#28 Back On/Off The Wagon

Welcome Digletts. 

#28 Back On/Off The Wagon 

Only evidence of my existence at MO100

Weekly Mileage - 105

I couldn't decide whether to call this entry back on or back off the wagon for two reasons that made me think more than I wanted to; so I improvised. I don't fully understand the saying first of all. The most common usage of the saying when I have heard it used has to do with an "alcoholic". When you start drinking again does that mean you are back off of the wagon? Because I feel like if you were on a wagon full of former drunks,  you'd be more likely to find a drink than if you were off of the wagon. And if being off the wagon means you're not drinking then I would say that being off of a wagon and left to your own devices...probably going to take a drink. I can argue any point of the saying because it's kind of dumb and I like arguing to argue about dumb things. Part two- I don't know if upping the seriousness in my training put me on or off of said wagon. Wagons are weak, I'm going to say that I am back on a stagecoach and you all are riding shotgun. So grab your gun and get ready to fend off bandits. Gonna take the Oregon Trail until we branch off and go to Montana this September. Don't worry, I logged a stupid amount of hours on Oregon Trail in my middle school computer lab and I would always make it to Oregon; I'd say a solid 50% of the passengers all made it, too.

105 Mile Week

Monday 6/30

    Morning Run through town (6 miles) 42:37 7:06 pace

My favorite part about running at six in the morning is how little of the run that I am focused in on. It's the easiest way to add mileage without being awake. It takes 45-60 minutes for my mind to wake up after my eyes semi-open. It takes 30 minutes for my eyes to open in focus in on anything. The majority of this run went by before I realized what I was even doing; brilliant. My alarm went off at 5:55. Since I have little hair that doesn't want to play, blessed with a lovely body odor, and couldn't care less about appearance I was out the door by 6. You can be far more efficient with your time if you don't put so much effort into decorating your life. Wake up, transfer drool onto back of hand, pee, slide on shorts and socks, keep on the shirt you slept in, don't check the mirror, glass of water, go. If anyone ever finds me approachable on a morning run, that's the one. I don't know how to let you guys know when I'm laughing, but that last line was supposed to be funny. I really hope the day never comes when someone sees me see a burglary or murder on a morning run. I was thinking about that when my eyes were finally focusing. My vision is how I pictured the old man's glossed over eye was in the tell-tale heart. Someone could probably murder someone in front of me, turn to high five me, and then take off. When asked about the person of interest's appearance I'd be forced to say that he was really foggy and grey all over; just like everyone else. But seriously, after I started thinking about that, I felt like I could hear my heart beating from under the stairs and got scared. I think I just had a piphany. Epiphany? No, the piphany. One of my favorite dialogues between Mosby and Barney. The tell-tale heart was the first thing that I read and actually enjoyed it. That story started the entire journey. Which may explain some things.
     
     Evening Run through town + Rail Trail (10 miles) 1:11:13 7:07 pace

This run was accompanied by Josh and Rhodes. As far as summer runs have gone, this one was pretty nice. I believe I only had one coat of sweat and the legs felt pretty good. I plan on doing a workout at some point tomorrow as well as a small run. I figure I will make a game time decision in the morning on whether I will workout in the morning or evening tomorrow. Regardless, it is going to happen. Nothing too strenuous, I am kind of feeling 8 miles on the tempo loop at 5:50 pace, but we will see. I had planned on doing core after this run, but you know how it goes: After two tall glasses of chocolate milk and a warm shower... I'm just going to lay down for a minute. Poof- 9:30 is now 1:30. I think I would have slept longer, but I saw a snake in my dream. SOB went right by my foot and if someone would have been at the foot of my bed they would have received a donkey kick as I woke up. Which reminded me of this time when I was awoken via a kiss from someone straddling me and socked em right in the jaw! Felt trapped, had it coming. Waking me is like waking a gentle yet skittish animal. On tonight's run Josh enlightened me that my on/off the wagon had been discussed on the show about nothing, but the most relevant show ever. I knew I wasn't original. Subconsciously bringing up Seinfeld on the reg.

