I took up running in 1998 as I was about to turn 30 years old, and ran my first race on June 20, 1998, when I completed Grandma's Marathon in my hometown of Duluth, Minnesota in a very pedestrian four hours and 26 minutes, wearing the same high-top trail running shoes that I'd trained in.

Over the next seven years running took on a more serious role in my life, until in 2006, six marathons and many thousands of miles later, over-training injuries forced me to switch to a more recreational form of running. Since then I've made several attempts to come back to running seriously, however further injuries from trying to do too much fast mileage too soon thwarted my efforts.

In the fall of 2009 I began to run more frequently again, and in 2010 I've been running more miles than I have since 2005, trying to first return to my prime racing weight, and to ultimately get in top shape to take a shot at breaking as many of my personal running records as I can.

My running records were all set when I was in top shape at age 35 and 36. I'll be 42 in the fall, and feel that I probably never reached the upper limits of my running abilities, so I plan on doing what I can to take a shot at topping my old personal records, which I've listed below for the sake of nostalgia.

Lane's Running Personal Records

Coldest Run
-26F, -52F wind chill
January 30, 2004
Duluth, Minnesota

Longest Streak of Consecutive 2+ Mile Days
125 days
October 11, 2001 through February 12, 2002

Longest Single Run and Best Day's Total
27 miles, hilly trails
Half Voyageur Trail Marathon
July 14, 2001

Best Week's Total
73.1 miles
April 12, 2004

Best Month's Total
231.1 miles
April, 2004

Best Year's Total
2,003 miles
2003

1 mile - 5:31
5:31 pace
April 27, 2005
Age 36
First mile split in 5K

2 miles - 11:52
5:56 pace
February 24, 2005
Age 36

2.5 miles - 14:50
5:56 pace
March 2, 2005
Age 36

3 miles - 18:45
6:15 pace
December 31, 2004
Age 36

5K - 19:18
6:12 pace
May 25, 2005
Age 36

4 miles - 26:40
6:40 pace
February 2, 2005
Age 36

5 miles - 33:20
6:40 pace
February 2, 2005
Age 36

6 miles - 41:11
6:51 pace
August 16, 2003
Age 35

10K - 42:33
6:50 pace
August 16, 2003
Age 35

7 miles - 48:44
6:57 pace
September 23, 2003
Age 35

8 miles - 56:06
7:00 pace
September 13, 2003
Age 35

9 miles - 1:03:02
7:00 pace
September 13, 2003
Age 35

10 miles - 1:09:55
6:59 pace
September 13, 2003
Age 35

11 miles - 1:16:14
6:55 pace
September 13, 2003
Age 35

12 miles - 1:22:23
6:51 pace
September 13, 2003
Age 35

13 miles - 1:28:47
6:49 pace
September 13, 2003
Age 35

Half Marathon - 1:29:23
6:49 pace
September 13, 2003
Age 35

14 miles - 1:42:29
7:19 pace
June 18, 2005
Age 36

15 miles - 1:50:36
7:22 pace
June 18, 2005
Age 36

16 miles - 1:58:39
7:24 pace
June 18, 2005
Age 36

17 miles - 2:08:23
7:33 pace
June 18, 2005
Age 36

18 miles - 2:18:11
7:40 pace
June 18, 2005
Age 36

19 miles - 2:27:27
7:45 pace
June 18, 2005
Age 36

20 miles - 2:38:10
7:54 pace
June 18, 2005
Age 36

21 miles - 2:49:12
8:03 pace
June 18, 2005
Age 36

22 miles - 2:59:49
8:10 pace
June 18, 2005
Age 36

23 miles - 3:11:00
8:18 pace
June 18, 2005
Age 36

24 miles - 3:22:08
8:25 pace
June 18, 2005
Age 36

25 miles - 3:32:39
8:30 pace
June 18, 2005
Age 36

26 miles - 3:42:39
8:33 pace
June 18, 2005
Age 36

Marathon - 3:49:41
8:45 pace
June 18, 2005
Age 36

27 miles - 5:35:05
(hilly trails)
12:24 pace
July 14, 2001
Age 32
Half Voyageur Trail Marathon

Lakewalk East End By Condos To Pier And Back, 4.3 miles - 28:56
6:43 pace
October 15, 2005
Age 36

Lane's Chronological Racing Results

June 20, 1998
Grandma's Marathon, my first race of any kind!
Road
4:26:59
10:10 pace
2948 out of 6657

October 3, 1998
U.M.D. Homecoming 5K
Trails
22:56
7:22 pace
17 out of about 90
1st in age group

