How to use this Page

I’m a runner. You can call me every insult in the book and I really won’t care. I will probably even laugh. But the second you call me a JOGGER…all bets are off.

———
Make your running even FASTER…posts HERE, HERE, and HERE.

More Runner’s Strip comics and cartoons HERE.
———

1) What’s something that non-runners say or ask you that may annoy you?

2) Do you use runner and jogger interchangeably or do you definitely keep the adjectives in line?

3) How do you usually react to insults?
Usually I do end up laughing.

My ability to function as an individual relies quite heavily on my running. Perhaps more correctly my ability to function as a sane and friendly person does.

I like to run first thing, I try to not go out into normal society until after my run…more out of a courtesy. I’m pretty sure I’m grouchier. It’s because something IS wrong with me, there’s a bit missing. It’s my ‘fix’ of miles and endorphins.

So please, for the sake of yourself and everyone else, don’t speak to me until after my run. I promise that I AM a kind, engaging, and humorous person. The pre-run version of myself…we’ll just think of that as my ugly, evil, non-running twin.

——
More cartoons HERE!
—–

1) When do you like to get your run in?

2) Do you definitely feel like you’re a different person pre and post run?

There is an art to simultaneously running and farting. To be properly mastered, it takes an expert combination of selective muscle control and timing with your stride.

That said, there are few things more gratifying than running and letting go of that abominable bubble of gas in your intestines. The joy of letting one rip is only exponentially rewarding when you’ve been carrying along a potential GI disaster for miles, painfully holding back, but then realize that rather than a number 2 on your hands, the mounting, monster pain-ball was only…GAS!! Pit stop averted.

Go along and keep perfecting your running farts, Runners. Though, what separates the Lukes from the Yodas among is are the ones who can relax/contract/time during races and hard workouts without losing so much of a millisecond off their pace.
——
GI issues for runners addressed HERE and HERE.

More Runner’s Strip and cartons HERE.
——

1) Worst GI nightmare run?

2) Name a time when you thought it was going to be a nightmare number 2 episode while running but then realized it was just a big ball of gas…you can’t tell me the amount of relief you feel is nearly euphoric.

3) Do you have any shame letting a painful gas ball go while running? Do you hold back during certain times or in certain company?

Please, Runners, if for no other reason than the sake of vanity do what you can to improve your form.

Joking aside, running with proper form will make you more efficient…running more efficient will make you faster. And hey, you won’t look like this poor sap running either…PERK!
——-
Posts all about form and how to improve yours HERE, HERE, and HERE.

More running cartoons HERE!
——-

1) What’s the craziest looking runner with poor form you’ve seen before? It’s okay if you were looking in the mirror.

2) How has your form improved? What form related work did you do or are you doing?

3) Finish this sentence: I may have poor form but at least I don’t look like…

4) Anyone racing this weekend?

You know the kind of feeling where your running shoes are staring up at you, two gaping black holes where your feet SHOULD be.

In case you ever need that extra shove out the door I introduce to you the latest line in running shoes. Other quotes include:

* Love me.
* Erase me.
* I see you.
* That pint will taste better earned.
* You can’t see any writing on a winner’s shoes.

Whatever your shoes are saying to you, don’t let them mock you. Shut them up. Put your feet in them and get running.
——-
MOTIVATION posts.
——-
1) What should be another quote/quip to add to our line or running shoes with sass?

2) What’s something you tell yourself if you’re lacking in the motivation department?
Remind myself that my own running guilt is NOT worth putting up with if I weenie out.

3) If we were to offer a line of spikes with writing on the soles, what should they read?
I think if we were to let people sharpie in some PR goals…just be ready to scratch out and re-sharpie.

Oh what a difference running crazy amounts of miles in training makes. Come time for that post-race break those racing shorts…errrr, ‘shoes’ may be fitting a little differently!

Sunday morning deserves some running cartoonage! That being said, we can poke fun but one needn’t get TOO would up over some post-race ‘love’ weight, giving the body a chance to recover is incredibly important and your racing will be much better off in the long-term.

On the flip side there is a difference between recovery and gluttony…haha. As with most all things in running and in life, it’s all about balance. Now, pass this runner the Pop-Tarts!
——-
POST on fueling for races.
POST with tips on runners eating out.
POST on the importance of the 30-minute refuel window.
POST on timing your fuel to best support your running performance.