Tuesday 7/1

    Morning Run through town (6 miles) 41:27  6:54 pace

I suppose technically my Tuesday started at 2 in the morning. Remember when I said that I crashed from 9:30-1:30? After lying in bed for awhile I realized that I wasn't falling back to sleep. Hell, 4 hours in one go is a solid night. My sleeping habits is like a compromise between the normal person and Kramer's 15 minute nap theory. Lazy man's Da Vinci's sleep schedule. Rather than 20 minute naps every three hours I take 4 hour naps 1-3 times a day. To continue boring you with sleep talk, I believe that I have the ability to fall directly into REM sleep (where you dream) and I lucid dream on almost a naply basis. Studies show that people with who only sleep once a night are less creative. So, fingers crossed. Anyways, here we are, 2am! I chose that time to do half of my core routine. Then I settled into my nest and let some creativity flow until I went back to sleep. My first run would come before I slept again. At the butt crack of dawn I was back out and ran a similar loop as the morning before. Similar in only distance though, the actual  course was completely different. While dying from heat on this run I started to think that I should have done my workout in the morning because it was only going to get hotter. But I had already committed to the agenda. No backing out now. Just kidding; you can always back out.

July 1st is a holiday from my and many NHL fans perspectives. Today is the first day of free agency and that means a frenzy of relocations for star players; it is seriously like Christmas morning! 2 years ago on July 4th the most patriotic event in recent time occurred, ironically, when Captain USA Zach Parise returned home to the Minnesota Wild and brought Captain America Ryan Suter with him. With Minnesota's only captain in franchise history- Mikko Koivu waiting for the duo, it felt like the Heat's Big 3 getting together except these guys aren't prima donna douche faces. Since then another Captain from Buffalo joined the force, Jason Pominville. And today the newest stud welcomed back into the state of hockey is Thomas Vanek! Vanek at the Disco, Home Ice Ad-Vanek! So happy that this year is my first of many to be a part of the Minnesota Wild family; barely. 11 game season ticket plan is the smallest investment I can make to gain access to the family. But I'm in! Thanks to center ice I haven't missed a Wild game since '08 and will be damned if I miss one this upcoming season. This year I would enjoy seeing them in a new arena as well. So far I have been to Pittsburgh, Smashville, and Columbus to watch them on the road. I'll return up the road to Pittsburgh to watch the Pens face off against a real team, but can't decide where else I'll go. I here MSG is a decent facility. Anyways, Welcome Aboard VANEK!

    Evening Workout on Tempo Loop aka Backyard. 4 mile tempo- 5:58 5:47 5:58 6:02 (7 miles)

The plan was to do 8 miles on the loop, but as you can see above: wasn't a good day. It was almost a bad day. 86 degrees and 60% humidity on the loop felt like absolute death. Actually, by the end of the failed workout I was almost on my knees begging for death. But I stopped a few steps before it got to that. Don't feel too bad though, I willingly walked into this train wreck. Midway through my 3 mile warm up, I stopped at the house to switch into my flats and switch shirts because I was just absolutely drenched in sweat already. Running over seven minute pace. I used the tempo loop course, but went off of my garmin and like I said- almost died. I mentally stepped away from the workout during the 4th mile and thought that this was the weather that took lives of those who shouldn't be outside. I had no problems with my legs, which I shouldn't have at that pace, but my breathing was out of control. It was like someone was bearhugging me with a heated blanket and holding a bag over my head. I couldn't compose myself and once I was convinced that death would come before eight miles, I copped out. But I have decided to partake in the running store's 4 miler on the 4th. A slick race day singlet rather than a t shirt and a pair of shoes to the winner (me) is plenty of motive to go do it. I am down to work the race too. My job lies post race so I will just be sure that I'm first to the finish line and I won't miss a beat of volunteering. Also, I plan on taking everyone along for the race with my GOPRO. I'll pov the shit out of that race as well as the pre/post race. I got 5 less miles today than planned, which knocks me on pace for 96 miles. I'd be cool with that, but I also plan on sprinkling 5 extra miles in somewhere. As of right now I don't plan on doing a run aside from my Saturday workout, so maybe you'll see a 5 miler in the morning now. That or you'll hear the sound of settling.

