11.5 Miles (Thursday, October 12, 2006)

New personal best in distance as of this morning(10/12/6).
Today's run:
-11.5 miles
-1:50 hours
-9'30"/mile pace,
With a big ole hill right in the middle of the run.

It was a good run today. I just kept on feeling good. I had some Goo and Clif bar shot Bloks with me along with some water to wash them down. I know that helped. Plus I bought those little round band aids you put over needle shots in the arm and stuck ..em over my nips so that they wouldn't bleed.
It's funny the pains that come and go during a run. When I start out everything hurts; my knees, my lower back, my left hip and my ankle.. But, as I pass through mile one I'm good and warmed up. If I do the run that goes up and over Barham, the big ole hill, then my left hip and right knee hurt because it's at an angle. But after I come down the other side, stop in Miceli's for a glass of water and a piss and continue on, I feel really good. Everything is well lubed up at that point, which is just about four miles deep. That's also the point at which I start to get thirsty, round mile 4 and 5. I think I popped a Clif bar shot Blok in about that time.
I believe it was around mile six or seven that I slurped up the Clif bar strawberry Goo and washed it down with a couple hearty gulps of water. And within half a mile I felt a wonderful second wind. When you read that a large part of running is the mind game, I'd say that's absolutely true.
I always run with headphones on. There are a lot of runners, mostly old school, who are purist about it and believe that running with headphones inhibits two fundamental elements of running; the conversation that bonds two runners running together and the ability to listen to your own body. They also feel that it's dangerous because you can't hear cars or are generally less aware of your environment.
These things are true for the most part, however, I find the benefits to outweigh the detriments by more than a sufficient amount. When I go on longer runs I like to listen to a lecture, a sermon or an interview. I just get them through iTunes as a podcast. For example, I often like to listen to Pastor Chuck Swindoll. I find he gives great insights into God's word and what it has to say about life, the nature of God and all sorts of things. His pod casts, which are taken directly from his Sunday morning sermons, are always under 28 minutes, you know, a Sunday morning sermon.
Or, last week I listened to a guest lecturer from the 2006, ANU-Toyota Public Lecture series, speak on the nature of freedom as presented in Thomas Hobbes' The Leviathan. Sometimes I'll listen in on the economic state of India and it's emergence as a World super power, or, like today, I distract myself of my aching left partially torn ACL (self diagnosed) by paying attention to a great introduction to a philosophy class taught last Spring at, I can't remember where, which focuses on existentialism in literature and film. I really enjoyed today's lecture.
After I finish the spoken word section of my run I then listen to high octane music that lifts my spirits and makes me wanna yell stuff out loud as passers by in cars think I'm escaping the asylum. Such music includes or course, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, White Stripes, Chili Peppers, Styx, Muse, Rage Against the Machine, Prince, Wolfmother and a little fast paced Miles Davis.
From what I can gather, the key element to effective running music is usually a driving tempo. Also of main import are ripping guitar solos, squelching lead vocalists, a kick ass drummer and music that builds to sound bursts and orgasmic climaxes.
As a final note to today’s running recap, I never stretch before I run. I read and heard that it is damaging to attempt to stretch cold muscles. And more so than this, I had much pain in my left Achilles tendon due to over pre-run stretching. I do my warming up on the road like a real runner. On the converse, I do stretch a healthy amount (but probably not enough) after I run because lactic acid builds up to repair your muscles and if you don't spread it around you get real sore.