Get more Running Cartoons HERE!
——-

1) When it comes time to break after a race or season, do you eat differently?

2) What are some of the things you do to give your body some TLC to recover after hard races or between seasons?

3) Favorite thing you treat yourself to after a great race?

Because holidays are just better the runner way.

Happy Running Easter…may you make it through the intervals before you barf and may you eat your weight in chocolate eggs and avoid a refund.
——-
More awesome cartoonage HERE!
——-

1) Do you tend to throw up after hard workouts or races?

2) Favorite kind of candy or chocolate goodie?
Cadbury does indeed rock, but Junior Mints are quite nice. But nothing beats Pop-Tarts.

Let’s be honest, shouldn’t runners ALWAYS have the right of way?


**I’ll put my disclaimer here at the onset so as to avoid any emails or comments reminding me about how important runner road safety is: ALL RUNNERS on the road need to be incredibly safe and conscientious of their surroundings. Awareness is imperative because most drivers not all drivers pay attention. I got hit by a car, it wasn’t fun, but I also know I wound up lucky because these accidents are far too common.

That said, I’ve professed my love of sarcasm and snarkidtude.

There should be a special kind of light that senses oncoming runners and automatically configures the stop lights accordingly. I mean they do it for fire trucks and ambulances, right?

That goes exponentially when it comes to actual hard workouts and tempo runs if you’re not blessed with a bike trail or a track to run them on. “I’m sorry, YOU are going to have to just honk away because if I stop now my heart rate will dip, thus negating the point of this tempo run.”

If I started just putting this random sign up do you think people would mind? It’s not tagging, and I mean runners would sort of be a ‘friendly gang’ if it were considered as such anyways.

Alas, alas, where’s the respect? Apparently getting to their jobs, making it to Starbucks for their fix, and Driving Miss Daisy has got people too impatient to give every runner, every time, everywhere the right of way.

———
Revisit my post on Road Running Safety.
———

1) Ever had a driver actually stop to let you pass when the didn’t have to.
Actually the STRANGEST thing happened to me once running in Seattle. There was no enforced traffic signs on a road, I saw a bus coming so started to stop to let it pass by, but the driver caught my eye, put on the breaks, STOPPED, and waved me forward. It was surreal, I’m sure I could almost hear the passengers complain, but I waved a big thanks! Haha.

2) Do you do much of your running on the road and around traffic? How do you stay aware and safe?

3) Do you run with an iPod or music when you’re on the road?
No, but I never run with music

4) If I put up this sign how fast do you think other people would take it down?

Tweet

But it’s the Rugburn produced motion comic Axe Cop — not the yet-to-premiere animated version that will debut in July as part of Fox’s ADHD adult animation block.

Whoa are you confused yet? Perhaps. But the bottom line is…there can not be too much Axe Cop. You’ll recall that the webcomic is written by 5-year-old Malachi Nicolle and drawn by 29-year-old Ethan Nicolle. Well that’s how old they were when this whole thing started—Malachi is now 9 year old. His maturing themes and concerns are not displayed in this short, which is based on “THE MOON WARRIORS” an early tale/

In the meantime, here’s a still from the Fox version.

Axe Cop is currently published by Dark horse.

Runners may have an odd way of expressing their affection for each other. But hey, if you’ve met your perfect match then they should totally get that being the ‘fart’ in this instance is a total compliment!

Shall we say that the two perfectly match strides?

Maybe true love always turns left together?

Perhaps even it’s not so much that I totally adore you’re company, as much that you push my @$$ to a new PR?

Bottom line: you know it’s a real match when you’re both out on a training run, one winds up injured or hurt, but their immediate response is, “Don’t stop the watch! Keep going, I’ll see you when you’re done!” #dontsacrificetherun

1) What are your favorite kinds of fartleks?
Maybe 3 minutes on two minutes off? Pyramid fartleks can be fun too.

2) Do you have a corny runner line like the one above?

3) If you’re on a run with other people and one is unable to keep going for whatever reason, what is your reaction?

