Eric’s Grassy Blog

I’m entitling this post, um, the automobile run.  No I didn’t get in my car and drive around the route.  I actually did run! 

 It was a very nice Spring morning.  Temperature around 45 degrees but crystal clear and sunny.  The trees are just beginning to leaf out, and there are several flowering crabs, cherries, and early flowering shrubs for scenery.  On this run, I passed auto #1.  This is a brand new Nissan Murano that my sister just purchased.  It was parked in my parents driveway.  As I ran by my parents house my sisters came out and I gave them a high five.  As I passed the drive, I yelled to my sister to drive by my house sometime so I can get a better look at her new car!

The #2 auto I checked out on my run was one street over.  It was a brand new Saturn Outlook.  This *may* just be our next minivan/station wagon/suv.  I yelled out at the owner who was working in his yard.  “How do you like your new Saturn Outlook”?  He smiled and gave two thumbs up.  He said “I’d prefer better gas mileage but I love it!”. 

Passing the high school I noticed there must be a softball tournament today, which is likely since my sisters got an early start and were both in Jenison with their coaching attire on.  This post has come to an end so I can get out and enjoy the sunny weather!

There was a somewhat warm and gentle breeze tonight.  It made my run pretty enjoyable.  I can’t wait for the warm weather to come.  Also, my son and daughter were on their bikes while I ran which helped me keep going and to pick up the pace a little!   About a 20 minute run.  I’m just getting back into the groove… so I suppose that is long enough!

Didn’t have much time tonight as it was getting dark. However, I DO very much like it that it is almost daylight yet at 9PM. This run was quick, and I’m calling it the Quick Switchback. It was a 1.5 mile excursion. [View Running Map]

Sand. Sandpipers. Sand Castles. Sand Dollars. Shells. Seagulls.

Picture all of these things on my first run of the new season.  This 2.6 mile run was awesome.  I’m not sure it get’s any better.  The lapping of the water from the Gulf of Mexico onto the white sand beaches of Gulf Shores, Alabama couldn’t be more soothing.  The sound of seagulls and the crunching of shells under my Saucony running shoes complete the running experience I had recently.  Rounding out the views are the sporadic remains of Hurricane Ivan from 2004.  Most areas have rebounded nicely, but you can definitely still see some of the areas of destruction.

For far too long have I spent my Winter sitting around and watching TV.  The weather in Michigan is just too poor for running outsite.  I plan to continue my running exercusions.  So hopefully the weather will be nice after our return from Spring Break ‘07.

At the Great Wolf Lodge there is a Iron Moutain Workout area.  Inside were 3 tread mills and elipitical machine, 2 tv’s (1 didn’t work), and some free weights.

I took the middle tread mill and my wife took the one on the right. 

Since I hadn’t been running for a while, I started with 10 minutes of walking followed by 30 minutes of running followed by 10 minutes of walking.  It felt good to get going again!  But by far I’m way behind Gbrand and Halfrt.

If you con’t playing basketball in the shallow end of the pool, that would be exercise too!

Anyway, it’s been a great Winter so far, with minimal snow which means I need to get out there again soon!

Well it’s been a while since I last posted… or went running for that matter.  The start of school, the poor weather, the time change, and because it’s dark by 5:30 PM now has placed quite a damper on my exercise. Not a good thing.

So this past weekend I had the opportunity to attend the first-ever Ask Dr C Summit at Blackboard Inc. Headquaters in Washington DC.  It was a great opportunity to visit Blackboard Inc. and also to meet the other Dr’s and visit with Blackboard executives.  We were evan able to go out for a very nice Friday dinner with about 9 Blackboard product development employees.  Anyway… back to the running, er, walking post.

So on Sunday, I was able to meet up with Joanna (formerly from Seneca College) who works in product development at Blackboard.  She and I took a walking tour of downtown Washington DC.  Here is the 6.6 mile walking map.  We had a great time seeing many sites of interest including:  the White House, Capital Building, Washington Monument, National Botanical Gardens, etc.  I’ll post some photos on my Eric Kunnen Flickr account very soon!

I’m not sure it get’s much better.  I went for a run on this past Sunday morning.  The crisp Fall air, fallen leaves, brilliant colors of trees lit up by the morning sunlight, and the slight dew on the grass is something out of a fairy tale.  OK, enough of the “gushy” stuff.  It was a pretty good run since I’ve been away from running for a couple of weeks.  Why the 2 weeks off?  Well it’s been pretty busy at work and at home, trying to keep up with the rat race of back to school.   Fall is a great time a year.  I’m still trying to figure out what I’m going to do when Winter hits.  Looks like I’ll be headed to the gym for some elliptical, track running, etc.

While on Holiday (Australian for “Vacation”) I thought it was time for a run!

This was a great morning!  When can you say that you went for a morning run in the outback.  OK, well not the outback, but downtown Melbourne for sure.  It’s a strange place really.  The water goes down the drain in a counter-clockwise fashion which is opposite in the United States.  Also, the cars drive on the other side of the road, the steering wheel of a car is on the right side, and so I suppose it’s only natural that when you are running on a path, you run down the right side and the left!

> View Outback Running Map (I had to guess because the map doesn’t zoom in that far.)

This morning I went for a 45 minute run, running down the Yarra River in downtown Melbourne, Australia.  It was a good run, a little cool as Melbourne is coming out of Winter and going into Spring.  Which is also strange since back in Michigan we are coming out of Summer and going into Winter!  

I ran on boardwalk, city street, and garden path.  I started at the Crown Promenade Hotel and travelled down the Yarra River to the docklands.  I turned around at Wurundjeri Way and headed past the Melbourne Maritime Museam.  I also past Batman Park and Melbourne Aquarium which was on the other side of the river.  I think ran past the Crown Entertainment Complex (aka Casino and Shopping) and on to St. Kilda Road.  I past Flinders Street Station and ran down St. Kilda Road a while until I came across Queen Victoria Gardens and the Victorian Arts Centre.  After that I was getting tired (“no worries mate”) so I followed the path along the river back to the hotel.

What more can I say?  It was awesome!

 As they say here in Melbourne…  “All the best” mate!

This past Sunday I ran 7 miles after not running much througout the previous week.  It wasn’t the greatest run I’ve ever had.  In fact, about mile 5 I could feel my left knee starting to strain.  By the end of the run it was pretty painful so I took it easy the rest of the day.  My son kept me going though because he was riding his bike and stayed ahead of me which provided the extra incentive to keep going!

 I can see how competition runs could make you faster though, because while running down Cottonwood another runner was on the other side of the road.  I had it in my to beat them for some reason, but I couldn’t quite do it.  But I certainly did pick up the speed!

With the Back-To-School rush coming on soon, I thought it would be cool to name this post something school related. 

So how does the 2+1 add up to FUN?  Read on to find out!  The 2 is for my son and daugher.  The 1 is for me.  And that equals FUN if you include the imaginary number quotient of “running” ino the equation.  My kids rode their bikes, and I ran for a total of 4 miles.  It was fun to spend that time with my kids on a Sunday morning as the sun was coming up!