I do like taking a morning jog more than I do later in the day. Not sure how this happened, as I'm not really a morning person, but I've developed a liking to being out early in the morning, just when the sun rises, and few people are around. It's really special kind of connection, and for those who are going to take up distances farther than 5 miles, I suggest a morning routine a few times a week to see if you like it. I'm sure you will.

Saturday I'm going to attempt a 10 mile jog. When I think about how far I go, I get dizzy just thinking about it right now (I mean, this is almost half a gallon of gas being burned in my car!), so I try not to concentrate on distance...and just focus on destination.

Sound familiar?

Another problem I've encountered is my route is running out of sidewalk and "easy flow". Portland politicians love to shine-on the pedestrian-friendly and bicycle-friendly town they have...but it's a bunch of crap. How do I know? Well, I've walked and jogged around Portland, thanks. I know this from direct experience. We have sidewalks that start on one side of the street, and then a few miles down...ridiculously force pedestrians to cross traffic.

Or the sidewalks just disappear altogether with no particular warning.

This is just unsafe and I'm surprised we don't have more pedestrians and bicyclists killed every year.

But hey, I hear Tri-Met just got a $75 Million boost from the feds so we can have aerodynamic, fancy-looking green trains on tracks that aren't even elevated and can't maintain a decent capacity besides rush-hour commuting and Blazer events...

I was recalling a conversation I had with a very nice gentleman who works at a local grocery store. As I've stated at the beginning of my marathon experience, there have been some really inspiring discussions with various people I meet throughout the city of Portland. Harry is one of them. Harry was a marathon runner. I say was because of an unfortunate accident Harry had which rendered him unable to run long distances. His car flipped over several times at 90MPH due to him falling asleep at the wheel. I like Harry's honesty, and he didn't fault anyone but himself. This is a peculiar behavior to runners. I'm sure it's also applicable to others as well, but I've noticed when I talk to runners, they don't beat around the bush--they tell you, quite frankly, what they're thinking.

So, Harry is intrigued with what I'm doing and how far I've come. He commented he could tell I had "Runner's Eyes" when I came through his line. After talking with him, he said I've given him a new inspiration to start training for long distance runs. I was flattered. But most of the appreciation is from me to Harry. He's come from being labeled a paraplegic by doctors (wouldn't listen to their descriptions of his status) and is walking around and working where most people would not. I see Harry from time to time and we hope to meet up in the near future. He says he needs to get himself back into shape on his own and doesn't want to be an "anchor" when we eventually go out on a walk and run together. Well, I think Harry has this the other way around. Because I wouldn't be surprised if Harry leaves me trailing behind. This guy is over 60 years old, but looks 30. I kid you not. This guy is amazing. And I think we all should take something from Harry's situation, where he's been, and where is now.

Doing this at night is a challenge. No, not jogging by cats, but jogging at night. I recommend this method for a truly dynamic routine. Not only does it change your perspective on reality (because you walk this path all the time during the day), but being in the dark makes you rely on those senses other than your eyes. You're "feeling" your path as you go along. And thanks to Portland for having the most cracked and bumpy sidewalks in the United States (if not the world and I'd even guess Iraq takes second place), a person can really develop senses which will help them even more during the day.

My upper shoulders are especially sore, but this will be unique to the person's stance and stride when they run, so this may not apply to you. In any case, I'm going to develop this part of my shoulders so they won't be as fatigued next time around.

Listen To Your Body

I can't really stress this enough. If you run a mile or two, you probably won't have too many problems, and I never did either until now. Having sore wrists after a jog was inconceivable, but it's a reality because the body is moving for such a long period of time. Kind of like driving a car. You drive a short distance, and chances are nothing will go wrong. Drive a long distance, and you'll notice the Check Engine light.

Listen to your body. You're balancing your left and right sides of your body for a significantly long period of time. Leaning to one side, extending your left arm further than your right, extending your right leg farther than your left, will come back to haunt you later. Having a perfect balance is ideal, but it's not entirely realistic either, so a compromise, is to keep track of what your body is doing, and then compensate. For example, if you're leaning to the right more for a few miles, lean left for the next few miles, and then try to balance yourself out so you don't feel one side pulling more than the other.

Next time...I'm taking down plates.

