I used to think that I was able to do everything with three ball juggling. In fact, I thought it was a bit boring.

But the truth is there are people who do some amazing things with 3 balls that I didn’t even think about. Here’s an amazing example.

I really need to practice.

Every year I try to come up with goals. I have a spreadsheet for tracking and I’m fairly good at keeping up with them. I’m not always so great at accomplishing them but I keep trying. Here is a sampling of what I’m thinking about for goals next year.

Relatively easy

1. Joggling every day.
2. Running 1500 miles.
3. Joggling 200 hours
4. Participate in IJA joggling races

A little more difficult
1. Complete 100 miler (set world record)
2. Qualify for Boston marathon
3. Set PR in marathon & half marathon
4. Record & post 12 joggling videos
5. Post something to the joggler blog every day.
6. Run 4 marathons

Well that’s what I’m thinking now. I’ll see where I end up starting next year.

I bet there have been hundreds, maybe thousands, of people who have tried joggling. Many they have even joggled during races. But most people eventually give it up. Perhaps they get bored with it or they’ve accomplished what they wanted or they just don’t feel like doing it anymore. I am not like this. For a variety of reasons I just keep going. Here are the main reasons.

1. To be healthy. Running is a great way to remain heart healthy.

2. It’s inexpensive. Joggling doesn’t cost anything to do. Just need running clothes and juggling bean bags.

3. It’s convenient. Joggling is simple. You just get your bean bags and head outside. Weather doesn’t matter.

4. Being outside. I love just breathing outdoor air and feeling the warm sun on my face. It’s great.

5. Listening to books. Going running gives me time to listen to podcasts and books. It’s a great way to build my mind and accomplish my book reading goals.

6. Juggling is fun. Running is a bit dull but juggling makes it fun. I keep joggling because it is great fun.

7. Racing goals. I keep joggling because I set a goal to accomplish 44 marathons. I also love the crowds at races.

So, why do you keep running or joggling?

Nearly broke my streak this Christmas but decided not to. Here is a Christmas themed joggling haiku.

Roads are all empty
Cold air bright sun crisp work out
Joggling on Christmas

Here was an interesting story about research published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology which looks at the question of whether you can train your hands to better withstand the cold.

It turns out, you can…sort of. By getting volunteer’s hands cold repeatedly over the course of two weeks, researchers were able to make people get used to the pain. Unfortunately, it didn’t actually make the hands more used to it, it just allowed people to handle the pain better. This means that you would actually be more likely to get frostbite and not even know it.

I don’t like having cold hands so I joggle in gloves whenever the temperature gets below 40F. I guess that’s still a good idea.

Gray clouds covered the sun and cast a dull hue across the city. I gathered my cold weather workout clothes and prepared for my streak extending effort.

Upon opening the building’s front door a gust of wind struck me. It was stronger than I thought based on the window view but warmer too. I took off my light gray gloves and put them in my running vest pocket.

Five miles, or six, or maybe a seven mile run to the lake and back. I couldn’t decide on a distance. Most of my workouts are like this. I never decide how far to go until I start going. This is probably why I’m having trouble getting faster.

I clicked on my GPS phone app, turned on the latest episode of This American Life and started joggling. It’s been awhile since I heard TAL, I love it.

After about 100 yards the pain in my left foot began. Each time the foot met the concrete I felt a stabbing pain in my heel. I compensated with a slight limp and slowed my speed. “Will only be going three miles today,” I thought.

The pain dulled after the first mile and felt more like a stiff muscle than a knife in my foot. I sped slightly.

My workout started down my normal five mile running path but the pain altered my plans. I randomly made turns traversing sidewalks I’d never followed before. I like taking new paths. You never know what new thing you might see. On this path it was the encampment of homeless people under the highway viaduct. They seemed more gray than the panhandlers under the highway that I typically see on North Avenue. I wondered why they didn’t migrate to a warmer place. If I was homeless, I’d go to Florida or California in the winter. Chicago winters suck for outdoor living.

When I reached the Goddess & the Grocer shop, I ended my run. 3.1 miles without a drop. Upon entering a few of the patrons looked up and smiled. They found my juggling amusing.

I made my standard purchase, 2 bagel scrambles on a sesame seed bagel, a medium decaf coffee and a diet Dr Pepper. Half of the order was for my wife.