In MY version of fairy tales, the princesses all run, with names like Kara Goucher and Shalane Flanagan. In my comic books the heros wear Dri-FIT racing gear, they don’t need pseudo-names, Dathan Ritzenhein and Meb Keflezighi will do just fine. The truth is in ‘normal people’ land that’s more than enough to fly under the radar mostly unnoticed. The pap’s are too tied up stalking Honey Boo Boo.

Running princesses are sweet but an epic force on the track. Steely eyed mid-repeat, tough as nails. So don’t confuse sweet and nice with damsel in distress, heck, if a runner dude is tanking mid-run they best keep looking over their shoulder because they very will may be passed.

Perhaps the power of the running superheros isn’t so much super strength, super endurance, or super speed, it’s just guts, grit, and the ability to push themselves harder than any sane person would. MENTAL strength is something you can’t teach, or quite explain, that’s what makes it all the more alluring and admirable.

So little girls, don’t dress up in doily dresses, but opt for Tempo Shorts…trust me, there are plenty of fun colors. Little boys, you don’t need to steal your sister’s tights and find a cape, micro-fiber running tights will do just fine.

Runners are, by definition alone, super heros and the most kick@$$ kinds of princesses.

1) When you were a kid, what was your favorite kind of character?
I won’t lie, I was obsessed with wanting to be a mermaid. Ariel and that movie Splash were on constant repeat.

2) What is a way you’ve felt like a kind of super hero in your running experience or journey?

3) What do you feel is a kind of super power that is possessed by runners?
I’ll say the people with the most mental tenacity win in my book.

For runners the weekends usually mean two things: races and long runs. In honor of the first I’ve brought you a little running cartoon.

Okay, okay, I’m not suggesting we all become snarky, “I just kicked your butt” runners…or, well maybe I am. How about I want you all to go out there and kick@$$ but let’s keep the majority of the snarky comments in our heads??

Oh, even better, you can bring all your runner snark here and let it out!

Go, run, kick some butt!

———-
Racing ultimately comes down to an inward battle, it’s a matter of MENTALLY pushing further than what your body is ‘telling’ you it is capable of. HERE, HERE, and HERE are all posts relating to improving your mental toughness.

More cartoons and my Runner’s Strip comic HERE!
———-

1) Pick a race distance, and where does the real pain start to set in?
I’ll pick a 5k…that first mile really is deceptively ‘easy’…second mile you start to feel it, then BAM if you were ‘stupid’ that first mile, you REALLY feel it that third. The last .12 then is lost in a fog of, “Where is that darn finish line?!”

2) If you have a race on Saturday, do you come back with a long run on Sunday? Or how do you work a long run in, if you do?
I suggest, depending on how hard the race was, you either do a longer cool-down and make Saturday the double-duty race/long run day. Or if it’s early in the season long run on Sunday after race.

3) What does your running weekend look like?

Place your order online or by calling retail and/or wholesale orders at 888-989-0454 or via email at merrymakers@merrymakersinc.com.

I love flowers!

The weather is teasing me!  A warm day, a nice breeze, flowers peeking from the cold wet ground, and then WHAM! A freak snow storm!  Such is life in Colorado.  Peepsqueak is not worried.  As you can see in this picture, he is thrilled to find the first Spring flower.

Do you have any flowers up yet?  We only have a few tulips and iris peeking out of the dirt. Flowers are still a few weeks away.  I am ready!

Find me a track runner who doesn’t have Lane One mindless pedestrian stories and I’ll show you a unicorn who poops gold.

There really needs to be more universal awareness for the word, “Track!” It seems pretty flipping clear to me, no? As it is, when you’re in the middle of a 5 mile tempo, gut-wrenching 400′s, or dare we even THINK about, a race…having to yell anything seems like a burden. We may say, “Track,” but you know we’re all thinking, “Look, A-hole, wise up and move the eff outta my way…I’m busting my @$$ and you’re walking a 15min mile…clear the heck out of LANE ONE!”

If you knew it wouldn’t ruin your split, you know all runners harbor the fantasy of dropping shoulder and just plowing through the oblivious idiot. For all of us who have fruitlessly, wished, go read Mo’s account of an epic Lane One throw-down. I’m only sorry it messed up the runners’ repeat.

I’m not heartless, okay, there have been days where little kiddies are weaving in and out of Lane One. I’m not anti-child, but I’m also not going to lie and say that when I’m running and already feel like I’m dying, I really don’t want to have to play Chicken with your child. Parents, please, do all us runners a favor and bolster their love of track in Lanes 6-8.

