Jogger's Progress, and Ooops

	Trip	YTD	Mar
Distance	6834.1	439.8	168.8
Time	45 days, 20 hrs, 44 min	3 day, 1 hrs, 43 mins	28:51
Days	1100	69	24
States	23	4	2

The "oops" is that I took another unscheduled day off. I was up late last night, giving an exam, so I just slept in this morning. I thought about running in the afternoon, but I didn't. Oh, well.

It was a good month, but not a great one. Not as many miles as March, 2009, or March, 2008. In fact, it was four fewer miles than March, 2008, in one more minute. I'm running slower. Old age seems to be catching up to me.

I did add my 23rd state, by running into Michigan. Since my plan is to run across the Upper Peninsula, cross over at Mackinaw City, and run down the Lower Peninsula to Ann Arbor, it will be a while before I add my 24th state. In fact, at that point, I won't know where to go, since I've already been in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Stay tuned, and see what I decide.

Day 1100 -- Washington Island

OK, Washington Island is part of Wisconsin, out across the bay from where I am virtually running. But there isn't much on this side of the bay, and I thought I could sneak in a nice picture of the Welcome Center on Washington Island, courtesy of the Town Government web site.

I took yesterday off, as scheduled, and ran a tempo run at the fitness center today. My membership is up as of the end of the month, so that is probably my last run on the treaded dreadmill for the season. I won't miss it much. Tomorrow is supposed to be nice, and I'll run an easy five outdoors.

Day 1099 -- Ingalls

Right before the alarm went off this morning, I was dreaming of John Romeo Alpha. He was in town for a visit, and we were going for a run together. He was faster than me (of course), but he wasn't sure that he could run as far as I was planning to go, so he made me promise to keep the route close to his hotel. It's not his wind or his legs, of course. He has bad ankles, which is what keeps him from being a runner. Even in my dream, I knew this. Alas, the alarm went off before I could find out how far JRA could run.

Right after the alarm, I set out to find out how far I could run. I've been running my long runs after church on Sundays, but I decided to run early today. I like sleeping in, and of course the weather is nicer at noon than it is at 5:00 a.m. But that sure takes a chunk out of my day. With half the morning spent in church, and half the afternoon spent on the road, I don't have much of a Sunday. And today, I had work to do. So it was up at 4:30 and out the door.

I'm happy with my effort this morning. It was dead slow, but I ran 19.2 miles, with no unscheduled walk breaks. I was tired at the end, but frankly not as bad as I was two weeks ago when I ran 17 miles. Actually, I'm not sure I was as tired as I was Friday when I ran six. In any case, it's a good job that I took the day off, yesterday, because I doubt I would have made it otherwise.

This image is from Michigan's Internet Railroad History Museum. It depicts "Grand Rapids Dam, on the Menominee River, southwest of Ingalls, Michigan in Menominee." In other words, it's back there, where I just ran away from. But it was about the only thing that came up when I googled Ingalls, Michigan that was actually from this area, so there it is.

Day 1098 -- Stephenson

The Tivoli Theater in Stephenson, Michigan.

At the beginning of the month, I set a goal not to miss a scheduled day of running in March. I almost blew it today. I turned off the alarm, rolled over, and slept for an extra two hours. However, it was Friday, and I didn't have any reason to stick around late in the afternoon, so I came home and ran six in the afternoon.

Problem solved, right? Well, I imagine it's problem postponed. Because I don't see any way I'm going to run tomorrow. With a late afternoon run today, and 18 miles scheduled on Sunday, I'm going to need a day off.

Days 1096 and 1097 -- Welcome to Michigan

I actually ran into Michigan yesterday, but I didn't have time to post it. After five and a half miles yesterday, and six today, I'm well past Menominee, Michigan. However, I always try to post a welcome sign. And this one is actually from a web page devoted to Parks and Things around Menominee and Marinette, twin cities on either side of the border. The web page says this is the sign at the foot of the Interstate Bridge. I can't tell if I ran across the Interstate Bridge, or not. So I may not have actually seen this sign, but it's around here somewhere.

Day 1095 -- Marinette

I'm a little surprised that I haven't hit CardCow before. It is a site devoted to vintage postcards. You'd think that they would have turned up in searching for town names some time in the last four years.

In any case this is a vintage postcard of the Lauerman Building in Marinette, Wisconsin. The CardCow site doesn't give a lot of detail about the building (such as, is it still there) but it does say that the postcard is linen, and was published by E. C. Kropp Co. Alas, the original has been sold.

