Beautiful, beautiful solo run this morning. Two hours of 9 minutes run/1 minute walk through the darkened streets of da 'Burg before work. 19F with a steady wind that made it a heckuva lot colder than that. Wore tights. Hopefully will have the good sense to continue doing that all winter.
One of those mornings when 1.6753-million thoughts streamed through my brain and nearly all were positive. Or at least wound up as positive after passing through the this-frozen-morning, endorphin-covered filter that sometimes doubles as my brain.
This morning's random list ...
• Why do coaches holler at us when we're reffing? Does it EVER help their causes?
• Another huge training year. Record totals for long-run frequency and overall time on feet. Sweetness!
• Need to e-mail Brad to snag a spot pacing at Shamrock Marathon again.
• Beeeeep. Oh wow. Already at 7 cycles of 9/1? No way!
• Crewing Amy at Hellgate this coming wknd is gonna be awesome!
• 17 weeks till Umstead. 23 till Three Days at the Fair. Not many more after that till OD 100. Lots to do to get ready. Oh what fun it will beeeeee!
• If 2-hour runwalks help define you, is there any hope at all that you can be classified as "normal?"
• OK, how 'bout this: In tonight's varsity girls' game, the first time a really obnoxious fan yells, how 'bout I blow the whistle, stop the game, run up in the stands and scream my head off at the dude? "Actually, idiot, yeah, I do happen to know what a walk looks like. I've done, what, 1,000 games maybe. I've called a few walks. And while we're at this, a kid hasn't had to be completely still to draw a charge for, oh, I dunno, maybe 20 years. He can even -- brace yourself -- be jumping in the air. It's called The Rule of Verticality! Oh, and one more thing: We don't cheat your team! Now, because I suck so badly, here's your $5 back. No, really. Keep it. What? Am I being a jackass?!" (Sorry. referee non-humor. Sometimes, I need to vent.)
• Slow down. Easy does it. Smiles rule.
• Man, that wind is cold. Man, that sky is gorgeous!
• Rabbit!
• How am I gonna finish Umstead, do 250km at Three Days, then come back and finish OD, all within a 9-week stretch? I know. I know. The same way I have been since the first day I laced up those adidas SL-72s 35 years ago.
One step at a time.
5 comments:
I love this!
I will see you at Bearwallow Gap on Saturday :-)
Adidas was my first running sneaker, too! But oh, gosh. Umstead...3 Days...OD...exhausting even to think about! You can do it!
Nothing like being out there alone in the cold. Watching your breath escape your body as you pass under a street light. Going through your daily thoughts and the run just flys on by. What a feeling. I had several pair of the SL-72's. The only color I remember was lime green. Those were the days when we did not know what we were doing, but then nobody did. We survived those years of running and just loved it. Speaking of tights, those were the years when there were no tights. In those days I wore women's panty hose under a pair of shorts and when I finally got brave I wore white long underwear under my shorts. Did not know what footies (what I call short running socks) were. The only thing you had were white cotton tube socks that came up almost to your knee. What memories. See you tomorrow!
Awesome trip down Memory Lane, Rick! There was a photo of me leading a group during college XC practice doing 400s on our snow-covered cinder track in mid-Oct. in WV. Eight dudes in shorts, six of us wearing panty hose. And $2 Ben Franklin mirrored sunglasses. Hahaha! OH to have a copy of that shot now. :)
Love your Stream of Consciousness. I am in awe of your morning ritual. You inspire me B!
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