Toward a Unified Theory of Runner Social Behavior

Over the past few weeks, I've described some of my experienced with other runners on the York County Heritage Rail Trail. I've ranted and raved a bit about how despite my unfailing attempts to be friendly to other brave souls out on the trail on these warm humid mornings, other runners have tended to not return my greetings.

I'm not the only one investigating this important topic in social science. My Running Shorts, a far better blog than this one will ever be, featured a very authoritative investigation into this very subject.

In the interest of contributing to this weighty and relevant discussion, we here at Earn Your Donuts have decided to conduct our first foray into original research based on strict scientific methodology*.

We would appreciate it if each of our readers would take a few minutes to complete this short survey.

Click here to take survey

Thank you for your participation.

(She blinded me with science.)

*May not contain actual science.

Friday Haiku, Volume XI

Burned-out, exhausted
Just one thing can save me now.
I need vacation.



It's been a good week of running and a great summer (both in general and for running). But after hundreds of miles through the hills of Manchester and Mt. Wolf and an exhausting summer schedule, I definitely need to shake things up a bit.

HumidityFest 2011 -- In Pictures

At mile 1 one of today's run:



At mile 10 of today's run:

More Trail, Less Fail

I spent the week silently seething with rage over my highly unsatisfactory -- No! -- disgraceful run on the York County Heritage Rail Trail last week.

So, desperate for revenge, I set out southward from Brillhart Station determined to avenge my death!

Well...ok, the above isn't really true. I was ok with my run last week, but was hoping to do a little both in terms of preparation and distance. And I didn't really die. If I did, you'd be spared further blog posts, obviously.

Anyway, the part about heading south from Brillhart Station is true. It was a relatively cool, overcast morning, and there was even a nice breeze -- which the tall trees around the trail completely blocked. It seemed much more humid on the trail than it did otherwise, and so I think on mornings like this, where clouds are keeping the sun from just beating down on me and the actual temperature isn't too bad, I should probably stay off the trail and just run on the roads here in Manchester.

My preparation was a little better than last week. I remembered to both bring and charge Garmin, which worked really well on this relatively straight course. Although it would lose signal quite often due to (I'm guessing here) weather and the thick vegatation (Geez, Brian, you're making it sound like you were running in the stinkin' Amazon Rain Forest.), it seemed like it would "catch up" when the signal came back. That doesn't work so well on my twisty neighborhood courses, since Garmin assumes a straight line from where it lost signal to where I am when it picks it back up.

Because running on the trail is A) safer than running on the road since I don't have to watch for cars and also B) more boring than running on the road since I don't have to watch for cars, I decided to bring my Shuffle. Here, I failed again. I'd forgotten to charge it, and even though I have a USB charger on my phone's power cord, apparently a Shuffle of this generation needs to be plugged into a computer to charge. D'oh.

Overall, though, this was a nice run. I ran for seven miles, going past Hanover Junction, last week's turnaround point, and turned around. This worked out nicely. Since I take a pit stop at this access point to refill my bottles and eat some Sports Beans before setting out again, it made the run back seem a little shorter than the run down.

Here's a picture of Hanover Junction. as seen from the south.
Abraham Lincoln's train changed tracks here on its way to Gettysburg for the Gettysburg Address.

Until about mile 12, when my legs started saying "Hey Brian, we don't want to do this any more." I had sweating buckets for the whole run, but I was drinking water and (at that point) watered-down gatorade, and I'd taken a salt tablet before the run and at my pit stop, so I didn't think I was dehydrated or in danger of heat-related injury. I told my whiny legs to shut the hell up, and made i back to Brillhart and the safety of my car. In doing so, I abandoned a crazy plan, hatched at mile 10 when I briefly felt like I could run forever, to head a bit past Brillhart and turn around to add a 15th mile.

(This is what the rail trail normally looks like.)

(And here's what it looked like after I sweated my way back to my car.)

I'm really happy with this run. 14.13 miles in 2 hours and 19 minutes, for a 9:50/mile pace. It's my longest run of the summer (by .13 miles), but my pace for my only other 14-mile run of the summer, on July 15, was 10:00/mile, so this is a pretty nice improvement.

Time to eat the donuts.

People are Still (sort of) Jerks
Like last week, I said "hi" to everyone I passed. However, for some reason I got more responses today. I have several theories:

1. People who were on the trail last Saturday read my blog entry and realized that they are, in fact, jerks.

2. I appeared less creepy than last week. I didn't wear the visor today. Maybe the visor is creepy.

3. People saw how much I was sweating and didn't want to make me angry.

Further testing is needed.

Friday Haiku, Volume X

I'll run tomorrow.
If I do not die, I mean.
Thanks, morbid church sign.



There's a church building in Goldsboro that's been converted to a house. The church marquee sign is still outside and the owners still use it. I ran by the house on my Pain Lies by the Riverside run on Tuesday to read, "If you wake up breathing, congratulations. You have another chance." I couldn't decide if it was motivational, morbid, or just kind of obvious.

Hey, if you're reading this blog post, you're not dead.

Happy Friday!