April 17, 1999
Fitger's 5K
Road
21:49
7:01 pace

April 24, 1999
U.M.D. Tennies For Tanzania 5K
Trails
21:30
6:55 pace
12 out of 138
2nd in age group

July 14, 2001
Half Voyageur Trail Marathon
Rough trails
5:35:05
12:24 pace

February 2, 2002
Grantsburg Frigid 5K
Road
21:06
6:47 pace
5th overall
1st in age group
Age group course record

June 22, 2002
Grandma's Marathon
Road
3:57:09
9:02 pace
829 out of 1580

July 4, 2002
Superior 4th of July 5K
Road
22:23
7:12 pace
41 out of 97
3rd in age group

August 31, 2002
Shell Lake Town & County Days 5K
Road and Gravel
22:40
7:17 pace
15th out of 53
4th in age group

September 29, 2002
Twin Cities Marathon
Road
4:16:45
9:47 pace

December 7, 2002
Steve Chadwick 5K
Road (Lakewalk)
22:45
7:19 pace
12th overall
3rd in age group

April 12, 2003
Fitger's 5K
Road
21:15
6:50 pace
80th out of about 600
8th in 30-34 age group

April 26, 2003
UMD Spring Into Shape 5K
Trails
23:48
7:39 pace
15th out of about 150
2nd in 30-49 age group

June 21, 2003
Grandma's Marathon
Road
4:17:00
9:48 pace

July 4, 2003
Superior 4th of July 5K
Road
22:33
7:15 pace
1st in 30-34 age group

November 11, 2003
Steve Chadwick 5K
Road (Lakewalk)
20:26
6:34 pace
3rd overall
1st in 30-39 age group

March 20, 2004
Steve Chadwick 5K
Road (Lakewalk)
20:40
6:39 pace
4th overall
1st in 30-39 age group

April 16, 2005
Fitger's 5K
Road
19:47
6:22 pace
53rd out of about 900
8th in 35-39 age group

April 23, 2005
U.M.D. Spring Into Shape 5K
Trails
20:25
6:34 pace
13th out of about 150
2nd in 34-49 age group

April 27, 2005
C.S.S. Reif Run 5K
Road (hilly)
19:20
6:13 pace
8th out of about 200
1st in age group

June 1, 2005
N.M.T.C. Chester Bowl Trail Run 3.16 miles
Trails
22:59
7:16 pace

June 18, 2005
Grandma's Marathon
Road
3:49:41
8:45 pace
1751 out of 6885
244 out of 628 in age group

September 28, 2005
N.M.T.C. Chester Bowl Time Trial 4.3 miles
Trails
33:58
7:53 pace

My Old Standard Interval Workout, 8x400 at 5:33 pace:

1 mile warm-up     1.00
1/4M @ 10.8MPH 1.25 (5:33 pace)
.4M  @ 6.9MPH  1.65 (8:41 pace)
1/4M @ 10.8MPH 1.90
.4M  @ 6.9MPH  2.30
1/4M @ 10.8MPH 2.55
.4M  @ 6.9MPH  2.95
1/4M @ 10.8MPH 3.20
.4M  @ 6.9MPH  3.60
1/4M @ 10.8MPH 3.85
.4M  @ 6.9MPH  4.25
1/4M @ 10.8MPH 4.50
.4M  @ 6.9MPH  4.90
1/4M @ 10.8MPH 5.15
.4M  @ 6.9MPH  5.55
1/4M @ 10.8MPH 5.80
.4M  @ 6.9MPH  6.2 (10K)

I may post some of my old race reports eventually, but for now this concludes a glimpse into my running life.

Related Links:

• Grandma's Marathon
• Twin Cities Marathon
• Half Voyageur Trail Marathon
• Fitger's 5K
• Steve Chadwick 5K
• N.M.T.C. Wednesday Night Duluth, Minnesota Trail Races
• Austin-Jarrow
• I.A.A.F.
• Let's Run
• RunnerSpace
• FloTrack

Since I began using the Web when it was merely a curious new experiment to expand on the research possibilities the Internet was offering through tools such as Usenet, FTP, Archie and Veronica, I've seen many clever and amusing custom "Error 404 - Page Not Found" error messages, however one I just saw this morning from search giant Google may be the most surprising ever, and especially funny to my fellow technology nerds everywhere.

While researching Google's Caffeine search tweaks, I used Google.com to search for references to the service:

Clicking on the first result, Google's own servers returned the following amusing error message:

What does it say about a company as large and successful as Google when their own custom "Unavailable" message is itself unavailable? :-)

Earlier this year Mountain View, California-based Google added detailed digitized imagery of one small portion of Duluth, Minnesota -- the city where I live -- to its ongoing Google Maps Street View project, the Internet search giant's ambitious attempt to improve on traditional overhead satellite views by using special cameras mounted on the roof of cars. The result is a slice-in-time effect captured on film as Google employees in the specially equipped cars navigate streets worldwide, bringing Web visitors the most detailed images yet of buildings, traffic, people going about their daily business, and maybe even your house and car.