It was nice enough this morning to run outside, but I went for the dreadmill, instead. I had a tempo run scheduled, and it's particularly easy to do a tempo run on the dreadmill. I can control my pace and my time pretty exactly. And, since I'm paid up through the end of the month, it doesn't cost me any extra. I have another tempo run next Tuesday, and I'll probably go back again, but the week after that will be April, and I'll have to come up with a different plan.

Day 1094 -- Peshtigo

I'll bet that you've heard of the second biggest fire that started on October 8, 1871. There's no truth to the legend of Mrs. O'Leary's cow knocking over a lantern, but the Great Chicago Fire was real enough. It destroyed about 2000 acres of downtown Chicago, killed about 250 people, and did over $200 million worth of damage.

The Great Peshtigo Fire started the exact same night, some 250 miles north of Chicago. It burned 1.5 million acres of Wisconsin and upper Michigan. In Peshtigo alone, about 800 people were killed, which was about half the town's population. Overall, the Peshtigo Fire killed somewhere between 1200 and 2400 people. I couldn't find a figure for monetary damage, but taken all together, I imagine it at least rivaled the value of downtown Chicago.

There were at least two other major fires in the Midwest that started that same night. All these fires were driven by strong winds after weeks of drought.

In the picture above, you see me running in front of the Peshtigo Fire Museum. It is housed in one of the first churches built in Peshtigo after the fire.

One other note about the fire: Ken Lonnquist, one of my favorite local singer/songwriters, has a cool song about it. I found the lyrics on his web site, but you really need to hear it to get the haunting, driving melody. I recommend you buy the album, and support Ken.

Oh, yeah, I made it to Peshtigo today by running 13 miles. The schedule said 12, but I pushed it a little. It was a nice run to end the week. Next week, my long run is supposed to push back up to 18 miles. I'm not sure I could have done 18 today, but luckily I didn't have to.

Day 1093 -- Lena

From Carl's Picassa Web Album, helpfully labeled "Wandering Across Wisconsin", a cheese store in Lena. Carl says that their business has dropped off since the new highway came through. So if you are in the Lena area, take the trip off the highway to support small business.

I did a very easy four this morning on the dreadmill. I'm wondering if this will be my last time of the season. I have a monthly membership at the fitness club, and I won't be won't be renewing for April. We'll see how the weather holds up for the next ten days. After that, no more dreadmill.

Day 1092 -- Oconto

From TripAdvisor.com, the Beyer Home Museum in Oconto. Mrs. Jogger and I are suckers for beautiful old homes like this one. When we win the lottery, we're going to buy an old home like this and just live in it.

I ran about 5.5 miles this morning. I was only supposed to run five, but I got too enthusiastic. I ran outside, but now Mother Nature is treating Wisconsin to some snow, so it looks like the treaded dreadmill tomorrow.

Day 1091 -- Abrams

Another Flikr photo, this one from Oetiii. This is the Trackside Tavern in Abrams.

This morning was my last run in Grandma Jogger's town. This afternoon, we'll drive back up to Joggerville. There are four more days in Spring Break. I've gotten a bit of work done, and had a bit of rest. Monday, it will be back to the grind.

Day 1090 -- Little Suamico

A little north of Suamico, you'll find Little Suamico. Little Suamico weighs in just under half the population of Suamico. Still, at 4000 people, I hardly think it deserves the advice "Don't Blink" that Not So Far Trucker has given on his Flikr page. That advice is with the photo below, but I like the photo above, also Not So Far Trucker's, a lot more. Of course, it's hard to tell the scale on that guy. I'm hoping I'm somewhere in the right range.


I ran an easy six today in the streets of Grandma Jogger's town. It's still a little windy, but overall it was a good run.

Day 1089 -- Suamico

Just north of Green Bay is the village of Suamico. At about 10,000 people, it's roughly the size of Joggerville, but I imagine that it has a different feel to it. Joggerville is the largest town in SW Wisconsin, but Suamico sits there in the shadow of Green Bay. I lifted this image from Photobucket. It's not clear to me exactly why it is there.

I didn't run yesterday, of course, but I took three of the little Joggers and we drove down to visit Grandma Jogger and the Photographer. This morning, when I went to run, I couldn't find my running shoes. I decided that I had neglected to pack them, so I just went out and ran in my regular shoes, which are, after all, decommissioned running shoes. Of course, when I got back, I found the bag with my running shoes. Oh, well.

It was a good run. I was shooting for five miles, but I don't know the distances in Grandma's town that well. After I got back, I mapped out my run on the computer, and it came out to 5.00 miles. Not bad. I held a nice pace, too, so it was a good run. Tomorrow, a little longer, but a little slower.

