One of my running heroes

I figured that since I had both a picture *and* a story for today's post, it would be good cross-post fodder, so I put this on my photo blog also.

Last Sunday, my friend Roger and I went to the opening of a Road Runner Sports store nearby. We went not only to check out the store, but to meet one of my running heroes who happened to be doing an appearance there that day. His name is John Bingham, but if you're into running or read Runners' World, you might know him as "The Penguin."He came to running late in life, but since has completed 40 marathons and hundreds of 5K and 10K races. He also wrote a book on marathon training for non-runners, and another on how to start running--how to train, how to work it into your schedule, etc. He's also the man responsible for one of my favorite quotes for runners training for their first race: "The miracle isn't that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start." It definitely made me feel not quite so bad about my failed marathon attempts...the hard work, and the accomplishment, is just as much in the training as it is in the race itself.

Anyway...there wasn't much of a crowd there, so we stood and talked with John and his wife for probably 15-20 minutes. John's company organizes and manages the Chicago Distance Classic half marathon, so he was handing out and signing technical t-shirts (synthetic fabric, they carry the sweat away from your body--VERY good shirt to do training runs in!). John is a very personable and engaging guy with a big smile and words of encouragement for runners of any level.

One last kinda funny thing--John's wife was nice enough to take this picture of the three of us with my camera phone. She then took another shot with her camera--so the same picture showed up on his blog Monday. Hey, wow, I'm famous now!

More later...

Public Service Announcement

Hey y'all. I got an email yesterday (edited version, below) after my post about training for the 2008 Chicago Marathon. Dana found my site kind of out of the blue, and reached out to me to spread the word. I normally wouldn't promote a fund raiser (unless, of course, I was a participant!), but this one was different. Since it benefits our servicemen and women who protect and defend our country, I thought this was worth passing on. You'll have to evaluate this for yourself: I don't know Dana and make no endorsements of her or of the team she's running for--but it's worth checking out.

My name is Dana Anello White, and I am a military spouse...My husband, MAJ
Paul White, has served two tours in Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
On October 26th, 2008, I will run 26.2 miles across the streets of Washington,
DC as part of Team Fisher House in the 33rd Annual Marine Corps Marathon. As
part of this mission, I will raise money and awareness for The Fisher House
Foundation, a unique private-public partnership that supports America's military
in a time of need (often times following combat-related injuries in the war
zone).

Here's a great You Tube Video about The Fisher House Foundation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xe5RE6krms

As you can imagine, a long-term stay in a military hospital, sometimes
thousands of miles from home, could mean expensive lodging and long separations
from loved ones. The Fisher House Foundation donates "comfort homes" in various
places across the country so that our military families can be together during
extended treatment for serious injury or lengthy physical and/or occupation
therapy...Currently, there are 38 Fisher Houses operating at 18 military bases
and nine Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers throughout the nation
and overseas in Germany.

My website can be found here: http://www.active.com/donate/FisherHouse2008MCM/danawhite

I thank you in advance for your support and feel free to pass this
information along to others who might want to support this worthy cause...If you
have any questions, I can be reached via email at: bflonative@hotmail.com.

So, check it out--and you runners, consider helping a fellow runner!

More later...

I totally forgot to tell you...

So yesterday I mentioned I might post twice...obviously, I didn't. I thought about it as I was drifting off to sleep and was going to get up and write something, but I figured it didn't make that much difference. Plus, I was tired. :-)

Anyway, so what I was going to post about...I totally forgot to tell all y'all that I'm in training for a marathon. Again. If you're new to the blog, let me just tell you this will be the 4th time I've started marathon training in the past 3 years. My history:

• 2006, trained for the Chicago Marathon. Dropped out in week 12 because of an injury.
• 2007, trained for the Chicago Marathon again. Started, but stopped when they closed the course after 4 hours (I was at mile 16).
• 2007/08, trained for the St. Louis Marathon. 2 weeks before the marathon I came down with pneumonia and had to drop out.

Needless to say, I'm feeling less-than-100% confident that I can make it through the actual marathon itself. Now the good news this year is that Chicago is a bit later in the month, I won't be travelling the week before the race, and I've got 3 years of long-distance training under my belt.