Throughout the week I sat down and starting playing some NBA 2k14 again. It's been awhile. I picked up my career mode in my sophomore year season as Digem. It's my alter ego and in this world I am already an NBA Champion and the leader of the Memphis Grizzlies. I decided to piece together a highlight reel for you all from the games that I played this week. If you dig it, I could easily make more; it took almost no time. Say hello to Duke Digem-

Wednesday 7/2

    Mid Week Long Run through Fairmont (14 miles) 1:37:40 6:58 pace

I returned to Fairmont for my midweek long run. As of now I think Sunday's plan is to run from Fairmont to Morgantown on the rail trail for an 18 miler. On my run today I noticed that the old methodist church was completely torn down. They are building a CVS! It will go well with the CVS a kilometer down the same street as well as the Rite Aid in between the two. I suppose there are cons to living under a capitalistic dictatorship. The only memory I have from that church is going there for a pasta dinner in 2007 and having momma Haldeman's delicious pie for the first time in my life. It was so good that me and the rest of the boys took what we couldn't eat and hid from the girls team so we could eat it later. The sidewalk is fenced off while under construction which led to me mentioning it. I hate when the few sidewalks in Fairmont aren't available. The heat was overbearing again, but I'm totally to blame here. Running in the early afternoon is stupid and I won't make that mistake again for at least a few runs. After the run I staggered up the stairs and tried to cool down a little. An hour or so later I was found outside on the porch like this-

Fast asleep.

Thursday 7/3

    Normal Run Down Junkyard and Rail Trail (10 miles) 1:06:37 6:40 pace

I knew today would be a good day when I stepped out of bed and planted my face on the ground. I can't explain what happened. I caught my foot on my box of springs and it was all downhill from there. Before the lone run of the day I went to Terra Cafe. Let me tell you their story. When Terra first opened up conveniently along the rail trail it was a sanctuary. Easily my favorite place in town for quite awhile. When I lived in the 6312 it was less than a kilometer away and that... that was pretty cool. When I moved close to Cheat Lake it was literally the furthest Morgantown establishment from my doorstep, but still I went there often. Typically just for coffee and to hang out; they always play the best music so it was a cool place to hang. Then they started serving beer so there was really no reason to go anywhere else in town. I don't know what happened. Maybe the owners were racking in too much money or just hate me but they started rarely being open. One morning I drove fifteen minutes into town on a Monday morning. Can't start a week off better than getting a Terra Blend and planning out your week. Closed on Mondays. They broke my heart and now we have a true love/hate relationship. I hate Terra Cafe because of their lack of hours being open and will continue to drag my feet forever before going inside. But once I'm in Terra I love it. Still one of the best spots in town, but can't be number one anymore; not with those hours. I need a place to always be there for me. That is why the two best places in the world are Taco Bell and Sheetz. With my living arrangement I am never too far from either paradise. If I had a dollar for every time one of those two establishments saved my morning/day/night I would spend those dollars on a 5 layer or a variety of crazy deliciousness at Sheetz. Anyways, I went to Terra prior to my run and caught up with Marceline. She's my favorite space cat and the only female that I have managed to be friends with for longer than two years. I'd have to consider her a sister since I build most of my family tree based on my relationships as opposed to bloodline.
     As far as the run went, I think I had my terra blend too close to the run and it tried its best to run right through me. It's amazing what a slight drop in temperature can do for a run. Yesterday I felt great but had to battle the damn heat to run seven minute pace. It's hard to run when you are suffocating in the humidity. Today I dealt with an upset stomach and ran the entire run in cruise control. I had a good chuckle after the run when I looked at the pace. It felt slower than yesterday, but weather seems to be a bigger factor in my running than I'd like it to be. After the run I made a gourmet dinner for one. One day I am going to continue to make me very happy. Tell me if you have ever eaten better than this! --->

