherdstown and finishing in Rams Stadium.

The course was incredibly beautiful thanks to the brillant blue sky, bright sunshine, crisp(!) clean air, and golds, reds, browns and greens of the mountains surrounding us. As we crossed the river into Maryland, you could look down to the river and see fog rising off the water as well. Like I told A. later, this time of year always reminds me why I like coming back to my home state to visit.

I kept my pace deliberately slow the first three flat miles of the race because I knew that at mile 3, we'd hit the first of several steep hills that would destroy me if I went out too hard. The hills were the worst part of the course. The worst is the monster at mile 3 (see below), but you also hit successive hills between miles 5 through 10, climbing in elevation overall. That final climb at mile 10 was really just awful.

I resolved, as I started to climb that first monster at mile 3, to at least jog all the hills, no matter how much it hurt, and that's exactly what I did. I used the hills to pass a lot of people, although some of them would catch up to me when I stopped at two water stations to eat my gel blocks. But I can't eat and run, so there really was no other option. Most of them I ended up passing for good though in the final few miles.

By the time I was on Sharpsburg Pike coming back towards Shepherdstown, I was hurting. The gel blocks saved me, for certain, as they gave me extra fuel to make it those last several miles. And of course seeing the bridge back across the river gave me a final push to 13.1.

I knew after hitting that big hill on mile 3, that a fast time (for me) was likely not going to happen, so I wasn't too bummed about the final time of 2:17:17 (according to my watch). I didn't flame out, I ran all the hills, I followed my fueling strategy, and I didn't kill myself, so like I said at the beginning, mission accomplished.

So what's next? We'll probably do a Thanksgiving Day race as we did last year in Cincinnati. Although this year we're spending the holiday with my family, down in Charleston on the beach. There's a 5K Thanksgiving morning we'll sign up for shortly. Other than that, my immediate goals are to maintain and continue to improve my fitness with several weekday morning runs and a long run on the weekends. Ideally I'll do some shorter distances over the winter and then another half in March or April.

Ending Training on a Strong Note

noreply@blogger.com (Obi-Run Kenobi) — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 19:21:00 +0000

With work being incredibly hectic the last week or so, I haven't had much time to sit down and craft my usual Homeric-poem-level post. But I have a lull in the storm now, so thought I'd put a few words together.

This past Sunday was the final long run before the half marathon. I had started out the week with the intention of going 12 miles, a recent high for a run. But as the week wore on, I started thinking it would make more sense, and be less onerous, to scale it back a bit and maybe do 9 miles. When Sunday rolled around, it was cold and rainy here in the East, so I didn't get out the door until nearly noon.

But it turned into a perfect running day: mid-50s, dry, cloudy with a breeze. The later start actually helped a lot, I think, because I had time to eat breakfast before heading out. I went with a wheat bagel, PB and honey, along with some water. I went with that after reading an interesting (and timely!) article in the recent Runner's World (can't find it online, for some reason) about pre-race, race and post-race nutrition. It suggests eating several hours before your race and focusing on carbs, to a degree. They suggested the bagel, so I thought I'd try it. And they cautioned against coffee, as it can lead to "distress" while on the course.

I think it really helped me, as I ate maybe 90 minutes before my run, so I had time to digest. I went out with the goal of 9 miles and running at a pace that felt slower than what I thought was reasonable. My route was down to Ft. McHenry, around the Seawall Trail and then back.

By the time I got to the fort, my legs still felt really fresh. I thought, "you know, I bet I could go 10 instead of nine." That's only an extra loop around the fort, give or take. I ate four gel blocks after the first loop around the fort, along with some water, although the foolish part of my mind was saying I didn't feel like I needed them. But the rational part of me knew I was lucky to feel that way now; that by the time I got back into Federal Hill, I'd be bonking if I didn't get those new carbs in my system now. And, the Tropical Punch flavor tastes like Gushers, so it was like I was in 4th grade again. The second loop felt fine, and I was keeping a good handle on my tempo, focusing on going slow so I could run the whole time and not walk, other than stopping at the water fountain.

Another lap around and back through Fed Hill and my legs actually felt stronger and less tired than when I had started out. By the time I got back up Calvert Street, I was feeling it, because that's basically a mile and a half uphill climb, but I wasn't cooked or anything.

Basically, it was a solid long run and by the time I stopped, at about 10.4 miles, I felt confident that, had that been the half, I could have gone 13.1 without too much trouble. I was glad to get such a strong end to my long run training...I'm hoping that translates well to next Saturday. What was also encouraging was that after the run, my legs didn't feel as trashed as they have in the past. Maybe that's a combination of the deliberately slower pace and cooler weather, but I'd like to think having enough fuel from the breakfast and gels and sodium from the GU drink helped things as well. Overall, I just felt less beaten up after this run than in weeks past...maybe my body is finally adapting to the longer mileage?

The Half Marathon Approaches...

noreply@blogger.com (Obi-Run Kenobi) — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 23:40:00 +0000

This past weekend was the second to last weekend before the Freedom's Run Half Marathon and I was slated to complete an 11 miler for my long run. I've had to be pretty aggressive with my mileage ramp up the last six weeks or so, as I procrastinated too much back in July and cut my plan short on the back end as a result. I would have liked to have had a couple extra weeks to get a handful of 10 and 11 milers in and then have hit 12 miles this past weekend before "tapering" somewhat in the final weekend.

