Day 1,823: It's frigid out!

This morning when we ran it was 33 degrees out.

I decided to wear what I wore last week when we were in Richmond, Va., for the holidays -- basically two long-sleeved technical shirts and my Marmot windbreaker.

It's still shorts weather. :)

Anyway, by the time we reached 1.25 miles, I had to take off the windbreaker. I was fine the rest of the way, although my left hand was pretty cold. Maybe I can bring one glove next time?

Running when it's that cold is interesting because it takes a lot to get me out the door, but once I do, it's pretty easy. I never heat up or overheat, and the running seems effortless.

Time: 8:30 a.m.
Temp: 33 degrees
Gear: Technical T, long (x2), Marmot windbreaker, shorts, Nike Air Pegasus+ 27/A.

Day 1,821: That Zen way of running

When I was in cross country in high school, I was always amazed that my coach was a non-competitive runner. He just liked running just to run.

Today, I feel like I'm that way, but with a twist. I've taken that experience and made it my own. But I think I'm smart enough to not take on those who are faster than me while severely making things difficult for those who aren't faster than me but want to test me anyway.

It's the running that makes you wise, doesn't it?

Fast is nice, but if you want fast, buy a nice car -- and deal with the speeding tickets. With everything, there's a nice zone where you'll keep up your enjoyment and it won't bother anyone.

Every now and then, I'll look at this blog, or even my results on Athlinks. What does it all mean? Should I be faster? Should I be slower?

In the end, I focus on the slow times and think of how hard it was for me to come back into running, into races. I'd accepted the really slow times as a factor of age and figured, so be it.

I never could have guessed there'd be personal bests down the road, or my consecutive day streak.

But what I remember from those days is how much I enjoyed being out there, how much I enjoyed just being able to do a 5K, a 10K, even if slowly.

That enjoyment is the sweet spot of things, whether you're a turtle or cranking out PR's left and right.

But you don't want to forget the enjoyment, and the satisfaction of things. Because when you look back, all you'll see are numbers.

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Today's run was my basic butterfly loop, a 4 mile course in the neighborhood. It was laborious, as it usually is the day after I'm on a plane flight, or sitting in a car driving from Richmond, Va., to Atlanta.

With the run, I crossed 400 miles on my current pair of shoes. The cool air prompted me to make a Runner's World recipe -- red lentil and black bean soup.

Time: 10:30 a.m.
Temp: 50 degrees
Gear: T-shirt, short (Beat the Street for Little Feet 5K), shorts, Nike Air Pegasus+ 27/A.

Day 1,795: Coldest run so far!

I thought yesterday's 9.5-mile run was chilly. Today was even chillier. When I got up it was 28 degrees.

Luckily by the time I was ready to run, the temperature climbed to 31 degrees. I was able to research prior runs via this blog, and I ran in weather this chilly last December in the Grand Canyon.

It was crisp out, but my gear was good. That's been one of the main purposes of this blog, to keep track of what to wear in all kinds of weather.

Time: 8:15 a.m.
Temp: 31 degrees
Gear: Tech T, long (Atlanta Half Marathon 2010), Tech T, short (Asics blue), Marmot windbreaker, shorts, Nike Air Pegasus+ 27/A.

Day 1,789: The day after

Today's run was less speedy than the day before. We ran up to Little Five Points and my right leg didn't really have too much bounce to it.

Eventually, on the way back, my legs felt better but my hamstrings felt sore near the knees immediately after the race and slight soreness continues.

Time: 9 a.m.
Temp: 44 degrees
Gear: Tech T, long (Nike black), short-sleeved T (Beat the Street for Little Feet 5K), shorts, Adidas shoes.

Day 1,788: Atlanta Half Marathon

So today came and all I was really thinking about this race were the hills from last year that did me in.

At the time, I still had a nice race -- it was at the time my fastest half-marathon in Georgia and my third-fastest time overall.

But every race is different.

This year, mainly thanks to my slackness and needing to do long runs to make 30 miles for the week, I'd put in a bunch of long run time in -- a 14-mile run in August, a 12.5-mile run in October and an 8.5 mile run as recently as last week.

