Annapolis, and Other Ramblings

So about the blog name… I changed it. That name was plain sh-t, even for me. Very hard to say. New name is “Jogging Jeano.” The term “jogging” isn’t the most-loved by runners, but given my less-than-average speed, it’s probably an apt one. Plus it’s an alliteration! Jogging Jean was taken (I’ll have to creep on that blog later), so I added the o because people call me Jeano. Riveting story, I know. Anyway, I’ve told myself that the best way to establish yourself is by constantly changing your name and confusing people, so I think this is a good move.

Here’s my background photo:

Oh hey dad. He'd probably kill me if he knew this was online, he thinks people will be able to steal his credit card information/soul if they find a picture of him.

Probably should have included that in the last post.

Anyway, running. So I leave tomorrow morning on a Chinatown bus to D.C. and will leave to Annapolis shortly after, presumably on a bus. I left all the logistics to my friend just to make things extra exciting. The race is Saturday morning, which is nice because it leaves us plenty of time to explore D.C. (I mean, Annapolis), assuming we don’t die during the race.

Like I said, I’m not going for any world records, just trying to keep to 10:00 miles. That may change depending on how fast my friend wants to run. I’m generally a solo runner since none of my NYC friends run, but I discovered during a 9-miler a few weeks ago in Middlebury, VT (I was there for homecoming-I guess I’m one of those a-holes that won’t let college go) that running with someone else is waaaay more fun. Hungover and tired as I was, it was actually pretty fantastic. It helped that the friend I was running with is a beast and I didn’t want to look like a pansy in front of her. So I think I’m going to stick with my other friend for at least part of this race. I tend to get insanely competitive but also give up as soon as I feel tired, so it’ll be interesting to see which of those totally noncontradictory traits wins out. I ran my first half marathon 3 years ago in Middlebury, and that remains my best half to date. I can’t remember my time exactly, something like 2:03, but it’s the only race I haven’t walked any part of. Like I said, when I’m tired, I totally give up. I did the Middlebury half again this past spring, for which I had actually trained (like, kind of intensely, for 10 weeks) because I wanted to break 2 hours, but it was way hillier than New York and I totally crashed around mile 11. I finished around 2:04. I’m actually really excited about this one since I’m wearing a totally different kind of shoe and know I’m slower than I was, so I’ve put no pressure on myself to PR.

About shoes, I’m not exactly sure which ones I’m going to wear on Saturday. I would love to race in my Runamocs, but I need to figure out what kind of surface we’re going to be running on. If it’s all pavement, great, but if not, I could be in for a somewhat painful ride. I could probably look this up in 2 seconds, but I’m too lazy. If I don’t wear my Runamocs, I’ll wear my Merrell Pace Gloves. The Pace Glove is somewhat minimalist, but it has almost zero ground feel and there’s a significant lift beneath the arch I don’t like. But they would make me run faster.

I’ve also decided to run without a watch and with my iPod turned off. I’ll have it with me in case of an emergency (ie. my feet refuse to move one in front of the other), but my first half I didn’t have music and like I said, that’s the fastest I’ve run a half to date. Granted, I was cursing the race director the entire time since it was the first time I had ever run a significant distance without music and everyone else seemed to have ignored the “no iPod rule” (amateur hour) but this past weekend I did 11 miles, 10 without music, and it was actually a pretty enjoyable experience. I’ll let you (and by you, I mean me, my only reader) know how it goes.

Sh-t, not enough photos this post… I’ll have to build up my arsenal of running-related photos so I can recycle them again and again. I’ve realized my phone isn’t going to hack it, so I may try to venture out with a camera. I thought about racing with a camera this weekend, but that would be dumb-I’m slow enough already, I don’t need to slow myself down even more by taking pictures of everything (“Oh, a tree, I need to take a picture so I’ll remember it forever!”).

I’m going to try to tone down the cussing and use dashes when I do so this blog comes off less like that of a mean old hag and more like that of a happy but occasionally sarcastic 20-something runner-type. Yay for family-friendly (ish)!

-Jeano