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Realizing that the week was nearly at it’s end and I hadn’t run yet I got up out of bed this morning against the cries of my sleepy head. The weather wasn’t as bad as it has been; it was in the high 70s instead of the mid 80s. The run went fairly smooth and I actually sprinted a bit at the end of the run.

During the last half of my run I started thinking about fighting and martial arts. I’m not sure why exactly. I guess I was thinking that it’s been nearly a year since I left my martial arts studio in Milton, FL. I’d really like to get back into it, but I just don’t have the time these days. I commute to work now and so I end up being gone between 12 and 14 hours per day. Oh, well… at least I can still run to get exercise.

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I had a really good run today; it felt like I was actually working and pushing myself a little. Of course to start out the run my iPod froze up on me. I noticed that after a few seconds following the “Workout beginnning” announcement there was no music. So of course I had to stop and reset the thing… I can’t run without my tunes! I’ve been running in the 11:00 minute mile range, but today I actually picked it up a bit. The final average pace was 10′45″ per mile and that includes a pretty decent slowdown towards the end because of a side cramp. Well, click the graph below to see a larger version… if you want.

Well, I only got two runs in last week, but it was the first week in a while (for exercise that is). I got my aging keister out of bed this morning at 5:15 AM CST and got out the ole running shoes and iPod. It was actually a decent run and felt really good. I’m keeping about an eleven minute mile average over the 2.5 miles that I run. Not exactly stellar performance, but at least I’m moving. Before my long hiatus I was at about a ten minute mile over 4 miles. Hopefully I can regain that in the next couple of months and get back on track for the Pensacola Double Bridge Run. Anyway, here is the latest graph from today’s run.

Well, folks I’ve done it. I ran this morning for the second day in a row. Wow! Yeah, I know… big deal. It’s encouraging to me though to be getting back into exercise. One thing I noticed this morning was that it was HOT and HUMID. I pass a sign on my run that has the temperature and it was 80 degrees (Fahrenheit) this morning at 6:00AM. The humidity of course is always like one million percent because I live in Florida. It felt like running in a sauna. Oh well, cooler weather will be here sometime in January (sarcasm).

Anyway, here is the Nike+ graph from my run this morning. Click on it to view a larger version. BTW - How do you like the cool Lightbox effect? Compliments of the WP-LyteBox plugin.

Since being on the wonderful slew of medications that are supposed to possibly help my migraine medications I have not been able to keep up with my running. My last attempt was downright pathetic and so I have not returned to running since. That is until today! Being without a job caused me to eventually be without health insurance and incidentally without migraine medication. I’ve actually been doing extremely well without them so far. In fact I’m having a hard time deciding whether or not to get back on them. I really hate being on medications all the time. Plus some of the medications caused me to be dizzy and very short of breath most of the time. Thus my lack of exercise.

Anyway, I got back into the saddle again this morning. I climbed out of bed at the butt-crack of dawn, about 5:00AM and got my running gear on. Amazingly this round went much better. I had to work pretty hard to get up that hill on the first half mile, but I was able to recover and catch my breath… without walking! I ran the whole 2.5 miles and felt pretty good afterwards. Check out the graph to see (click to view larger version):

It’s been such a long time
I think I should be goin’, yeah
And time doesn’t wait for me, it keeps on rollin’
Sail on, on a distant highway
I’ve got to keep on chasin’ a dream
I’ve gotta be on my way
Wish there was something I could say…Boston - Long Time

One of my absolute favorite songs… and bands. It is a real tragedy that lead singer Brad Delp committed suicide.

Anyway, this blog isn’t about bands or music, it’s about running. It has been so long since I’ve run, thus the title. I finally felt today like I needed a breakthrough and to just “Do It” as my brand new (hardly been used) Nike shoes would have me believe. So at around 10:00 this morning I got my runnin’ shoes on and my iPod on and kicked my own butt out the door.

What’s that? Why’d I run in one of the hottest parts of the day? I guess because I’m stupid. No, honestly because the urge to run hit me and felt like I needed to “run with it” (pun intended) or it would soon leave me and the opportunity would not come again. I’m not much of an early riser either so that’s out of the question. Early evening aren’t that good either because that’s usually when my headaches are prone to be in full swing.

So how’d it go? NOT SO GOOD! Boy, I really am in bad shape. I’m actually worse off in the last month that I’ve taken off than the previous year that I took off. I think it probably has something to do with my migraine medications. They leave me kind of weak and dizzy half the time… probably not good for long distance running. Oh well. Don’t worry, I didn’t try to kill myself. I actually walked quite a bit during the measly two miles. Want proof? Well, here ya go.

Click to see the larger version

Hello friends. All of your prayers have been answered and I (Jonathan) have been asked to participate in a nationwide study by several very prominent doctors in the field of neurology. They are doing a study of higher brain functions on people who suffer severe migraines on a regular basis and believe that a new treatment could be right around the corner.

The really exciting part is that Wired Magazine will have reporters following the progress of the study and I (Jonathan) will be one of a few of the participants selected to be featured on the front page of an upcoming issue. Here is a preliminary image of the cover.

Ha ha, lol, gotcha! Just kiddin. Wired Magazine was having a promotional where you could be one of the first 5,000 subscribers to have your own photo put on a personalized issue sent to you in July. But of course I missed out. I did have fun making a magazine cover though.