JULY 2024 Monthly Running Challenge

Ran/walked a 10K on treadmill due to humidity and thunderstorms. This brings my total mileage thus far to 21.3 miles out of 50.

Everyone have a great night!

We had a busy day so no running but I have a few pictures. We visited Arashiyama, went for a rickshaw ride, ate some delicious lunch (which I totally forgot to take a picture of), and did a little shopping.

Yesterday afternoon I wandered down some streets around our hotel and found this beautiful shrine.

Hi everyone!

I had to take someone to the train station early this morning, so I got off on my run the earliest I ever have in my life - 6:40 . It took me 40 minutes from when I got up to get started including a bite to eat and coffee. I wouldn’t say it was awesome to go out so early, but it wasn't that bad either- I even socialised with another runner and we were the same speed so we ran together for about 2km, so I am going to try to find my inner motivation to get up and out early tomorrow so I can squeeze my long run in.

I did a quick finish run which went well and ran 14km. 148.1/200km for July.

@martaindale Nice pictures! It looks and sounds like you are having a very nice time!

@Scott6255 I don’t understand the pull of casinos either. The show sounds like it was fun though!

July Goal: 130 Miles

7/1: 4.02 miles
7/2: 6.02 miles
7/3: 6.02 miles
7/4: 6.26 miles
7/7: 11.27 miles
7/8: 3.30 miles
7/10: 6.52 miles
7/11: 6.02 miles
7/12: 6.52 miles
7/14: 10.36 miles
7/15: 4.03 miles

70.33/130 miles completed for July

I ran 4 miles this morning. It was pretty warm at 79°F. It was dark when I started and light when I finished. It was an easy run since I did my long run yesterday. But I did see a skunk so I did get my pace down to 9.55 for just a bit.

Great pictures @martaindale !

@Scott6255 I probably would have liked to see Jerry Seinfeld, but I don't know if I would like the casino that much. I'm not much of a gambler. I did look on our anniversary weekend and the concert is Mötley Crüe. I liked them well enough in high school, but I 'm not that interested in seeing them now.

Morning all
Got in 4.44M at 09"55.

Speaking of Vegas and Casinos... love Vegas but not a big gambler either. At all, actually. Think I've played roulette maybe twice.

-House always wins.
-No probability greater than 50% in your favour. Ever.
-Roulette, literally red or black, odd or even, with no skill or face-reading or card-counting or Rainman or whatever, has a probability of 47.3%

Yeah... NO. Dont have time effort or energy for those Poker Bros.

Hi from Japan! Today we rode the bullet train from Kyoto to Hiroshima then took a ferry to Miyajima where we toured a beautiful shrine and temple. Miyajima has deer that are waaaaay too tame but are very cute. We had lunch there before heading back to Hiroshima to visit the Peace park and the museum. For dinner we had okonomiyaki, which is a crazy sounding dish that tastes delicious! It's a layered dish cooked on a huge flattop grill. It has a crepe, a layer of cabbage and bean sprouts, noodles, an egg, (pork if you eat that), covered with a sauce and sprinkled with seaweed powder. Even my very picky kid loved it. After dinner we took the bullet train back to Kyoto. In fact I'm on the train right now. It's been a very long day but it was a lot of fun mixed with some historical education and plenty of good food.

1 July - Walked 2.00 miles - Ran 0.00 miles - driveway wun - trimmed trees for 2h52m44s
2 July - Walked 1.15 miles - Ran 1.00 miles - driveway wun - built fence around the garden earlier
3 July - Walked 2.35 miles - Ran 0.00 miles - treadmill wun
4 July - Walked 1.00 miles - Ran 3.00 miles - driveway laps
5 July - Walked 1.00 miles - Ran 0.00 miles - treadmill
6 July - Walked 0.75 miles - Ran 1.50 miles - treadmill
7 July - Walked 1.00 miles - Ran 0.00 miles - treadmill
8 July - Walked 1.00 miles - Ran 2.00 miles - driveway laps - doubles tennis for 1h29m54s
9 July - Walked 1.25 miles - Ran 1.75 miles - treadmill
10 July - Walked 1.00 miles - Ran 0.00 miles - Driveway laps - Gym 37m6s
11 July - Walked 0.99 miles - Ran 1.26 miles - Driveway laps - Tennis for 1h38m33s
12 July - Walled 1.00 miles - Ran 0.00 miles - Driveway laps - Gym 27m13s
13 July - Walked 1.00 miles - Ran 0.00 miles - Driveway laps - Mowed 1h51m24s
14 July - Walked 1.00 miles - Ran 0.00 miles - treadmill
15 July - Walked 2.50 miles - Ran 0.00 miles - treadmill wun - Mowed 20m29s
16 July - Walked 0.70 miles - Ran 1.30 miles - driveway laps

31.50/60.00 goal

I got out early for a driveway wun. I walked 0.35 miles before running any. I ran more that I thought I would when I headed out, so broke it up into warm up walk, run (actually run/walk), cool down walk. The run/walk portion was at a 14:15 min/mile pace, so barely what I would call a run vs walk. I ran fasted today and just don't think I do very well with that. Overall, my avg HR was 115 with a max of 140 bpm.

