Seventeen Saturdays: Episode I
Today marks the first of my scheduled 17 consecutive long-run Saturdays.
Seventeen. Not a big number, really. (Heck, it’s already been 12 Saturdays since I started my freelancing career.) Still, for now it remains hard to wrap my head around the notion that I’ll be spending Saturday No. 18 resting and hanging out at JediCon WV, then waking up the next morning and making a go at my first marathon.
So, being Week Number One of the Hal Higdon novice marathoner’sĀ training plan, six miles were on the calendar for today. I plotted a 6.17-mile loop, loaded some podcasts on my player, and hit the road a little after 7:15 a.m.
I’ve never run with headphones, at least outside: Most of the time I’m on fairly rural, semi-hilly roads and I like to really be aware of what’s going on around me. And even on a treadmill, listening to music can mess with my pacing, so I’ve generally only used it for shorter runs where I’m trying to keep the adrenaline up and running hard.
That said, I’m facing a lot of miles over awfully familiar ground over the next four-plus months, and as gorgeous as I find the place where I live, well, sometimes, as we learn from Wesley in The Princess Bride novel, you’ve got to be able to take your brain away. I had a couple short podcasts my buddy Ivan had emailed me which I hadn’t gotten to yet, so he kept me company for a bit, and then – since I didn’t really plan ahead on this one – I listened to the latest “Car Talk” episodeĀ from NPR.
I only plugged in one earbud, so I could still hear the world around me, but the audio player did make the run seem to go by more quickly. I’m on the lookout for other podcasts and radio shows – the Totally Rad Show‘s usually a fun listen, and there are a ton of classic sci-fi broadcasts of Dimension X and similar shows, which I love – but I also realized I’ve got a chance here to take in quite a few audiobooks (And dammit, will someone tell me why NONE of the three biggest library systems in Northeast Ohio have the Metatropolis CD ?!? Yes, I know the print version comes out next month, but two of the authors live here in Ohio and it’s a Hugo nominee, for the love o’Pete. Sheesh.), which I haven’t done regularly in the better part of a decade.
So, to finish the tale of the pavement: I didn’t really push myself on this run. It’s been a month since I’ve done anything over the five-mile mark, so I took it easy – even all the way through the finish – and wound up averaging about 9:30 per mile, finishing in just under 59-and-a-half minutes.
Sixteen Saturdays to go.
June 13, 2009 Posted by jrbooth | Books, Fiction, Ohio, running, science fiction, Sports | car talk, dimension x, elizabeth bear, Hal Higdon, hugo awards, jay lake, jedicon, John Scalzi, karl schroeder, marathon, metatropolis, national public radio, NPR, princess bride, running, seventeen saturdays, Tobias Buckell, totally rad show, training | Leave a comment
About
I tell stories, true and otherwise.
More? Northeast Ohioan. Dad. Brachiopod hunter. Semi-casual runner. Geek. Writer for 30+ years; started getting paid for it in 1995. A decade as a full-time reporter, columnist and blogger. Freelance projects for magazines, radio and online outlets.
I’ve written two books: “Collect All 21! Memoirs of a Star Wars Geek – The First 30 Years” and a novel, “Crossing Decembers.”
More? My racing name on our pirated Commodore 64 copy of The Great American Cross Country Road Race was Lamborghini Lyle. After the day I finally knocked off the computer-driven All-American Al and took first place, the game never worked again. Sore loser.
My Books
My Twitter Feed
- 12/14/90. Echoes. https://t.co/Sud7rOoyuE 4 hours ago
- My Town. #intheCLE (Also, first visit to Sokolowski's. #Iamsofull ) https://t.co/itEhTg8wwM 17 hours ago
- #Moon in the west. Possibly over Parma. https://t.co/EdZkYUBvUF 1 day ago
- Nice work, #sunset crew. #IntheCLE https://t.co/vfpBhb6E6n 2 days ago
- These #clouds. https://t.co/XgJxcO5f04 3 days ago
Writer for Hire: Me
Need an experienced, award-winning journalist, writer and blogger? Visit my writer-for-hire site, FieldsEdge.com.GeekDad
I've been writing for Wired magazine's GeekDad blog since April 2009. An archive of my contributions is here.Recent projects
Check out some of my latest work here.-
Recent Posts
Want updates by email?
… or subscribe using your favorite reader:
Archives
- June 2017
- April 2016
- December 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
- July 2006
- June 2006
- May 2006
- April 2006
- March 2006
Categories