When Google made its initial Street View run through Duluth only a scant number of scenes from along the city's main thoroughfare, Superior Street, and a handful of other roads, were visited by the scanning car. While this provided curious Duluth residents a digital glimpse into their city on the shore of Lake Superior, the limited coverage left out most of the city and allowed only a very few people to see their homes and favorite local attractions in high resolution zoom-able Street View resolution. All that has now changed.

As of November 2009 Google has vastly expanded its Street View coverage of Duluth and the areas surrounding the city, as you can see by the image shown above featuring Duluth's Old Central High School building.

Since the Street View program began several years ago some citizens, businesses, cities and governments have taken legal action against Google on privacy grounds, and for its part the Web titan has made it easier to request that individual homes or other areas be blurred out.

When I first learned of Google's Street View update for Duluth I searched for my own home, and was able to clearly see my family's pet cat Marley sitting in a window and men working on a neighbor's house. After a bit more time exploring the new Google imagery I spotted my car parked in its usual spot during the work week, and captured a number of other Duluth area Street View scenes I present here. Marley the cat can be seen in the upper leftmost window in the image below.

The mapping of Duluth is not yet complete, and is likely to be continuing at present. While Google did not release any specific dates on which the new Street View images were photographed, clues from some Duluth scenes point to an ongoing project, such as an image of Duluth's recently-completed Skywalk walkway system through the downtown area as it was nearing completion, as shown below.

Recent Duluth dining additions inside the downtown Technology Center building, Kippis Tappas Bar and Takk for Maten Cafe, are also visible in the new Street View update as you can see in the image below or at the live Google Maps link.

One of Duluth's numerous historic parks, Chester Bowl, home of a small downhill ski area, a cross-country ski trail, and several massive ski jumps built early in the twentieth century when the city produced several Olympic jumpers, is among the new area covered by Google Maps Street View, as shown below. The largest of the ski jumps can be seen in the upper left of the image.

Far from the green hills of Duluth's parks are other more mundane buildings, parking lots, and businesses, such as the Kozy Bar in the downtown area, as shown below, complete with a somewhat bewildered man standing on the sidewalk nearby.

For those who may have secretly dreamt of traveling stealthily and risk-free through both the safe and the not-so-safe areas of a city in order to observe daily life, Street View provides a great voyeuristic solution. An image of a man in downtown Duluth dodging traffic on the busy main street was included in the new Google update, as you can see below.

 Duluth's public library and Saint Louis County Heritage and Arts Center's Historic Union Depot buildings can be seen in the follow image, along with the city's aerial lift bridge in the upper left.

Two additional Duluth images from Google's Street View update are shown below, the first featuring a number of people going about their business as a police car passes by, and the second showing Duluth's Ragstock clothing store.

Countless other scenes from daily life throughout Duluth and its surrounding area are bound to be found among the new Google Maps Street View imagery. If you live in Duluth, have lived there in the past, or know somebody who lives there, you're likely to enjoy exploring this new information.

In 1966 Donovan appeared as a guest on Pete Seeger's wonderful television program "Rainbow Quest", and the two played a pure and beautiful version of Donovan's song "Colours" together, as shown in the video clip below. I heard Donovan sing a rousing version of the song live in the early 1980s at a concert he played in Denver, Colorado at the now demolished Rainbow Music Hall. During his appearance on "Rainbow Quest" Donovan mentions Derroll Adams, who was his friend and much older musical mentor.

 During the same "Rainbow Quest" performance Donovan and fellow musician Shawn Phillips showed Pete Seeger and another guest on the program, the Reverend Gary David, how the sitar works, and as shown in the video excerpt below the two demonstrate the then-exotic Indian instrument in a melancholy version of Donovan's "Guinevere."

 In Donovan's autobiography, "The Autobiography of Donovan: The Hurdy Gurdy Man,"¹ a book I read a few years back, Donovan writes of "Colours":

"'Colours' was a little number with me on acoustic guitar and a double bass. I had bought a fine White Lady banjo on Cambridge Circus and accompanied myself in the style of Derroll Adams. The harmonica was there again, though this time I sucked blues-style in contrast to the Guthrie 'blow method.'"

What a treat it is to be able to see some of Donovan's early performances on Pete Seeger's unique show.

 ¹Donovan. (2005). The autobiography of Donovan: The hurdy gurdy man. New York: St. Martin's Press.