Teenagers who think you’re funny, cackling at us from the infield or on the bleachers ‘kickin’ it’ after school. You’re not funny. But to their credit if they are clear of the inside lanes, by all means go about your business. The world will offer you its slap of reality soon enough. Enjoy thinking you’re the coolest things to ever walk the planet. Or, come down and join us for some fun on the track…you would actually be cool if you helped pace, we’d love you forever!

What it really boils down to is this: I don’t care what language you speak, I don’t care if you worship a deity or the all-mighty Swoosh. You can be purple or polka dot, you can be in love with Cheetos or Pop-Tarts, you can be cool and have an addiction for running or find your sweat elsewhere.

I’m one of the least judgmental people in the world, but when someone yells, “Track,” you better move the he## outta Lane One.

1) What is your worst Lane One horror story?
No joke, middle of a 3k race and I was almost impaled by a javelin…girl was holding it and decided to stroll across the turn just as I was rounding it.

2) Do you typically yell something out if you need your path cleared when running, or not?

3) What is another rule of the track that needs to be better enforced or the masses need some schooling on?

Tweet

Since we’ve been talking about career paths and what not for the last few days, here’s another one: after turning down three TV development deals, including Comedy Central, the webcomic Cyanide & Happiness has decided to go DIY.

As some of you may know, we’ve been negotiating a Cyanide & Happiness TV show with a cable network for a while now. What you guys may not know is that this is actually the latest of three TV show talks we’ve been in. We walked away from the first two due to rights and creative control issues. We thought that we could settle those issues in the third deal, but things didn’t quite work out as we hoped.

Today, we are letting you all know that we’ve officially walked away from this TV deal as well, for similar reasons as the first two.

We’re starting to realize that TV as an industry just isn’t compatible with what we want to do with our animation: deliver it conveniently to a global audience, something we’ve been doing all along with our comics these past eight years. That’s just the nature of television versus the Internet, I suppose.

So, yet another example of the webcomic model in action and working. Do they all live in a giant house like Charles Schulz? Probably not. That revenue model is gone forever. but the C&H crew seems to be doing fine for now.

Tweet

A longer version of the animated Achewood being put together by creator Chris Onstad is now available.

Has your mind been blown? Did it sound like you expected?

2 1/2 years ago I bought my trusty little Apple laptop. The other day I was working on it and up came a window telling me I had about 100 GB of information on it!  This memory includes programs that I run, but most of it is ART!!  Fabric design, product concepts, children’s books and more. Peepsqueak and his friends, Newton my lamb and his friends, a friendly new elephant and monkey, some babies, some clowns, Lae Dee Bugg, Snofolk, and more!  Always more.  What great fun it has been to look back at the last 2 1/2 years!  It has me wondering just how much art will fill this computer by the end of 2013!  I have some ideas right now!!!!

For as long as I can remember, I have LOVED toys!  To have a toy made from one of my cartoons is my dream come true!  It will help the world see my character the way I see him.  REAL!!  ha ha!  This series of plush Peepsqueaks in the pictures above, were the first proto-types that came to my home. Merry Makers is the toy company we worked with.  It was so fun to see my little Peepsqueak transform from page to puff!  He is such a cute little plush!!  Merry Makers did such a good job!  You can buy Peepsqueak now if you go to their website. They welcome retail orders online at http://www.merrymakersinc.com and retail and/or wholesale orders at 888-989-0454 or via email at merrymakers@merrymakersinc.com.

Below is the final Peepsqueak. I just love him!  Isn’t he cute!!! I brought him to a preschool yesterday and the children loved him and all wanted to pet him…. so they did!!!!

So order your Peepsqueak now!  He is waiting to live in your home!!!  Don’t forget, the books, “Peepsqueak”,  and “Peepsqueak Wants A Friend” are at your bookstore waiting for you too.  They would all make great gifts for the kiddies on Easter.

I’m not shy in saying I’m more than a little obsessed with running.

Call me a running nerd, a track geek, miles addicted, endorphin fanatic, four hundred meter track minded…I really don’t care.

—–
More Runner’s Strip Comics and Cartoons.
—–

When it comes right down to it, yes, I know I’m a running nerd and I’m more than okay with it.