I realize why I face planted out of be this morning. The leader of the wolf pack woke up with a fractured sacrum. Josh has talked about how bad his back his been hurting. I guess eventually it cracked. Injury free since 2010 when he tore his plantar in half and continued to get 6th at USA Track Nationals because he's one of those people that you hope doesn't see his own blood in a fight; then it's game over for you. I believe that I can absorb more pain than most people. He can take pain and barrel through it. When I absorb pain I have to curl up and take the punches. I'm like Rocky up until he starts throwing punches. I can just take a lot of knocks. Don't care to dish any out. Anyways, that was my first step with papa wolf hurt and it didn't go well. But I think I will be fine. If I can find half of the motivation I had senior year of high school I can run by myself fine, just fine. Plus Adam and Chris come back Saturday and Rhodes is fine, just fine so I won't be alone too often. Everyone put Josh's sacrum in your prayers if you want. Regardless, I'm sure the healing process will be the same amount of time.

Friday 7/4

     4 on the 4th from Morgantown Running (10 miles) 21:12 4 mile    510 537 549 436

 I decided to test my gopro running with the chest harness. I really don't think I will run with it again. I definitely like the harness and plan on using it again; just not in a race. It was bulky and inconvenient. While running I was certain that the footage would be terrible as well. Trial and error I suppose. This morning consisted of several small runs. The warm up to the store took basically two miles- didn't feel great. Went one more mile before the race- felt worse. The actual 4 mile race- felt pretty bad. 3 mile cool down felt like my walk jog to the nearest aid station to wave my white ass flag to quit the Mohican 100 miler. All in all it was a good morning though. I knew going into the race that it was going to be a hard morning. I was dreading it because I know Aubrey Moskal is a beast and would run 520s low pace. And giving 100% effort right now I'm good for well, a 21:12 on that course. So if I was off a little bit I'd play baseball like a girl. After jogging over to the running store with the gopro on my chest I was pretty worried because it wasn't comfortable and I've had races blow up for less than a chest harness. I went to register and a local runner gal registered me, she was the only lady at my 21st birthday. I signed up as Duke Digem and she asked if I was making up a name. I pretended to get embarrassed and said that Duke Digem was actually my name and I just go by Dayton; totally bought it. I'm a way more confident liar than I am telling the truth. As I walked away I thought, damn I should have had the gopro on for that conversation. Stone cold man; always committed to the lies. Or else they'd get exposed as lies. Truth is what you make it. I won't give the race play by play until after the video. Let the suspense grow! You do have to understand one thing before you give the same complaints that I have given a hundred times already. The video quality is absolutely amazing, but the chest harness was terrible. You screw the camera in to the harness but you physically can't move the camera up any more than I did. Plus I believe that it wasn't screwed in tightly because almost instantly you see basically the road. I made the video as neat as I could, but it was all crap. The only reason I am even posting it is that I promised to do so to several people and I actually like the post race part of it a lot. If it were me, I'd fast forward through the running and go straight to the post race. If you decide to watch it all and can't take it, just shut your eyes. I put beautiful tunes to the running so it's enjoyable. Sunday's trail run will be different/better. So if you only watch one video, choose the next one from Sunday! I will say- this race was a lot harder than I wanted it to be. I didn't think I would have to run that hard to have a shot at winning. Enjoy, Digletts. I suffered with the chest harness fo you <3

Lookie who is now undefeated lifetime!!

