Friday Haiku, Volume VII: 9 Innings and 14 Miles

Unexpectedly,
Perfection can be achieved
On a Summer night.




Today the Friday Haiku has nothing to do with running. This week, I wanted to tip a cap (a gross white running visor in this case) to the local independent league baseball team, the York Revolution. Chris and I have been Revs partial season ticket plan holders since the team's inception. We enjoy and it plan to continue attending as long as we can.

It will never be mistaken for the major leagues. That's not an insult -- it just is what it is and going to a Revolution game is quite a bit more fun than going to an Orioles game these days. But, the gap between an Atlantic League game and a "big league" game seems greater the gap between my other favorite local minor league team, the AHL's Hershey Bears (farm team of the Washington Capitals), which I've always felt stacks up very well to an NHL game. (To be fair, though, the Bears are a higher "level" of minor league, have been around forever, are the most storied and successful team in their league and play in a stadium that seats over 10,000.)


But on Wednesday night, the defending Atlantic League Champion Revolution hit the big time, hosting an All-Star Game experience far beyond our expectations. From the first pitch by the Revs' own Corey Thurman to the time we walked out the gate it was perfect. The stadium packed with a record crowd; in-game entertainment by the ZOOperstars, hilarious and somewhat crude inflatable mascots (it's much funnier than it sounds -- "Bear Bonds" has huge inflated muscles and "Centi-Pete Rose" has $'s in his eyes), and the Washington Nationals' racing presidents; the quick, extremely well-played (albeit lopsided) game itself; and the amazing fireworks display afterward all contributed to an evening at the ballpark that in my opinion could not have gone any better.

The Revolution have come a long way since the inaugural season, when construction delayed the opening of Sovereign Bank Stadium by over a month and the Revs were forced to play the whole season in an unfinished ballpark. On Wednesday night, they arrived.

(See! It does have to do with running!
Photo by Christina Stetler Photography)

I've mentioned on here a few times that "some days I've got it and some days I don't", and that one of my favorite things in running is when a great one seems to come out of nowhere. While I was pleasantly surprised by the Revs' awesome All-Star game, today's run was in the works all week. With the heat index in the 100s earlier in the week and temps around 75 with 90% humidity at six in the morning, running was complete drudgery. I obsessively check weather.com, and when I saw lower heat and humidity (lows in the low-to-mid 60s and highs "only" around 90) later in the week, I knew it might be my best chance to get a longer run in. So, I had this morning's run circled on my calendar all week.

It was a gorgeous morning with lower-than-usual humidity and a cool breeze at times. The bright sunshine kicked my butt, but I got in 14 miles in 2:20:54, holding a 10-minute mile pace for 12 miles but fading just a little bit at the end. It's the longest I've run since March, so I'm pretty happy with it, especially in the middle of July when I hate running. In celebration, I leave you with Bonus Haiku:

Marathon, you say?
Fourteen miles is a good start.
Bring it on Philly.

Friday Haiku, Volume VI

Hot humid weather
Turns running into a chore
That pays off in Fall

At least I hope it pays off in the fall, especially on the morning of Sunday, November 20.

There was nothing at all fun about running on this muggy morning, but at least I got 10 miles in compared to 7 on Wednesday. And it's Friday (as Friday Haiku implies). That's awesome, too.

Have a nice weekend.

Friday Haiku, Volume V: The (Half) Year in Review in Haiku

Half the year is gone
And goals are only half met
Much more to be done


We're now halfway through 2011, and so I wanted to take a moment to look at progress against the running goals I set for myself at the beginning of the year:

1. Run five 5Ks -- Kelly Shamrock, Honor Bus, Preakness, Bob Potts, HACC Dash.

2. Sub 23-minute 5K -- Nope. 23:55 at HACC Dash is my best work so far this year. Best chance is probably in December at Jingle Bell 5K.

3. Sub 6-minute mile -- Harrisburg Mile is July 20. Haven't done any track work, but can probably at least beat my current 6:44 PR.

4. Run a marathon -- Well, I ran most of it. I got the medal, anyway. Plus, Philly in November.

Of course, running was part of my larger-scale initiative to "Kick Ass", and become a more assertive, confident person. Most of that's outside the scope of this blog, but there's still quite a lot of room for improvement.

Not only are we halfway through 2011, but this is also my 100th post of the year. Thanks again for reading and commenting. I hope you've had a few laughs and hopefully learned from some of my mistakes. This calls for bonus haiku!

One hundred posts now
Maybe one third are worthwhile
Please keep reading though!

Friday Haiku, Volume IV

Do not fear the hills.
The hills do not stop the wind.
Just be like the wind.


As you can see, after my pessimism earlier in the week, I'm trending a bit toward overconfidence now.

I've only run one 10K, so I don't feel like I have a good strategy for them. My plan for tomorrow's Dreaded Druid Hills 10K is to just keep a slow, steady pace, conserving energy for the hills and hopefully a final sprint. That's basically the approach I took to my only other 10K. I know this will be a tougher course, but at the time of the '09 MCVET 10K (great race, by the way!) that was the longest I'd ever run.

We've got a busy weekend ahead of us in the Earn Your Donuts household. In addition to the 10K, I'll simultaneously be running a virtual 5K, the "Sweat Your Thorns Off" (what does that even mean?) 5K, hosted by one of my favorite running blogs, www.theboringrunner.com. A couple of logistical questions: Even though they overlap, I get to count that as running 9.3 miles, right? Also, do virtual races count as PRs? (Or in this case, more likely to be a personal worst?) Back in the world of reality, my wife will return to familiar territory, her third Baltimore Women's Classic 5K. I'm sure the cats will also occasionally be running around the house as they do whatever it is that cats do.

Happy Friday. (Finish work if necessary and) Go earn donuts.

Friday Haiku, Volume III

You should run away.
This creepy little kitten
Is staring at you.
Since my legs are demanding a rest day today, I'll no doubt be murdered by this terrifying creature, which in an ancient Japanese legend (that I just made up) is a demon said to gobble up slothful runners who rest on Friday.

In reality, this is our huggable, cheerful little friend, Elizabeth the Kitten, who spends most of her time napping peaceably on people's laps or her favorite chair. She does stare in menacing fashion quite often, but she's likely as not to purring loudly while doing so, hoping for attention and/or kitten food.

She certainly wouldn't hurt anyone.


Right?

Friday Haiku, Part Deux!

Run slowly today
But fear not the Summer heat
It cannot stop you


It's Friday and I don't have any other post ideas, so here we go again. I wish there was a formula for converting the 10 hot, humid summer miles that I ran this morning into (hopefully) cool, dry Philadelphia Marathon miles. Get right on that, mathematicians. But I'd bet it equals at least 26.3.

Friday Haiku

Perfect June Friday
Go out and earn your donuts
It's time to kick ass


I never said it would be a good haiku. But it's Friday; it's National Donut Day (I wonder who invented that?); I can only hope the weather in your part of the world is as gorgeous as it is in mine today; and I needed a post idea that wouldn't take much time.

TGIF

It's the middle of the night, and I just ran 8 miles in 1 hour, 14 minutes, and 29 seconds. I think I get a donut for that.


That's getting the Friday ass kicking off to a good start.