I'm sort of tracking to Hal Higdon's novice training plan but am not as strict about it as I've been in past years. Part of it is that training started while we were on vacation, and part of it is I've got lots of other things going on and my time to devote to running is limited this year. Still, I can get enough training under my belt to finish, provided the weather is more cooperative than last year!

Last year I posted training updates on my now-defunct (but still on the web) blog, Runs With Perseverance. I haven't decided whether it's coming back to life or not. I'm leaning against it at this point...again, too many work/life things to get done, and keeping jtj3 plus my photo blog active is about all I can manage. But we'll see.

Wish me luck on the training! More later...

Post-race report

Finally, something semi-interesting to write about...lately I feel like my life has been work, school, sleep, repeat same. I don't want to bore y'all with that--heck it's hard enough for ME to stay awake through it...

Anyway, this past Saturday was the Soldier Field 10 mile run. It's a race I've done for the past 3 years, and I really enjoy it. It starts and ends (not surprisingly!) at Soldier Field in Chicago. It goes south on Lakeshore Drive for about 5 miles, then comes back north on a bike/running path that's right along the shoreline of Lake Michigan. The last quarter mile or so curves around the west side of Soldier Field, through one of the north entrances, into the interior area, and out the player's entrance to the field. You run up the sidelines and finish on the 50 yard line, watching yourself on the Jumbotron.

I'd set a goal for myself to beat my time from last year (my personal record, or PR in runner lingo). I also had another goal of breaking 1:40:00, which is a 10:00 per mile pace. About halfway through I was pretty sure I'd beat my previous time. In the last couple miles, I thought maybe...just maybe...I could break the 1:40:00 mark, as long as I didn't poop out. Well, this year--drumroll, please...I set a new PR. I finished in 1:38:51. That's a 9:53 per mile pace, and is almost 3:30 better than my finish time last year of 1:42:14.

Needless to say I was ecstatic! I was also tired, sore, and a little dehydrated, but what the heck...I'd hit both my goals.

This race was really the high point of the long weekend--the rest was "honey do" stuff, grilling out, doing some non-work reading, and generally relaxing. All that was fun, too, by the way. Unfortunately too short, but whatcha gonna do?

More later...

Sorta recycling, again--Boston Marathon

This is kinda sorta swiped from my running blog--just slightly modified for a different audience. Not only because it's a cool topic, but...er...I have nothing interesting to say today (like that's ever stopped me!)

Anyway-- it's 6 days until the 112th running of the Boston Marathon. Not that I'm running it, mind you. Still, it's a banner day for the sport of running.

I'm willing to bet that most people, even those who don't know what a marathon is all about, have some familiarity with Boston. It's a true classic, and has a long and storied history (read more about it here). Not too long ago I finished reading one of those stories--John Brant's excellent story of the 1982 Boston Marathon entitled Duel In The Sun. If you haven't read it, I recommend it highly. Even if you're a non-runner, you'll still appreciate the back-and-forth battle that stretched for the entire race.

Boston is different from most marathons, in that runners have to qualify (with a few limited exceptions) by finishing another marathon within a specific time goal determined by age. I know what it takes to qualify, and I have an enormous amount of respect and admiration for those who do. I just don't see myself ever getting the hallowed qualifying time of 3:20, based on my current age. In fact, when I'm 80 the qualifying time will be 5:00--heck, I'd feel happy to run a 5:00 marathon now! Unless something changes radically, my participation is going to be limited to watching it on TV.

There's going to be tons of coverage through all kinds of media outlets. The Versus network is going to be showing live coverage. There will also be streaming coverage on the World Championship Sports Network at WCSN.com. Steve Runner, runner and podcaster extraordinaire, is recording a podcast during the race, and you'll be able to monitor his progress via his website.

Even if you don't watch the whole thing, or can't catch it live, you should at least take a look. There's truly nothing like it--especially the finish.

Who knows--if it's super-exciting, I may even post a race wrap up. We'll see.

More later...

Cross posting--I'm becoming an expert...

I just posted this on my running blog a few minutes ago, and I thought it was maybe worthy of a cross-posting here, too...

I'm rapidly becoming an expert in an area that I never thought I'd have experience with, and definitely did NOT want to get any better at.

That's right, ladies and gentlemen...I am becoming an expert at not running marathons...

The week of my 20 mile run I had the flu, so I only got in about 5 miles. I figured I'd be strong enough based on the rest of my training to do at least a run/walk.

