5 Aug Tues – Long Run – 9 miles

So, because of Obama fever, my running plans got shifted around.

The long run today.  I woke up at about 6.15 and was ready to go quite immediately.  Unlike the 8 mile run, there was no humming and hawing.  Edna decided to go with me, so that was encouraging as well.  I made sure that I had the ipod – I don’t think I could do 9 miles without music.

The plan was to run the Hawk Isle route twice.  Going out of the house and doing the first mile, I found the pace a little too brisk for my liking.  Edna was setting the pace and I wasn’t sure if she was committed to do the 9 miles.  The quick pace eased up as we got to Cavanagh road and the first lap around the park was nice.  It was before seven and the sun was not peaking through the bank of clouds yet, so the lake was really mirror like.  I was listening to American  Folk Christmas Songs by the Seegers, and it made for nice listening.  Going around the park I decided to turn off the ipod and enjoy the sounds of the early morning.  That was a good decision as it added some variety to the run.

The other people that were running in the park just reminded me how slow I go.  They were essentially striding all the way.  I can’t imagine how people can build up that much stamina and strength to run at that pace.  Anyway, the route back out on Cavanagh and then into the park again was nice.  I think I caught what essentially was a second wind doing this.

Leaving the park after the second loop was when my legs started to hurt.  They felt like lead and I had to quicken my steps into a shuffle to keep going.  The uphill portion of Cavanagh was tricky as well.  Even though coming back into Beau Jardin was a welcome relief, the additional round around the estate to make the distance was quite taxing, especially for the first half a mile.  The final half was easy because the end was in sight.

I think that I’m getting really close to the goal of running 13 miles.  After all, it’s just one more 4.5 loop, really.  But I think I need to work on pacing myself properly especially if I’m going to be running alone.  The alternating moments of music and silence are quite good but the hurting legs could point to a lack of conditioning with regards to my legs.  Maybe I’m just not cut out for longer distances?

2 Aug Medium Run – 4.5

I ran today, on my birthday, with Edna, who’d just gotten back from Singapore. Nothing like a 4.5 mile run to get over jet-lag, I suppose. I went out today without any music on as I was showing Edna the Hawk Island route. We spoke at each other during the run, so I guess the pace was quite comfortable.

I realized that Edna runs with a lot more steps that I do. So she seems to shuffle as she runs where I plod. Another that I noticed was that the park was rather busy on Saturday morning. We passed a large group of runners who were all wearing “Playmakers” T-shirts. I guess it was either a group run or clinic, though a large number of the participants were walking. Another thing – Saturday morning had a lot more women than the other days of the week where the joggers are generally men. I wonder about this.

Anyway, running with Edna was fun. It was certainly distracting and at no point during the workout did I find my thoughts zoning in on the pain. My body hurts a little from serving too hard during tennis on Friday, but generally, I’m looking forward to the 9 mile run next week.

31 July Medium Run – 4.5 Miles

Having rested one day and only playing tennis yesterday, I was quite psyched for this run. I woke up at about 6.30, said goodbye to the doughster, and was out of the apartment quite quickly. I started out running listening to Billy Bragg and Wilco’s “Mermaid Avenue”, and found myself really enchanted by the song “California Stars”. The album, of course, is Bragg’s re-working of Woody Guthrie’s lyrics that Guthrie never got to put to music and for the first leg of the run I was thinking a lot about Guthrie and his impact on the entire notion of music as political action, and what he’d think about the mess we’re in today.

Anyway, once I started down Cavanagh Road, my thoughts turned to a rather more practical problem. I tried to work out how Edna’s flight could leave later today (Thurs 6pm) and only arrive on Saturday at 3pm. I kept rolling the dates and days of the week around in my head but couldn’t get around it. I will admit that it was quite silly of me not to realize immediately that she probably would be coming in tomorrow – Friday – instead of Saturday, but this occupied a lot of my thinking.

I will say that I managed to “think” of the route in about four parts and this mental map helped. So going around Dover’s Crossing is part one, running down Cavanagh Road to Hawk Island Park is two, running around the lake in Hawk Island is three, and running back up Cavanagh Road is four. It also helps because the stages aren’t exactly uniform in distance and they’re not like I’m just running circles.

The park run was pleasant. I passed quite a few joggers / runners. There was the speedy Japanese guy who was exiting as I entered, the black guy with the Army T-shirt, the plodder (like me) in a bright green T-shirt, and a a girl who was the friendliest of the lot. As for the walkers, I met the same Indian couple who were the only people there when I ran on Saturday, and the couple that I’d met during the 8 mile run. I guess it’s nice to see familiar faces and say hi when you’re running.

Running back was quite easy as well, through I did slow down once I exited the park. As I turned back into Dunckel and got ready to go into Beau Jardin I saw the girl who always runs with MSU Soccer t-shirts. Maybe she’s part of the team. She was striding quite fast and I managed to use her pace to register a strong finish.

