Today

Distance: 10 miles
Time: 86 minutes

I beat my time on the Army 10-Miler a year and a half ago; the latter on a much easier course, so not bad.

Today

Distance: 9 miles
Pace: 9:20

I've found that once I slow down on the first hill I can never regain speed. I suppose the best thing is to work up distance and then try to get faster.

At least 20 kids, who couldn't have been older than in third grade, were enthusiastically running a 3-mile race, wearing bibs with numbers and so forth.

This Week

Distance: 8 miles
Pace: 9:00

Perfect weather, clear air.

Today

Distance: 7 miles
Pace: 8:55

Biking the day before, even a short distance, appears to destroy my legs the next day. Forced to slow down out of fatigue, and the heat and humidity were real.

Emerald-colored trees. Easter foliage.

Yesterday

In the afternoon it was 86 degrees. Clothes stuck to me like they do in August. I woke up at night and the birds got going at one in the morning. So this is what the end of the world is like, I thought.

Today it was a little cold, a clear day with a lot of flowers.

Today

Distance: 6 miles
Pace: 8:35

I don't know if I can blame the exceptionally vicious west wind, but this is getting slower. But I need to start running for distance and it is a hike, not a sprint, etc.

Petals on the ground. Looked like an English country path. The pollen is out. Falling from the bridges, leftover rain.

More Rain

Maybe I can start running again without any respiratory quasi-diseases.

Today

Distance: 3 miles
Pace: Under 8-minute mile

Remnants of a sinus headache forced me to start all over again. Damp outside and bad for the lungs.

It is Still Cold

Ran (indoors) for the first time in a week after I was incapacitated by a bad cold. The 20 minutes of running was the only time all day when I didn't cough.

Today

Distance: 6 miles
Pace: 8:10

Lack of sleep and a strong east wind made this tough.

Today

Distance: 5 miles
Pace: 8:10

Weather turning a page, as it will. Fifty degrees and it felt a little too hot, and that's troubling.

Today

Distance: 4 miles
Pace: Under an 8-minute mile

Could feel the extra distance this time, and the mile I added came with several more hills. The good news is that I felt noticeably stronger than last week. Still very tired the rest of the day, absurdly so for four miles.

Buds on the trees, daffodil stalks are up, and on the bushes a certain kind of tiny yellow flower.

Ice

In the 20-degree range this morning. Yet in all other respects, it's March. Lawns are shifting to green, as they usually do at this time. Birds happy, etc.

Today

Distance: 3 miles
Pace: 8-minute mile

Reassured myself that last week's time was not a stroke of luck, and maybe something I can keep up while running at a "natural" pace. I'm expecting my pace will collapse to at least a nine-minute mile when I reach a certain distance, so we'll see. This time I did not feel like stopping and taking a long nap halfway through, and that is progress.

Wind knocked over a little tree by the metro stop, and a crosswalk signal. This extreme wind happens all the time now. We are turning into Kansas.

Today

Distance: 3 miles
Pace: Under an 8-minute mile

My goal this year is to run for speed, as opposed to last year's goal just to keep going. How fast is too fast, I don't know. Started out at a sprint and had already slowed to a nine-minute pace by the last mile.

Weather is rising and crashing between 60 degrees and snowing. Today it was cold enough, pleasant hint of frost in the air.

Four Mile Run

Four Mile Run is the name of a stream not far from my home in Northern Virginia. It is part of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed and a tributary of the Potomac. The ecology, parkland and human development around this stream determine the landscape of many of the places where I go running.

I have run one marathon (Philadelphia) and am training for the Chicago marathon this fall. This time, my goal is to run faster than 4:00, which coincidentally is also faster than Sarah Palin. Sarah ran 3:59:36 at the Anchorage Marathon, which is called "Humpy's" marathon.

Hello

This is my running blog. For my other websites, see here (general) and here (food).