Philip Brewer's Writing Progress

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Saturday, 25 September 2004

As bicycling season draws to a close, I've been trying to figure out if I can fit more running into my schedule. One possibility would be to run to the office. It's about 3.8 miles, so running one-way would be just a little more than my usual 3-mile run.

There are lots of issues with running to the office. I'd need to either stash clothes at the office in advance, or else carry clothes with me. I'd also have to either call Jackie to come get me in the car after work, take the bus home, or else run home as well, making the total distance for the day's run 7.6 miles.

Wanting to figure out what might be possible, I conducted an experiment today. I have a backpack designed for running that I bought in the early summer. I packed it up with a change of clothes (although not a lunch) and with my wallet, keys, cell phone, notebook, pen, etc. Then I ran to the office. It took just over 45 minutes.

As it happens, there was something going on at the site today. We were sponsoring a tail-gate party for the Illini-Purdue. I was in the mood for a party, so that was fun.

After the game started, I hung out with the facilities guys for a while, then headed home. I hadn't decided if I wanted to try running that far, but I felt pretty good, so I figured it would be okay. And, in fact, it worked out great. When I was about a mile from home, I called Jackie and asked her to meet me at Za's for lunch. She got there less than a minute ahead of me.

According to my GPS thingy, I ran 7.60 miles in 1:32:55 for an average pace of 12:12 (not including the time I spent at the party).

I'm still not sure if this works for running to work. I'll have to see how I feel tomorrow. I think I'd also have to stash shoes at the office, even if I didn't bother with other stuff to wear. I don't think having shoes in the pack would be comfortable.

Still, I'm very pleased. Today's 7.6 miles is the farthest I've ever run, and it was pretty easy.

Not much else accomplished today. Read some of System of the World, played some StarCraft with Steven. Jackie baked an apple pie for desert.

It was a good day.


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