New Shoe Revue: Adidas Supernova Sequence 4

When you're a running blogger who's currently having a bit of writer's block, new shoes are a godsend. Not only did I review my old shoes, a pair of Adidas Supernova Sequence 2's (While I prerfer to use roman numerals, Adidas does not), I can now blog about my new kicks, a pair of -- you guessed it -- Adidas Supernova Sequence 4's.

My approach to footwear has always been, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." So I went through three pairs of Supernova Glides until I broke. I don't blame the shoes for my IT band problems -- I suspect a lack of proper stretching was mostly to blame -- but it was recommended I try something with a little more stability. Hence, the Supernova Sequence. I'd put almost 500 miles on the Sequence 2s with no recurrence of IT band problems, so when Chris and I stopped at Charm City Run to pick up her packet for the Baltimore Women's Classic, I inquired about a new pair. They didn't have any Sequences, but were glad to order them for me at no additional cost once it became apparent that I didn't want to try any other brands.

I'd seen a picture of the Sequence 4's in Runner's World, and they were cool:

I'd never had a pair of running shoes this funky looking, but I figured that these were also probably the newest models, and that I'd probably end up with Sequence 3s or another pair of Sequence 2s, which would be fine.

It turns out that my new shoes were indeed Sequence 4s, but just not in quite as wild a color scheme:

I don't care that much about what my running shoes look like (I had two pairs of Glides that were ugly yellow things) but I do think these are cool.

They're clearly based on upgraded, perhaps even alien, technology. The pro-moderator is much more pro-moderational than that of the Sequence 2:


And look at this, this isn't just the inside of the top of the shoe, it's "GeoFit!"

I'm mocking my new shoes a bit, but I'm doing so with love. You see, these are the first pair of Adidas since my very first pair of running shoes (Ozweego Running Classics that I got at Value City) that I actually thought felt really soft and comfortable when I tried them on in the store. I've also disliked each pair of Glides and the Sequence 2s for my first couple runs with them, but then loved them once they were broken in a bit and I got used to them.. However, I felt very comfortable in my first run in the 4s, a cool, overcast, but very humid10-mile slog through Mt. Wolf this morning.

Hopefully, that's not a harbinger of doom. I'm a bit worried that since I like them so much right out of the box, that 2 weeks from now I'm going to hate the Sequence 4.

But I don't think so.

Mudhook Brewing Co.: York Just Got a Little Cooler

I ran, it was humid...yadda yadda yadda. Let's go off-topic again and then I'll blog about running tomorrow.

I've spent most of my life living in the suburbs of York, Pennsylvania, and for a town of its size, I actually think York is cool.

York is within reasonable distances of larger towns and cities like Baltimore, Philly, DC, even New York, and Harrisburg (not that Harrisburg is in the same class as the others), but I think it's also got a lot to offer on its own.

York is "The Factory Tour Capital of the World"; it served as the home of the Continental Congress when the Articles of Confederation, the United States' first attempt at a constitution, was signed, making it the first capital of the U.S.; the Revolution are Atlantic League Champs, it has a great rail trail (I have to mention that!); it has lots of golf courses (though not as many as it used to) and I think for that a town of its size it has lots of good restaurants!

Some of my favorites are Cobblestones, with a great bar menu and an excellent beer selection; White Rose Bar & Grill, which has very good food and a beautifully renovated outdoor dining area; and Field House, a sports pub in Newberry Township (going a bit north). This list is by no means exhaustive, of course.

York just got another great addition -- a brewery! Mudhook Brewing Co. opened this month at Central Market, and Chris and I checked it out for the first time on Saturday before our Revolution game.



In short, we were very impressed.

Mudhook currently offers four beers:
Panfish Pale Ale
Live Bait Amber Ale
Redeye Irish Red
Deep Sea Stout

Each glass is $4.50, and so the sampler at $5.50 seemed a good deal.


We liked all four beers! Neither one of us normally likes pale ales, but we both enjoyed the Panfish Pale Ale. The Amber Ale was the hoppiest of them, and the only one of them that could pass for a Troeg's brew (I say that as a frame of reference, not as a negative -- most of Troeg's beers are too hoppy for my taste). We still enjoyed it, but it was our least favorite of the three. The stout was excellent in my opinion. It was very smooth and refreshing. I do love Guiness, but Guiness is thick and heavy, and is not my choice for a warm summer day. The Deep Sea Stout had a good stout flavor but wasn't as thick and heavy. Very good.

The Redeye Irish Red was both of our favorite, and when we finished the samplers we each got an extra glass. Delicious!

Our food was very good, too. Mudhook Brewing Co. has a good selection of appetizers, and a dinner menu featuring burgers (you had me at burgers), chicken sandwiches, and hot dogs. You can select one of several topping combinations on your sandwich. I went with "Mushroom Madness", mushrooms, onions, and swiss cheese. Although burgers are my favorite food group, I went with the chicken since I'm supposed to watch my beef consumption due to gout. It was excellent, and the fries were good too.

We didn't have room for dessert, but the menu features a stout float, which intrigues me.

Everything about the place was great. We'll definitely be back!

If you want to learn more, you can visit the brewery's website at www.mudhookbrewing.com and it's facebook page here.

I guess I should mention that I'm not affiliated with the brewery or anyone working there in any way, nor was I compensated in any way for this review. I just wanted to share my opinion of a very good new place in York.