Objective: Remain vertical. 23F, clear, lots of ice, full moon. 20 min. strength work We'll call this an "anything but the treadmill" run. After
a late start (trying to get my headlamp to work), I made my way slowly
through the icy streets. The moon and the abundant snow that fell
yesterday made the world a little lighter, but without my headlamp it
was really hard to see the ice and I had to be extremely cautious.
There were patches of treacherous, thick, black ice from a late
afternoon melt, and then on the relatively bare spots of pavement there
was that ice that comes from moist air and forms a sort of flower
pattern. The darker, less traveled side streets were the worst (and of
course the hardest to see), so I soon found myself circling the around
and around on the 3 main arterial roads. Glacial pace, glacial
surface. "At least I'm not on the treadmill." Moving so slowly
on the ice, I could have used another layer of clothing. After a
bathroom stop, my core temperature must have dropped enough to create a
crisis in that little room in my brain where the
shut-off-blood-to-hands lever is. I had two layers of wool on my
hands, but it was as if they were bare. Oh, the pain. Accept and endure. "At least I'm not on the treadmill." Now, about that 5K on Saturday. Not ready. Not in the least. I looked up my 5K history in my planner; it has been nearly five years since I ran a 5K. My
time back then was just over 29 minutes. At the time, I think I had
about 14 fast twitch muscle fibers, and now I'm probably up to 26 or
27. But I'm well overdue for this particular flavor of humble pie, and the event is right in my own neighborhood, so there I'll be. Of
course, I'm not "fast" in the marathon either. But I can look at that
other number, twenty-six point two, and feel all proud and happy
inside. And I enjoy the longer, slower races, in which my lungs do not
feel like they are on fire. The course for this 5K is quite hilly.
All I need for the humiliation to be complete is for it to be as icy on
Saturday as it is today. But I don't think Old Man Winter would do
that to Sean, our race director and resident Awesome Elite Runner. It's me Winter is after.
Jeff, if you are trying to spot me, I'll be the one looking like
I'm wondering what on earth I'm doing there. I'm going to show up
early so I can pick up my number and go warm up, but hopefully we can
say hello and officially meet just before the race. I like the course
changes Sean made in February. Did you look at that? It seems so
stupid, but I think I might drive my car the few blocks to the start so
I can leave stuff in it. Is that what you'll be doing? I hope I can spot you. :)
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