Posted via email from Chiposterous

I don’t often do Sunday runs, but given the pleasant weather today (30 degrees, no wind) and the impending snow threat for Tuesday and Wednesday, I figured today was my pick-day for at least the next few. 

The 5 Mile Trail parallels and then extends beyond the end of 5 Mile Road – hence its name. In truth, the Trail is only 4 miles long, but the hills (between 100 and 200 ft in elevation) add significantly to the challenge.  I hadn’t run the nicely-paved Trail since last summer, and then I could not run the length of the Trail back and forth without pulling up for a walk. Now I can. Today I beat the Trail.  4 miles in under 36 minutes, non-stop. Another small victory.

Posted via email from Chiposterous

… no matter how often I think I could run their store better than they run it.

ECHO meets every Saturday morning at 7am at the Parkside Christian Church at 6986 Salem Road in Anderson Township, about a mile from my house.  Anyone is welcome to join us, any week.  No membership, no dues, just a bunch of friends who like to run.  Some of those ECHO friends are exceptionally accomplished runners (Boston Marathoners, Ironman Triathletes), but others are recreational.  They’ve been most welcoming for a rookie like me.

The ECHO bunch runs a 6-mile route every week.  Most weeks it’s this course, which is nearly flat.

The ECHO pace is usually 8:30-8:45 per mile, though there are some who go faster and some who’ll go slower.  I keep up, but the 8:30 pace is at the fast-end of my comfort level.  I’ll get faster.

Day 2 – January 2 – 7am – Anderson Township – 6 miles in 51:28, an 8:34/mile pace.  Good run.  My coldest run ever: temperature 15 degrees with a wind-chill near 0.  Light snow flurries that occasionally hit your face.  I wore a yellow Nike hoodie and a skull cap, with a long-sleeve shirt and long running pants.   I was warm enough everywhere, except for my hands.  I wore the gloves that I bought the day before the Columbus Half back in October.  The gloves are perfect for 25 degrees, but I found them wholly unacceptable for 15 degrees.  My hands froze for 3 miles until I retreated my hands back into my hoodie sleeves for extra warmth. 

The amazing thing about ECHO – there were 15 runners joining today’s run, even in such cold weather.  An ECHO bonus: after each run the group reconvenes at Big Apple Bagles, at Salem and Beechmont, for a post-race bagel.

My only regret – I wish I had brought a camera to capture the essence of running in frozen weather.

The Flying Pig Marathon is Cincinnati’s marathon, and this year I’m running. I hope.  The training starts now.  The race is Sunday May 2, which means there’s 120 days from now til then.  That’s 17 weeks, perfect time to start ramping up my runs, my mileage and my speed.

I’ve got my MapMyRun training plan all set.  All it takes now is 1) good health and 2) willpower, and it sure would be nice to have some 3) warmer weather.   I’ll post short updates here as I go along.

Day 1 – January 1 – 3pm – Anderson Township – 3 miles in and around the neighborhood, a very slow 9:30 pace for no apparent reason, temperatures in the mid-20’s with no wind.   I chose a shorter route because I knew I had a 6-miler with the ECHO Running Club early the next morning.

But I’ve always taken grocery shopping in a personal way.  I have to love the store.  And when there’s something I don’t like, I hate it.  Either way, I have strong passions.  And after months of being frustrated with 2 different issues I routinely encounter on my weekly visits to Kroger, I finally felt I had to get them off my chest with this e-mail to their customer service form on their website:

For background, our records show our family has spent about $6,000 at this particular Kroger store already in 2009.  We’re very loyal shoppers.

We wouldn’t be so loyal if we didn’t think the store was nice, or the people were friendly, and the prices were competitive.  The store is all that.  We like shopping there. But there are two things that detract from my shopping experience every week, and I’m hoping you can fix them.

1) Your rain check policy is onerous at best, ridiculous at worst.  When I’m tasked with the family shopping, I usually shop on Sunday afternoons.  I’m never surprised to find at least 1 or 2 of the weekly sale items already sold out.  That’s not what bothers me.  What bothers me is that your managers won’t ever substitute a similar product (competitor or house brand, for instance) and award a similar discount.  Last week, Froot Loops were on sale, but only the smallest box had a discount.  The medium-sized box was not on sale.  Why can’t your store managers approve a discount on the same product, when one size is out of stock? 

RAIN CHECKS ARE NOT THE ANSWER.  They require 2 things for me to get the savings:  1) for me to remember to bring the rain check next time to go to the store, and 2) for me to still *need* the same item then that I tried to buy now. Rarely happens.  I have been issued at least 10 rain checks this year by your customer service staff, but I’ve only redeemed one of them.   Beyond that, more than once I’ve had to wait 5-8 minutes at your customer service counter just to be seen by a clerk, and then wait another 3-5 minutes while the clerk runs off into the store to find the exact description of the sold-out item so he/she could then hand-write it on the rain check.  That’s ridiculous.

2) I always use self-checkout, even with bigger orders.  I LOVE self-checkout because I’m fast at it, and because I can scan every price to make sure I’m paying for the right things.  The only thing I hate about self-checkout is having the clerk come up to you midway through your transaction and put little security stickers over all my loose soda, juice and milk bottles.  Those stickers 1) damage the product, and 2) are just a symbol of Kroger *NOT TRUSTING* me as a customer.   I’m a good customer.  I pay a lot of money to you, and I get good value in return.  But if Kroger DOESN’T TRUST ME, then why should I continue to shop there?   What’s even worse is when the clerk puts the sticker on your loose items, but doesn’t even acknowledge you otherwise, by simply saying “hi” or “welcome” or ask you if you found everything OK. 

I brought this to the attention of an assistant manager of this particular store, about 5 weeks ago.  I was told the store manager would be able to call me back the next business day.  I’ve yet to receive a call from him.  That’s a shame.

Those are my two issues.  Thank you for listening. I’m sure I’ll be back in your store next weekend. 

We’ll see if/how they respond.  Either way, I’ll be back.