Just Like the Good Ol' Days

I did a four-mile run tonight, and it felt great. All the stars aligned, it all came together. I had a wonderful time.

It felt as good as the good old days on the golf course. Almost.

I still have to pay attention to traffic which I never did on the golf course, but otherwise only sort of. The two streets I run laps on are really small, dead streets, and I only saw one car. The dark sky, the trees overhead, and the cool air — I wore long sleeves tonight and it's stinking July — all made for an ideal run.

Actually, now I think about it, there was one small distraction. My Nike + iPod voice, Stevie — I named her Stevie — has always told me when I'm half a mile into my run. Where by "always," I mean, "on my other two runs up to this point." Tonight, I got well past where she should have told me how well I was doing, so I stopped and checked to be sure all was working.

I guess that extending my goal from 3 miles to 4 made it so she extended her praise a bit. I was at .7 miles, and when I got up to 1, she piped up and told me how good I was.

And I think I'll tell you how I do my headphones. Friend Blaine uses an armband — most of the world uses an arm-band. I don't really care for armbands. They distract me and make me think about how huge my huge guns are instead of focusing on what's important: runners having better sex.

Instead, my iPod goes into my pocket, and the earbuds in my ear. But that leaves a relatively long cord sort of dangling and getting in the way of my arms pumping. So I attach the cord to a safety pin in the middle of my shirt.

It requires a pretty long cord, and I don't think this is idea for everyone. I use these here Sony lightweight earbuds and have been very happy with them. They feel good, sound good, stay in my ears, and cost $10 at local shops. If I destroy them in the car door or similar, it's not too big a loss since I can get more.

Tonight, by the way, I did listen to the new Amorphis album, and it's a hell of an album to run to. Amorphis [iTunes, Wikipedia] may well get promoted to one of the official bands of my running route. Kamelot [iTunes, Wikipedia] was the first official band of my route.

Looks like that's about all I've got for now. I loved my run and I love Stevie. I've learned to trust her and not doubt her. She's got my best interests at heart, and she'll tell me when I do good. Amorphis and Kamelot will keep me company the rest of the time.