Day 1088 -- Lambeau Field

No visit to Wisconsin would be complete without a trip to Lambeau Field, the home of the Green Bay Packers. I chose this particular photo of Lambeau, from Askville, because this is what the stadium looked like the only time I was ever in it. In May of 2008, I ran the Cellcom Green Bay Half Marathon, which finishes with one lap around the inside of Lambeau. Of course, in the spring, it's not full of rabid football fans, but it still gave me a thrill to run through it. For bonus coolness, below is the Lambeau Atrium.


It was a beautiful day for a run today. It was about 55 degrees and mostly sunny. A little bit windier than the ideal, I guess, but it wasn't too bad. I knew from the outset that I wasn't going to have an easy time. So I tried to take it slow, and in fact, I feel like I kept a pretty steady pace for all 17.8 miles. I did do a little bit more walking in the last few miles than I had planned, but I also finished the run, and I feel good about it.

The day has just slipped away from me. I slept fairly late, and with the time change, that turned into really late. I didn't actually have to rush to get ready for church, but I also didn't have any extra time. After church, I went out for my run, and that took a little over three hours. With warm-up, cool-down, and a shower, I really didn't even sit down to the computer until 5:00. I'm really, really glad that it is Spring Break, and I don't have work to do before tomorrow.

Day 1087 -- Greenleaf

From Stratushead's Flikr stream, a barn near Greenleaf.

This morning, it was cool and windy, with a drizzly rain. I didn't feel like running in that weather, so I went to Snap Fitness. It was OK. It seemed like a long five miles. I think I was bored more than tired. We'll see whether the weather is conducive to an outside run tomorrow.

Day 1086 -- Wrightstown

It's been a while since I visited Railpictures.net. They seem to pop up kind of randomly. Of course, they don't appear except when I'm around a railroad track. This is a GE C44-9W from the Illinois Central Railroad. Enjoy.

This morning was my first early morning outdoor run of the year. My previous outdoor runs have been in the afternoon. But this morning, it was finally nice enough for an outdoor six miler, and it felt great!

Day 1085 -- Little Chute

One of these people -- presumably number 18 -- is Riker Le Noble, a baseball player at Little Chute High School. I found Riker's picture on an interesting web site: BeRecruited.com. The site says its job is "Connecting High School athletes and College Coaches." So if you are a college baseball coach, Riker is available. As far as I know. BeRecruited.com lists six athletes from Little Chute -- two baseball players, one boys basketball player, one boys soccer player, one girls cross country runner, and one softball player. I'm sure that if you dig around, you can find out the criteria for getting yourself listed on the site. I'm willing to guess that money is involved.

I didn't feel bad this morning. I ran a little over five miles, with some bursts of "speed" alternated with my normal jogging.

Day 1084 -- Appleton

I just about got fooled again. I Googled "Appleton Wisconsin", and came up with this image of a big penny, from George Barker's web site where he documents his motorcycle tours of the country. If you scroll down, you can see where George says "Appleton, Wisconsin is located about 30 miles south of Green Bay and about 100 miles north of Milwaukee. Here is a sample of one trip to one of the world's largest things." Sounds like the penny is in Appleton, doesn't it? But no. I checked with The World's Largest Collection of the World's Smallest Versions of the World's Largest Things, and this penny is in Woodruff, Wisconsin, way the hell up north. So I'm not here, and I can't use this photo.


Instead, I will use this nice photo of a Houdini-themed fiberglass lion from in front of Appleton's History Museum. That is, I assume that it is in front of Appleton's History Museum, if the Intelligent Traveler blog from National Geographic Traveler is to be trusted. And if I didn't misunderstand them.

I did an easy five miles this morning. I'm still sore, but not too bad. I survived, anyway.

Day 1083 -- Neenah

I'm approaching Neenah, which is the finish line for the Community First Fox Cities Marathon, so I thought I'd post this montage that I made from my FCM photos. I made a print of this and put it in a frame on my desk at the office. A few people have commented, although it's often hard to see behind the mound of crap on my desk.

I did a tempo run this morning -- ten minutes slow, fifteen minutes fast, ten minutes slow. It felt OK, but we'll see how the week progresses. I'm awfully tired, and I've got a long week scheduled.

Who's on your list?

I sat down today to make a list of people I know who have battled cancer. It didn't take long for the list to fill up. My brother. Both grandmothers. My aunt J, who just died of cancer this last month. Other relatives and friends, teachers, students, and colleagues. Some have lost the battle, but others live on, perhaps to fight again some day. I'm sure you have your own list, and it's pretty extensive.

