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February 16, 2006
Really Bad Way to Start the Day
If all of today had gone the way early this morning was, it would have been a very, very, very ugly kind of day. The actual act of waking up wasn't too bad, even having to get up a little bit earlier to do my morning run. After stumbling into the bathroom, things went downhill. Without my contacts or glasses, I am as blind as a bat. My former co-workers were amazed at how little I could see when I would take of my glasses, and they thought they were blind! I always put my right lens in first. I put it on my eyeball, blink, and it falls out. There I am, no contacts in, trying to find a flimsy lens in the sink. After about thirty seconds of trying to look, blindly, I put my left lens in. Now, right eye closed, I try looking in the sink again. Still no luck. Now I start to look for new lenses. Uh, problem, it doesn't seem that I have any spare lenses left where I keep them. I eventually found all of our leftover lenses in a drawer and did find one that I think is at least sort of close to my prescription. Calling the optometrist is pretty high on the list now to get a new prescription and order lenses. It was something that needed to be done anyhow since my vision seems to have gotten worse recently.
It was pretty chilly on my run this morning. On the way out, traffic wasn't too bad, so I had no trouble getting accross the road. About halfway through, my digestive system decided to wake up. That made the decision of adding an extra mile or not a very easy one. Getting home was more difficult since it was during the throes of rush hour. It took about four cycles of the light to be able to get accross the road. After standing and waiting for so long, I felt pretty stiff and even if I had decided to do the extra mile, it didn't feel good anymore.
This evening's workout was the uphill mile repeats. I must admit that I was sleepy feeling all day at work and not really looking forward to the workout. This workout is supposed to be done faster (for me) than the steep hill repeats. Being sleepy, running fast didn't seem like it would be possible. It was really warm this afternoon. Like shorts, long sleeves, and no hat kind of warm. By the end of the workout my gloves even came off. The last time I did this workout was during daylight, so I could see where to end. That time I was alone, so I'm thinking that the times should be about the same-I run faster during the day, but also run faster with other people. The schedule called for 3-4 and I decided to do four. On the first one, I stopped way too early. I knew that the stop point was right before a speed bump, but it turns out that I stopped at the wrong bump. The fact that it was a 5:48 should have been an indication that I stopped at the wrong place. On the second one, I still could not find the bump because it was darker and kept thinking that I had missed it. I stopped a little bit early on that one and finished in 6:20. There were cold patches and warm patches along the mile, and the cold areas were cold! For the third and fourth miles, I knew where to stop and did those two in 6:24 each. The first half is quite steep and I try to really work the third quarter, so on the last quarter, my mindset is "where is that darn bump!". I would have liked the last two to have been a bit faster, but I ended up running alone instead of sharing the work with someone. The full six miles of the workout were 38:25. After a two mile warm down, my night was 11 miles.
Tonight I would like to get in bed earlier than I have been the past few nights. I've been getting sucked into the Olympics every night and don't need to be. I make myself a deal every Friday morning, I can sleep an extra half hour if I don't dilly dally around in the morning. This means getting up right away and having my clothes ready to go. It really is amazing the things that I can do when I put my mind to it!
Posted by Blondie at February 16, 2006 08:18 PM
Comments
More strictly personal opinions: I gave up on contacts a long time ago. The whole ritual of putting them in and taking them out used to feel like a prison. Obviously contacts are of use, but would it not be safe to have a handy spare pair of glasses for days like Feb. 16? Also: I am nearsighted and astigmatic. Getting older, my eyesight has improved, something I also attribute to a formidable eye doctor I keep on going to(after finding him 15 years ago)even if he works 20 miles away from where I live. Last: the eye (laser) operation. I won't do it because I am happy with glasses but it is something that many have chosen to do I imagine motivated by the success rate of data available. I have no such data except for a couple of operated friends who are very happy who were convinced by the data they acquired. I do know one person who did it at lest ten years ago - when it was done with surgical knives - and her eyesight was permanently and seriously damaged. I don't think that type of operation is performed any longer. If I had a difficult relationship with contacts and prescription glasses, I would definitely investigate. I do know from personal experience that running in unfamiliar territory without glasses at night feels impossible, unsafe and very frustrating. Familiar routes you can get away with, but again it isn't great and has one running on the defensive. But it is the sort of problem that can be solved. I have two, sometimes three, pairs of lightweight reasonable glasses available at any one moment. And an absolutely disgusting frame for emergencies. Bests, corrado
Posted by: corrado giambalvo at February 17, 2006 03:23 PM