50 miles . . .I am not convinced.

I am not convinced that I couldn't become tough enough to run 50 miles.

I am convinced that I am past the halftime of my life.

I am convinced that I didn't have a receding hairline 10 years ago.

I am convinced that my daughter lost her first tooth today and it bothers me immensely.

I am convinced that my life is based on grace and I still don't comprehend it.

I am convinced that Blue Moon makes the best Holiday beers.

I am convinced that I am going to run 8 miles tomorrow and 8 miles on Sunday.

I am convinced that Eddie Vedder's version of "You Can Close Your Eyes" is one of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard.

I am convinced that I am going to buy the book and DVD "Back To The Wild" . . .the photographs and journals of Chris McCandless.

1,099.50 miles this year

I have ran 22.5 mile since Christmas Eve. Only 23 degrees this cold, dark morning. I got a pair of Saucony winter running pants that didn't seem so warm this morning. . .they should be . . .they were expensive.

On Christmas morning I ran to the dam. Actually, I ran to the porta potty by the dam. I took the road the whole way and not the trails. The winding hill is a killer for these legs. I was encouraged by my will.

Still not sure what I am going to do next year. There is a 30 miler in Chicago in April that I am probably too late for now . . .thought I was going to be in South Carolina and not sure I can train for 30 miles in 3 months without getting hurt.

There is an 18 miler in Minnesota in May that sounds cool. There is a half marathon in my hometown at the beginning of June. I have never ran the Bix 7. I have never ran the Steamboat Classic. I am waiting for The North Face to announce their 2012 Road schedule . .should be next week. Also, wouldn't mind the Milwaukee Marathon (Lakefront) in October.

Regardless, I love that I am running. I love that God talks to me when I run. I love that I am not on a stage saying "look at me" . . .I am usually on a dark, country road by myself . .while the rest of the world still sleeps.

1,077 miles this year . . .

Through today (12/23) I have logged 1,077 miles in 2011. Will be over 1,100 before the end of the year as I have at least 20 miles planned for the 24th, 25th and 26th alone. I keep waiting for The North Face to announce its 2012 races as that is what I am leaning towards now. I have been running but my motivation has been sluggish. My alarm goes off at 5:07AM and I have been re-setting it until 5:31AM . . .I always get up on an odd number. Duh! I still run but I have not been leaping out of bed to do it like I do in the spring and the summer. I was wanting to do a 30 miler in Chicago at the beginning of April but it appears though we will be away that weekend. I have been reading (and re-reading and re-reading) a poem by Galway Kinnell called "Middle of the Way." I love it. I have 3 runs all over 6 miles planned this long holiday weekend and as always look forward to "getting out and being in the middle of it . ."  

8.2 miles this morning

8.2 miles
7:30AM
Below 30 degrees

There was nothing graceful about my run this morning. Frost covered the overpasses and fields. My glasses kept fogging up because of the rolls of steam floating out of the top of my shirt. I fought through these 8 miles . .sometimes I can break through and "float" - -even if just for a couple of hundred yards. No floating today but the run was pure, inspired and mine.

Not many miles this week . .

I haven't been very good about writing about my running lately. It is not that I haven't been running and it's not that my running has turned mundane . . .I just haven't been writing. Some of it this I think stems from the fact that I am in advertising and I get paid to write so writing in my free time seems like work. However, one day when I am gone . .my kids and grandkids will hopefully be able to read the contents of this rambling that I do and get a little glimpse of me.  I ran several times this week at the Y and outside in the dark, cold mornings but never ran more than 3 miles. I ran on trails with my son today because he got a new pair of Merrill trail shoes . . .and because I love him and I will always go when he asks! Some day he won't ask . . .

I am going to go for an 8 mile run tomorrow morning. My gut is starting to store fat for the winter and the "edge" is starting to soften. I need to sign up for something soon. 

Feeding myself . . .

I go to the library almost once a week. This has everything to do with my running. What I ingest in terms of music and reading, I digest while I run. I ran outside this week several times. Wednesday morning at 5:15AM . .it was below 20 degrees. I ran yesterday morning also, it was below 15 degrees. I ran in the first snow of the year. My feet crunched and my breath froze.Today it is only 25 degrees and I have a short run planned downtown to my buddies running shop to pick out a pair of running gloves that will hopefully be put in my stocking . . . .Tomorrow I am going to go 9 miles out to the Lake again . . .it is becoming a part of me as I have spent enough miles out there to have a little history. I know the smells and the sounds.

This is what I got at the Library today:
Chopin and Brahms CD ( I listen to classical music in the winter when I run)
Band of Horses CD
Mens Health Magazine
Outside Magazine
John Berryman Collected Poems
James Merrill Collected Poems
Poems by WS Merwin

All of this art will in some way become a part of me over the next several days, sprinkle this with some Psalms, memories, whispers and my own thoughts - - and this will be the fuel that I run on this coming week.

4.5 miles yesterday with a Santa hat on . . . .8 miles today with a frozen butt

Our friends who own the running store asked me to run a "leg"  in the "Santa Runs a Marathon" for the living windows celebration for downtown merchants. I ran from 1pm to 1:45pm with a Santa hat on on the treadmill in the front window of the store. This was a first! There were 5 of us Santas and we ran 26.2 miles in 4 hours. The other Santa's had to pick up my slack . . .