But, my laziness made that an impossibility, so I've had to add a mile per week to my long runs. The rule of thumb is to add no more than 10% of your total mileage to your long run per week, and back in August, that limit was definitely exceeded as I tried to get beyond the 6 and 7 mile range. It hasn't been optimal, but I've avoided any serious injury like runners knee or the like. The worst I've had thus far are some minor tweaks early on. But since I started practicing yoga, those aches and tweaks have started to disappear, which is great.

Anyway, the 11 miler went as expected. It was tough, as my legs are trying to adapt to mileage that is growing a little too fast. I again went with the GU tabs. This time I had four gel blocks after about an hour and then the last two about 20 minutes later and that seemed to work well. My legs were really aching going into the 7th mile, just like the previous week, but the four gel blocks gave them new life and the additional two blocks made them feel almost fresh going into those final few miles.

Because I was going far this time out, instead of wearing my simple Timex wristwatch, I charged up and took my old Garmin Forerunner 305 that my parents got for me way back in '07 when I first got seriously into running. I mapped my run on Running Ahead, as always, and it came out to 11 miles. But the Forerunner said I ended up running just 10 miles, for some reason. I did go off course at different places, but not 1 mile's worth, to be sure. It was hard not to go off course around Patterson Park, given my relative unfamiliarity with those smaller streets. Check it out:

But, the reason I generally stopped using the Garmin in the first place is that it tended to lose its satellite signal when I was running through downtown Baltimore due to the skyscrapers. So, I'd get wacky pacing and elevation data for portions of my run. And even then, sometimes it would lose contact and not reestablish until I was well out of downtown, which may have happened here. I haven't installed the Garmin software on our new PC, so I can't go back and compare.

Nonetheless, I know I ran 11 miles, no matter what my Garmin might insist.

This weekend I originally thought I would try to hit 12 miles, but now I'm wondering if I should bring it back to 8 or 9 to "taper" in a limited fashion and not exhaust my legs less than a week before the race. We'll see how I feel as the week goes on. It'll probably be a game time decision on Sunday morning.

In other running news, looking at my monthly totals since I got back to really trying to consistently run, my distance is increasing nicely. July 2012, the first full month of getting back, I ran just 38 paltry miles (see discussion about my laziness and its impact on my training program now, above). August saw a nice improvement to 49.3 miles. But the real success was September, when both my required distance and motivation increased. Last month I logged 74.5 miles on the roads, which is very encouraging

New Yorker Article on Running (Really!)

noreply@blogger.com (Obi-Run Kenobi) — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 17:57:00 +0000

Short post today. There are no new comics out this week that I'm looking to pick up, although I because I spent all day Saturday setting up our new desktop computer, I never made it to Alliance Comics. So, I'm hoping to make it down there this weekend at some point.

However, I will call your attention to an article from The New Yorker that ran a few weeks back. I've been meaning to post about it since then, but have either forgotten about it, or had other things I wanted to post first. The article discusses a middle-aged dentist and runner from Michigan, Kip Litton, who's become infamous over the last several years for running improbably fast marathon times around the country. As in, breaking three hours routinely and winning his age group. I say improbable because Litton nearly always starts his races well behind the starting gun (i.e. his chip time is much lower than the gun time because he doesn't start the race until the majority of runners have already started ahead of him). Couple that with statements from several age-group runners up, who said they never saw Litton along the course, nor were ever passed by him, and you have a small controversy brewing.

The article is fascinating because it not only delves into the evidence against Litton, but talks about his possible motivations. The author manages, after several tries, to interview Litton at a Wendy's in his hometown, and his responses deepen the mystery. It's a long article, but you'll get sucked in to it, I promise.

Is Kip Litton a Marathon Fraud? - by Mark Singer of The New Yorker

Double Digits

noreply@blogger.com (Obi-Run Kenobi) — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 18:53:00 +0000

This weekend marked the first time in a long time that my weekly long run reached double digit miles. A. and I both completed 10 milers this weekend out on the NCR Trail and it felt good to realize that although I'm not setting any land speed records, my body can handle the distance.

The run was about as good as I could have hoped. My goal was to keep to a roughly 10:00/mile pace and I got within a few seconds of that. Although I felt like my first 5 miles were slower than my second half. But that too was by design...I was afraid of going out too fast and then flaming out before I made it back to the car.

We both went five miles north and then turned around and came back to the parking lot at the trailhead we chose. The parking lot was already full when we got there around 9:30, so we had to park on the shoulder. But the trail was not that crowded with bikers and runners and walkers spaced out. In fact, once you got about 3 miles in, between parking areas, it was generally empty.

