May 30...thankfully, there won't be anymore runs in 30 degree weather for a few months, but I have a new nemesis - humidity...the last few days have been a bit muggy, to say the least.

After an hour of Muay Thai, and an hour of karate this morning, I drove down to Narragansett.  I love 'Gansett, it has everything I love about living in New England.  History, world class waves when there's a swell, readily accessible fresh seafood, laid-back attitude...awesome place.  And they have the NRA (No, not that NRA...), the Narragansett Running Association, who puts on one of my favorite races of the year, the "Super 5K" on Superbowl Sunday.  Always a freezing good time and certainly one of the colder races of the year, since it's early February and it's an out-and-back run along the seawall, and gets a bit breezy.  But they put on a great race, and there's an excellent pasta buffet afterwards.  Warms the heart :)

Today, I did a short three-mile run along part of the race route, and through some of the quiet streets of the Pier neighborhood.  Finished at the Coast Guard House.  Great landmark.

Nice, easy run, but sticky out!  Yesterday was the only day I didn't run in the last week, so I figured I'd go short today, and long trail run tomorrow.  Like I said, I'm making up my routine as I go, but cross-training in multiple sports is going to help me build my endurance.  That said, I'm on a Sunday to Saturday schedule to track my miles, and right now I'm at just under 12 miles for the week and counting.

Post #1:  So here it is:  I'm a runner.  An average, 41 year old, middle-of-the-pack runner who did his first race a few years ago on a whim, the Run4Kerri 4-mile road race in 2009 in Matunuck, Rhode Island.  I surf near the race site, and some friends asked me to join them...and I got hooked from that first race.  I finished with a 9:29 per mile average, coming in #412 of nearly 900 runners.  Like I said, completely average.  I've always been in good shape, due to surfing and martial arts training, and finished with a respectable time.  But I got hooked on  the race, the buildup to race day, the sheer spectacle, all of it.  You can be fast or slow, compete against others or yourself, but damned if it isn't fun.  My side of the walk-in closet that my wife Lori and I share is now full of race t-shirts, and I haven't gone clothes shopping in over three years.  I have a huge stack of race bibs and a lifetime supply of safety pins, if ever I need them.  If this sounds at all familiar, you're a runner.  If not, welcome!  I'll try to make sense of this.

I've decided to do this as a way of documenting my race schedule/obsession (which requires a separate calendar from our usual family stuff), my training, and to share the fact that I signed up for an "Ultramarathon" in October, the Bimbler's Bluff  http://mrbimble.com/WordPress/bluff/ 50K trail race (that's 31 miles, y'all), which I've committed to financially.  Which means that I paid for the entry, so I have to attempt it.  Once I've paid for a race, there's no way I'm not going to do it.  And I'm terrified.  Really.  Like I was with my first half marathon last September, the inaugural Surftown Half in Misquamicut, RI.  Nervous and driving to the race in the dark, asking myself "What the Hell was I thinking???"  But I made it, and crossed the finish line with my friend Gary, who I met during the race.  Gary is a lunatic who was running with a rucksack full of bricks (GO RUCK!!!), and has provided just enough peer pressure to get me to do this...so I have him to thank!  Thanks, Gary!!!

I'm going to be as detailed as I can, with regard to every run, race and training sesh I do leading up to the run.  I'm sort of winging it here, and while there may be a better way of doing this, it's not me.  I've always found my own way of getting there, in spite of all the good intentions of family and friends.  So here ya go.  I'm in, going to give it my best, and will let you all into the fold, as it were.  I'll also be sharing some observations from my previous races (like the three barefoot runners in yesterday's 5K, now there's a subculture for you), and trying to show whoever has read this far that anyone can build up to the short, middle, and long distances, and have fun doing it!  Aren't there worse things to do with twenty bucks and a couple of free hours?

Of course, I could also fail miserably at this whole project, and wouldn't that be just as entertaining???  Full disclosure, people, I'm not a politician...so you get the good and the bad and everything in between!  More fun for you!  So here goes...