Flip forward to last Tuesday. Hm, chest feels a little congested and I'm coughing. Almost like an asthma attack.

OH NO.

So I went to the doctor Saturday, and again today, and the short story is I have pneumonia. That pretty much means I can kiss goodbye both this weekend's Shamrock Shuffle 8K downtown in Chicago, but also next weekend's St. Louis Marathon looks to be almost an impossibility.

Turns out the STL Marathon organizers will allow you to switch from the full to the half marathon, so there's a chance there--but that depends on me getting a LOT better in between now and then. Right now that's the only hope, but it's very slim indeed.

Let's review my training/not running marathoning history:

- 2006: Trained for the Chicago marathon, but dropped out after week 11 because of plantar fasciitis.
- 2007: Trained for and started the Chicago marathon, but couldn't finish because of the course being closed after 4 hours.
- 2008: See above.

Am I disappointed? Yes, absolutely. But I know that skipping it is the right thing to do...there's no point in causing more damage to myself, taking longer to recover, etc.

I'm signed up for Chicago this fall, and training should start around the June timeframe, so we'll see how this goes.

I'm trying to look on the bright side, though--not running marathons opens up a whole new world of possibilities! I thought that someday I could run the world majors (Chicago, Boston, New York, London, and Berlin)...then, I looked at the qualifying times for Boston and New York. Yeesh! But with little to no effort at all, I can not run all of those marathons! Think of the money and time I'll save!

I kid, I joke. Laughter has always been a defense mechanism for me, and I'm deflecting the upset and the negative emotions I feel. The good news--I ran 90% of the miles in my original plan, I ran faster than I ever have (in fact, completed 5 miles just last Monday at a 9:15 pace), and after a little rest and recouperation there's nothing that says I can't try again.

So Sara, from the excellent Running From The Law blog, I know you're running St. Louis--do well, finish strong, and make me proud! (C:

Run strong, y'all...

Training - Week 2

Two weeks down, and now only 16 to go. HA! Only 16 weeks? The fun is just beginning...

This was another good training week. I've discovered the joys of an indoor track--our local community center has one. 6.5 laps is a mile and it gets a tad monotonous, but hey...it's better than a treadmill, and it's only $2 per session. So I strap on the iPod, listen to my music mix or a podcast, and before you know it I'm done!

My training week is usually Tue/Wed/Thu and either Saturday or Sunday, but this week was a bit different. I started the week on Sunday the 9th with the Reindeer Run, sponsored a national chain of workout facilities. With as much as they charge for membership (I'm not a member but have friends who are) I hesitate to call this place a "gym!"

Anyway, this week I ran:

Sunday: 3 miles - Reindeer Run
Wednesday: 3 miles - indoor track
Saturday: 3 miles - indoor track
Sunday: 7 miles - indoor track

For a grand total of 16 miles. I'd decided that my goal in December and for next year was to run at least 15 miles a week, so it's good that my training keeps me at or above that minimum.

Next week, more indoor running and a "drop back" week. Every third week, the mileage goes down to give my body a rest. If you're ever interested in taking a look at the program I use, here it is.

More later...

Training - Week 1 + quick kitty story

One week of marathon training down, 17 weeks to go...

This was a good training week. I ran the following:

Tuesday - 3 miles on the treadmill
Wednesday - 3 miles on the treadmill
Thursday - 3 miles on the treadmill
Saturday - 6 miles at local indoor track

I'm right on schedule. When I trained for the Chicago Marathon last year I missed some of my mid-week runs, but I'm trying to make sure I don't miss anything this time out...so, that meant my Wednesday and Thursday runs were at around 10PM each night, but I got them in.

I also ran today--a local race called the Reindeer Run. Just a 5K, no biggie--except we had ice/freezing rain last night, and there was just enough left on the streets today to make it slick.

Since I'm going to be traveling this week I'm giving myself "credit" for today's run (it'll count as my Tuesday run) meaning I only have to run Wed., Thu., and Sunday of this week. Looking forward to week 2 of training, though.

Completely unrelated topic--we put up the tree (no lights, no ornaments...just the tree itself) last weekend in order to let the cats get used to it. Of course, Bella had to explore and climb up the inside pole. I captured her at the top just kinda hanging out...makes a cute pic on my photoblog.