The race started out and I told myself to take it easy. I did this even as lots of people passed me left and right. I was just enjoying the run as it went from Turner Field to downtown past my office building to Atlantic Station.

In Midtown, I didn't push myself up the 14th Street hill like I did last year. It even seemed to me to be a much smaller hill than I thought it was last year.

Even through Piedmont Park, I just ran and enjoyed everything. I laughed when I saw some dude accelerating to the exit gate of the park -- I was thinking like, dude, you have no idea what you're in for.

And then came 10th Street. This is the start of the brutal inclines of the race. This hill pretty much goes up to Juniper, where the turn is. Then it's rolling hills all the way to Auburn Avenue.

Last year, this was where I started to fall off my pace.

On 10th Street, I let myself accelerate through the crowd -- it felt good, even though I knew more hills were in store.

I did the same for the entrance hills on Juniper through about 5th Street. I run so much of this course on other routes, it felt natural.

I made a slight mistake in thinking that on Courtland Street we'd have to go over the overpass near Georgia State but was relieved when I saw that Auburn Avenue came right before it.

This was around the 9 mile mark. Usually I'll eat a GU gel here -- it will last for about 4 miles. But I felt pretty good and decided not to take one. I also did not drink any water/sport drink for the entire race.

On Auburn Avenue, my pace was good and cautious. I ran down through the short tunnel on Boulevard thinking that the next hill -- Boulevard leading to Memorial -- was coming.

It turns out the hill continues on Moreland. No worries. I fell into pace behind a pretty quick girl as the course continued on Moreland to Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.

Things continued to go great. I knew at this point, only two main hills remained -- the double stack on Mitchell Street before Capitol Avenue and the I-20 overpass on Hank Aaron Drive.

When I got to the overpass, I could see the 1:50 pacers ahead of me. Even running pretty fast it was hard to catch up.

But I passed them with maybe .2 of a mile left in the race. The finish was strong and I was pleased with my sub 1:50 time.

Later today when I looked at my Garmin Connect data from the races, I notice something significant. In 2010, I logged fast times through mile 7 out of Piedmont Park and then started to lose my pace.

This year, I ran at a steady pace (about 8:30/mile) through mile 7 and then ran 8-minute miles the rest of the way.

Saving your energy for the hills when you need it is definitely the way to go.

Time: 7:35 a.m.
Temp: 42 degrees
Gear: Tech T, long (Big Peach 5-miler), Tech-T short (Asics blue), shorts, Nike Air Pegasus+ 27/A.

Day 1,787: A new pair of shoes!

I just ordered a brand-new pair of Nike Air Pegasus+ 28s from Nikestore.com.

My current shoes have more than 306 miles on them and I should have a new pair to break in before I run up 500 miles on the old ones.

Normally I'd troll the Internet to see who has the cheapest Pegasus shoes, and that's usually an older season's pair. But now, about once a year, I'll have enough points on My Coke Rewards to get a $50 Nike gift card.

In doing so, I can buy the latest shoe for the price of what I'd normally pay for a previous season's shoe.

It takes me about a year to get enough points (drink enough Diet Coke) to do so, but it's been worth it. I last bought a pair of Nikes this way on Nov. 10, 2010, but I didn't blog about it here.

It takes a long time to accumulate the points, but just like running day after day, it's worth it.

Day 1,786: A spartan expo

Today before I went to work I walked over from my office building to the Marriott Marquis to get my bib number and T-shirt for Thursday's Atlanta Half Marathon.

This year they changed the location of the expo from the Intercontinental Hotel in Buckhead to downtown. It makes sense as the start and finish of this race is now in Turner Field.

Everything went pretty smoothly, from getting my bib number to T-shirt. I was surprised though, at how small the rest of the expo was. Normally you see lots and lots of vendors. There are great free samples and it's a nice atmosphere, especially at the Rock'n'Roll half marathon series, in which Brooks has their carnival-esque displays that include freebies, from knit gloves and hats to T-shirts and water bottles.

My wife and I joke about how for the Publix Georgia Marathon and Half Marathon they even had a mock-up of a grocery store at the expo, as if it were a demo for people who had never seen an American grocery store before.

Anyway, the Atlanta Half Marathon expo served its purpose. I bought a GU energy gel from the Big Peach expo store and returned back to work.