Ya so today my t-shirt was stolen

A shirt theft occurred at the track today. After everyone else left, I completed my run, and my Green Jewell shirt was gone. Missing. Filched. Pilfered. Purloined. In its place was a Lighthouse run shirt. 

I have no idea who would do such a dastardly deed, but a person of interest has been identified. A shirt exchange may occur at Wednesday's run. I hope that Ella Sunday will bring her human (Chadwick) for the run.

Oh, yes, the run. The Yasso workout went well. I managed to do all ten under my four-minute standard. But only just. I still have a ways to go. 

2025 Akron Half-Marathon Race Report

The Akron Marathon and Half allows relay team runners to double as individual participants as long as they run the first relay leg. The thing is, you hand off to the second leg runner and just keep going. Just when you've had enough and feel like quitting, you keep on keepin' on. That was me. That was I. That was the author of this post.

L to R: Four-fifths of our team before the start - Michelle Wolff, Me, Shannon Barnes, Debbie Hicks

 

That first leg had been seven miles. My official time up to that point was 59:50, or 8:33 pace. I had been hoping for slightly faster. You see, after a bunch of half-marathons in the low one-fifties, I'd finally me my sub-one-fifty goal at Hofbräuhaus with a 1:47 in August. My goal today was to at least break 1:50 again to prove that that other race wasn't a fluke. To accomplish that, I ought to be around ten seconds per mile faster.

But now, I am beginning to think that it was indeed a fluke. I hand off to Katherine Kinsey. As planned, we more or less stay together from this point on. It's still tough, but my pace improves a little. It is so very good to have this companionship. It makes the miles go by much better. Much much better. We talk a bit, but mostly, it's just huffing and puffing. At least for me. I did enjoy hearing Katherine's bib story. She had arrived for her leg with her bib but no pins. Not to worry, though. Resourceful Katherine had a sewing kit! You never know when you'll need one of those. So, she sat in her car and sewed her bib onto her shirt.

We run a few miles, then out and back on the "Y" bridge, and it's finally time for Katherine to hand off to teammate Debbie Hicks. We half-marathoners peel off and head down to the finish. Oh, wait. Did I say, down? Sorry, I meant DOWN! I am sprinting now, but unfortunately, it is too little, too late. 

My finish time is 1:50:51. That's not too awful, but it doesn't quite meet my expectations. My expectations also (nowadays) include finishing at the top of my ancient age group. That doesn't happen either. My arch-nemesis, Michael Juppe, and another seventy-plus person, Randy Barkacs are well ahead of me.

The good news is that our Everybody's doing it team did extremely well. Besides me and Katherine, it included Michelle Wolff, Debbie Hicks, and Captain Extraordinaire Shannon Barnes. Although the results initially indicated that our team had finished when I crossed the line for the Half (for a world record), all was corrected when the computer figured out that everyone else was still going.

The other good news is that I got to see and hobnob with gobs of running friends, new and old. This event is always tons of fun!

I think I need to be skinnier. I gained weight as a result of some of my recent travels, but that usually comes off fairly quickly. It didn't this time because (I think) of the creatine I've been taking. That's it, now. I'm swearing off the stuff, at least for a while. Maybe forever.

After the finish: Solo Marathoner extraordinaire Julie Boggs, Dan, Shannon, and Michelle

P.S. One more thing. Whenever I think about teamwork, I'm reminded of this little scene from The Untouchables. 

Forever 21

21 miles on Lester today. I was even able to run miles 18, 19, and 20 at about marathon pace (sub-9-minute miles). I tell anyone who will listen that this is a good thing to do. It's too hard to run all 20-ish miles at marathon pace (except, hopefully, during the race itself). But if you can at least finish your training run at that pace, then you're on your way.

So, am I on my way, you ask? Not quite. 

Forever 21 is a chain of stores that sell clothing and other fashion accessories. I believe that they target their marketing toward people who are somewhat older than 21, but who would like to stop time to appear younger. And that was me today: stopping time to appear (in my case) faster. You see, I stopped my watch for the places Lester Rail Trail intersects with the road, but also, near the end, after every mile, to catch my breath.

Yes, I am on the upswing, but I still have a way to go. You might say that "I have promises to keep, / And miles to go before I sleep."

vertically challenged

Two of my four wounds (the others are my elbow and the other knee). The blood looks awful, but it ain't really that bad.

The term, vertically challenged is regarded as a euphemism for being short in height. But I am here to tell you that it can have an alternative meaning as well. Vertically challenged can just as well mean not very good at remaining vertical. That's me: pretty good at being horizontal, not so great at becoming vertical. Did you know that gravity is a contributing factor in nearly 93 percent of all accidents involving a fall?

