TeamSweat

I heard about this on Phedippidations podcast, fdip 204: TeamSweat, and was very intrigued, so I hopped over to www.teamsweat.org and watched a very disturbing video -- basically, a guy who was a soccer coach at St. John's University was researching labor practices that Nike promotes in their factory in Indonesia. He learned that those factory workers make the equivalent of $1.25 / day, just enough for two small meals a day, a glass of iced tea, and small amount of detergent. No money for anything else. God forbid if you get sick, or can't work. He fought against St. Johns' endorsement deal with Nike as was let go because of it. This guy, Jim Keady, as part of his research, lived on those wages in Indonesia for a month. One day, he purchased a razor just so that he could shave, and then couldn't eat for a whole day -- there just wasn't enough money.

Basically, Nike is treating these workers like slaves. Jim Keady is working to raise awareness of this, and I, for one, support him. Based on what I read and heard, I'm no longer purchasing Nike products. Now, I like Nike clothes (the shoes, not so much). I own their clothes. They work great. I also like their commercials. They also sponsor some great runners. However, I'm not going to support them by purchasing any more of their products. I'm going to continue to use the clothes that I have, as it will waste resources to replace them with something else.

Anyway, click on the links and learn more about it.

I also ran today (I only ran 2 times this week, due to colds, busy-ness, etc.). I ran 10 miles at a 9:35 pace. It was cold and rainy, but while I was running, I felt fine (my knee hurt afterward though). When I stopped at mid-way to eat a GU energy gel, I immediately got cold (by this time, I was as wet as could be). Today was also the first day this season I wore long pants (Nike's, actually). So, 17 miles for the week. Oh well.

7 easy

Today I did 7 miles 'easy'... Easy is supposed to mean not to push it out. I ran a 9:25 pace but it felt faster, as my legs were still beat from Saturday's long run. Hopefully, the workout pushed the last of the lactic acid out of my legs so that I can do my mile repeats tomorrow. It's starting to get cool again. Today I had to pull my gloves out for the first few miles as it was 49 degrees. Still wearing shorts though.

My knee starting bothering me again. It sorta started last week, but today I felt it when I was going up or down a steep hill, or when I straightened out my leg. Hopefully, it's something I can work through, as there's only 5 weeks left before the marathon!

World Wide Festival of Race Half Marathon and 20 Miler! Hoo-Yah!

Today was the World Wide Festival of Races 1/2 Marathon. This was a virtual race across 45 countries, with over 1000 entrants. It was a lot of fun listening to cheers (via podcast) of various runners and fans who submitted their input before the race, and compiled by the Phedippidations podcast. I ran 13.1 miles, as part of my 20 miler long run, on the W&OD trail. The 13.1 felt really good. I ran from Reston eastbound into Falls Church. Note to self, this is a downhill run, so running back is uphill (ugh). Anyway, the run felt very good (I said that already). I ran in the dark for about an hour, and then into a sunrise. I actually saw people on the trail (well, couldn't actually see them too well) before it got light, including a couple of cyclists. The cyclists had lights (as did I), but the runners didn't. I guess that they felt (again, as did I) that running on the trail meant that less safety equipment was needed (only cars seen at intersections, didn't need to run along side them).

After the World Wide Festival of Races 1/2 marathon, I immediately began rounding out my 20 miler by running 7 miles. For the first 3 miles, I felt great. The fourth mile I actually got a little competitive with runners on the trail, and for that, I paid for it in the last two miles. Also, the last two miles were uphill (the entire way! I swear!). It took everything out of me and I did the 'death shuffle' for the last couple miles.

For this 20 miler, although I bonked at the last couple miles, I felt loads better than last week. Last week, I was done at 15 (although there were still 5 miles to go). This week, I was trying to race someone at mile 17, and didn't really bonk until I hit the hills at mile 18. So overall, I'm happy with my run.

Another 10

Today I ran 10 miles... 1 mile warmup, 8 miles at marathon pace (actually, faster than marathon pace), and 1 mile cooldown. My GPS ran out of battery at 1.82 miles, so I was guessing at my pace for most of it, but I did have my regular watch on, and it was a regular route, so I knew where most of the mile markers were. I don't have an exact count for mile 2, but at the time, I was running an 8:50. For miles 3-9, I ran on average an 8:35 pace (wow!), and mile 10 was a little faster than the cooldown, as when I entered my neighborhood, I saw the trash truck, remembered that I didn't put the trash out, so booked it home to beat the truck (time was on my side, as it went down a couple of side streets on its route, whereas I didn't).

