And you may find yourself, waking at 5 am to run 20 miles.
And you may find yourself, running on both a treadmill and a track
And you may find yourself, running behind the legs of some gifted runners.
And you may ask yourself, “Well, how did I get here?”
Finished 20 miles today and it felt really good. It’s only 23 days removed from the Ann Arbor marathon, so I’m pretty happy I was able to finish. Typically I would never be running this much, this close to the finish of a marathon, but the point of doing Ann Arbor was largely to build endurance and I was afraid if I waited too long I’d lose it.
So, I have a 20 miler done, and rather than just 5 to 7 weeks from race date as usual, it’s about 114 days, or 3.5 months before the New York marathon. Strange days.
Most peculiar.
Since I’ve also found myself addicted to a foam roller. And I’ve been adapting to the incredible heat wave by running some outside/inside ‘mixed’ runs. The last few runs, I did 75% outside in the heat, and then jaunted back home to my basement, where cold water awaited and a treadmill to finish.
This is not my regular running, this is not my typical training, ‘My god, how did I get here?’
But, It’s been a good mix to do the indoor outdoor thing when it gets to be 95 degrees, and works for me. All the water in the world doesn’t make this heat bearable. After all, There is water at the bottom of the ocean, Under the water, to carry the water.
I took it a step farther today for my 20 miler and decided to also do a running shoe mix in order to adapt to my new Saucony Kirvana 3's.. No, I couldn’t’ forgo my new ‘sneakers’ altogether, but running the whole 20 in them was a setup and prelude to an injury, so I did the outside part of the run with them on, and returned home to put on my other pair of deeply foamed, clod-hopping sneakers.
During my initial miles at the track, I ran into a group who I have seen running around my neighborhood fast and furious. Yes, They are a higher breed of runner than I, doing fly by intervals and flash-like tempo runs, and they have those gaits that seem to be surrounded by a strong, glowing halo, where you can just tell they have such rock like strength and speed. Well, apparently Tuesday morning at 6 am is speedwork time for these running aliens. So, there I am doing my slowest, 830 first of a 20 miler pace, while they were doing 5:30 miles. No, my ego wouldn’t let me try to keep up and blow my whole 20, even for a lap or two, so intead I just ran around mumbling. “time isn't holding us, time isn’t after us..time isn’t holding us, time isn’t after us…”
No, it didn’t make them stop and think. Those with the halo like gaits, who tread lightly ran by me, while I had raised a metaphysical fist in my brain with each triumphant 8:30 step, and they were long gone by the time I ran back home to the second half of my run.
I finished my run, moving from 8:30’s closer to 8 minute miles by the end, and did the long sought after progressive 20 miler that I couldn’t really nail training for ann arbor.
Same as it ever was.
Same
As
It
Ever
Was
"STRAY", by Mark Matthews,- $2.99 on Amazon
4 comments:
Oh man... I want to say good job on the running and all that stuff but all I can really say is UGH for getting that song stuck in my head!!! :)
Thank you for the awesome Talking Heads references. Funny how our thoughts tend toward the Zen-like as we run against heat, exhaustion, and faster runners. :-)
ditto...dang, now that song is stuck in mine!!! :P
Awesome post as usual. I'm seriously considering buying a gym membership so I can incorporate treadmill running in for this summer heat. Never thought I'd be into that idea...I continue to love your blog - you make me laugh and inspire me all at the same time.
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