I chose one of my all-time favorite falling areas today: Lake Medina. We run there early every Wednesday morning. There's a lower paved trail and an upper unpaved one along the lake. The thing is, that lovely, smooth paved trail ain't so smooth. The roots from nearby trees cause ridges across the asphalt as well as small volcano-like mounds. They're all difficult to see in the darkness. 

Smart people choose not to join these runs. After today's fall (my third one here), I may finally be getting smarter, too. In fact, my wounds are smarting even now.

165

That's my weight as of this morning, and I'm not at all happy about it. After keeping the number mostly under 160 for a couple of years, it crept up on me after our June/July Alaska trip this year. But the kicker was the creatine. It caused some further weight gain and bloating. I'm still going to give it more time, but I can't help worrying that my formerly lithe, girlish figure may be gone for good.

What does it do to my running, you ask? I must say that although I'm bigger, I may also be a little bit stronger. At least, I feel that way. To be a little more specific, Sunday's Hinckley Hustle was my best in a while, and today's Yasso workout worked out.

So, all is not lost. Especially in terms of weight.

The Shadow knows

"The Shadow knows" is a famous catchphrase from the old-time radio drama The Shadow, posing the question, "Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?". The saying also refers to the Jungian psychological concept of the "shadow," which represents the hidden, often denied aspects of one's personality.

L to R: Shadows of Theresa Wright, Julie Boggs, Dan Horvath (Julie smiled for the photo)

You may be wondering what this has to do with running. It was a cool, clear mid-September Sunday morning. That means Hinckley, and it means an intrepid bunch of Hinckley Harriers were on hand to handle the hilly 9-mile loop. By the time we finished, the sun was beginning to rise, and it was time to run a 3-mile circuit of the un-lake. (It's an un-lake because it's currently under construction and is, at the moment, more of a river.)

Also by this time, we were more than a little bit tired. Julie Boggs indicated that even her shadow looked tired. Theresa Wright and I agreed that ours weren't doing so great, either. Watching our long, tired-looking shadows kept us entertained as we made it around and back.

Jogging through Georgia (and Armenia)

We visited Armenia and Georgia, and I did a tiny bit of running. I tried to get out for at least one jog in every location. The key word here is, ‘jog’.

Yerevan, Armenia

Yerevan is the capital and largest city of Armenia, and we were smack dab in the middle of it. My jog was around some squares and pedestrian walking areas. It wasn’t bad.

Goris, Armenia

Goris is in the Southern part of Armenia. I ran down into this quaint town, then back up. I managed to not get too very lost.

Dilijan, Armenia

Dilijan is a quaint mountain resort village. It was very vertical, so this was my slowest jog yet. I went down, then up on the busy road. Then up and down some more on much quieter mountain roads. A bunch of small puppies followed me until they got tired. Mom didn’t seem to mind.

Tbilisi, Georgia (Part 1)

It was a rainy night as the lights went out, and Georgia was on my mind, when the Devil went down there. Bustling Tbilisi is the largest city. It was tough to get across several busy streets to get to the riverside walking trail, but I managed. The Kura River flows through the middle of town, and although traffic was rushing by, the trail was good for running. I went across the famous Pedestrian Peace Bridge, past the statue of Ronald Reagan, and then North on one side and back South on the other. There were dozens of ladies sweeping and raking the sidewalks of fallen leaves and other debris. They were wearing orange reflective vests just like mine. Maybe they thought I was one of them. It turned out to be a nice 5-miler, the best outdoor run yet on this trip.

Kura River in Tbilisi

Another Tbilisi trot wasn’t quite so spectacular. I went South along the river this time, but wandered away from that trail a little to continue through a small park. That’s where the German Shepherd decided to adopt me. He followed me all around town, until I returned to the hotel. Normally, this would upset me, but it’s normal life around here. Yes, Dan abides.

Tevali, Georgia

There are not as many loose dogs here. But there are enough. I did five on the hotel dreadmill, then a couple more on the medieval roads in this small town. I found a soccer field to run around a little; that part was nice.

Tbilisi, Georgia (Part 2)

We returned to Tbilisi for a couple more days, and I finally got a decent run done. Ten miles along the river, at a decent pace. That completed my overseas running in a nice way, although both the mileage and intensity have been much less than usual. When I return, look out!

Okay, I get it. You want to learn more about our trip to Armenia and Georgia. If so, check out our travel blog post.