UPDATES, UPDATES, UPDATES

First, I would like to brag about my presidential prediction. Really, getting the vast majority of states right is no big deal, but getting the electoral college exactly right and getting the actual vote percentage so close isn't as easy. The "poll averages" had Obama up about 1%... I guessed he'd win by 2.5% and currently he is winning by 2.7% (and that will probably grow to about 3%). I guessed 50.7% for him and he's currently at 50.6%, which will likely grow slowly above my guess. Also, I'd like to point out I posted by prediction on Sunday, two days before Nate Silver flipped Florida to the barely blue column.

As for running, things are going well. Switching to the new shoes has definitely helped. I am no longer achey and sore after runs and feel more like my old self. I am still not in the shape I was once in at my peak, but I am working my way back up there. The weather cooling off has also been nice. It's a lot easier not to poop out when its 48 out instead of 88. Plus, I don't nearly sweat as much and my nipples aren't getting irritated. So win, win, win. Although it is hard to muster the strength to go run when it is dark and cold outside. Add in rain or a drizzle and it's easy to just say "fuck it." So that is the struggle now. If it was always light outside and 50 degrees I would be a running fiend!

Saturday's route. Ventured up 170th to Bany/Hart to add a mile over last time (between the "7" and the "9").

Nothing too interesting on the running front. I am starting to do long runs again and did ten miles last Saturday. This was the first time I had run the route up to Cooper Mountain Nature park since doing it early last June. I remembered the route by memory though and was surprised how I was still able to run up that big hill without really stopping, although at one point towards the end I was going hella slow. The fact I was able to do this route without dying made me feel fairly decent about the shape I was in.

It was my first "double digit" run since the half marathon, and while slightly sore the next day, honestly I felt great. I even did 7.2 miles at run group the Monday after and today (Tuesday) my body feels fine. So hopefully I can keep this up. As you will see, my times have slipped since the summer, this weird phenomenon where I feel like I'm running just as fast as I was then but my times are nowhere near that (although in races I am pretty much the same). I guess it was kind of weird I was training and running races at the same pace back in the day, but I would like to get back to sub eight minute miles at some point. Just isn't happening now without really pushing myself and killing me.

Here is a comparison between Saturday's run and the run from early June, at the peak of my fitness. As you can see, my times have gone down. Only the first seven miles of the run are comparable since I added a little extra spur this time to increase mileage to ten:

Mile 1: 9:09 (8:08 June 3rd)
Mile 2: 11:11 (9:55)
Mile 3: 9:12 (8:07)
Mile 4: 9:26 (8:17)
Mile 5: 11:21 (9:45)
Mile 6: 9:30 (8:47)
Mile 7: 8:56 (8:09)

Wow, that was really depressing. I didn't realize how much longer it really was until I just did that. Average on the whole run was 9:46 compared to 8:37 back in June. Sound about right, my normal runs have been around a minute slower than in June. Shows that I have work to do!