Well, the year is half over. Let’s check the scoreboard.

I’ve done 110 runs this year, for a total of 555.41 miles. That’s 55 miles over my half-way-to-1000 mark. So doing great there. Average miles per run is 5.05. Here’s my graph of miles per day:

Pretty plain to see where my half marathon training started and ended. I suspect there’ll be another similar trend between the end of July and the beginning of October, as I plan for my next half marathon.

As for races, I did two 5Ks, a 5 miler, and a half marathon. Very happy with the 5Ks. I was sick with a fever during the 5 mile race so just finishing was good enough. And on the half marathon, I missed my target of sub 2:00 due to the unexpected toll the heat took on me. I fully intend to meet that goal this October.

What has all this meant in physical terms? Well, here’s my weight for the year:

Not a spectacular loss, but relatively stable over long term. Slow and steady, right?

One of the coolest things is how many people I think I’ve influenced to start running and getting into shape. I blog about my running here and there and tweet about it occasionally, hopefully just under the annoying level. But every time I go to a conference or meet a group of friends, a few people will come up to me and ask how the running is going, and tell me how they started running too. Best of all is that my wife and daughter have started running. They are doing the Couch to 5K together and are now half way through week 4. My wife has watched me running for many months now, perplexed at why I get up at 5:45 a.m. each day and complain about this pain or that, yet keep running. But after going to two of my races in a week, and having my daughter run her first race and get a medal, she has fully caught the running bug and is scouting out her own first 5K.

Last I wrote, I had just finished 500 miles. A day or so after that I was off to Minneapolis to speak at the Flashbelt conference. I knew that at least a few people at the conference were runners, so I sent out the word to organize a group run. I wasn’t sure how many would show up for a 7:00 a.m. run, but if nothing else, I had planned to run with Jeni, who I’ve known for several months on DailyMile.com, a MN native. As it turned out we had 5 runners, plus 2 who biked along with us. Jeni took us down along the Mississippi River a couple of miles or so, across and back partway on the other side, for just over four and a half miles. It was great.

Here’s Jeni and I on the bridge on the way back:

And me with the rest of the runners…

The next day I went out again, unfortunately alone. Did approximately the same route. Running with the group was awesome, but it was also nice to take in the scenery in solitude.

The last full day I was there I went for a walk down to a mountaineering shop a couple of blocks from the hotel. I noticed they had Vibram Five Fingers. I’ve been wanting to try them out for a while, but wanted to wait until my last two races were done. So on a whim I got fitted for a pair. The next day I got up early and went out for a mile and a half in them. I knew better than to do too much all at once. Didn’t feel bad, a bit of tightness in my calves later, but not bad. By noon I was in the air on my way back home.

I got back home Thursday. Friday I went out for a five miler in my regular shoes. It was a pretty fast one – almost 5K pace for the first four miles. I wound up burning out after that and had to walk a bit and came home with just 4.75. The next day, Saturday, I did a 2 miler in the VFFs. When I got back, I spent the next several hours doing heavy duty yard work, including carrying 16x16x2 inch concrete tiles from the front of the house, up the steps and into the back yard, leveling the ground and putting them in place.

Somewhere between the really fast run on Friday, the 2 mile VFF run, and the heavy lifting, I did some damage. Sunday I went for a 3 miler in the VFFs and had a really sharp pain deep in the right glute. Probably the piriformis muscle. But after about a mile into the run it eased up a bit. More lifting and carrying on Sunday.

It was pretty painful on Monday, but I took a day off running and stretched and iced.  Tuesday I went out for what planned to be 5 miles, but wound up in such pain that I had to stop and walk, limping for several minutes. Came home with only three.

So yes, an official injury I think. I took the next two days off, stretched, foam rolled, and iced. Friday I tentatively went out for a nice slow one. The rest, ice, stretching, rolling had apparently done its job. I took home 4 miles with some sensation back there, but no pain. Over the weekend I did another 6 and 8, feeling pretty good. So as injuries go, I think I got off pretty easy.