Everywhere I go and anyone I talk to, what I'm currently doing always works its way into the conversation. And I always mention how they should do the same as myself, because I'm not anything special. I just have dedication. One of the major reasons is that once you've achieved a weight loss goal to the point where you don't need a crane to go to the restroom and don't need a forklift to lift your feet a few inches at the local grocery store so you can reach that box of cereal that's on sale...you are metaphysically liberated.

That was quite a sentence, so read it again. I'll pause and give you some time to do it.

When you push yourself past your perceived limitations...and find you are in fact still alive and actually feel better than before...you begin to experience your surroundings in a much more wholistic way. And by a wholistic way, I mean your entire life is going to change. For the better. In some cases, you may leave a few friends behind in the dust you leave. This is unfortunate, but we're talking about your well being. We're talking about your spiritual awakening. Letting anyone or anything interfere with this, will keep you on the same level most of society is at. Which is...dormant, dead, lethargic, and reactive. What I want you to be is spontaneous, alive, quick, and proactive. When you achieve this, you'll have much more confidence in yourself, and you will set higher goals for yourself. Set low goals and you'll never be disappointed.

Portland Is A Beautiful Place...But / Intake Your Environment

Portland is actually a beautiful place to live. Unfortunately, we have many politicians who make it extremely difficult for pedestrians and motorists to coexist. They have motives which do not parallel a balanced sustainability between pedestrians and motorists. This will be Portland's demise if all of us don't come to a realization we need improved roads instead of indirectly not paving roads and hoping the frustrated motorists will immaculately buy a bicycle and use it from then on. But anyway, I'm getting off track.

Intake your environment. I cannot express what interesting things I've seen and experienced as I've walked and jogged throughout out Portland. I've come to accept the fact squirrels, are indeed, insane. I've had a few actually chase me a few steps because I somehow managed to interrupt their collecting habits. These guys are nuts. They run around in the middle of the street, in-between cars, jump out of trees onto power lines, and the list goes on. But I have to say, I think squirrels are my favorite to watch. They don't let anything get in their way. If they want a particular nut which just so happens to be on the other side of 20 lanes of traffic...they're gonna go after it and get it...or die trying.

And that pretty much describes me.

Dog attacks? None. Quite amazing, as some of you might think I should have several bite marks from over the last year. But no, I have none. For those who do have dogs, and walk them past other dogs...this is where the attacks have happened. Basically put, we have a lot of dog owners who haven't trained their dogs to behave properly when in the presence of other dogs. This problem is increasing as I've noticed dog owners just cannot have one dog. No, we have to have three or more. I have to wonder if there is a correlation between the number of dogs AND the number of televisions in a household these days.

The only marks I have from dogs was on a T-shirt where a dog loved me a little too much and decided to put both front paws on my chest. I didn't notice these paws on my shirt until I got home about an hour later. So, you can just imagine what I looked like walking around. I imagined what I looked like with two big muddy paws on my shirt. There's nothing like feeling embarrassed after the fact you've already been embarrassed.

Cat attacks? None. However, I do have several cats who are very friendly and run up to me as I walk and jog past their neighborhood. I'd bring some treats but I figured this would be how yours truly would end up eaten on the night I forget to bring something for these beings to munch on. Since the local news will run headliners like a stalled boat on a river, I'm quite sure my feline-eaten corpse would be BREAKING NEWS for a week.

Don't Worry About Distance...Focus On Destination

When I first started walking, I concentrated mostly on how far I went. I suppose this was ok in the beginning, but as I gradually worked into much longer distances, I noticed keeping track of how far I went...was now irrelevant. I noticed when I didn't concentrate on my distance...I went farther. I simply chose a landmark, and made it my goal for next time. So, the key here, is to focus on your destination. For example, suppose you're jogging about 7 miles. About another 1 mile down the road, there's a pizza outlet on the corner street. The next time you embark on your long distance run, focus on the pizza outlet. Don't worry about keeping track of the distance. Just focus on the pizza. Hell, maybe grab a slice when you're there.

Exercise Notes

Tonight I spent about 2 hours at the gym. I did 20mins on the recumbent bike and the rest of the time was spent conditioning my legs and mostly upper body. Tomorrow is Long Distance Run Day, so I don't want to work my legs too much, but just enough to get them stimulated.