Run, Joggler, Run!

Today's joggling mileage: 23 miles (one espresso stop and one stop to visit parental units)

A few years ago, before I started joggling, I used to keep track in my training log of the number of times someone said to me: "Run, Forrest, run!" If there are any non-runners reading this, please never, ever say these words to a runner. We have all heard it at least 6,000 times and it wasn't even funny the first time.

Looking back at my training log, there were some days when I got three or four Run, Forrest, Runs over the course of a single 10-miler. Maybe there was something about me that attracted more Run, Forrest, Runs than other runners -- all I know is that I got really sick of it really fast.
Much to my sheer delight, when I morphed into The Joggler, the Run, Forrest, Runs came to an abrupt and merciful end. Now I get a much wider variety of comments from pedestrians and drivers.

As The Joggler, I do still occasionally have to contend with jokes about balls. Note to any non-jugglers reading this: DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, TRY TO CRACK JOKES ABOUT BALLS TO A JUGGLER OR A JOGGLER. They are just as weary of this as runners are to the dreaded Run, Forrest, Runs.

Today's training run was a killer. Twenty-three miles of joggling is never easy and today I maintained a pretty good pace – most of it at about 6:30/mile and the last two miles with a tailwind at 5:20/mile.

And I remembered to wash my hat.