We have made progress. More people are surviving longer. The American Cancer Society estimates that 11 million cancer survivors will celebrate a birthday this year, thanks in part to the work of the ACS.

This year, I am again raising money for the American Cancer Society through their Charity Runner program, which has been renamed DetermiNation. (Hey, I didn't name it.) If you'd like to contribute, please go to my fundraising web page. My goal is to raise $500.

Day 1082 -- UW-Oshkosh

I couldn't leave the Oshkosh area without a stop to visit the math department at UW-Oshkosh. This is their Math/Stats Club. The fellow in the tie right in front of me is their adviser, just one of my many friends at UW-O. As a group, they are very active in the Wisconsin Section of the MAA, so I know quite a few of them. In fact, the spring Section meeting will be in Oshkosh this year, on April 16 and 17. Be sure to come on by. It will be a whee of a time.

It rained overnight, and was still at least threatening at noon, so I used that as an excuse to go to the gym for my long run. The real reason, of course, is that I didn't know if I had 15 miles in me, but if I ran on the track, with no hills, there was an outside chance that I would make it. As it was, I just barely did. The last three to five miles were on pure stubbornness. I think it helped that I had posted my goal twice here in JogAmericaBlog in the last two days. I didn't want to have to get back on today and say that I only made 13, or 10, or 7, or whatever. So know, world, that I made the full 15 today.

I might as well say that next Sunday's goal is 17. Wish me luck!

Day 1081 -- Nearing Oshkosh

Not quite to Oshkosh today, but if I actually run 15 miles tomorrow, I'll be passing it. So some time tomorrow, you'll be able to see this sign. Except that I think there's still a lot of snow on the ground in Oshkosh. And Don Irminger apparently hasn't updated his web page since 2002, so it's likely that he isn't there any more.

I slept in this morning -- Heaven! -- then got up and graded. At noon I went out for an easy five miles. It was fine, but I don't know if I'm going to get 15 in tomorrow. We'll see. Then, just for a change, I spent the rest of the day grading. I have two more problems to grade on the Calc exam, and I'm seriously thinking about letting them go until tomorrow.

Day 1080 -- Ripon

Ripon is ten or fifteen miles to the west, but its worth a little detour to visit Ripon College. Its a nice little liberal arts school. I have a couple of connections there. I went to graduate school with one of their graduates, who in fact worked with the same adviser as I. I also know several people on their math faculty, including one who was the chair of our section of the Mathematical Association of America. I like him and respect him a lot. Enough to take the time for a quick visit.

Ripon, the town, is also the birthplace of the modern Republican party. But we wont hold that against them.

By the way, this is Middle Hall, which I found on the site for the Historic Campus Architecture Project, from the Council of Independent Colleges.

I ran six miles this morning, but it wasn't easy. I could just barely drag myself out the door. I wanted to crawl back into bed and sleep until, say, Wednesday. But I had to run, so I did. Now I'm supposed to do five miles tomorrow, and another fifteen on Sunday, for a total of...wait a minute...I have a calculator around here somewhere...Anyway, it's going to be a good long weekend. If I make ti.

Google Ads

I hadn't really noticed that Google has added ads to the confirmation page when I post a new entry, but this one caught my eye. Since I had just posted a link to a dairy, obviously I'm in the market for Organic Valley Milk e-coupons. Makes sense to me.

Day 1079 -- Rosendale

Green Source Automation says that "The Rosendale Dairy, part of the MilkSource dairy group, is the largest, most innovative facility's of its type in the state of Wisconsin." Of course, this is because Rosendale Dairy is a customer of Green Source Automation. So right there, you know that they have business savvy coming out their wazoos.

I ran this morning at the fitness center. Not really long, but with bursts of intensity. It felt good. I'm almost caught up on sleep, and starting to feel vaguely human.

Days 1077 and 1078 -- Waupun

This collection of travel photos by Galen R. Frysinger is an embarrassment of riches when it comes to photos of Waupun. I had plenty of choices for which photos to stick myself into. I opted for the pink house, because it's so cute, and the library, because I love libraries. Actually, I guess it's the old library.

Frysinger has a bunch of other photos of various towns and events throughout the state. I suspect I'll visit him again.


I ran yesterday, but never got a chance to post it. I gave an evening exam, which lasted until almost 10:00. Way past my bedtime. I ran another six this morning, and that was just about all that helped me make it through the day. By the end of the day, I was really dragging. Tonight, an early bed, and hopefully a full night's sleep.