But now I’m pretty skittish about the VFFs. I’m pretty sure the injury was not related to them, but it’s hard not to connect them. My guess is it had a lot more to do with the fast run and the heavy lifting and carrying two days straight. At any rate, there’s still some very minor discomfort back there. So I’m going to wait until it feels 100% before I go back on the minimal shoes again.

Today: 8.00 miles
Week: 24.1 miles
June: 33.98 miles
2010: 502.0 miles

Back in December, I set a goal for 2010 to run 1000 miles. Today, two weeks shy of six months, I’ve met the halfway mark of that goal. Today’s run was 8 miles at a overall pace of 8:58. My first 8 miler was back in January, at a pace of 10:42. I’ve come a long way, baby.

When I started – ok, when I re-started – this blog, to talk about my running efforts, I was writing up every run, every new thing I learned or new piece of equipment. Now, as you can see, I just stop by every once in a while to give an update. It’s not that I’m not into running anymore; it’s that running has just become a normal part of my life, that writing that I went for a run today is kind of like saying I breathed today. But I still want to come by every once in a while to give a generalized update on what’s going on.

Last update was about Boston’s Run to Remember, my ugly attempt at a sub-two-hour marathon, beat by the heat. The week following that, I did a couple 3 milers to stretch the legs a bit and followed up with the Schofield 5K Road Race last Sunday. Here’s my Daily Mile report of that race:

That was perfect!

The sun came out just as the race was starting, heating up to mid-high 70s with close to 80% humidity, echoing last week’s deadly conditions. But I went out strong. There’s a longish, slow hill right after the start. I also had a massive adrenaline rush when we started. The hill + adrenaline made me a bit lightheaded for a bit. But got over that and finished the first mile in about 7:40, feeling really good.

Right at about 1.1 or 1.2 miles, there’s a short, but VERY steep hill. That was a killer, but the other side is a very long stretch down hill, followed by another short not-so-bad hill. By the end of mile 2, I was hurting, but encouraged by the fact that there was only one to go.

Mile 3 was a mental challenge, but picked up the pace a bit. It’s mostly flat, with a bit of downhill near the end. The mile 3 timer said 23:50 something. I knew I was in the running for sub-25 minutes so gave it a strong kick. The home stretch is all down hill. I saw the finish line timer at 24:40. Gave it everything I had and came in at 24:56.

New 5K PR, #64 overall and #18 in my age group. Pretty happy with myself today.

So, yeah, that was great. Also, on that day, my daughter, Kris, ran a kids’ 1K fun run. All finishers got a pretty awesome medal. She is so proud and has seriously caught the running bug.

For the year now, I stand at 494 miles. I plan to pop it over 500 this Saturday. That leaves me at half way to 1000 for the year, a good two weeks ahead of schedule.

Overall, I’m still seeing my progress improve. Late last year I was struggling to get below that 10 minute mile mark. Back then, I could do it, but only with much pain. Then it got so 10:00 was a comfortable pace. Then high 9′s. then mid 9′s. Now I’ll bring home a 5 or 6 mile run in the low 9′s. Today was 9:17, with nice negative splits leaving the last two miles at sub-9:00 and feeling pretty comfortable.

Also doing well on the weight front. After a steady progression downward all year, I hit a plateau for several weeks, bouncing around from 199 to 202. But for the last week straight I’ve been under 200, and feel like I’m back on the losing track.

As for the title, Runner Without a Cause, I’m only referring to the fact that I have no races scheduled, and no training plain that I’m working through. I’m planning when, where, how long, and how fast I run on an impromptu basis. It’s kind of fun that way, but a little strange after months of being on a strict schedule. I’m looking at doing the BAA Half Marathon in October, which means I’ll be back on a training plan in July. The next month entails quite a bit of travel anyway, 5 days in Minneapolis, and two weeks in Japan, so it’s probably best that I’m flexible now.