Running Will Kill You and Ipods are the Devil

Last week was mildly eventful. Here are couple stories I'd like to share:

On Wednesday, I was supposed to run 12 miles in the morning. I had set my alarm for 5:20. When it went off, I could hear thunder and see lightning, so I went back to bed and decided to run at work and I'd make up the remaining miles later in the week.

I was about 5 miles into a planned 6+ miles at lunch, when I came upon a couple of co-workers (a guy and a girl) that were also enjoying a run. I decided to run with them for a bit to shoot the breeze. After exchanging pleasantries, we began talking about running. I told them I have run a few marathons and am currently training for Chicago Marathon in October. Both were pretty impressed with my mileage despite the fact that the guy thought no one should run more than 6-8 miles per run during the week. Then the guy said that he runs about 30 miles a week of "maintenance" and ran a marathon once. He seemed mildly interested in running more, but he said he stopped after the first marathon because his doctor told him they were bad for you. He even had plans to run another marathon in Paris, but his doctor wouldn't sign a consent form for him, so his marathon career came to an end. Whatever his doctor told him about running marathons obviously made a lasting impression, because he seemed to think his life was in danger despite the fact that his check up and blood work were both great. The doctor supposedly said it just puts too much stress on your body. So I guess the Dr. thinks a healthy lifestyle includes eating like crap and doing as little as possible...because you'd hate to actually run enough to be able to run a marathon. When I saw the guy at work the following day, I told him it was time to get a new doctor. That doctor should have his license revoked.

On Friday, I headed out for a 10 mile run. I left a little later than I had wanted to, so I was going to try to pick up the pace a little bit to get all 10 in. As I was approaching mile 3 at the corner of the running path and Devon Avenue, I slowed down because there is a bit of a blind turn around some bushes before I have to cross the street. As I got to the turn, I saw a guy on a bike coming at me. I jumped off of the path to give the guy some room to get by. Unfortunately, he saw me and freaked out. One thing that people do when they start to panic on their bike is to take their feet off the pedals and stick their legs out straight. This 250 pound guy was no different. He totally panicked and the jimmy-arming of the handle bars soon followed. He started swerving and drove into the bush and then fell off of his bike.

Then he let out a few guttural screams.
"Aaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh! Aaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
I walked over to the guy and said, "Hey man, you alright?"
He responded, "No! I'm not! I'm hurt!"
I started to get a little closer to him to see if I could help him up. He started talking before I could reach out my hand.
"It's your fault, " he said. "You were on my side of the path."
I was kind of surprised. And I got a little angry.
I yelled, "There is no way you can say I was on your side of the path! I was standing right there when I watched you fall of of your bike. You panicked."
At this point, he was coming to his feet and he started to get a little angry.
He said, "If you weren't listening to that Ipod you'd be more attentive to your surroundings!"
I really lost my cool at this point. It was this guy's fault he had fallen off of his bike and after trying to accuse me of being on his side of the path, he then tries to blame me for listening to my Ipod? Are you kidding me?
I yelled at him, "You know what pal? F-you!"
He yells back, "Well, F-you too!"
At this point, he's back on his bike and is starting to peddle away.
I said one more thing to him. I didn't reference his overweight body...well not directly at least. I am all for people trying to get healthy. I said, "Maybe you should ride your bike a little more (often) so you won't fall off of it."
He was yelling something back but was peddling away from me so I had no idea what he was blabbing about. I continued with my run, albeit with an elevated heart rate.
The rest of the run was not the greatest as I was looking over my shoulder waiting for this guy to come after me.
***
Last Week
Monday- 5.2 Recovery @ 9:37 pace, 122 AHR
Tuesday - 7.2 GA @ 8:22 pace, 143 AHR
Wednesday -6.2 GA @ 8:33 pace, 145 AHR
Thursday - 5.7 GA @ 8:09 pace, 153 AHR, 5.2 Recovery @ 9:14 pace, 129 AHR
Friday- 9 GA @ 8:28 pace, 147 AHR
Saturday - Rest
Sunday-14 MLR @8:27, 139AHR
53.2 Miles total
It looks like the rest day really helped on Saturday as the AHRs were a little high throughout the week

This Week
Monday- 7 GA w/10x100 strides -DONE
Tuesday - 10 LT, w/middle 5 @ 6:50 pace
Wednesday - 5 Recovery
Thursday - 14 Mile MLR
Friday- 11 Mile MLR
Saturday - Rest
Sunday- 21 Mile LR
68 Miles Total - Yowsa!


I did get a new pair of shoes. Here they are:

This is the new Brooks Launch. I am not so sure about the colors, but who cares? It weighs just over 9 ounces. I'll be using them on a few faster paced runs initially and seeing how they feel. If they feel good, it's very conceivable I could wear them in the Chicago Half Marathon in September.