So I was able to keep a decently steady pace throughout and with the nice, dry weather, I wasn't laboring that badly. This week I tried out the GU sports drink tabs (one tablet in 16 ounces of water), and decided to eat 4 gel blocks rather than the three I did last week. The drink worked out well, although it's a little more bitter than the homemade Gatorade powder mix. Which is saying a lot because the powder doesn't have the extra sugar you get when you buy Gatorade (or any sports drink) in liquid form at the convenience store. The taste wasn't terrible though, as I like a slightly more bitter taste; too sugary and my stomach hurts. And it was definitely superior to just drinking water. I just had water last weekend for the 9 miler and despite the gels I still felt sluggish from the lack of salts as the run wore on. Sunday, I felt better, especially in those final few miles. Going with four blocks was also a good decision, as it gave me a little more energy to finish the run.

The biggest challenge of the run was simply the pounding my legs took over the ~100 minutes. This is something that I think will get better, but never really go away. I focused on maintaining something akin to decent running form throughout the run, which I think helped. But my legs definitely started to tire by around mile 6 or 7. By mile 8, they were hurting and by the end, I was in straight up pain. Few things felt better than sitting down on a bench after finishing the run.

The good news was that while I was sore the rest of the day, the aches and tired leg feeling were both gone by yesterday morning. No lingering pain of any sort, even after walking to and from work yesterday. This weekend is 11 miles, so the ramp up continues.

Bagging the 15K & New Comic Wednesday (Belated)

noreply@blogger.com (Obi-Run Kenobi) — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 20:09:00 +0000

After some thought, I've decided to bag the Falls Road 15K next Sunday for a few reasons. To wit:

We haven't registered yet. So, not running the race won't cost us anything. Not the most important reason, but saving $60 on a race we don't want to run is non-trivial.
Both our training plans call for long runs greater than 9.3 miles (15K) next Sunday. A.'s plan calls for 10 miles, while I will try to drag myself 11 miles. So, we'd have had to run a good distance farther than the actual race.
No course map had been posted to the race's Active.com website. That meant that we had no idea what the course would be ahead of time. Not the end of the world, but if you're trying to plan to run an additional mile or more after the race, you need to know where the finish line is.
Our experience with these sorts of events is that they're typically not well organized beyond registration. The course may or may not be clearly marked and accurately measured. There will be water stations, but no way of knowing where (at what distance) on the course. While the fast runners will be at the front, no doubt, so will a bunch of slow joggers and walkers. Without clear instructions to pull their head out and get in the back of the pack, they'll block the other runners behind them.

Does that mean the race will be a miserable disaster? Definitely not. I'm sure it'll be a lot of fun. But it's just not for us. With just three weeks until the half marathon, neither of us wants to waste a Sunday morning running a race that's too short and too disorganized to benefit our training.

*************************

Obviously, today is not New Comic Wednesday. But yesterday was busy and I basically forgot to post, so there you go. Before getting to what I plan on purchasing this weekend, let me very quickly recap what I picked up last Saturday.

Manhattan Projects #6 - "Star City"

Image Comics

I haven't read this yet (probably tonight), but I was disappointed that this book got pushed back throughout August. As a result, they didn't release a MP book in August, so it feels like forever since I read it. I'm going to have to skim back through issue #5 to refresh my memory. But the book is outstanding, and I'm hoping the delays don't recur for #7 in October.

Batman #0

DC Comics

Like all the other "zero issues" coming out this month, this book puts a new spin on the origins of Batman. But what I most like is that you get to see bits and pieces of how other characters from the other Bat-books came to be. I very much liked that you were seeing the Bat-universe in its earlier stages; like the real universe maybe a half billion years after the Big Bang. I also really like the taste you get of the Red Hood Gang, given where the overall story is going in the book.**

Green Lantern #0

DC Comics

This zero issue got rave reviews all around, and I was intrigued by the first Arab American Lantern. The story is crisp; it moves along really well and I reached the end before I knew it. I'll have to go back and re-read it, no doubt. Simon Baz's character is going to be very interesting; I like that Green Lanterns aren't perfect when they're chosen and have to "grow into" the role, often the hard way. I'll definitely be picking up Green Lantern #13.

Star Wars: Blood Ties #1

Dark Horse Comics

This five-part series came out back in 2010, but I'm on a Star Wars comic collecting stint now, and found this at my local shop for $1.00. It's a good start to the series, and I'd say Boba Fett is one of my top Star Wars characters (I'm an Obi Wan man, myself). I'll be keeping my eyes open for the other four issues of this, of course, along with other series. I'm using this to get pumped for the Brian Wood Star Wars book coming out in January.

So this week, Alliance Comics is having their anniversary sale, and with A. gone all day Saturday at a rehearsal, I plan on going down and checking out what they've got. But I have two must-haves as well:

Walking Dead #102
Star Wars: Darth Vader and the Ghost Prison, Part 5 of 5

In addition, I'll rifle through their back issues a little more and see if I can turn up any other Star Wars books (at $1.00 each, it's not a huge hit to swoop in and get a bunch). If the price is right, I'd like to pick up Batman: Knightfall or Arkham Asylum or The Dark Knight Returns graphic novels.

**My sleeper prediction for the new story arc is that The Joker used to be the leader of the Red Hood Gang. He and Batman face off during some robbery at a chemical plant, the Red Hood leader gets knocked into a vat of chemicals by Batman, thus creating The Joker. You heard it here first.