As I walked home, I got a slight chill from the wind and my sweat soaked shirt. The pain in my foot began to throb again. But it was a particularly good episode of TAL and the feeling of elation that I always get after a run was coursing through all my veins. I

I love running and juggling and joggling. I hope I can keep doing it for a long time to come.

The Chicago marathon is done and I have no scheduled races. This always makes me a little blue. But I still need to bask in the glow of the event for at least a few more days before moving on. To that end, I thought I’d write some tips I’ve found useful when joggling a marathon.

1. Bring a change of clothes. When you finish your marathon, you are likely going to be drenched. Change clothes as soon as possible! You’ll feel better and prevent chafing. If you can’t do a complete clothes change, at least change your shirt and socks. Trust me, you’ll feel much better.

2. Be prepared for interviews. It’s not common to be interviewed after a race but it has happened to me after about 20% of my joggling races. It makes things much more enjoyable if you have thought about what to say. Speaking of that, if people talk to you after the race be sure to answer politely. We don’t want to give joggling a bad name.

3. Bring a bag. If you’ve got clothes then you will have brought one but be sure to bring a bag to carry your stuff after the race. You can even put some food in your bag in the event that you aren’t hungry right after finishing.

4. Practice tricks before trying them in a race. Race day is not the time to try out a new trick. Don’t try any tricks unless you’ve practiced the sufficiently enough that you have >90% chance of success.

5. Stay to the side. If you drop, it can really be dangerous for runners behind you. Stay off to one side so in the event that you do drop, you don’t hurt anyone.

Well, those are my tips. Anyone else have more to add? Leave a comment below.

Usually, the pain of the marathon has subsided by the Wednesday after the race. This time it’s lasting a little longer. I think it had something to do with the fact that I golfed the day after. That hurt a bit.

I felt fortunate though because the pain I felt the last few days was not too bad. This is probably because I didn’t press myself as hard as I could. However, I’m not sure I could’ve gone much faster.

My next race is not planned but I’m thinking a 5 or 10K around the holidays. Then I start working towards the 100 miler.

While searching through the marathon pictures I found this one.  I really do appreciate when people take pictures and post them later.  If you’re a joggler you frequently see people taking pictures and wonder how it turned out.  This one was pretty good.

I made a critical error yesterday. I broke on of the key rules of streak running.

“Always have access to running clothes”

Here’s what happened.

We were flying to Europe on an 11:30 pm flight going from Chicago to London to Milan. We were slated to get into Milan at 4:30 pm which I thought would leave ample time to keep my joggling streak alive.

Of course, our plane from Chicago left late so we missed our connection in London. They put us on a later flight to Milan and we didn’t arrive until after 6pm. Still not a problem for the joggling streak.

The problem was realized when we discovered that my luggage took an extended tour of London and never made it on our flight to Italy. It wasn’t due to arrive until 9:30 pm! We were not staying close to the airport so picking it up later wasn’t a good option. Neither was sitting around waiting for it. The airline was nice enough to deliver the bag to our hotel but it wouldn’t arrive until after 2am. Ugh.

Unfortunately, my carry-on backpack didn’t have any running clothes in it except for gloves and a running cap. So, while I had my Gballz and running shoes, I had no running clothes. I only had what I was wearing; jeans, long sleeve, dark cotton shirt and a baseball cap.

But I figured it would be no problem to find a shirt and shorts at one of the local stores. It is a big city after all.

Alas, none of the stores were open and my supremely tolerant wife was tired, hungry and keen on getting something to eat. I was out of options. Do I end the streak or make do with what I had? As any streak runner would do, I chose the latter.

I switched into my running cap, picked up my joggling bags and headed out to the street of the foreign city. It was a cool night, perfect for running. I started down Via de Santa Sofia and kept joggling in one direction. It’s important when joggling in a strange place that you don’t make your paths too complicated. You don’t want to get lost.

The sidewalks were narrow and had varied surfaces including brick, concrete, asphalt and cobblestone. It was tricky to navigate. The buildings were old, made of stone with ornate decoration. An interesting city which I will get more time to explore later next week.

After joggling about 10 minutes, I turned around and retraced my steps to the hotel. I passed a few groups of people and got many of the standard responses. However, mostly I was ignored. Joggling isn’t too interesting to the younger, Thursday night Italian crowds.

Stopping in front of my hotel, I clicked off my watch and iPhone GPS tracker. 2 miles in exactly 17:40. My shirt and jeans were a little wet from sweat but that was to be expected. I toweled off in my room, took a Speedstick deodorant bath and went to dinner.

Joggling streak still intact.