1) Who will join me in making this a miles inclusive weekend?

2) How has your running side made you feel better just TODAY?
Won’t lie, my car is broken, I may have just had my identity stolen, and my car broke before I could get to Chipotle. BUT, I had a really good run this morning so I can’t say the day was a total wash. A saner person would probably be a little more upset than this runnerchick. [PS- Runners are more mentally tough in LIFE too. ]

3) How have you been playing with speed and paces lately? Last hard workout, last striders before a race, etc.

TweetSo, once again, Hollywood confabulates and celebrates the best of motion picture arts and sciences tonight, at the 85th Academy Awards.  Among the many awards will be two showcasing the best in animation: Animated Feature Film and Short Film Animated.  Many people have seen the feature films (or had a chance to…dunno how many actually [...]

The people at IDW are no slackards. After taking a look at the sales of their My Little Pony comics -- their best selling comics EVER -- and the current 90s cartoon nostalgia trend, they've pacted with Cartoon Network to bring out a bunch of old favorites—and current hits —in comics form, in a deal announced at last week's ComicsPRO meeting in Atlanta. Titles include The Powerpuff Girls, Ben 10, Dexter's Laboratory, Samurai Jack, Johnny Bravo and Generator Rex.

After a long, lonely world without the seminal webcomic Achewood, creator Chris Onstad busted out a big rainbow of hope yesterday with the epic news that he's been working on an animated series. He even gave us a clip of his efforts, above. And from there, to the big show:

It’s probably runner elitist of me, but if someone’s not a distance runner and they complain about being tired, I can’t help the little voice in my brain from thinking, “Okay, they’re tired gauge isn’t the same.” Oops, my snark is showing.

Distance runners, I’ll open the umbrella to include endurance athletes in general, work off of a totally different spectrum of tired. In fact, we really don’t even START the barometer below a 5 or 6, we’re living in a constant, chronic tired level where ‘normal’ people would probably complain.

Above that, a 7 or 8 would encompass darn near every easy run. Those post-hard workout ‘easy’ runs would certainly kiss the 10 realm.

We run into an issue at 10; you see, there isn’t a real definite cap to this barometer for a few reasons: 1) breaking through to a new level of mental toughness always redefines what we constitute as tired/painful/hard, “Holy crap, now THAT was certainly the most pain I’ve endured…I didn’t know I could go that far!”

2) Distance runners have learned to cope with our sport by lying to ourselves. Part of those lies include denial: “I’m really not THAT tired”, “I can totally keep going, this is nothing”.

After 10 we sort of force ourselves numb…we don’t quantify the tired scale to numbers because it’s best to just NOT know, am I right? Distance runners bury their heads in the sand in terms of ‘tired’…of course we know we’re tired, but more often than not we aren’t going to complain unless it’s at a near cataclysmic level…or we finish the workout.

Is this the most healthy thing? No, not always, there is that fine line between being tough enough to workout and race, and then being SMART enough to recognize it’s best to actually cut yourself a break. Of course there is always that line.

However, even with that ‘smart line’ intact, distance runners need to have a different tired/pain scale than ‘normal people’. If not, well, we’d all just be picking daisies out there and wiping the Cheetos residue from our fingers. [It should be noted that both are perfectly fine, AFTER you've gotten your run in for the day...lol.]

——–
Don’t let the ‘wrong’ kind of tired lag on too long, low iron is one instance of the WRONG TIRED level: Get checked if you think something’s off.

A coach is also there to talk ‘smart sense’ into runners if they notice over-fatigue.

Don’t discount the easy days either…make a marked difference between your hard workout days and recovery runs. If not, you won’t be recovering and then you won’t be able to get the quality you want from those hard workouts!
——–

1) Let your runner snark show, in terms of a tired scale and pain tolerance, do you think runners have a different one than ‘normal’ people?

2) What do you rate the ‘base’ level tired is for just the regular recovery and easy runs? To a certain point we’re always working, at least to discomfort, no?

3) How do you then decide between ‘push through it’ tired and ‘I need to back off/reassess’ tired?
It usually comes with learning lessons the hard way, sadly. That said, everyone is different and a whole part of running is learning to read your own body; you take advice from others and then it does take some tweaking to figure out how it best applies to yourself.