More tomorrow...

Naperville Turkey Trot

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

In addition to being Thanksgiving, today was the 10th annual Naperville Turkey Trot 5K race. I've run this race for the past 4 years--it's cool, because it's not a super-long distance so I can do it with no real preparation, and it allows me to eat all the turkey and trimmings I want and not feel guilty! MMMMMM....piiiiiiiiieeeeeee...

I did somewhere in the middle between what I'd hoped for and what I thought was realistic. I ended up finishing in 27:17, or 45 seconds off my personal best for a 5K. I didn't care so much about time--I just wanted to start and finish strong, which I did. It was a really good race, and I said a special "thank you" to some of the people who gave up their Thanksgiving morning to come and volunteer.

Folks if you ever run a road race, or ever do some kind of event that's supported by volunteers in any way, please make a point of thanking them. First, they're there long before the event starts. The race today started at 8AM, the volunteers were probably there between 5:00 and 5:30AM. Second, people tend to forget that they're there--they take the water, bananas, whatever, and just walk on by. It doesn't take any effort at all to just say a big "THANKS!", and it might make someone's day.

Anyway...off now to a hearty breakfast which will carry me over until turkey time this afternoon. Eat lots, and be safe, everyone...

More later...

World Run Day

Greetings from Tokyo! Today is the first full day of my trip here...I'll have some pictures later. It's also World Run Day--an event that promotes running and charitable giving at the same time, all on one special day of the year.



Here's me sporting this year's WRD shirt (and a bedraggled look that shouts "Not only am I jetlagged, but I just rolled out of bed!"), about to head out the door for a 5K run in the neighborhood around the hotel where I'm staying.

The whole World Run Day thing really hit home with me today. Running is universal--people who are fast and slow, who are young and old, who are lifelong runners or just starting out, run every day in every country across the globe. It's more than just a sport or a way of exercise, it's a fraternity of sorts. When you meet another runner who is from another part of the world, all the social and economic and political barriers fall down. You're in the company of a kindred spirit and you begin to bond because of your shared passion, not divide because of your differences.

If you've never tried it, let me tell you friends--there is nothing in the world like running. I challenge you to try it. If you've never run before don't worry, because everyone had to start somewhere. You will be a better person for it, both mentally and physically.

More later...

Olympic Marathon trials

Yesterday, November 3rd, the USATF held trials in New York City's Central Park to determine who would represent the US Olympic Team for the marathon in 2008. Unfortunately, a 28 year old runner, Ryan Shay (click here for latest news) collapsed 5 miles into the event and died.

This is obviously a huge tragedy on a day that should have been filled with joy and excitement. An autopsy is being conducted today (Sunday November 4th) to determine the cause of death--most likely an undiagnosed heart problem.

Shay was a 2002 Notre Dame grad, and his wife was a collegiate distance runner for Stanford.

My thoughts and prayers go out to his wife and the family, and I hope you all would send some good thoughts and prayers their way also.

More later...

Oh yeah, I *do* still run...

A "twofer" today...but I just felt like it, and there are no blogging rules, so there...

I haven't written much about running since completing the marathon. However, I'm still a runner and am enjoying it much more now that the training pressure is off.

I took the first week after the marathon off--I walked 2 miles on the treadmill 2 days, that was it. My legs, especially my quads, were sore until about Thursday of that week. The next week I got in about 10 miles, and this week (assuming all works out OK) I'll have a 15-mile week.

I want to get a good base going for the next few weeks of 15 miles/week, and by the beginning of the year get up to 20 miles per week on a consistent basis. I'm toying with the idea of a spring marathon (either St. Louis or the Country Music Marathon in Nashville). Both of these also offer half marathons, so I may stick with HMs until I start training for Chicago...AGAIN!...in June of next year. But we'll see how it goes.

More later...

A short mid-week run...

For the past few weeks, I've blown off some of my mid-week runs because of being tired, sore, and/or lazy after some of the longer runs (particularly after the 18- and 20-miler). With only a 11 days left until the Marathon, I decided to get some mid-week runs in this week just to sustain my current level.

Today was a 3-mile run. I did it at a little more than my 5K pace, but a lot less than my expected marathon pace. Bottom line, I just wanted to get out and run and blow the dust out of the pipes. It felt good--nice long stride, and a good pace with negative splits each mile. It was a little cool and overcast, but not bad at all.

