Imagine the scene today for my daily joggle.

Temperature = 16F

Wind very light.

Soft 1 inch blanket of snow covering the sidewalks. And more was falling.

Not ideal joggling weather.

However, I still got an energy charge and boost to my mood by logging my 2.2 miles.

Is this just in my head or is my body really producing chemicals that improve my mood?

According to the scientific research, regular exercise really does improve your mood. But there is conflicting evidence.

One study showed that mice who averaged the equivalent of 7 miles per day actually became more anxious and neurotic than non-running mice. Scientists are struggling to figure out why this would happen but it is too early to say. It’s also too early to say whether this is something that human long distance runners have to worry about.

Well, one thing that I know is that long distance joggling certainly improves my mood. I wonder if any of these researchers would be interested in studying that.

While perusing YouTube I saw that someone captured a video of me doing the Chicago marathon around mile 7.5

I love it when that happens. I see people take pictures all the time and I’m always curious how they turn out.

World record jogglers Bob and Trish Evans have released a recent video which lays out some of their plans for the coming year.  If you don’t know, they are a couple who is traveling around the United States joggling in races (and winning most of them!)

In this video they demonstrate their experimentation with swuggling (juggling while swimming) and reveal their goal to do a triathlon juggling each leg.

 Swuggling

Joggler Joe Salter was actually the first to show that swuggling is possible and he will be participating in a triathlon juggling each segment in April in Florida.

We look forward to reports from both Joe and the Evans Duo in the coming year.  Good luck!!

This week I’ll be working on my goals for the upcoming year.   But I have a rough idea of what they are going to be, (e.g. 1500 miles of running, running every day, and some time goals).

But my number one priority starting this year is to get better while still maintaining my streak.  To that end, today I only ran ~2 miles in a relatively slow fashion.  It was a good run and my foot didn’t feel too bad.

Happy New Year to you all.  Will be back tomorrow with more substantial posts.

This year my running goal was 1500 miles. Unfortunately, somewhere around 1200 miles I developed a painful case of Plantar Fasciitus and decided to revise my goal to 1400 miles so I could rest more to heal the injury. I have no problem revising my goals if there is a good reason so I didn’t feel too bad about it.

So now it is December 28th and I’m sitting at 1379 miles run for the year. That means I have 21 miles to go to meet my 2011 goal. Can I do it?

In truth, the PF in my left foot still hurts. Which means I probably shouldn’t try to run 21 miles in 3 days. On the other hand, accomplishing goals is important to me and putting in those kinds of miles may cause me some pain but will not likely cause any long term damage.

Here’s my plan.

Today – Joggle 8 miles
Tomorrow – Joggle 6 miles
Saturday – Joggle the rest of the distance.

Then when the new year starts, I can reset my goals and spend January giving my PF a rest. Of course, I’ll continue to keep the joggling streak alive but only with minimal running mileage.

Happy New Year!

Well, I’m still going. Today was perhaps one of the most painful runs I’ve done in a while but the streak lives on.

It was a beautiful morning for joggling. The early morning sun painted the buildings and trees in a yellow-orange hue. The cloudless sky was bright blue. I knew the air would be crisp and cold.

My running gear consisted of a cotton, long-sleeve shirt that I received after winning the co-ed volleyball championship, a yellow, long-sleeve running shirt that I wore when first photographed for Runner’s World magazine in 2004, a black running vest, blue shorts that double as a swim suit, grey wish-wish pants, black Nike running gloves, a brown Running Away cotton cap, and a maroon pair of running shoes.

I pressed an earbud into my right ear put the other down my shirt and wrapped the rest of the chord around my iPhone. After starting my Runkeeper tracking app, I turned on the latest episode of the Point of Inquiry podcast, started my watch and joggled away.

The first few steps on the concrete shot pain up through my legs to my knees. It’s always this way with a morning run. This subsided but after making a left turn onto North, the plantar faciitus pain made it feel like someone was pounding my left heel with a hammer ever time it hit the ground. Reducing the height that I lifted my foot and striking the ground with the ball of my foot made it feel a bit better. I was unsure I would make it much farther than a mile.