Heading out in a few minutes to take mom to the dentist, meet my cousin from IL that is passing through (the truck driver) and aunt for lunch, and shopping for a couple pair of shorts and snacks for my trip. I probably won't exercise again until I get to the hotel in SC tomorrow evening.

@martaindale you guys are making the most out of your trip. Pics look awesome. Maybe you can share your experience with the powers that be for the Houston-Dallas bullet train they have been talking about for many years now.

@quilteryoyo have a safe trip to SC!

I had an epic fail of a run this morning. Out of the blue both of my calves and shins had stabbing pains. I tried to walk it off after the 1st mile, but after the 2nd I just gave up. Shoes have less than 100 miles. I dunno.

I’ve managed to squeeze in a couple of runs this week amid the school holiday chaos that is my house.

However, Monday was a rest day and very wet and I was getting cabin fever (four kids in the house all day will do that to a woman) so I did an hour’s yoga. I haven’t done that much intense yoga for a while and as a result, on Tuesday when I tried running, my legs were very achy, but it was a stunning day for running - one of those misty mornings that burns off to brilliant sunshine, cool and clear. I was in a very scenic spot by the harbour so it was just fabulous.
I did another 45 minutes of yoga yesterday afternoon and didn’t sleep well because of aching hip muscles. Consequently, I was expecting today’s run to be very painful but once I actually started, it was fine. I did 6km in a drizzly and bleak winter’s day - quite the contrast to yesterday. For for those of you who want rain, let me know. I’ll post you some - our forecast for the rest of the week looks very soggy.

Glad you’re loving the food in Japan @martaindale. That dish looks amazing.

I hope your calf muscles and shins recover quickly @scott6255, I’d get out the foam roller if I were you. Because it’s both legs, rather than one, it indicates fatigue rather than an injury.

Nice work @Laurz9191 - Good to see you getting it done. Being awake during a long run is optional.

Which reminds me (if we can leap back to the discussion about running early in the morning), when I used to run at dawn and people asked me how I managed it, I would say I got out of bed, got dressed, started running, and worried about waking up later on.

On the subject of Vegas, I’ve only been to the states maybe five times and three of those trips were to Vegas for trade shows. I’m not a gambler either. I found the whole casino scene really really dull (and a bit grim). I did win a lot (and I mean often, not vast quantities of money, sadly) playing blackjack, but even while I was winning I was bored - clearly missing the necessary gambling gene.

The worst was on my last day when I was trying to get rid of a handful of coins so I dropped them into a dime slot machine. I promptly won something like $150. The machine was taking forever to pay out (lots of jangling and bells and excitement on behalf of the machine itself) and while I impatiently waited, I was getting that evilest looks from a woman sitting next to me who told me that she had been feeding that machine for the past three hours!

If you’re going to get addicted to something, running is a much better option.

July total: 42.6/100 miles
YTD: 532.4/1200 miles

7/1: 3 miles
7/3: 6.5 miles
7/4: 7.5 miles
7/5: 3.1 miles
7/6: 8 miles
7/8: 5.2 miles
7/14: 6.1 miles
7/17: 3.2 miles

I got a short run in before our day started. I used a route I found on Strava that looped up a mountain foothill along a trail, through a shrine, and then back down into the city. It was a part of Kyoto I hadn't seen yet and such a wild juxtaposition between the modern city then boom, residential area then boom, totally quiet trail where I didn't see a single person then back to city in just 3 miles. I feel like American cities tend to sprawl whereas here the city feels more compartmentalized. The Japanese also value nature and having these forests and gardens tucked into the city makes for an interesting experience.
The trail was quite steep and slippery because of all the rain the last few days. I was in road shoes so I hiked several sections. Just didn't feel confident running. But at least 2 miles were on paved roads or paths so still a lot of time for actual running.

Morning everyone!
Got in 6.24M at 09"46

@Scott6255 oh no; sorry that run ended badly!
@quilteryoyo thank you! 😊 ... And looks like you had a fun time with the family!
@martaindale ooohhh that crepe-noodle-egg-pork thing looks dee-lish!
@chris_in_cal what the latest on that LA to Vegas fast train?

And if you Americans are feeling bad about High Speed rail. We're equally sh---y!
Google HS2. Was meant to be a London-Birmingham-Manchester fast train...
Over budget, won't be delivered till 2030s.
Only it doesn't connect to Euro train that goes to Paris or Brussels. They've now canned Birmingham to Manchester. So this ridiculously overpriced London-Birmingham line that shaves off like, 20 minutes that literally no one in London wants or needs!
Crossrail (now Elizabeth line) was a 70mile stretch of Underground that goes from West to East. Took years and massively over budget.
Finally delivered on Boris Johnson's watch - which of course he milked and took credit for!

@ContraryMaryMary that slot machine story is hilarious! 😂

Side note- Vegas question for you ladies.
IF you dragged your husband to Celine Dion at Caesar's ... Isn't it fair that the next time you go Vegas, it's only like-for-like fair that you go a Boxing fight??.
(A friend!! Not me!!! I did not see Celine Dion live. 😳 )