Friday, May 11, 2012

58th marathon in 58 days completed

Mile 1 - 7 a.m. Start time. 57 degrees, breezy and partly sunny...


Mile 2 - Switching back to my old shoes for a day to see what the difference is. These are a "mid-mileage" Asics, and the newer ones are a "high-mileage" Saucony...

Mile 3 - I am beginning to develop my own theory based on personal experience that shoes should be selected by speed versus distance....

Mile 4 - Of course, I am far from being an expert on shoes, but it isn't to hard to figure out what works and what doesn't after a few thousand miles...

Mile 5 - The interesting thing is that the shoes I am wearing right now cost about a third of the shoes I was told I should be wearing for the kind of miles I am logging each day...

Mile 6 - The less expensive mid-range shoe that I am wearing today, which, incidentally have about 1,200 miles in the two pair I own only cost me $40...

Mile 7 - And they were selected by going to a lot of shoe stores and even department stores and simply find the shoe that felt the best when I ran with them in the store...

Mile 8 - Shoes should be something you don't even notice...

Mile 9 - Switching up the route today, heading north to the marsh, then west to the mighty Mississippi...

Mile 10 - Entering the marsh. I will do my best to keep the pictures to a minimum...


Mile 11 - This place is amazing. There is a bald eagle gliding along above me, countless other birds, nesting geese with their just hatched young ones pecking at the ground around them and the wind is blowing through the long grass all around me as I float along effortlessly (so far)...

Mile 12 - Down by the river now...



Mile 13 - The Mississippi is very choppy today with a strong wind out of the south...

Mile 14 - Aside from today's high wind, the weather is perfect...


Mile 15 - It is 63 degrees right now, and the high is a perfect 73 degrees. There is a 30% chance of
storms after noon...


Mile 16 - Time does not exist here...

Mile 17 - So here are the results of today's shoe experiment so far. The difference is significant at this point. The less expensive, low mileage shoe is far better than what I have been using the last week or so...


Mile 18 - This marathon is far from over, but so far, this is the most comfortable I have felt in a long time...

Mile 19 - Working my way back to the south side...

Mile 20 - Running straight into the wind but still feeling good...

Mile 21 - Starting to feel quite warm right now...

Mile 22 - I had to make an unscheduled stop. A mother duck was attempting to cross four lanes, had to call animal control and then wait for them so the ducks did not get squished. Animal control just takes them back down by the river...

Mile 23 - My feet are STILL holding up good!....

Mile 24 - Time for my son Kahl to run with me and keep the old fart moving!...

Mile 25 - I just received an update on those ducks... "Ducks were caught and then released in a safe place- along with 4 orphaned wood ducks.". So now four orphaned ducks are no longer orphans, which makes me feel even better about stopping. Of course, after stopping for twenty minutes, re-starting can be a little tough, but worth it...

Mile 26 - I learned a valuable lesson about shoes. Go with your gut. I thought it was my feet and I was wrong. My feet still feel good, even at the end of the run!

Started: May 11, 2012 6:59:12 AM
Run Time: 6:20:16
Distance: 26.41 miles
Average Pace: 14:24 /mile
Fastest Pace: 9:14 /mile
Ascent: 1105 feet
Descent: 1082 feet
Calories: 3393


WHERE the feedback I receive via Dailymile and Twitter is coming from geographically while I am running inspires me as much as the content. Here are SOME of the places I am hearing from today...

Columbus, Ohio
Englishtown, New Jersey
Hamilton, Alabama
Houston, Texas
Phoenix, Arizona
Laramie, Wyoming
Lisbon, Maryland
Nottiinghamshire, UK
Omaha, Nebraska
Rocky Mount, North Carolina
South Shields, Great Britain
Vancouver, Washington
Vero Beach, Florida
Virginia Beach, Virginia