Ladd's 5K

Ladd Clifford has had weekly 5K races from his house for the past couple of summers. I finally made it to one of them. The reason I haven't gone earlier is that I'm fairly worthless as an evening runner. Oh, you say? Just evening?  I do believe that it's a good idea to race often, even in a relaxed and fun setting with friends. I think it's a great opportunity to improve.

There were around twelve of us at Ladd's place. At 6:00 PM, we did a one-mile warmup before returning to his house to start the main event. We went south on Ryan Road a short distance before turning into a subdivision. At the end of that road, we entered onto the Chippewa Trail, an all-purpose asphalt trail that took us further south, all the way to Chippewa Road, which we crossed over and continued on for a couple hundred more yards into the woods. It all adds up to a shady, accurate, gently downhill 5K course.

It was a warm June evening. I was out of breath right from the start, forcing me to moderate my pace just a little. That worked. For a while. I ran fairly well for the first half, but slowed further in the second. I finished in the lower tier of the group with a time of 25:31. 

I'm not disappointed. Not thrilled, but not disappointed. Next time, I'll try to improve on this.

The Gang after the run at Ladd's place   photo credit: Ladd Clifford

Healthy, wealthy, and wise, my foot

"Healthy, wealthy, and wise" is a well-known idiom that emphasizes a fulfilling and successful life that encompasses physical, financial, and mental well-being. It's not just about having riches; it's about possessing the wisdom to make sound judgments, manage finances responsibly, and prioritize health. The more complete saying, "early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise," attributed to Benjamin Franklin, also reflects this idea, emphasizing the importance of good habits and discipline for overall success. 

Back in the early years of Earth's formation when I was young, my friends and I would negate a sentence or phrase by adding the words "my foot" to the end of it. By and by, I got older and the words were changed to "my ass" before (to the best of my knowledge) leaving the lexicon entirely. 

Now, we have the complete picture. Most who know me believe it when I say that the early to bed and early to rise part applies. So much so, that I ought to be the healthiest, wealthiest, and wisest bloke around. But am I? My foot.

Yes, my foot. It's acting up again. It hasn't been right since my Achilles Tendonitis surgery four years ago. Don't get me wrong. I'm still glad I did it. Since my recovery, I've been able to run again, mostly pain-free. But due to the lasting nerve damage, my right foot has been numb. This has caused other problems, including strange pains and injuries. For the past month, swelling and toe pain have increased. I don't think it's slowed me down much. Yet. 

Recently, I began volunteering with Habitat for Humanity. It's hard work for an old guy like me, but it's also rewarding, and I'm happy to do it. But being on my feet for hours and working hard in the heat is not working out so well for that right foot. Now, besides the numbness, there's swelling as well.

For today's volunteer gig, the swelling was particularly bad. I'm sure that waking up at 2:19 AM to run eight miles on the mill before meeting friends to run ten more at Lake Medina was not a factor here. Hey, I really wanted to get a long run in today. I didn't really intend to wake up quite so early, but it was a case of, I'm awake, I may as well run longer. All this before starting work at the build site at 8:30 AM. So no, it wasn't the running, just the H for H physical labor that's causing the problems.

My foot.

Schedule This!

The half-marathon and marathon schedule is set for the second half of 2025. I don't usually plan this far ahead. But think of all the money I saved with early pricing. Of course, if I miss any of the races, all those savings will go down the drain. Naturally, the worst thing that could happen is for me to get injured and miss more than one of them. I'd better start doing daily prayers and sacrifices to the knee, hip, and ankle gods.

• August 2: Hofbräuhaus Cleveland Half-Marathon
• August 8: Goodyear Half-Marathon
• September 27: Akron Half-Marathon and Team Relay (both)
• October 4-5: Northeast Ohio 24-Hour Run (as a volunteer)
• October 19: Columbus Marathon (overnight stay)
• November 2: Veterans Marathon in Blairsville, PA (overnight stay)
• November 23: Fall Classic Half-Marathon
• November 30: Buckeye Woods 25K/50K (probably the 25K)
• December 27: Brunswick Marathon

One more thing: if I do complete all of these, I will have run seven half-marathons for the year. That would be the most ever. The five full marathons is not; it's fairly typical.

Highland Hornet Dash 5K Race Report

Looking back, I think my biggest problem was that I wore all red to an all-green race. 

25:27, 26:19, 26:53. Those are my times from 2023, 2024, and this year. This year's pace was slower than that for the recent Medina Half-Marathon. I would be disturbed by this trend if I truly gave a piece of excrement. What excuses do I have, you ask?

• First, thanks for asking. It rained the entire time. I'm sure that slowed me down some. Yeah. Sure.
• The grass was high. The race takes runners around several grassy areas, and those were not so recently mowed.
• I been running a lot lately. Maybe I should've tapered for this.
• My friends were there, and we all had a bunch of fun. You can't have fun and run well, can you?

I mentioned the fun factor. This is a friendly community race to benefit Highland Schools. There are gobs of kids and lots of family fun stuff going on. My friend Julie Boggs is the de facto race director. She has taken over from Theresa Wright, who continues to help. What's not to like?

Tale of two tremendous training trots

Last week: It's Friday, and for the five millionth time, it's Lester Rail Trail. The weather is great, and I had been having a wonderful time running with my friends. Until they all left. Now I'm alone with six miles to go. 75% of the time, I slow way down at this point and struggle mightily to get up to the required mileage. Today, that number is 18 miles. And today, for a change, I manage to not slow down; I complete the run in an excellent (for me) time of 2:54. 

This week: It's Friday, and for the five million and oneth time, it's Lester Rail Trail. The weather is not so great (the humidity is extremely high), and yet I had once again been having a wonderful time running with my friends. Until they all left. Now, I'm once again alone with six miles to go. There's a better chance than last week that I might struggle mightily to get up to the required 18 miles. Yet today, like last week, I once again manage to not slow down; I complete the run in an excellent (for me) time of 2:56. Yeah, that's 2 minutes slower, but given the difficult conditions, I'll take it. What other choice is there?

I'm not sure what's going on here. It's a good thing, but it probably won't last.

Sign-in, sign-out

Dan's friends, especially Katherine Kinsey, seem to get a kick out of my sign-in, sign-out list. Here's the deal.

Debbie wakes up early (but not as early as Dan) and wonders, Where is Dan? Of course, she knows that he's out running, but where, with whom, and when will he be back? Voila, the Dan Horvath sign-in, sign-out list. Dan got the idea from his friends, Larry and Christine Orwin, who both run and needed to let each other know where they were. Ironically, Dan recently learned that Larry and Christine no longer use a list. They now have a whiteboard instead. Perhaps it's time for Dan to catch up with the times.