Tomorrow, an easy 4, and Saturday (groan), another 20.

So, when I was wrapped up in my head about the dead battery in my GPS, and not knowing exactly what my pace was, blah blah blah, I was shaken back to reality when I saw a homeless person sleepy along the Fairfax County Parkway on the bike trail. It put things WAAAAYYY back into perspective. In the end, I have it very lucky. I have a job, a house, a family, I get to enjoy time to myself (such as running). I have friends, a car (well, 2 cars), and I'm fairly well adjusted. Then I see someone who doesn't have many of these things right there in front of me. Now, I don't live in the city, and I don't see this very often. The sight of this was very jarring to me. I should carry a couple bucks with me when I run, but in this case, I'd be afraid to a) wake this person up; or b) place the money in their shopping cart, as I would not want to upset him/her. But carrying some money would be good anyway, just in case.

Welcome to

Well, I ran in Collinsville, IL today. Never been here, never run here. Didn't see much, as I was running in the dark. I found my way over to a road called Horseshoe Lake Road, which, oddly enough, will find its way to Horseshoe Lake, an Illinois State Park. I didn't make it that far, as I turned around at 4.2 miles (I would have had to run another 1-2 miles to make it to the park). I mapped my run here.

Weather, 59-60 degrees, VERY windy. There is/was a storm coming, but it never hit. However, due to the storm, I did run much faster on the way back than intended (nearly 2 minutes faster).

Overall, nice run, but didn't do it 'easy'. Tomorrow's a rest and we'll pick it up again on Thursday, with a Marathon-pace run

My Quads Hate Me

Okay, this morning, woke up at 4:15 am (quite early!) to knock out an easy four before my morning flight. Ouch, my quads are still sore from Saturday. They revolted for about 3 of those miles. The last mile was pretty good, but now, 6 hours afterwards, I definitely know my quads exist.

The run? pretty good. Went down Misty Creek road for a flat 4.4 miler. Was cool out this morning (49 degrees), but don't need the gloves yet. My legs hurt going down hills, but overall, no pain in knees or feet (yay!). Tomorrow I'm running 7 or something, at some sort of pace, and running in a new town (I'm back in St. Louis, but could not find a hotel in trusty ol' O'Fallon, so staying in nearby Collinsville). It's promising out here, as although I'm not staying in Collinsville proper (where most of the MapMyRun running routes are), but in the 'hotel district' -- probably the industrial park :) there's a state park within 6-7 miles. I'm not running 6-7 miles just to run in a state park, but I'm hoping the road going there will be somewhat scenic. Scenic at 5:00 am?, well, hopefully not a main road full of traffic.

long SLOW distance

Well, I went 20 today. Took me a long time, but I did it :) I couldn't run it last night due to the fact that there was a school event (at one point, I *did* remember that there was one, but somewhere along the way, I had forgotten). Cub scout training this morning, but My Lovely Wife allowed me the afternoon (3 hours 52 minutes of it) to do my long run. Since I had skipped last week's run (and I felt that today), there was no way I could skip another.

20. Oddly enough, I wasn't afraid of the distance. For the first 5 miles, I was thinking that I could do it well. At mile 10, I was slowing down, but I still felt good. At 15, my wheels fell off. My pace slowed WAY down and I slogged it in. I had to walk a few times the last 5 miles, but I ultimately finished. 20.06 at a 10:49. Eh... hopefully, next week I'll not break down. Hopefully, my running 20 today, I'll be able to do 18 well next time. I am a little afraid to see what my distance is next week though.

Regardless of the distance, I want 13.1 miles of it to be the World Wife Half, one of the race of the World Wide Festival of Races. This is a really cool event run my 'new media', a whole bunch of podcasters who have (oddly enough) running podcasts. Nike has admitted to 'borrowing' this idea of having a virtual world-wide race for their 'human race' event, but this is really cool. There's 5k, 10k, and a 1/2 marathon. Everyone should do it. Just sign up at http://www.worldwidefestivalofraces.com/cgi-bin/home.