1	94	Duke Digem	Morgantown WV	1	4 MILES Men	21	21:12.4
2	89	Anthony Laurita	-	2	4 MILES Men	17	21:24.7
3	61	Aubrey Moskal	-	1	4 MILES Women	24	22:14.4
4	91	Andrew Rhodes	Morgantown WV	3	4 MILES Men	24	22:32.5

    Evening Run mostly on Rail Trail (7 miles) 53:18  7:36 pace

Prior to my run I received a challenge from Aubrey to another race. It will have to kick off really early in the morning because that's when I am weakest. Since I have seemed to dodge the half marathon distance she does have a much better half marathon PB than me. Also, her full marathon is better, but that's not valid until I debut on the roads this November. I will let the digletts know when I face/off against her again. Unless of course she beats me. In that case, you will never hear about this growing rivalry again. On this evening's run I had the lead wolf with me except he stood at least a foot taller than normal. Josh rode an elliptigo or something with me. Imagine if bicycle met an elliptical one night and both had too much to drink. One thing led to another, and two weeks later the elliptical realizes that it was carrying a little mistake. It decides to keep it and a few weeks later, because machines work faster than humans, a baby machine popped out. It has its daddy's wheels and handlebar, but has its momma's legs. That's how the elliptigo was born. And that's what Josh was on beside me on my sluggish evening run. It was one of those runs that I needed to do for mileage, but didn't really want to do.

In other news: Another resident of this house took home a 4th of July win all the way in his home state of Indiana. Adam won a local mile race in 4:25. Not 4:24, but still pretty darn quick. Here is his finishing picture. As you can tell, he destroyed the field.

Diggin the intensity

Later that night I realized two things about Cadence the Corgi. She does not like cats or the sound of fireworks. A stupid cat, I could tell it was stupid because it was a cat, walked down our driveway and Cadence saw it and chased it back down the drive and across the street until we couldn't see her anymore. Then she came back all barrel-chested like she's something special. The fireworks didn't surprise me. She was born right after the 4th and last year we lived too far away from downtown to hear the fireworks so I think this was the first time she had heard them. I probably flipped shit when I first heard fireworks, too. The fireworks sounded neat from my room. I think I was grumpy because I planned on napping after the race, but our neighbors had the entire block over and were being loud and annoying. I guess our invite got lost in the mail. The ironic part is- the lady neighbor asked me if we were in a frat when I first moved in, yet she and the other neighbors are the annoying douche bags. There is a german sheppard two houses down that I call Dick and barks all the damn time. I only notice these things when I try to nap. I've recently concluded that having a dog would suck. Having a pet rules though; dogs and pets are not the same thing. The difference between the two is the intelligence in the owners.

Saturday 7/5

    Normal run from Aldi on rail trail (12 miles) 1:21:53  6:50 pace

I seemed to have got my biggest block of sleep for the week last night. I always prepare my bed the same way every night. Phone as far away as possible so that I can't be prematurely waken. And a notebook beside my pillow. I slept from 2:30 to 4am after getting abused by brother Charlie in Civilization V for a few hours. Then I woke and instantly grabbed my pen and wrote for almost an hour before falling to sleep until 2pm. Didn't wake up at all in between, very solid night/morning/afternoon of sleep. At some point in one of these weekly blogs I will share some of my Civ play because it is the greatest computer game ever.
What looked like a solo run quickly became a three man run when best friend Patrick and Adam came to town. Adam finally returned from Chicago/Indiana and Patrick was home for the weekend from Wheeling. We started the run from Aldi, arguably the best place to grocery shop in Morgantown, around seven in the evening and headed to the dam between Morgantown and Fairmont. The dam is almost exactly 5 miles away from Aldi and that's where we turned around. Pat had 10 miles to do and me and Adam just tacked on two more toward the Wharf District and back. One big difference in my runs when I consider myself training as opposed to just going through the motions is the end of runs. More specifically the end of runs that are my only run of the day. When I am going through the motions I will finish as slowly as I can because I am just trying to record miles. I still do this often while training. Today for no reason the last two miles were 5:53 and 5:45; still  conversational. I think it had a lot to do with the style in Adam's running. Considering we will be training a lot together in the coming months I am prepared for those final miles on normal runs to habitually be faster than the rest of the miles.
There's no easier way to catch up with Patrick than to go to our most common dining establishment in town- Cici's! I think recently a common conversation within cici's is the lack of understanding the fact that this restaurant seems to be out or going out of business everywhere. There is nothing like a pepperoni flip pizza, apple pie dessert pizza, cinnamon buns galore, and an assortment of other crazy pizzas all for 7.78. The only place that can compare to the amount of fullness I get for the price is the beloved Taco Taco Bell. And that's only if you know how to order cheaply to maximize the amount of burrito. taco taco. burrito. taco. taco taco you get. Don't think just because I got a lot of money, I'll give you taco-flavored kisses, honey. Fulfill all your wishes with my taco-flavored kisses. Sometimes when I think about Taco Bell I have to sing Taco-flavored kisses by the duo of J-Lo and E-Cart. Anyways, after the three of us stuffed ourselves full we got one more round of pizza because that's the Cici's way. Once uncomfortably full we waddled out and the magician behind the counter who has worked there for at least five years said "Thank you, CiCi ya later!" I like to think that he says that to hundreds of kids a day, because that place is always poppin; rightfully so. And none of them laugh or even smile. Says it to us three and we giggled the entire way to the car. I'm laughing now even thinking about it. "CiCi ya later!" instant classic. I'm easily entertained. With a nice big trail run tomorrow morning with my one uninjured Rut partner, I figured Cici's would be the perfect meal 12 hours beforehand. Carbo-loading like it's meant to be done.

