I'm getting over this stupid virus or whatever it is! I'm still really congested and "stuff" but I'm getting better. I didn't run yesterday and just worked from home which was fine, but I missed getting in a run. Today, my wife dropped me off at work. She was concerned about me parking and walking the 1.5mi to work when I was sick, and told me she'd come and pick me up when I was done. I'm not one to stay down when I'm sick or recovering from injury or surgery, and my wife knows it. I think she was a little suspicious of the gym bag but she didn't say anything. The day was going to be perfect (mid-70s & 40% humidity) so I took my running clothes with the intent to run during lunch, but work was killer busy and I didn't get a chance to even run out and get a sandwich to bring back to the desk until 2:20pm, just in time for my 2:30 meeting. My choices were to either go to the gym, run, then have the wife pick me up. Or leave the laptop, backpack, etc. and just run home. :-) Since I had put in 13 hours and really needed a break from work, I ran home. I took the flatter route which is about 3/4 mi longer, but I had my phone in case I needed to call in the cavalry. The first 1/2mi I could feel the fatigue from being sick, so I decided to just take it easy and keep the HR under 160. The first 3.5 mi or so is flat along the river, then up a hill, some flat, then down the hill to the house. I did great keeping it under 160 and had a pace of about 8:30-8:45. I walked part of the uphill just to keep it reasonable since I really didn't want to stress the system and trying to keep it under 160 on a hill is really just a fast walk. I finished fine and felt good. No issues with the muscle like Saturday, so I think the stretching fixed whatever brought that back on. Commentary: There was a kid (20-something) that passed me about 1.5mi into my run. He looked over at me as he passed, not to smile and say hi, though. He just looked me up and down and continued on. I didn't care and just kept at my same pace. On a normal day, I would have matched his pace and tried to see how long I could hold on. It wasn't much faster than my easy pace, so I would have hung on fine. Today, I was about keeping it real. About 10m in front of me, he slowed to just faster than my pace. At first, I thought maybe it was my imagination and pride that he was sizing me up, but about 2 mins after passing me and being maybe 20m in front of me, he turned around to check and see where I was at. About a minute after that, he turned around and headed back. Looking at my garmin, I was 2.0mi into my run and knowing I wasn't even half way, I just kind of laughed to myself. You're the champion, buddy. I find this funny because on my runs, especially my training runs, I always try and say "hi" or "mornin'" or "hello," along with a nod or quick wave. I even try to muster a smile! This is whether I'm passing them in the same direction or not. I never really try and size up my competition even during races. Maybe it's my mentality that where I'm at in the pack we're all just fighting to do our best and I'm not thinking about being in competition for an AG place. I just want a nice PR! That's why I don't mind being polite as I pass or am passed. Now, once someone has passed me or if I see someone up ahead that I think I can catch, I try and go after them. Not because they passed me, but to try and challenge myself and see if I can maintain their pace. So, it's kinda humorous to me that a 20-something was sizing up a 39 1/2 year old balding dude running a 8:30 pace. He probably thought it was humorous and probably somewhat pathetic that I didn't chase him...or maybe that I couldn't chase him.
The run was almost boring after the runner left me. Good thing I had my trusty 1GB iPod Nano to keep me company. I'm glad to be back in the swing of things and am looking for a nice consistent week! Now I have to go because my son is begging me to get off my blog and come watch a movie with him. I'm hoping he will be up for a Disney Princess movie since those are my favorites!! haha
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