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Sep 29: 14.4 miles in Central Park (2+ laps)
--WOW!!! I did it! After all this glum and humid weather, the skies (kinda) cleared today and the humidity dropped, plus I was trying to mentally prepare, and I had my longest run of the year!! Granted, I was aiming to have my second-longest run ever (3 full laps around Central Park), but at about the Central Park pool, my mind shut me down and made me walk. I tried to recover and jog a little bit more, but my mind again said, "No, Ben, you are done for today. Good job." Yes. I'm happy. I feel good. The run felt good, the weather even felt good. Today's jog began with sprinkling which gave way to a very brief light rain spat, but it was all done by about mile 3. I ran in late-morning weather than ranged from 58 degrees to 63 degrees, and humidity that dropped from about 85% to 63%. I had to subway it back to civilization being that I was at the totally opposite end of the park from my subway stop. Now, this was not a much needed 18-mile run, but it was quite an accomplishment given my sporadic and retarded running of late, and I only hope that I can have longer, steadier runs the next few weeks (injury-free, of course) and be ready for this major puppy coming up in nearly a month: The NYC Marathon!

Sep 27: ~2 miles in Astoria (1 lap)
--I'm officially suffering. This morning's run in 73-degree weather had 92% humidity. My breathing was heavy, very hard to overcome in running. My mind was saying at the last minute, "Do one more lap! Only 2 more miles!" but I stopped it. I want less humid weather. Because I'm now eating 2 cream cheesecake bars at a time before I run, as if to thwart my attempts. Curse my mind!

I'm doing background work tomorrow early, and once the coming rain passes late-afternoon tomorrow, I hope there is less humid weather. And if so, I really want to run far and long!!! (Do you know how long it's been since I've run Central Park?)

Sep 25: ~6 miles in Astoria (3 laps)
--Would you believe this is my first 2-run day this year?? When I had my miserable 2-mile run this morning, I felt if I had the time, I should try my hardest to make up for it and get a longer run in later today. And I did! The humidity only dropped a little bit (82%) and the temperature rose (71 degrees), but running in the calm of the night felt better than running in the growing air pollution of the morning. My legs felt pretty good yet my strength was weaker--I've been eating more and eating less healthfully of late, a phase that I think will pass soon. After about 2 miles, the endorphins started to kick in and I was feeling better. I'm still wrestling with the mental block of lowered motivation. Do you know hard low motivation can be to overcome?

Sep 25: ~2 miles in Astoria (1 lap)
--Such a lame run, but again, blame it on the humidity! It was 89% humidity in only 64-degree weather, but it was muggy enough to bog me down from the beginning. Granted, also at fault was that I hadn't run in more than a week because of traveling and a pretty busy schedule all day long. But that's all pointing fingers. There's the sense that if my mind is in condition, my body will follow, and my mind was just not in it today. The marathon is nearly a month away, and while I've been able to make 10-mile runs, I still need a day (it seems) to recuperate, which to me means I'm not as far along as I'd like, and which means I'm getting a little nervous. It would be bliss to run an 18-mile run this weekend, but I just don't think my body could take it. The marathon training schedules had the first "big, big" run scheduled for last weekend ... Wait. Maybe I'm not as far back as it feels ... I'm looking over the training schedules for the marathon and if I'm doing basically 10K's each day, with a longer run on the weekends, I'm fine ... Hmmm ... Can I do it? I've gotta get my running (thinking) cap on ......

Sep 14: ~10 miles in Astoria (5 laps)
--Even after a day of standing around on Brooklyn Bridge doing extra work in the humid air, I still managed to have enough energy despite a 4:30am rise to get in 10 miles this evening. It had something to do with being in the heat and humidity of today that made me feel comfortable enough to go for a jog tonight, and I'm so glad I did it because I've eaten poorly recently, plus I have a hectic week ahead of me with travel and less running. It was 74 degrees with 99% humidity tonight (!!!), but for some reason, it felt sooooooo good to be out in it. My left knee, which had experienced a severe pain of late, had more manageable discomfort which I was able to run through anyway--I think the key is keeping up with stretching that darned left quadricep tendon. I felt pretty strong and happy to be running at the start, and I was able to challenge myself to go 10 miles rather than a paltry 6 or a settled-for 8. The last 4 miles were slower, especially the last 2, but no matter as I'd been out of running for a bit. I need to take some ibuprofen to combat any swelling, in case I overexerted myself.

Sep 12: ~2 miles in Astoria (1 lap)
--Pain. Uh-oh. Is this a new development in my marathon training? Upon completion of my last few runs, particularly after my 12-miler last week, I felt a pain develop on the lateral side of my left leg, just underneath my knee. It feels to the touch as if it's just on the underside of where the bones of my lower leg meet. Today, I started feeling it as I finished up my second mile, and as I started the third, my body sent me to a stop because of the pain. I know ibuprofen will deaden the pain as it did post-12-miler, but that the pain developed during my run is cause for concern. I hope it's just related to my tight quadricep tendon and just as easily curable. This morning's pain may jeopardize my doing a longer run in CP tomorrow--I might just have to aim high at only 1 lap around CP. Oh well, we shall see. Aside from that, my run was slower today (I ran right out of bed), and the temperature was 65 degress with a somewhat humid 77% humidity. I had enough time to do 6, maybe 8 miles this morning.

Sep 11: ~2 miles in Astoria (1 lap)
--Tonight's run was the victim of Entenmann's Louisiana Crunch cake. Only getting in 2 miles on this evening's nice, non-humid, 75-degree run, I carried in my stomach what felt like a solid ball of store-bought bakes, and it did me no good. I ate the junk, I think, to thwart my running today, as I'd not run in one week because of some computer business and basically lack of motivation. I hope I'm picking steam back up because at this point, I really need to get my mileage up, as around this time in 2001 I ran my first 18.3-mile run in Central Park (3 laps). I think I should be okay to run 2 laps in CP on Saturday if I get in a run tomorrow morning when I get up, to add to my lack of miles today. Blah ... I feel a Sugar Blah ...

Sep 4: ~7.2 miles in Astoria (3.5+ laps)
--I've never been paid $50 to run! I found two $20's and a $10 just lying on the ground during today's dusk run in overcast skies. The temperature was 73 degrees with 92% humidity because of all the rain we've had of late, but it was a strong run throughout. I didn't run during my trip to see my girlfriend in Montreal over the weekend, but we walked for hours upon hours which was worth something, right?! I ran 3+ laps rather than 4 as I was stopping at a friend's place to pick up keys to petsit over the weekend--I could have gone 8, 10, maybe even 12 miles if I wanted to tonight--I feel that good at this point.