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Aug 29: ~8 miles in Astoria (4 laps)
--I got in 8 surprising miles this evening; I had thought I'd go 6 miles before running, when I was in it, I was struggling with doing only 4 miles, but I got my pace around the third mile and convinced myself to go 8 miles. I started near dusk, so the humidity I started the run with dissipated once the sun went down. That humidity was around 88%, but it seemed like nothing when it was dark out. The temperature was 79 degrees. My left knee felt fine except for some "something, maybe" happening in there, but my guess is probably stress and tire. I got a second wind at 7 miles, and most of that last mile was pretty fast. Other than that, I kept a little faster pace than the last few days. I had hoped to go a longer distance (as I did) because I have an overnight bus ride tonight, and I wanted to be tired to make sure I got rest. I will probably be out of running the next 3-4 days, and I hope to come back strong. My distances are getting longer, and my endurance, better!

Aug 27: 12.4 miles in Central Park (2 laps)
--I paced myself today and it worked--I did my longest run of the year! I had been having motivation issues of late, but the weather today wasn't nearly as hot as predicted (I read somewhere 95 degrees, but it turned out it was 81 degrees with 55% humidity), so I went to Central Park in the middle of the afternoon and did two laps, totalling 12.4 miles. My legs felt great, the air was occasionally cool, and the park was pretty dead. I was lapped by one female superrunner around mile 9, and near the end a short male superrunner tried to lap me but I overtook him in my final sprint--other than those times, I ran "unchallenged." I stopped at mile 7 to refill my water bottle--only took me about a minute. I felt good after my run, and I hope I can continue to motivate myself for these longer runs.

Aug 25: ~6 miles in Astoria (3 laps)
--The weather for this sunny, late-afternoon run was pretty good at 82 degrees with 50% humidty, yet for some reason I ran fairly slowly. I felt a little hot, and if I were in cooler conditions, I'd have probably been able to run about 10 miles, I bet. I convinced myself not to run on Saturday night as expected, even though the weather was unseasonably cool and sunny--I was preparing for a big audition. And even though that audition led to a callback to prepare for tonight, I figured a run today would help me focus better on the huge amount of dialogue I have to go through--not to mention accent to study and work on--tonight before I go to bed. 6 miles is good; I may be able to get in 6 more tomorrow.

Aug 22: ~4 miles in Astoria (2 laps)
--Today was like running in an oven, but I did pretty well! That the sun was behind clouds I think helped me out, and I survived 4 miles of running in 86-degree weather under 69% humidity (a heat index of 95 degrees). I only ran 4 as opposed to 6 or more miles because I'm hoping to squeeze in a longer run in the early evening tomorrow--I'm shooting a grad film this weekend and my running time is very limited. My lower legs were sore today and my left quadricep tendon started to tighten toward the end of this run, but the soreness and tightness is likely because I didn't stretch much before the run. It looked all hazy outside and it certainly was one of the hotter days of the summer today.

Aug 20: 8.0 miles in Central Park (1+ laps)
--The temperature was 85 degrees, it was sunny, and the humidity was around 34%. PERFECT! Although my legs were still a little tired from the 10-miler I did two days ago, eventually the lactic acid build-up in my legs dissipated and I got a pretty good 8-mile run in. No one lapped me, and I felt pretty strong with a little bit of sprinting, although I kept my pace pretty average. The only discomfort I felt was a minor pain in the center of my left calf around mile 6--I'm gonna see if the pain comes back. Other than that, I felt pretty good, and I'm glad the humidity was low! (I had thought it was around 69%, actually.)

Since it's the end of August, the NYC Marathon is feeling more and more real. Eek!! Will I run it in 3:30?? Will I at least beat my 2001 time??