28 July Long Run – 8 miles

So this was the long run that I was anticipating. I was worried enough about it to not sleep well the night before, almost as if I had to sit the O Level Chinese exam again. I kept waking up and my heart beat quite rapidly throughout the night. I also had the strangest dream about being a match-stick (??) that had to get downtown from the Bronx and who refused to get a ride from a rat.

Anyway – I kept making excuses about not going on the run, or at least not running the entire distance. It was pretty pathetic, though I did hurt quite badly from playing tennis yesterday. When I got up at about 6.30, my quads were suffering from quite major muscle ache from yesterday’s tennis foot-work. I ended up going out of the house after letting Sourdough out of the crate, but I wasn’t too optimistic that I’d make the 8 miles.

I plodded for about three miles, doing the usual one mile loops around the neighborhood. I saw the regular Asian old ladies duo who don’t ever return my smile. I’ll persist until I get a response from them. I really can’t remember what I was thinking about except that running doesn’t really hurt the quads and so the muscle ache was quite irrelevant. But I also realized that the back of my legs were hurting. I spent quite a lot time trying to remember the name of the muscle – and I did just as I completed the third mile. But I’ve forgotten it again. The other thing I thought about: the possible objections to psychoanalysis in my dissertation, especially how I’m going to use Freud’s Death of the Father and the Return of the Repressed in this chapter. I need to do it in a manner that doesn’t exalt psychoanalysis as biblical truth, just useful insight. After completing each round I was struck by how many more I had to do if I was going to grind out 8 miles doing the familiar loop.

After round three, I ended up doing the 4.5 Hawk Island route. This turned out to be a good decision. There was more traffic to look out for, thus distracting me from the pain, and once I got to the Park, there were actually quite a few people, mainly walking and largely above 60, walking around the Park. At the beginning of the run I was listening to “Raising Sand”, and it’s quite a nice slogging album. I especially like the song about the Fortune Teller, and I laugh out loud every time Robert Plant delivers the punch-line. Anyway, on the way to the Park, the album ran out so I randomly searched through my ipod and listened to Sonny Stitt blow his horn. What kept me going in the Park was the great scenery, the mirror-like lake, the cool forest segment, the people I met along the way that said “Hi”. I met this girl that I recognize from my runs around the neighborhood. She strides quite impressively, of course, and I think she was running the 4.5 Hawk Island route as well. Anyway, she was just entering the Park when I was leaving, and we exchanged “Hellos”.

So, leaving the Park, two things happened, My ipod went into “hang mode” and I held on a really long time before I managed to get it reset. Second. my legs were going on me. My calves, quads, and those muscles at the back of my legs whose names I remembered then forgot were really hurting. I slowed down considerably on the return route to Dover’s Crossing. I did however, manage to hold out and ran what I know to be about 0.6 of a mile in order to make up the full 8 mile distance.

I will say that I’m relieved that I did it. I had a strange sensation walking into the apartment and sipping water after the slog. It seemed that the air smelled really fragrant. Maybe it was a Margery Kempe moment but I suspect it had to do with all the chemicals flushing through my system. I’m still pretty elated – and this is about half and hour after the run, which I warmed down from, as usual, by walking Sourdough a mile.

26 July Medium Run – 4.5 miles

So, here are some thoughts about yesterday’s run.  It was a “medium” distance run, so I didn’t really feel too anxious about it.  However, I when woke up about 6.30, ready to run, I felt pretty low on energy and bloated.  This must have been the result of eating too much the day before (Friday).  Half a mufalletta for lunch and chicken wings for dinner is too much food.

I ran the “Hawk Island” route, which is a very nice route.  It was my second time running it so I was still quite excited about it.  When I started out the door, I immediately felt the ache in my legs.  Throughout the first mile or so, I was thinking a lot about what it meant to have been a teacher in Singapore.  I re-visited several scenes and thought about how I might have done a better job.  But by the time I hit the main road that leads to the park, I was more focused on looking out for traffic and crossing safely.  I can’t recall what I was thinking about as I ran to the park, except that there were no cars on a Saturday morning.  I think only one car passed me as I jogged.

I listened, throughout this run, to Oliver Nelson’s “Blues and the Abstract Truth”.  As I ran in the park, I kept looking at the track titles, and this was a nice distraction.  There wasn’t much going on in the park – no people fishing or swimming in the lake.  I guess it was too early.  I was really peaceful though.  I passed a single couple who was walking around the running / cycling route.

My next run – is supposed to be an 8 mile “long” run.  I’m not sure if I’ll grind out eight “one miles” around the neighborhood, or try to incorporate the 4.5 “Hawk Island” route into the run.  One thing’s for sure – I’m not going to eat too much today!