Knoxville gets less musical

I've been living in Knoxville for about three years now and one thing that I immediately noticed (and was surprised by) was the music scene. Even in the last three years since I have been here, a few new venues have sprung up thus attracting even more acts to the city to perform. People in and around Knoxville love their music, and being from Detroit, I definitely can appreciate that.

People in Knoxville love their music so much that the Knoxville News Sentinel erected (ha) the statue in the picture Downtown in the mid 80's as a way to pay respect to Knoxville's love of the arts. Next week this statue is coming down and it has surprisingly caused a little bit of a stir around town.

How does this relate to running? Well, in my 3 months living downtown, and running 3-4 times a week, I've ran by this statue every time and never noticed it. It was after someone told me where the statue was that I figured out it was right on my running path. And I never noticed it. So um.....yeah. I guess I won't miss it?

Ain't nothing gonna break my stride

Yeah. I was riding shotgun in that truck last week. Luckily everyone involved walked away from the accident, the other driver got a DUI and both drivers need new cars. Not exactly what I would call a fun experience, but something that definitely reminds you that life is fragile and can end at any time. This is the other car:

Somehow I only managed to bruise my right leg pretty good in the accident. I definitely was sore a for a couple days after the wreck (from being jerked around at the moment of impact), but I was NOT going to let it get in the way of my training for Charlotte in December. The thought of "oh great...just something else to keep me from running..." did cross my mind on Friday when I was moping around and being sore. I forced myself out for a 5 mile run on Saturday, and I survived. It actually helped me break up the soreness (or maybe I am crazy...come to think of it, I know I am crazy...who are we trying to kid?)

That being said, I am 3 weeks into training with no leg soreness from my injury. I think I am taking well to this training schedule which I got from Marathon Rookie. Check it out if you're interested in running at all. It's a good site for sure, especially if you're a rookie to running (hence the name of the site...clever, eh?)

As my promise to you, I will keep this blog active through this training period. I PROMISE.

Thunder Road (half) Marathon - Dec 12, 2009

Well hello again! You should know me well enough by now to know that I update this blog every few months. Don't get jealous, it's not like I am blogging somewhere else....I'm just not blogging at all. Sad, I know. I do enjoy writing and I do enjoy running so my intentions are in the right place. The intention of putting my ass in front of the computer in order to marry the two together to put together the splendor and greatness that is known as this blog just hasn't been there. My bad.

So now that we have the formalities out of the way (oh hey..haven't seen you in awhile....you look great....is this your new boyfriend? Awesome!....) you're probably wondering why there is a logo to a Thunder Road marathon attached to this post. Well, it's because I have signed up to participate in that event. I am going to run in the half - marathon in my first 'real' attempt to test out my injured (but recovering?) groin.

I really don't like the term 'half - marathon' by the way. I understand that the distance is one half of a marathon, but at the same time, it's a 13.1 mile race in itself. It's not something Joey Baggadonuts can roll off the couch and go run in tomorrow morning. It's a big deal, and shouldn't be minimized by calling it half of something else. Maybe if it was called 'The awesome distance' more people would run it and not feel bad? "Hey man, what are you training for?" Reply: "The awesome distance in Charlotte on Dec. 12"....doesn't that sound better?

In running news, I just completed week one of a 10 week training program for this race. The week was successful, meaning I made all my runs and didn't have any pain afterward. I randomly still have a weird ache after a run in the hip / groin / butt area that was originally injured, but that hasn't happened in a couple months....so I might be ok? I don't know...it's weird. You're weird. We're all weird. We'll see what my leg feels like after a ten mile run, which isn't on the schedule for another 4 weeks. If I can make 10, I will make 13.1. I promise.