Run # 360 - The Downtown Run

The setting was beautiful downtown sunny Phoenix.

Right outside of the beautiful Arizona Republic/azcentral.com building.

I ran about 2 miles or so with very few highlights.

Running along the light rail was fun until the cops showed up.

I'm not sure if anyone has ever been arrested while merely jogging, but I know people have been cuffed and stuffed after trying to run away from police.

In this case, I just jumped off the rail line and kept going along the sidewalk, past homeless people, trying not to breathe in the black air.

The best part was having my watch and I Pod back on, and wearing my normal running attire vs. the khaki short look.

Run # 361 is next.

Run # 359 - The Khaki Shorts No Music No Watch Run

At many points throughout all of time, people have run at least a mile with no watch on and no headphones blaring music into their ears.

However, I wonder how many times someone has done it in the modern age, all the while wearing khaki cargo shorts.

At least one I know for sure.

Run # 360, with the hopeful return of my watch and music, is next.

Run # 358 - The Schmuck Run Part 2

I just had to run to the Schmuck sign again to see if it was real.

Indeed it was so I passed it and ran a bit further than the inaugural Schmuck run.

Seven runs to go.

Run #357 - The Hill Run

I must say this run was hard to start and finish.

I put it off until about 11 pm and I'm getting bored with running the same short routes.

The problem is I'm having a tough time finding the ambition to run further but I have this feeling that once run 365 comes and goes I will be able to return to the non-streaking days of old when I would do long runs on the weekends with no hesitation.

We'll see what happens. The SF Marathon is still on August 3rd and, although I think I could finish it today, I still want to "train" for it and see what time I can muster.

Run # 356 - The Schmuck Run

Tonight I ran with no music and in a hurry.

I thought about how slow I ran the past few nights so I intentionally tried to run a bit faster on this one.

My breathing was labored and I hated not having music.

However, the sign I saw while running the back portion of this down the street and back run made it worth every pain and negative thought along the way.

Apparently a man named Frank Schmuck (that's right!) is running for some sort of political office.

Check 'em out at TeamSchmuck.com

Would you vote for a schmuck?

Run # 355 - The Forerunner says I'm Slow Run

I trust the Forerunner with my life and tonight my 1.4 mile trek was just over 13 minutes long. The math says I'm running a slow 10 minute mile these days if I don't get too pumped up by the music or intentionally sprint at points to bring my time down.

I did notice last night that the Hoh run was much slower than the 4th of July Hoh run I did last year and I'm not sure I chalk the slowing down up to my intentional lack of effort some nights, poor ability, bad running form, burnout from the streak, or all of the above.

To me, time really isn't an issue. It's just about keeping this thing going.

I have told many people I'll keep doing it past 365, and I have every intention to.

Why?

Definitely not to set a record or because I want to run myself into the ground, until I get hurt, or because I want to move up the list at runeveryday.com, etc.

No, it's really simply because I don't think I'll be able to stop. Especially without feeling really terrible about quitting.

I can't imagine the feeling of waking up one morning with the realization that I couldn't even muster a mile the night before.

50 marathons by the time I reach age 50 is my only other goal I've expressed to any one else.

Qualifying for Boston someday would be nice, even running a sub-4 hour marathon would be a feat for me.

But this streak has been for me what I've always thought of it as: a goal I set on May 20th, 2007 and am now on the brink of reaching.

Beyond that, I really have no clue what it will become.

I've read the horror stories of guys having heart attacks during their streaks, running the days their kids are born and graduate. Running the days their parents die, even being physically attacked by animals and neighbors, all the while still waking up the next day dead set on running.

I guess it's a positive addiction to have, but like I said, my times aren't necessarily improving but I'm not sure I've tried to improve them with any strategy that's been proven to work.

I just make sure I do at least a mile everyday.

One thing I know for sure is this: during this entire year I have never finished a run feeling worse than before I started it, and to me that's probably the only reason I've made it to this point.

Run # 354 - The Hoh Run

An old favorite revisited.

It's been a long time since I ran the Hoh, so I felt tonight was a great time to do it again.

Run # 355 tomorrow.

11 runs to go.