Andy Gapin

Today’s run had a nice snappy pace of 7:33 minute/mile. I’ll take it, especially after Sunday’s run. This is the pace that I’d like to be training at for long runs until the Philly Marathon, but I just don’t think I can keep it up for much more than 6 miles right now. It’s still very frustrating to be this far behind where I was at the start of the year. I know that at some point I’ll get back up there, but it’s tough.

Pace: 7:33
Overall time: 45.18
Vibram Five Finger Bikila total mileage: 118.93

Still needing to get my 16 mile run in, I thought it would be a good idea to head out early today before Hurricane Irene hit. Even though the hurricane hadn’t quite shown up yet, it was humid and wet out. Very humid. And a large portion of the run was in the rain.

I put together a new course that I’ve never done before so that I could try to get the 16 miles in without doing laps around my area of town and without risking getting stuck on the tow path if water levels started to rise quickly.

The run started out alright, I tried to keep a smart pace, but I started fatiguing much earlier that I would have liked. By the time I was in my 14th mile, I was dying. I debated what to do and finally decided that I had to throw in the towel. I just didn’t have the stamina left to go the whole way. This was pretty disappointing for me considering that I want to be running more than a minute faster for 12 extra miles by January. I don’t think it’s going to happen.

Pace: 8:15
Overall time: 1:55:53
Vibram Five Finger Bikila total mileage: 112.92

I wanted to do another 8 mile run tonight, but I couldn’t make it. I don’t know what was going on with me, but I had no energy at all, I had to throw in the towel after 6 miles. These post-work runs can be tough sometimes. I’m really disappointed that I couldn’t finish the run, especially considering that 8 miles shouldn’t be a big deal.

Pace: 7:53
Overall time: 47:17
Vibram Five Finger Bikila total mileage: 98.87

So I’ve got a few new shirts here that need to be posted. The first two have been sitting around for a couple weeks, and actually, I’ve worn them already.

This first one comes from Threadless.com. It’s called Old, Old Friend.

This next one is from RIPT Apparel and called A Flesh Wound. A Month Python reference mixed with LEGO is more than enough to sell me.
The third shirt came from Insubordination Fest last weekend.And finally, here is what is now my second Phineas and Ferb shirt. That’s kind of ridiculous, but it’s an awesome show and a solidly nerdy shirt. As soon as it went on sale at Threadless, I had to pull the trigger.

With the weekend off from running due to my bachelor party, I knew I needed to start the week off a little bigger than planned so I went with an 8-miler to get the job done. The weather was nice and my pace wasn’t too bad either. My ankle did hurt a bit though which is not good at all.

Pace: 7:52
Overall time: 1:03:05
Vibram Five Finger Bikila total mileage: 92.87

Alright, so it’s been a little while since I’ve blogged. Oops. It’s probably going to be slow for the next month as well while final wedding stuff is coming together. Sorry about that, but I haven’t abandoned this thing, I promise!

Last weekend, I took a trip down to Baltimore for Insubordination Fest. This was my third time at the fest and it was probably the most fun year I’ve attended. There were no venue issues like last year. In fact, the venue, The Ottobar, couldn’t have been better for the weekend. I couldn’t come up with a complaint if I tried.

One of the highlights of the weekend was actually a joke band that was put together solely for the sake of the fest. And amazingly, the songs that were recorded a few days before the fest are actually better than most real bands’ stuff. Their set was a ton of fun.

But, that being said, the hands down best set of the weekend was from The Copyrights. So damn good. If you’re not already listening to this band, you should be.

I got myself into a little trouble with continuous mode on my camera though. I came home with almost 1400 photos from less 36 hours. Insane. I narrowed down to about 200 to edit and I narrowed down further to about 70 to post.

Enjoy.

Since I’m going to be away for the weekend, I had plans to tough out my 16 mile run tonight after work. Unfortunately, it started lightning a lot on the way home and I started to feel that maybe it wasn’t a great idea. At that point, I was considering scrubbing the run altogether, but as we pulled up to the house, our neighbor was getting ready to head out for a run. We talked to him for a few minutes and he convinced me to go for a run with him. It wasn’t the 16 miles I was looking for, but 6 miles was better than nothing and considering that my calf was a bit tight, it was probably better this way.

We did get poured on quite a bit from the rain, but it wasn’t too bad.

Pace: 8:23
Overall time: 51:23
Vibram Five Finger Bikila total mileage: 84.85

Today was a just an easy 4 mile run. Kept the pace slow.

Pace: 8:35
Overall time: 34:21
Vibram Five Finger Bikila total mileage: 78.71

Since last weekend’s run was a disaster, I really wanted to make up the miles. I didn’t want to lose this 14 mile run so I took off all week to let my Achilles get its act together. I got up early this morning to take care of this run. And I’m glad to report that my Achilles did just fine and it looks like I may have properly handled that situation. Even my left ankle (the problem one) felt fine. My arches got a little sore and my knees started feeling the distance by the end, but everything went pretty well overall.

With some help from the weather (nice and cool), this run turned out pretty well. I kept a pace I can be happy with for now and I got through without falling apart.

Pace: 8:05
Overall time: 1:53:17
Vibram Five Finger Bikila total mileage: 74.70

I was supposed to run 14 miles today, but my Achilles wasn’t feeling right and I didn’t think it was worth risking so I aborted very early in the run. I’m going to take off until Friday and see how it goes then. I really don’t want this to become a problem.

Pace: 9:39
Overall time: 23:04
Vibram Five Finger Bikila total mileage: 60.70