A half mile into the run, my pain receptors were dulled and I decided to run at least 2 miles. The bright sun reflected on my bare face. I closed my eyes and smiled. The Gballz rhythmically floated in front of me.

Turning north, I stayed on the sunny side of the street. When I passed bundled up pedestrians, I nodded and smiled. They grinned back. As I turned on Armitage avenue, I nearly collided with a group of three people who were waiting for the bus and blocking most of the street. While stalled and juggling in place, one lady’s face brightened with surprise and brightly exclaimed, “Oh, I’m sorry” as she moved out of my way.

“No problem,” I said with a smile.

I joggled the rest of the way, limping along with a dull pain and enjoying a discussion about the psychology of extremists in political thought. When I got to the local Dunkin Donuts, I slowed to a stop. A woman who was tying up her pit bull to a parking meter looks up and says, “Hey, it’s the joggler!”

I grinned and said, “Indeed it is.”

I’m traveling to one of my favorite cities in the world, New York city!

Central Park is a great place for joggling. And Times Square is cool.

On Friday, I found a small bird sitting in the middle of a parking lot. As I approached it didn’t move. I could see it was alive but likely hurt. So I picked it up and moved it out of the parking lot away from danger. It didn’t even object to me picking it up. I placed it in a flower pot and when I checked on it a half hour later it was gone. I think I saved it.

This made me think of all the other animals I’ve encountered while joggling.

Turtle – While joggling through a forest trail in Missouri
Dogs – Around my neighborhood
Cats – Around my neighborhood
Elephants – While joggling through the Lincoln Park zoo
Seals - In the Lincoln Park zoo.
Crocodile – On a trail in Hilton Head, NC
Rabbit – In my neighborhood
Canadian Geese – Along the lakefront path in Chicago
Squirrels - In Humboldt Park near my condo
Parrots – On North Avenue near my house.  Yes, parrots in the city.
Lizards – While joggling in Cancun Mexico

There are probably more but that’s what I can think of now.  Geez, there is a lot of wildlife out there if you get outside and look for it.  This is one thing I absolutely love about joggling outside.  You get to see what’s going on in the real world.

Of course, with the rain that is coming down right now, outdoor joggling doesn’t seem like the greatest idea.

Here’s a pretty cool story that metaphorically came across my desk about the joggling world.  World record jogglers, Bob and Trish Evans have teamed up with Brooks running shoes to tour the country on the Joggle Happy Tour.

Over the next six months Brooks will be traveling with Bob and Trish across the US–from Florida to Seattle–and sharing their adventures along the way!

We’ve been keeping track of the joggling pair as they’ve made a few attempts at breaking the world joggling record for the fastest 5K.  They achieved that a while back and have also bested the 10K joggling record.  Short of the half marathon and marathon, I’m not sure if there are many records left.

It’s great to see joggling getting some press and getting a shoe sponsor is also a great achievement.  (Not nearly as great an achievement as getting a juggling ball sponsor though .

Good luck Bob and Trish!  We look forward to following the Brooks Joggle Happy Tour.

Yesterday I laced up the shoes, clicked on the head phones, picked up the Gballz and went out for my 1105 joggling workout in a row.  It was a fairly normal run except for the drizzling rain and cold temperatures.  That didn’t matter though because I was listening to an interesting podcast (Skeptoid) and was enjoying the feeling of blood pumping through my veins.

As came into the final stretch along North Avenue, a black SUV pulled up along side me and rolled down the window.

A blonde girl in the passenger’s seat waves her hand and shouts, “Hey, are you Perry!?”

I turn my head, smile and say, “Yeah, that’s me.”

She then breaks a huge grin and says, “I’ve heard about you!!  You’re awesome!”

I blush a bit and say, “Thanks” as she drives away.

That doesn’t happen to runners, but jogglers…yes.

I still don’t know who she was or even how she learned my name, but there aren’t a lot of jogglers in the city so it would be easy enough to find the information.

Anyway, it made my day.  I always appreciate kind words from people.

Thanks whoever you were!