Writing Life

Had a great six mile run today and a perfect soundtrack, thanks to Apple’s Genius option. I seeded it with the first song below.

Zero [Yeah Yeah Yeahs]
Cheap and Cheerful [The Kills]
Ghost Town [Shiny Toy Guns]
In One Ear [Cage the Elephant]
Connjur [School of Sevel Bells]
Great DJ [The Ting Tings]
Bull in the Heather [Sonic Youth]
The Good Ones [The Kills]
The Beginning of the End [Nine Inch Nails]
Gold Lion [Yeah Yeah Yeahs]
Wild International [One Day as a Lion]
Push It [Garbage]
Gouge Away [Pixies]
Rock & Roll Queen [The Subways]
Hang You From the Heavens [The Dead Weather]
Five String Serenade [Mazzy Star]

On Sunday morning (October 19th), I ran my second 5K Race for the Cure up in Hunt Valley, Maryland. This year, Diane treated me to a timed race: an extra $5 for a chip that would give me an official run time based on when I crossed the start and finish lines. The money’s for a good cause (fighting breast cancer), so the extra $5 was well worth it on many fronts. My unofficial race time, based on the clock at the finish line, was about 26:02. Today I found the official results. N.B. My chip time differed from the starter gun time by 5.7 seconds, which is about how long it took me to get from where I was standing to the starting line once the gun fired. Approximately 32,000 people walked, ran and jogged on this beautiful and crisp morning.

My iPhone playlist for this year’s run:

I’ve officially been running for over a year now. I’ve been quit smoking for over a year and a half. Woohoo! And yes, the two are tied together. I was in good shape when I smoked, working out three times a week, but there’s no way I could have run 5.3 miles three times a week through trails and woods. I’m very excited. Quitting helped my running but I couldn’t have accomplished it without my tunes. Here’s today’s list that really helped me slog through this nasty humidity!

1. (I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone – The Monkees
2. White Room – Cream
3. Pink Cadillac – Bruce Springsteen
4. Block Rocking Beats – The Chemical Brothers
5. Cheap and Cheerful – The Kills
6. Mercy – Duffy
7. Mon Opinion – Iron Sy
8. Too Many MC’s – Public Domain
9. Fried My Little Brains – The Kills
10. Wargasm – L7
11. Treat Me Right – Pat Benatar
12. Tales of Brave Ulysses – Cream
13. Scrap – L7

We’re back and I wanted to highlight my workout times from Jamaica. I was a total geek and worked out while on vacation. But, it helped keep in check the frozen drinks, beer and food I ate day and night! I worked out three times, which sync’ed with my home pattern. I ran five miles around an asphalt track at the largest sports complex in the Caribbean. Each lap was 0.5 miles, so 10 times was all it took. The first day, I ran in rain for about 1/2 of each lap and in the sun for the next half. Island weather! The second day was great and cool as I was up around 8 to run. The third day killed me, as the times show, possibly due to the extremely high humidity that day. The times below are for each mile, first through fifth.

Jan. 3rd: 7:46 .. 7:45 .. 8:24 .. 8:56 .. 8:54
Jan. 5th: 7:27 .. 7:59 .. 8:28 .. 9:03 .. 9:02
Jan 7th: 7:44 .. 7:59 .. 8:16 .. 9:34 .. 10:04

What’s amazing for me is that I’d only run six individual miles under 8 minutes since I started running in June of last year. On Jamaica, I ran six miles under 8 on three consecutive workouts. I’m off for a run now, so hope that the trend continues!

Komen published their official race results for my first 5K back on October 14th. Since there wasn’t any fancy finish line or electronic tracking, I think these times are a bit fuzzy. They did collect racers’ bibs, which had identifiers, but I’m not sure how they tracked specific times for individuals. But, it’s close to my own estimate of 28:30. It took me about a little over one minute to go from the finish line to where I actually handed over my bib, since everyone was merging into several lines to be processed.

But, without further ado, here’s my official stats:

Place: 1,355 (out of 4,240)
Age Group: 40-44
Time: 30:50.2
Pace: 6:10/K

I was 28th best of the Columbia contingent, and 5th best for my age group from Columbia. But, it was a lot of fun and it was for a great cause. Congrats to everyone who participated!

Here’s what I listened to while running my first 5K:

1. Chinese Burn – Curve
2. Titanium Exposé – Sonic Youth
3. Blues Before and After – The Smithereens
4. I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) – The Proclaimers
5. Boom (The Crystal Method Remix) – P.O.D.
6. Stick ‘em Up – Quarashi
7. Straight Outta Compton – N.W.A.
8. Though Shalt Always Kill – Dan Le Sac & Scroobius Pip

I just finished my first 5K race! Im blogging from my iPhone! We are up in Hunt Valley, MD, for the Susan Komen Breast Cancer Race for the Cure. I ran it in 28:30, a little off my mark of an 8:30 mile. Running in a crowd is difficult!! Diane’s doing her 5K walk with coworkers right now!

Big shout out to Barb & Bob for their generous pledge for our participation today. We love you!!

I thought this was a pretty eclectic mix, drawn from a random sampling of a playlist I put together for a friend’s party this past weekend. It was a great mix to get through a good workout this morning!

1. Paranoid – Black Sabbath
2. Yeah! – Usher featuring Lil’ Jon & Ludacris
3. Miss Lucifer – Primal Scream
4. Living After Midnight – Judas Priest
5. Pump It – Black Eyed Peas
6. Straight Outta Compton – N.W.A.
7. In the Air Tonight – Nonpoint
8. Whip It – Devo
9. Wild Thing – Tone-Loc
10. Boom (The Crystal Method Remix) – P.O.D.
11. Good Riddance – Green Day
12. Truth Or Dare – N.E.R.D. featuring Kelis and Pusha T