As I write, a second blizzard is hammering the already crippled city of Baltimore. The city's streets are closed to civilian traffic; only emergency vehicles and the National Guard have access to the roads. I ran through the first blizzard, accumulating at least 21 miles - a recovery run and a hilly long run - in the 48-hour period surrounding the storm. Yesterday, however, I broke down and decided it was time to utilize my apartment complex's fitness room, which houses two treadmills.

I began my treadmill odyssey with great trepidation, with a bad treadmill experience from December still fresh in my mind. Interestingly, the run went smoothly; I ran 8.1 miles in 57:00 at my maintenance run pace.

Despite this physical and psychological victory, I could not shake my anxiety about completing a tempo workout on treadmill; running an easy pace for an hour is substantively different than running half marathon for the first time on a treadmill. Accordingly, I approached this workout as I would any other daunting challenge; I prepared mentally and sought to best my opponent (the treadmill and my self-doubting mind) by relentlessly pursuing my goal.

The mental preparation worked nicely, and the results served as a tremendous and much need confidence boost. I ran 2 x 15:00 at project lactate threshold pace, and completed the workout relatively effortlessly, running the entire 6 miles, which includes both LT intervals as well as the recovery run, in 34:11, 5:41 per mile. I averaged about 5:34 pace for the first 15:00 workbout, though this includes the awkward 20 seconds of getting the treadmill up to speed. I haven't done the math for the second interval, but I am certain I averaged around 5:31 pace, since 10:00 of the workbout was at 5:30 pace or quicker (5:27 for the last 2:00 or so). I probably spent 31:00 at lactate threshold pace. A fine workout for this time of year, considering my longest LT workout will be 2 x 20:00.

In other running news, I am reading sections of Roger Robinson's "Running in Literature: A Guide for Scholars, Readers, Runners, Joggers, and Dreamers". Books like this have sparked my interest in the history of distance running. As a historian by training and an educator/interpreter by trade, I feel especially drawn to and equipped for studying the history of this sport. I am hoping to use this Robinson's book to identify other literary and historical works about distance running, particularly those that explore post-WWII era (1948 - present). Given the voluminous work on other sports, I think American distance running needs more historians, scholars who seek to uncover, analyze, inform, and entertain, giving historical voice and a meta-narrative for the "lonely breed". I think I will continue my study with Kenny Moore's "Best Efforts: Stories of Great Runners and Great Races". If you have other suggestions, please drop a note.