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Sunday, April 26, 2009

Channeling Thurber

Thurber was our old dalmatian and he loved to run. Recently I've felt very much like I'm channeling his spirit on my runs. Some days my runs have been just perfectly idyllic. It is so beautiful here on this island that it's hard to believe. Last week I went through this gorgeous valley with emerald green meadows dotted with alpaca, llamas, sheep and goats. Overhead there was a pair of bald eagles that appeared to be teaching a juvenile to soar. The sun shone (as it so often does here contrary to popular belief) and the yellow green buds on the trees were just vibrating with life and energy. If the animals had started talking to me as I slowly passed them I would have hardly been surprised.
Today I met up with my running partner for an 8 mile loop. Her marathon is next Sunday up in Vancouver and so she's tapering down the intensity to rest up. I had 12 miles on my schedule but yesterday we did a long (for out of practice types like me) bike ride on the next island over and so I had kind of thought I'd be too weary to do more than the 8 with RP. But, at the 7 mile mark I realized that although I could feel some soreness in my muscles it wasn't really that bad and that if I shirked off my last 4 miles I'd feel worse than if I ran it and bonked. So I peeled off of our planned loop and headed the long way home. It was harder almost immediately, running alone is vastly more difficult than running and chatting with a friend. But I felt proud of myself for continuing and it was another perfect glorious crisp sunny day which made it happier too. I finally lost all my steam at 11.5 miles but since I was back in my own neighborhood it didn't seem like failure. I know I need to pay more attention to better pre-run nutrition. Today's run was fueled with a handful of cheerios and yogurt, a couple cups of coffee, a couple cookies and a powerbar. Not enough for an afternoon run. And I still have 12 weeks before the SFM which right at this weary moment sounds like plenty of time to figure it all out.

Here are some of my favorite people.




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