A fine 15

I've got something that's majorly distracting right now, so I'm planning for this to be a short, quick update. We'll see how that goes once the sentences start flowing.

Previously on 26.2 I recognized that I was perhaps not eating enough to support my marathon training. My plan for the week was to eat with abandon, and I'm proud to say that I found a plan I can stick with. When I wanted a snack, I had one. I've had some Pepperidge Farm cookies in my desk drawer for months that I wouldn't eat because of their high caloric value. They're gone now. When I wanted the sweet clean taste of a Dr. Pepper, I popped the top with gusto. That 12 pack has been hanging around longer than the cookies, but I'm working my way through it now. I ate without a care in the world all week long, and on Friday I rewarded my sticktoitiveness with a fine steak dinner.

This weekend was another step-back weekend, so I went down from 18 miles to 15. That was nice since I could reasonably figure that it would take me three hours to run on Saturday. The weatherman was pretty clear that I should run on Saturday instead of Sunday. I lounged around in bed luxuriating in the feel of not being mobile for a little while. Then I got up and had a leisurely bacon, egg, and potato breakfast bowl. Since my whole day wasn't going to be sacrificed to the running gods I could sit around for a couple of hours and let the digestion happen. Finally, Lisa and I laced up the shoes and hit the streets. We headed toward Lake Union and the Burke-Gilman Trail.

I took my iPhone with me, but I ran sans music. Sometimes I have a day like that where I just don't want my head cluttered up with the noise. It helps that I'm starting to get bored with my tune selection. I need some new blood before the big day. We chatted a bit as we ran, but I don't recall any interesting sights or events during our three miles together.

After the first three miles I was left to myself. I tried not to go too fast and tire myself out, but I didn't want to go too slow and be bored. I was pretty adamant that I wanted to spend somewhere between 2 hours 45 minutes and 3 hours running.

No one was at the Wall of Death today. It was a little gray, a little wet, and a bit chilly, so maybe that was keeping the skateboarders that usually play there away. Or... maybe they were with the rest of Seattle at the UW football game.

I don't keep up with college football. Some people love it more than the pros because they think it's more pure or the players try harder or something. I don't know. My school didn't have a good football program when I was there and doesn't appear to have a good one now, so I've just never been into it. I like pro ball. At least that way my team can be a winner every once in a while, although my team has been in a rebuilding mode since 1995. So, since I don't keep up with college football I didn't realize that there was a UW game on Saturday that would be in the 4th quarter by time I got there. It did not go well for the Huskys, as evidenced by all the people leaving in the 4th quarter. I dodged a lot of folks. I could tell UW lost because they weren't an overly happy crowd. No real anger or sadness, just not happy. For a team that didn't win a game last year (I only know because it was on the news every night) they've bounced back pretty good (again, on the news every night).

The last time I took this path I must have done (I'm trying real hard here not to say "only done") 14 miles and I started at a different place. Side note: I'm trying real hard to break myself of saying that I only went X miles. Frankly, any distance I run further than down the block is more than most people do. And 10 or 12 or 15 miles, or any other number for that matter, deserve my pride. I didn't only do 15 miles. I did 15 miles y'all! I went much further than I expected to go, but Grendel assures me that I only went 15 miles ("only" in this case is not intended to be self-deprecating, rather it's expressing that I didn't go any further). Still, I saw a part of the path I hadn't been on.

There's this spot about six miles in that I've run by a dozen times but never noticed the water fountain. I've bitched and moaned about there not being any water on the trail, and here's one laughing at me. I'm so glad I found it because I'd been rationing my water for the long slog back and now I realized I wouldn't have to. I planned to hit it when I came back in about about 2.5 miles later. I hit my turnaround spot, dropped a GU, chugged some agua and started back. I made a stop at the water fountain to refill my now empty bottle. Another runner was there and I mentioned how I had never seen it before. He told me it was the only one he knew of for about 10 miles. No wonder I haven't seen any others.

Back by UW, the game was now over and everyone was out on the the trail on their way to their cars or whatnot. I don't know what it is about large groups that makes the individuals forget that the world does not revolve around them, but there were a couple of times where I had to actually talk to make sure I didn't run over someone. I got into a slight, and extremely brief, verbal altercation with one guy. He and his girlfriend were part of a larger group and the group was taking up the whole path. There was no room to get by them. We were heading in opposite directions and I was hugging the right side, which is the correct side for my direction. We're conditioned, thanks to our driving habits, to walk, ride or drive on the right side of the road, so I was following the generally accepted rules of the road by staying as far to the right as I could. The girl part of the couple got distracted, probably by something shiny, and was looking down and to the side. Not at the 165 lb. sweatmonster coming at her. So I said "LOOK OUT!" She looked up just in time to get startled and jump out of my way. Boyfriend must have taken exception to it because he yelled "why don't you look out buddy?!" I didn't stop to chat, but, in what is a startling development for me, I did turn yell over my shoulder "DUDE, how much fucking room do you think I have on this path?" That's the story. I didn't stop to talk any more, he didn't decide to defend his honor and chase me down. Bygones.

Back around Lake Union I started to shift into a run/walk strategy. I'll probably end up doing some of that in the marathon, but hopefully not to the extreme I did this weekend. I walked a quarter mile then ran the next three quarters. I think my pace averaged about 5mph, but I'll have to consult Grendel to be sure.

I stopped at Starbucks on the way home and grabbed some coffee and pastries. Nothing says love like a muffin.

Next weekend is another 15 miles. I'm kind of relieved. I thought that it was a 20-miler. I could do it, but I don't mind admitting that I'd like to put it off another weekend if I can. I think I modified my plan to take advantage of starting it early or having a week off somewhere, which is why I'm repeating. So, this weekend 15 miles and next weekend 20 miles. After that, it's taper time. The marathon is right around the corner.