These are the days when I feel like I could keep running forever. These are the days that make me remember why I fell in love with running in the first place. It also gives me a sense of real accomplishment without a huge time investment--from the time I stepped out the door this morning until I came back was only 30 minutes.

Tomorrow is looking like another 2-3 miles, then off Thursday. I'm doing my "long run" (although, at this point, I hesitate to call 8 miles 'long') on Friday, before taking off for Germany on Saturday.

Oh yeah, and Friday is our 16th wedding anniversary. Should be a fun day--we're talking about doing a few things here and there, and then we have a romantic dinner out planned. I'm looking forward to it.

More later...

My 20 miler report

Yesterday was a cool, crisp, clear day--beautiful, with just a few clouds. I woke up at 5AM, drank some water, ate a Kashi bar, and generally got my blood going. I was out the door at 6AM and ran two out and backs from the house--the first one was 6 miles to our church and back, and the second was 4 on a running/walking trail behind the house. I hit 10 miles at 2 hours (12 min/mi pace...EXCELLENT!) and picked up my friend Mark. We did another quick out and back of 3 miles, then ran laps around the walking/running trail in our neighborhood until I hit the magic number of TWENTY MILES...and my Garmin proves it. I think doing the laps helped--it was "OK, 6 more miles..." "5 more miles..." "a 5K + a warmup run...". Being able to breal this down into digestible chunks helped a lot.

You'll note that I finished in 4:03 and change...that gave me an average pace of 12:10, and I'd been shooting for a 12:00 pace, so I feel really good about that! If I can stick with this pace, I'll have a pretty good marathon--12:30 would give me a 5:27, which I'd be estatic with!

Friday night I finished reading Hal Higdon's book "Marathon" (which he signed for me at last year's expo before the Chicago Marathon). One thing really stuck with me--he talked about training plans and long runs, and essentially said that after your 20-mile run, your training is over until the marathon. The rest between now and then is just your taper.

So I approached this run with an attitude of "if I can get through this, I've got the marathon in the bag!" I didn't crash like I did in my 18-mile run--I had a big bowl of pasta Saturday for lunch, plus I consumed about 5 Clif Shot packages on the way. I think the Clif Shots really helped keep my energy and my glycogen levels up. As you can see I was tired and sweaty, but apart from some soreness (and difficulty walking up the stairs afterwards!) I was really no worse for the wear.

I've got to give a big shout-out to my pit crew (a.k.a. my wife) who was kind enough to put water and Gatorade bottles out on the front stoop for me, keep me loaded up with Clif Shots, and generally give me words of encouragement. That helped a lot, too. I've also got to say "thanks" to my running partner Mark. He's had some nagging injuries but really pushed himself to do the last 10 with me yesterday--having him there really helped a lot.

Now, I just taper and wait. But I've got a good feeling going into the Marathon, and I made a few tweaks and tunes (especially with the Clif Shots) that I'll definitely carry into the race. To paraphrase the great Yogi Berra, "90% of running is half mental." But a great run yesterday really helped alleviate a lot of butterflies and now I'm really looking forward to Race Day.

More later...

One month left...

As of today there's one month left until the Chicago Marathon. Or to be more precise, 29 days, 35 minutes (as I write this now). I downloaded a freeware application called TimeLeft (click here to get it from Download.com) that gives me a countdown timer on my laptop--it really helps keep me focused on mentally and physically preparing for the marathon.

After my long run last week (18 miles) I'm starting to realize that the mental side of this will be much harder than the physical side. I got a cramp in my foot about 14.5 miles in and started walking at 15 miles. I walked almost all of the last 3 miles--very discouraging. I took an extra day off just to recoup, and got back in the saddle with a 4 miler earlier this week. This Sunday is a drop-back week of 14 miles. Next Sunday is the pinnacle of my training--my 20 mile run. That's the longest I'll do until I run the marathon, and I'm hoping it's a good run which will give me a nice upper before going into the marathon.

I'm hoping to get out today for a few miles, but it's been raining--HARD--off and on this morning. We'll see what the afternoon holds. If nothing else, it'll be the treadmill and a podcast or two...

More later.

