A couple of flat fours, a penguin army, and adventures trapped on a golf course....

dear cat in the hat,

Happy 2012! It's a new year and you know that I dislike resolutions. So I wanted to be certain that I was already in a routine before that midnight that happens between 2011 and 2012.

So I ran every last day of 2011 possible. And these are my adventures thus far...

I ran around my old route in my parents neighborhood. It's flat and four or five miles aren't hard to accomplish. One night it was almost entirely silent allowing me to just run toward whatever lights looked interesting. There were lights put up by neighbors that have been the same displays since I was five. There were new fancy sparkly LED lights and a house that played music in tinny music box tones. And then there was the penguin army. A line of lit up and inflatable penguins all positioned in a way that gave the appearance of being ready to face the angels across the street in mortal combat. My money was on the penguins.
After the santa clauses on motorcycles and bizarre candy land/manger scenes, I was definitely in the spirit of the season and back in stride. It took more energy to move my body than when I'm in better shape, but I could finally tell that I was headed back that way.

Then I played Omaha trail driving with sister and brother-in-law to nebraska, and reading the hunger games aloud for 10 hours straight until we finished the book (about which I have mixed feelings and a growing appreciation for good editors). Omaha runs proved interesting as during mile two of the new year's eve run, I took a wrong turn and got trapped on a golf course. Apparently fences can keep you in as much as they can keep you out. Attempts to escape included contemplating fording a river and thoughts about being trapped in an arena (I just spent an 11 hour drive reading the hunger games after all). Eventual escape involved squeezing through a gap between fence and trees near an overpass and scrambling up a hill back to sidewalk. I think this is why I run...

happy new year!

signed
mack mack quack quack

The best laid plans of mice and Mack; or when your best friend messes with your plans; or the hard three

titles are hard...

So, for those who don't know Cat, everyone will tell you how wonderful and awesome and kind and amazing and handsome and brave she is. Those things are all true.

I'm here to tell you why she's a jerk. And a jerk with timing.

I'm not a runner, but I am someone who runs. And lately, I haven't been. I've been sick. It's been cold. Classes are keeping me busy. blah blah blah.

I had just resolved last night to make a new plan. I was going to get back on track once I got to Michigan for the break. I would start slow and build up so by the time I returned to New York the routine would be already in place.

Weeks ago I was joking around about motivation for running and how I wanted to run to the bottom of the ocean (distancewise, not in actuality). Leave it to Cat to use things against me and take general musings of "maybe we should start a blog" into actual action. This morning, I see this blog has been created, so...

Dear Cat,
despite the cold and the ten hour drive ahead of me, I pull on my shoes and warm clothes and I go plodding for three miles. Instead of waiting for Michigan, I begin again in New York. With the hills. It was a hard, clawing your way back into it, three. I guess figured I'd balance your easy seven with a really hard three. And I did it because I'm just as competitive as you are. And it was terrible. And it was wonderful. At mile two, the pond was frozen and a squirrel was contemplating a daring mad dash across it. At least, he was doing that in my head. He may have just been looking out over the frozen water, trying to remember where he buried that nut. But these are the thoughts that distract me from thinking about how this portion of the run was much easier 2 months ago. I'm not a runner, but I'm someone who runs. And since you are not only a big jerk, but my best friend with the best/worst timing in the world, I will run with you wherever you want to go. See you in the mitten.

Signed,
A Mackerz with frozen legs


General Side Note:
Places we've considered running too...

(stolen from previous emails)
run to the bottom of the ocean...

*looks up how far it is to ocean floor*

average ocean depth 2.5 miles??!?? lame....
done that...did that yesterday...we both ran to the bottom of the ocean yesterday???

*thinks to self, "there has to be something better than average depth"*

deepest ocean floor point...roughly 35,000 miles...ok...that's less lame...
want to run to the bottom of the ocean with me?

also...on the way to the bottom of the ocean we can also run to the furthest elevated point from the center of the earth, which i discovered is not everest...who knew?

"The point farthest from the Earth's centre is widely reported to be the summit of Chimborazo at 6,384.4 km (3,967.1 mi). This is due to the Earth being an oblate spheroid rather than a perfect sphere. The summit of Mount Everest is 2.168 km (1 mi) shorter at 6,382.3 km (3,965.8 mi) from Earth's centre"

this is if we believe wiki of course...

other fun distances

run the oregon trail? 2000 mi

run the length of the transcontinental railroad in the US? ummmm...i can't find how long this is...

run the length of the orient express? 1200 mi

run the length of the pacific? 12,300 mi

run the length of the distance btw grand rapids and albany? 661 mi from my door to your door...

And so it begins...

Well, I have decided that "it" began yesterday. Because yesterday I had a nice 7 mile run and today I slept in.  So we'll start with my 7 miles yesterday and go from there.  :)

It has been unseasonably warm here, which is bizarre. I ran around the Lake route I like and found myself splashing through snow, ice and puddles, but getting quacked at my a duck lazily enjoying the swamp water and sun.  So odd.

Overall, the run felt great.  Farthest I've run since my half back in October and that felt good too. Averaged around 11 min/mile, which isn't bad considering I walked a couple of times and my half time averaged 12 min/mile (but I walked a lot more!).

So, where shall we run first?  Hmmmm... something to think about...