One of my favorite blogs/newssite is the Boston Globe’s the Big Picture.

With its vibrant oversized photographs and minimalist design, the Boston Globe’s The Big Picture weblog launched on June 1 to instant global acclaim. It’s designed, programmed, and written by Alan Taylor, an old-school web programmer and blogger, in his spare time while working on community features at Boston.com.

Read the interview with Alan Taylor, creator of the Big Picture. Pretty neat stuff…

I wasn’t suppose to start week 8 until tuesday but I was bursting with energy yesterday. Although I ran on Saturday as well and the thoughts of a repeat of W7D2 (no resting day) were looming I finished it pretty strong!

Steady heart rate, easy pace and controlled breathing made this one of the easiest runs so far. No pain in my legs or side stitches. I just couldn’t pass the opportunity of doing this run in a weekend when I have plenty of time and the weather is actually cooperating.

I also realized when I finished my run I’m only two minutes away from being a 30-minute runner. It’s unbelievable how fast these past 7 weeks went. I can see the finish line!

I ended Week 7 of the C25K on a high note. So much better then the previous two runs. Although I had a fairly long walk of 3.11 miles friday night my legs were in good shape this morning. I got up at 6:30 and started my run at 7AM. Temperature was a ‘cool’ 68F (20C), nothing compared to the high 90’s I ran on day 1, 2 and the day 2 encore (see previous post).

I ran along the old familiar route of the Santa Rosa Creek, just outside my door. No need to drive my car first which is so much more convenient. The trail has some elevation but I consider it as a plus these days.

click to enlarge

Its only an elevation of 12.6 meters over a 2.5 mile course so not too bad. The above image is from runningmap.com, a website were you can create free custom maps with some pretty cool features. One of them is the elevation display. There are a ton of free mapping services on the web but I like the clean look of runningmap.com

I also changed my powersong on my Nike+: Guerilla Radio - Rage Against the Machine and it got me fired up in my last 5 minutes of the run! Check the stats in the right-column. I’m ready for week 8!

Since I missed my last 5 minutes of W7D2 the previous day I decided to run it all over again yesterday. Bad idea… I really needed a rest day so 15 minutes in my run my legs just shut down. The end… Slowly I walked back to the car and that was it.

Reality check: make use of your resting days and don’t go out and run with a temperature of 97F (36C). You are asking for trouble…

So today no running for me. I’m looking forward to Saturday though! I’ll finish week 7 early in the morning, beating the forecast of low 100’s again this weekend.

Well… After a frustrating day at the office my run was equal. I decided to bring my dog along since she was whining the minute I came home to change clothes. Somehow I knew it would be a bad choice…

When I arrived at the trail there were no cars in sight, a good sign! Since it was pretty hot (93F) I figured the trail would be empty and I could take her off leash.

Physically I felt great! even with the heat I had no problem maintaining my pace. Although slow, I was moving. With 5 minutes to go (todays run was 25 min.) another dog showed up with her owner. California is well known for their leash law and apparently most lawsuits involve dog biting. I didn’t feel like becoming party of this statistic so I had to grab my dog.

It threw off my running rhythm but I thought I would run another minute on top of the 25 to make balance things. As soon as the dog passed, another couple came around the bend… I gave up.

Running with my pooch is fun when no one is around. when people are on the track it becomes impossible. I finished my run/walk frustrated and angry. I guess this was one of these days things are not going the way I wanted.

I will run W7D2 again tomorrow, no matter what. And the pooch stays home…

The summer of ‘08 comes to an end and the last two weeks are simply gorgeous. True, heat waves are usually not that fun but we are fortunate enough to be close to the ocean so it cools off significantly during the night. I brought out my nearly dead iBook and figured out how to bypass the corrupted hard drive.

I installed Mac OS 10.4 on my old 4G iPod (once again thanks bro’ for this awesome gift back in ‘04!) and using it as my start-up drive. All I need for surfing the web and posting blogs is Firefox and MarsEdit, my preferred stand alone blogging tool. Images and other related stuff I can pull of my 2 GHz iMac using a local network. It’s so easy to set up on a Mac!

Ah… the wine bottle reminds me to get another one for dinner. Isn’t life great?

Since today is a national holiday (Labor Day) I decided to start Week 7 a day earlier as scheduled. Temperatures are expected to go up in the 100’s again later this week so I might as well take advantage of the cool morning. I took my dog to my new found trail along the creek and once again I ran 2.25 miles instead of 25 minutes.

The new spot kinda reminds me of the Netherlands, flat and a view that stretches a few miles. Not as beautiful as the picture below but it has a similar feel.

Dutch scenery

The run was pretty smooth and I recorded another PR for the mile! The goal of 5K (30 minutes) is in reach! Being in week 7 the unavoidable questions of what’s next arises.

Finishing the C25K is just part of the bigger picture. I want to run 5K every other day after the program. I’m also flirting with the thought of commuting to work by bike after the winter. This will add 2 X 8 miles to my workout and I already have set my mind to this bike.

I’m also looking into purchasing a treadmill for the winter time. We normally have a pretty wet season and I don’t see myself running in the rain a lot. Once racking up enough milage I probably start training for a 10K. These are my ’short’ list options.

Want to know the long list? Well… I figured if I can run a 10K I pretty much could double the run and make it half a marathon (20.1K). To continue: why not make it a full marathon! Ha, I’m getting a little carried away here given the fact that I couldn’t run for 1 minute 7 weeks ago… but hey, seeing results of the C25K, the impossible all of a sudden becomes possible.

This morning I ran Day 3 of Week 6. Instead of the 25 minute run I went for the 2.25 mile run. I didn’t use a podcast either but recorded just the run to see what my current pace is.

Well, I completed the run in 23 minutes and 26 seconds! As always my first mile is the hardest one. My legs were cramping up and I felt my running form was plain terrible… Once in mile 2 things looked slightly better. I had to fight to finish the run but in the end I set a new PR for the mile: 11′12″/mi.

Week 6 is done and from now on all the sessions will be one continuos run. My plan is to run 25 minutes on day 1 and 2 of week 7. Day 3 I will go for the distance (2.5 mile) instead of 25 minutes.

Today Aleisha and I had our anniversary lunch at Syrah in Santa Rosa. It’s a great place for lunch and dinner.

Syrah’s monthly changing menu showcases Sonoma seasonal cuisine. Chef Josh Silvers finds his inspiration from Sonoma’s incredible artisan producers and the vast array of fresh, organic produce available in California. An active Slow Food member, Josh consistently focuses on organic and sustainably farmed fruits and vegetables. He calls Sonoma County a “Chef’s playground”. Josh’s goal, he says, is to create deeply flavored soul-satisfying comfort food and take it to a higher level of sophistication.

Some pictures of our lunch: