Saturday, July 24, 2010

105: 2M and Counting

My iPod's not responding to any of the emergency resuscitation techniques I know so I headed to the gym today hoping to find something interesting on the TV to distract me. My luck, the only available treadmill had a broken ear jack. I watched closed captions of the local news and pretended the blooming hurricane graphics were about some place other than here.

I'm flying tomorrow. If there's a hurricane, and I get grounded, I'm going to have to figure something out about my ten mile run tomorrow. No way I can do it without an iPod, or better air. I swear I will go across to the Walgreen's and buy my own fan and prop it up there in that gym. Hopefully, I'm getting ahead of myself... 50% of my colleagues changed their flights to get out early. It isn't looking good.

My two miles this morning were moderately challenging from an energy perspective (no breakfast, no sleep) and the foot was a bitch. For the first full mile I was wincing with pain. It only got easier when I let myself get lost in thoughts about the rain, about how I'm going to try to find a poncho and umbrella later. Then I hit a wall.

Every step for the last half mile required a concerted effort. By the last 400 meters (or quarter mile) I had to start counting my steps to keep going. I take 530 steps every quarter of a mile. I wonder how many steps I'd take if I had a bigger stride, or were running barefoot, or were an inch taller.

Counting's generally considered a bad practice in things like meditation because it takes you out of the moment, and out of the "feeling" part of being alive. In running, that's exactly why I use it! I've counted 16 miles so far this week. 10 to go.

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