iCPR

I am so looking forward to fall. We got some cool wet weather this weekend. My friends Steph, Dale, and Pat & Karen all met here at our house to drop off a car while they all head up to South Dakota for the weekend, Dale is running the Lean Horse 100 and the others are crewing him. It's dark in the morning at 6 am and the days are not getting quite as hot. I love this time of year, when you start to feel fall coming, when it's no longer just a subtle sense that things have changed, like it is at the end of July.

If I didn't need to get caught up on things, I would have gone back up there this weekend to hang out. But I'm working on a revised marketing plan for my business, and getting things together for some classes I'm teaching and a cancer support group I'll be leading in the fall and winter.

My old reliable running watch finally croaked the other day. It crossed my mind a few months back that it's been a long time since I got my watch, and I wondered if I might have to replace the battery sometime soon. It was working fine, so I forgot all about it. And then suddenly, the other day, it went berserk on me.

Started flashing and doing this high-pitched beeping thing, and then it went into a loud, screeching monotone. I couldn't get it to shut up so I buried it. The back of the case looked weird, maybe it finally suffocated from all the dried sweat and peeling skin that it suffers through every day.

I think it went into V Tach and then maybe deteriorated into PEA. Compressions wouldn't help, I didn't have an AED or epinephrine, and I finally pronounced it dead.

I thought about maybe replacing it with a Garmin but decided against it. So I went over to Target and bough another, later, version of the same watch. It's the Timex Ironman. Simple. No GPS, no frills.

So then this morning I went for a run after loading a bunch of new songs on my iPod last night. I added all kinds of stuff, from the 70s through the 90s, everything from Earth Wind & Fire and Marvin Gaye to Queen. Rolling Stones to Red Hot Chili Peppers to REM. Anything that would give me some variety to get through the night in Cleveland.

I ran 10 miles listening to my tunes, mostly easy but threw in 30 solid minutes of tempo pace, between 7:50 and 8:20. Felt damn good, even though I could tell my legs are still tired. I got home and started doing some chores and at one point went to check my phone and it was dead. I couldn't believe that in two days I could lose two gadgets. I thought maybe I got some moisture in the phone, or maybe there was some S Cap powder that clogged up the buttons. I tried blowing air on it and scrubbing with a dry toothbrush. Nothing.

Other than trying chest compressions, injecting it with epi, or finding an AED, there wasn't much I could do. Damn, I'm not even tapering yet. I guess if the Taper Worm wants to attack my gadgets, that's better than attacking me.

Time to head over to the phone store and see what they had. I had the iPhone 4, so now I upgraded to the iPhone 5s. A chunk of cash I didn't want to spend, but a necessity. None of the chargers, including my juice pack, work on the new phone, so I had to replace all that too. Very smart, Apple. You know how to get the consumer.

The dead legs problem has continued, but I talked with Wheaties Boy yesterday morning. I knew he would have some good advice. He told me what I would tell someone else, if they were asking me for advice. But it's hard to tell yourself the same thing, so it was a good call to ask Wheaties Boy.

He advised me to back off, that there isn't much I can do to improve fitness at this point, but there is a lot I could do to make myself more tired. He recommended some tempo runs but not too long. No more long runs, nothing over about 15-20 miles.

Wednesday I ran 14 miles mostly with Cat, and I felt okay but my legs still feel stale. I took Thursday off, and for Friday I was thinking 10 miles or so but Wheaties Boy said, how about 3 to 5?

Friday I ran just 3 miles. Then this morning, when I went out for 10 miles with short tempo, I did feel better.

On Wednesday while I ran with Cat I was doing a test of different foot goo materials from samples John Vonhof had sent me. At Badwater I asked him about my concerns for Cleveland, since I'm not used to running in wet conditions, and if it is wet, how I can prepare my feet so I don't run into issues with blisters and maceration. September is supposed to be the rainiest month in Cleveland.

John sent me a box with 5 different products, a couple of which are prototypes for developing products, not on the market yet. I tested them on different parts of my feet and kept my feet soaked the whole time I was running, plus for a few extra hours afterwards as I walked around doing things. I found two products that worked best for me, and I sent the package of samples and paperwork back to John. It's great to be able to try this stuff. Something called RunGoo, that is already available, worked best, my wet feet stayed dry in those areas and there was no shriveling like a prune.

I am starting to get excited about Cleveland. After feeling better this morning, and running with my new tunes, even more so. I stopped off and got a box of salted caramel Gu. I just need to get some of the high caffeine crack and I'll be set with gels.

New Beer Report: New Belgium's seasonal Tour de Fall Pale Ale. Reminds me of a cross between Fat Tire and a hoppy pale ale. It's good. It's darker than I expected. Good flavor.

And I have been diligently stretching and doing strengthening exercises for my hips, and I think it's paying off. I can already tell I'm going up and down the stairs with more ease. I can only hope to approach Isabelle's flexibility. She moves so easily, it's like she has octopus legs.

It's not quite taper time, I still plan to get a few miles in next week, but I am to the point where I can start tapping my feet. Less than a month away!