Today I ran about 8 miles in 30 degree weather. I ran through the park and then through the other park. It was the most alive I have felt in a long time. It was just me and my beating heart, the geese, naked trees and a sombre looking sunday afternoon. I thought that I needed a new outer layer to wear when I run in temps under 30 degrees but have decided that maybe the first thing on my wish list should be a new pair of running pants. I am not a tights guy and will only wear the tapered leg running pants . .I like the ones I have but I don't think that they are tight enough as they move back and forth when the wind blows . . .and the fact that I got done running 2 hours ago and my thighs are still cold!

My mind is right because of my run this afternoon. I am going to work out at the Y in the morning and also run 2.5 miles. I ran last week several times on the treadmill.

 

3 miles Saturday 9 miles Sunday

Saturday. I ran in the rain. People drove past me and thought I was nuts. I ran past them and thought they were nuts for not running in the rain.

Sunday. 9 miles. It was cold. My five senses were alive . . .maybe that it was I run.

My "running buddy" who owns the local running store asked me to run for 45 minutes this weekend on a treadmill that will be set up in the front window of his store. This is part of a "living windows" theme for downtown merchants. It will be the first time that I have ever ran in a Santa's hat . . .

My body feels pretty good. No problems with all of the things that I thought was going wrong - - -except for my right shoulder hurts when I run . . .?

9.2 miles on Thanksgiving

I ran 9.2 miles on Thanksgiving. Everything was good until about mile 6 when I felt a sting above my left outside ankle. It almost felt like a shock . . .I had to stop because I thought that I was going to fall. It then started to feel hot. My "self diagnosis" via the internet . . it appears as though I have a case of peroneal tendonitis. I am not running today. . .This would make sense since the last several times I have run (either treadmill or yesterday in the park) I have run "hills".

It was cold and quiet running around the lake yesterday. My son didn't go with me because he is nursing an ankle right now (and it's basketball season so no reason to irritate it). Running alone on the trails I usually run with him (on the weekends) made me extremely sad and cognizant of the fact that both of my kids are growing up and one day neither will be around. 

I love the places that my two feet can take me.

I'm still here

I have run quite a bit on the treadmill this week. I have been messing with running hard for a quarter mile then backing down but putting the incline at a 5 or 6 for a quarter mile and then repeating. It sucks. Yesterday I thought that my heart was going to spew out of my mouth. I am going to run trails tomorrow with my son. It is Thanksgiving and I am thankful to be healthy.

I've been listening to a band called Horse Feathers. I love them.

My favorite albums of 2011 you ask?
The Tallest Man on Earth - - -The Wild Hunt
Bon Iver - - - -Bon Iver

I have devoured both of those albums this year and think that my life would be different if I didn't have each of those in my life. 

I have been running to the new Coldplay album. It is becoming one of my favorites. 

I feel pretty fit. I feel old. I feel like my life is more than half over. I feel close to God. I feel like my wife and kids will never understand just HOW MUCH I love them. I am thankful for breath and water and the bible and grace and Mizuno running shoes.

on the verge of a 50K . . .

I am about 73% sure that I am going to start training in a week or two for a 50k (30 miles) in Chicago at the beginning of April. I am at that point in my life where I realize that I'm not going to be able to fight forever - but that time is not now. The thought of being able to run 3.8 miles further than the 26.2 I did in October seems once again, out there . . .

My wife didn't freak out quite like I had planned so that was encouraging. I have been looking at training plans. There is one that would start in January but it seems quite aggressive. I am leaning towards a marathon training program just amping up my long runs a couple of miles.

Once again . .nobody is making me do this. I am not trying to impress anybody. I am not going through some sort of mid-life crisis. I like myself when I am pushed and I like the feeling of being connected to my maker.

I could start training for another marathon and try to run faster . .but why? Even faster by 45 minutes would still be slow . .so what's the point? I'd rather go slow and long . . .mark my words . . .when I whoop 30 miles I'll start training for 50.

11.5 miles in a 40 mph wind

It seemed like I was gone forever on my run yesterday. Partly because I didn't how many miles it was that I was going I just knew that I was going to run from my house to Soangetaha to Lincoln Park. The other reason it took so long was because at least 4 miles of the run was directly into a 40 mph sustained wind. It was the kind of wind that was blowing my mind. The kind of wind that will literally make you go crazy. Regardless, the Doug Owen running head first into a 40 mph wind one step at a time is the Doug Owen that I want next to me in a bunker. For some reason at about mile 11 I thought that I was going to pass out. I got light headed and had to stop for about 30 seconds. When I get home I ate voraciously . .. .it may have been some sort of weird blood sugar thing. Regardless, 11.5 miles was the longest I have went since the marathon. I am "eyeing" a 30 mile (50k) race in Chicago in April. I haven't broken the news to my wife yet . . .

I weighed myself at the Y this morning and I am at 178. That is about 7 pounds heavier than when I ran the marathon. I have been lifting weights a couple of times per week so I think that some of that weight is from that...I know longer feel "skinny fat" the way that I did a couple of weeks after the marathon!

I have been watching a TON of youtube clips on different ultra races (Badwater, Western States, Rocky Raccoon 100) . . .anybody that can go over 26.2 miles is a stud . . .I want to be a stud.