Thousand Miles to Salamanca

Moments of Clarity

LOG ENTRY

Ever have a true moment of clarity? When there's multiple issues all jumbled up. When things you've been thinking about for months, perhaps years. Tying you up in knots. Getting you pissed off beyond belief? Then, a thought passes, and you just see it. Right there in front of your eyes. It's there. And that's all you need.

I had one today. And I'm cool with things.

I don't know if it was the moment of clarity that lifted the 100 pounds of monkeys off my back, or the three-taco combo I had at Chipotle today for lunch, but I had one hell of a run tonight.

Avoiding the 97 degree heat at 8:00PM I went to the gym hoping to put in an hour on the treadmill at an easy pace. Just logging miles, really. As I was starting to run, I got to thinking and that's when it set in. I realized some things I'd been discussing in my head earlier in the day was right and that I was on the right path.

Then it was time to get on with it. I started out at a 10min mile pace, and dropped it down from there. I'm not going to go into the details now, but I got my run in. I also learned that there's a certain speed that the treadmills can't go. It was that kind of a run.

It's been a long time since I've logged in this damn thing. So much has happened. I've been running. Logging about 6 weeks averaging above 40 miles a week. Not bad for the excruciatingly torturous heat. More importantly, I'm shooting for 8 runs per week. Haven't hit it yet, but am shooting for that number. The number of runs is important -- especially in this heat.

Did almost 16 miles last Saturday, 13 on the treadmill at around 11PM and 2.5+ or so at night on the roads. The thirteen were surprisingly good. The first 6 miles slow, the last seven miles at a gradual pickup. I could have added three more. Slowly getting the endurance back.

I had quite the interesting run in Pennsylvania. I stayed at my brother's place, and jogged a little bit in the neighborhood two Sundays ago. Started a bit slow, having done almost 13 the day before. As I was about 1.5 miles into the run, I saw a bunch of the Amish playing volleyball. And as I ran by them, I heard two kids running behind me: "wait up, we wanna run with ya."

Unfortunately, I sped up! WTF! Instinct I guess. It is something that I will always regret. When will I ever get a chance to go for a run with the Amish? Probably never again. I so regretted it shortly after.

So a few days before this run, my brother Greg told me where the mile-to-go marker was. Not having run much with a watch this season, I figured I'd see what sort of shape I was in. So with a mile to go, I split my watch and figured I'd see what I could do. I had no intention to go all out, but to have a good smooth comfortable pickup. Again, no kicking, no heavy breathing, but a 'where am I at' run. Was a bit surprised at the finishing time: 6:20 mile. Quite the boost, considering the year I've had.

Speaking of Greg. He dropped a 5:03 at the Harrisburg Mile last night! Way to go Greg! He was a bit sick going into it, but laid it on the line. Funny thing was that he puked his guts out afterwards. It's ok Greg, here was my first road mile! We're going to do one together one of these days. And I'm going to beat you!

Sometimes I like to wear short shorts when I run, because when I see my shadow at night, it makes me look faster.

I'm not ready to run with the Gazelles in workouts just yet. Not sure why. Probably because it hurts. Maybe I'll go do some 800's one of these days.

Had an incredible night watching the finals night of the Olympic Trials. So. Incredibly. Inspiring. The 1500m final was so stacked. What professionals. I caught a few nights of the trials. Freaking Awesome. I'm debating getting cable just so I can watch every second of the Olympics (Track only of course).

Now that I got all charged up from watching Track, I think I want to run a two-mile again soon.

posted by Gray @ 8:30 PM