The joys of podcasts

As I told a friend in email yesterday...with as much of a techno-geek as I am, I'm surprised that I haven't gotten into podcasts before. That oversight was officially corrected yesterday.

I went on iTunes to look for podcasts related to (what else, right now...) running and specifically marathoning. I found a great series from Runners World that discusses the history and running of the Boston Marathon...preparing for it, what to expect, etc. It's pretty specific to Boston but has some good general tips on distance running also.

I also found another series called Phedippidations which is about marathoning and long distance running in general. The name is a play on Pheidippides, who (according to legend) ran from Marathon to Athens to announce the defeat of the Spartans at the Battle of Marathon.

Phiedippides, therefore, is the guy who got this marathoning madness started in the first place--and he's the guy I curse when I start cramping after lots of miles. I keep thinking "Why couldn't he have just walked???"

But I digress. Podcasting, as I have found, is a great distraction, very educational, and very inspirational. And, with iTunes and the iPod nano, it's about as easy as falling off a log.

More later...

What I did on my 6-month vacation...

OK, so it wasn't really a 6-month vacation, it's just that it's been that long (or almost) since I've written. I've decided to get back in the saddle yet again...nothing big, but just getting restarted. It's been a long, but a good, 6 months. Some highlights (in no particular order):

• Set a 5K PR of 26:39 (8:34/mile pace) in the Nike+ Rock 'n Run--that put me in the top half of my age/sex division, and almost top half of all finishers (first time!)
• Set a 4-mile PR of 37:17 (9:19/mile pace) at the 3rd annual 4 on the 4th race
  
• Started training for the Chicago Marathon (again...), this time taking it much easier than last year.
• Took a 12-day cruise to 5 countries bordering the Baltic Sea (see sidebar for links to my pictures!).
• Traveled, traveled, and traveled some more for work.
• Adopted a beautiful 2-month old kitten named Bella.
• Read a lot, hung out a lot, cooked out on the grill a lot, hung out with friends a lot.
  

It doesn't sound like much but believe me, it's been a lot and it was all fun. Well, most of it anyway. But I wouldn't trade any of it for the world.

So, now I'm in the last few weeks of my marathon training program...this past weekend was an 18-mile run. I crashed pretty hard at about 15 miles and had to walk almost all the rest, but this coming Sunday is another opportunity to do better. This week is 16 miles, and then the week after that (September 15th) is my longest run of the program--20 miles.

More (hopefully) to come between now and the 20 miler...

Shamrock Shuffle - post-race report

My previous post was about the Shamrock Shuffle 8K race. It was held downtown in Chicago this morning. The race was excellent--great temperature, sunny blue skies, and a good course.

I am very happy to report that I met my goal of a sub-50:00 time. I set a personal record of 49:40 for an 8K. I wasn't entirely sure how I'd finish, but I felt really strong through the whole thing and managed a couple of good "kicks" in the last 2 miles.

Of course, as it gets closer to time for the Chicago Marathon I probably will stay away from races and just do training runs to keep a slow and steady pace...but for now, I can enjoy myself at races like this and feel a sense of accomplishment at the new PR.

More later...

The start of racing season

This Sunday is the Shamrock Shuffle 8K run in Chicago. It's the unofficial start of the racing season, and I'm really looking forward to it this year. I've lost about 15 lbs since the beginning of the year and my training runs have been faster.

I took some time off at the end of last year because of nagging knee pain, but also because I'd let myself get burned out. I bit off way more than I could chew with my training schedule, and I wasn't prepared for it physically or mentally. I think this year will be much better. Time will tell...but for now, I'm very excited for the season to start.

This will be my third year doing the Shuffle, and my third attempt to finish in under 50 minutes (roughly a 10:00 mile). Part of the problem is that the race is me and about a gajillion of my closest friends, and I feel like I spend a lot of time moving in and out of traffic. My plan this year is to start closer to the front, and to say "EXCUSE ME" more, instead of going around people. That's the plan, anyway.

Tomorrow should be a good day. According to weather.com, it should be almost 60 degrees at the start of the race, and partly sunny. Even if I don't finish in the time I'm looking for, I still plan on enjoying myself. I've got my pre-race ritual down pat - coffee from the local BP station on the drive in, a pre-race Clif bar, my iPod nano all charged up and with my favorite running tunes, and so on.

More later...