Aug 18: ~10 miles in Astoria (5 laps)
--Tonight's surprisingly long run was the successful product of difficult running in thick humidity earlier in the week. I had been having motivational problems as a result of my slowed speed and breaks to walk within runs, attributed to the increased humidity and heat. However, powering through the humidity, I apparently built up endurance and strength, as tonight's run, in 70-degree weather with seemingly no humidity (my Weatherbug said it was 85% humidity though, so go figure), was my first 10-miler. I kept up a pretty solid, fast pace throughout the run, and starting at sunset was nice for my focus as my mind or eyes weren't wandering to distractions as I passed them. I was having the occasional tightening of my left quadricep tendon, and to combat it, I would try to exaggerate my backstride to kick my heel to my butt (like the stretch I do for it). But I had no shin pain, even having not stretched that much for this run! (I hadn't been wearing casually those Piston shoes I own, which I think were the culprit behind my pain.) This run was coupled with a sunrise bike ride to Central Park with a loop around and back, totalling about 16 miles. I felt so good having accomplished all this today.

Aug 13: 6.3 miles in Central Park (1 lap)
--TORTURE!! Yet another humid run--84 degrees with 84% humidity, plus haze! I ran in the late morning, and I had to stop to walk 4 or 5 times. That is very, very unlike me. I attribute this to the humidity, which has made me overheat and get exhausted as never before. I looked back at some of my 90-degree runs, and the humidity for those days was 50% ... so I'm not so worried about the state of things for me now. When this humidity diminishes, I hope the product is that I'll be running faster. I feel, for now, that I've lost the strength I had when going uphill, and that 3 miles into a run I am failing. My legs seem to be fine, although my left quadricep tendon needs more daily stretching as I'm getting tightness again. I put in some faster pacing toward the beginning of today's run during the faster choruses of the music I was toting, and I felt good, but I just couldn't sustain it. I had set my sight on going 7.3 miles today, but at 6.3 miles, I couldn't go another step.

Aug 12: ~2 miles in Astoria (1 lap)
--Ugh. Another tough run. What I thought was going to be a 6-8-, maybe even 10-mile run lasted only 2 miles because of low strength and motivation. I will overcome this. It may have been because I ran a 10K late yesterday and ran my 2-miler in the morning today. While it doesn't look as if I'll be able to run tomorrow because I'm working on background in NJ, hopefully I'll be able to squeeze something in. My legs felt fine, but the temperature was again humid and near 80, which isn't doing me so well. I will persevere!

Aug 11: 6.3 miles in Central Park (1 lap)
--My first run of any length since my girlfriend visited NYC, it was a lousy one! I was lapped by 7 people in the course of the run, but no worries, as I'll be back in form soon enough. My hips and upper legs seemed to lack strength in this run, which began in a sunny light rain that lasted for half my time out The weather was just under 80 degrees with 80% humidity, but still good weather--I was just slow! Yet steady. If I'm able to build my mileage this week (it looks promising), I'll probably be back in form by the weekend. I entertained going 8 miles, but talked myself out of it near the end of the run. I looked at the NYC Marathon training schedule for the first time in a while, and I should be getting in 18-mile runs on the weekends ... Jesus! Not sure if I'm there yet, but we'll see. The subway is running funky again this weekend making getting to Central Park more of a haul, but we'll see. Anyway, if you're reading this, please wish me luck and encourage me to keep my mileage up!

Aug 6: ~2 miles in Astoria (1 lap)
--I did a nice, leisurely run in the afternoon humidity with Aimée today. My training will probably pick back up on Friday or this weekend! My right shin splint was unnoticeable, and my suspicions are strong that casually wearing my black Piston shoes is the culprit in my having the problems. I'm going to be careful in choosing when I next wear them.

Aug 2: <1 mile in Central Park
--Today I ran part of the lower loop of Central Park with my girlfriend Aimée. She's such a good runner! We actually ran around the lower loop until we got to the Navy Fountain, stopped to look at it, got seduced by the boats, and took a boat ride. An hour later, we ran a little bit more of the loop to Sheep Meadow (where the NYC Marathon ends) and played some frisbee. That's all we ran. But she has a good stride! Years ago, she placed third in the 3000m in Alberta, Canada. Too bad she's only in town for the week, else she'd be helping me train!