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December 17, 2005
vultures
Where I work there's a long-standing convention of naming servers after animals, which gets me involved in email conversations with subjects like "blocking on the hedgehog" or, simply, "vultures." As I started my semi-long run this morning I saw a couple of packs of vultures circling over things that must have been very interesting to them. A few weeks ago I saw a bunch of them in the street ripping up a cat they'd either found dead or killed themselves, and from that point on I decided to stay as far away from them as possible.
The rest of the run wasn't nearly as morbid, and while I did my share of daydreaming I was also able to concentrate on what I was trying to do. The basic goal was 18 with the last 7 in 51min. To make it a bit more edutational (edutaining?) I amended it to 2.55 @ whatever, 3@8:15, 3@8:05, 3@7:55, then 7.05@7:17. This may sound overly anal, but it fits in with logical loops in my neighborhood and actually helps me not to think too much. It was mid-50s and overcast, and just after the 2.5-mile warmup it started to rain. 55F is not a good temperature for rain because there's just nothing you can wear that won't get wet and stick to you all coldly and wetly, so the only choice is shorts-and-a-jogbra, brr. My legs are pretty amply insulated (heh) and just felt a slight chill, but my skinny little arms were freezing. Now I know why those eastern European girls wear those arm-warmer things. Anyway, I spent most of the next 6 miles trying to slow down into the 8s (I was muttering "cool it" every so often until I realized people could hear me), and most of the 3 miles after that speeding back up into the 7:20s, so the last 7 miles wouldn't feel like such a shock. I ended up getting the last 7.05 at 7:07 pace - faster than I'd planned, but hopefully not so fast that it defeated the whole purpose. Came home, drank a cup of hot cocoa, then climbed into the tub to soak my pissed-off hamstrings. I will do nothing but easy running for the next two days. Ahhh.
Posted by joe positive at December 17, 2005 11:10 AM