Sunday 7/6

    Long Trail Run around Ohiopyle, Pennsylvania (23 miles) 3:19:40 8:40 pace 3260ft gained.

This morning was the first nice long trail run in awhile. Probably the second best trail run that I have had aside from the Conquer the Cove trail marathon. I would like to think it was largely due to the Hoka Rapa
Nui that I wore. It was my first long run in them and they were nothing short of magnificent. I doubt that I run in any other trail shoe for awhile. Not only do they feel like clouds, but over twenty three miles of climbing and dropping didn't tear my feet in two. For instance in my previous shoes, NB 110 v2 by mile 15 of trail running my feet were figuratively bleeding; occasionally literally bleeding. Nothing like surviving a long trail run with minimal damage to my feet. Travis and Patrick came along with me on this journey. Josh, Cadence, Karen, and Harper overtook the small town while we were out. Honestly, I am very happy with this run and I don't say that often about trail runs. Legs felt good even though we went 5 miles more than planned. 100 mile week- 105, same thing. No it's not! Those last five miles were very hard. I should have known that since Ohiopyle is my favorite place to run via rail trail that they would have my favorite off road trails as well. The weather was in our favor staying in the low 70s for the most part. I didn't carry any liquids. Luckily I want to say around 10.5 mi we found a little delicious source of spring water and took some of that in. Then back at tank at 14 mi I sipped 32 oz of powerade before heading back out into the woods. Then things got interesting. Patrick was lucky when he turned around at 15 and headed back to base because we got a little mixed up after that. That didn't come as a surprise to me because I was being guided by Travis. And Travis was recently on these exact trails killing a marathon when he got lost. I think we popped out on the rail trail right before 21 miles, and 2 miles from the car. Those miles on the rail trail were easily the worst miles of both this run and this long week. But that's running for ya; you feel good all day on the trails they will spit you out 2 miles from your destination and dump some nasty crap in your legs to make you suffer. The running gods are cruel gods. And that's me being nice, because they're listening. NOW for the moment you have all been waiting for- I promised a few days ago a cool video and I think the video is awesome! Join us on our trail run- it will be like running 23 miles yourself and in less than 7 minutes! Before or after you watch this video click the link to see all of the statistics of our run; specifically the elevation chart. But it also has splits, total elevation, a cool map. Enjoy, Digletts!

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/535904573

Mileage Breakdown by Shoe

• Adidas Adios Boost (Flats) 15 miles (103 miles total)
• Saucony Ride 18 miles (44)
• Saucony Kinvara  19 miles (19)
• Hoka Rapa Nui (Trail) 23 miles (31)
• Brooks Ghosts 30 miles (62)

Next on Tap:

• 100 mile week
• Call of the Wild Trail Marathon in August
• Run the Rut 50k in September
• 20 Mile Trail Race in October
• Route 66 Marathon in November

See you Next Sunday, Digletts!

ONE LOVE!