Board Game
A week ago Sunday I did my last long run before CIM. Afterward, I looked at the little map the run created in my Garmin Forerunner 205 and then I looked at the photos I took along the way, and it struck me that the whole thing was like some geography-based board game that takes the runner-player through many hazards in assorted different lands.
It had rained the night before, so the first part of the game-board road map, the Bay Trail heading south from Berkeley, was lined with puddles.
On the way back from Emeryville, not so much.
I headed back to Berkeley, where the next segment of the game map had me dropping by the house to pick up the insoles for my running shoes. I had run seven miles before I realized I had inexplicably left them lying on top of the dryer. By the time I went through the front door, I was at mile 12. Surprisingly, I felt no ill effects then, or even the day after, from having run without that extra padding under my feet.
Maybe the new less-is-more-in-the-shoe-department trend is more than a fad? Maybe running with nothing but a piece of rubber between me and the road won't cripple me for life?? Even if that's so, after I retrieved the insoles, my feet emphatically thanked me.
I left the house and moved on to the next piece of the game board, my perennial running route, the Ohlone Greenway. When I arrived under the BART tracks, just past Gilman Street, I was about at mile 15. Even in November, the morning glories that are bent on eating all of Albany were showing in purple and
green profusion. I could almost hear them chomping.
For me, mile 15 in a long run is about where I start to realize I've been left-righting for a long time. To shake myself up and avoid falling into a shuffling coma, at this point I veered off the straight segment I'd been on and hooked a right just south of the El Cerrito border, to Cougar Field, where I ran a couple of miles. A lively co-ed soccer game was under way!
All this time, dark and light clouds were chasing across the sky (I was wearing my new rain jacket, even), but precipitation never materialized. I left the soccer players to their corner kicks and their yellow cards, and continued along the greenway.
The next part of my game map ran west on Stockton St. and ended on San Pablo Ave. OK, this was not a random foray. Who should be on San Pablo Ave. that day, doing some remodeling with our neighbor in his veterinary clinic, but --yessss!--my own Z.
I had to use my cell phone to find him, but find him I did. By that time I was past mile 17 and had become slightly delirious. Not a problem--I headed back up to the greenway, up Gilman Street, and onto the track at King Middle School.
I took the hint from the sign at the track, and headed home along the last leg of the game board, California Street.
In all, I covered 23 miles. The run was a bit disjointed and a bit painful, but I did it. I'm hoping that means that next Sunday I'll "just do it," for the whole 26.2.
It had rained the night before, so the first part of the game-board road map, the Bay Trail heading south from Berkeley, was lined with puddles.
On the way back from Emeryville, not so much.I headed back to Berkeley, where the next segment of the game map had me dropping by the house to pick up the insoles for my running shoes. I had run seven miles before I realized I had inexplicably left them lying on top of the dryer. By the time I went through the front door, I was at mile 12. Surprisingly, I felt no ill effects then, or even the day after, from having run without that extra padding under my feet.
Maybe the new less-is-more-in-the-shoe-department trend is more than a fad? Maybe running with nothing but a piece of rubber between me and the road won't cripple me for life?? Even if that's so, after I retrieved the insoles, my feet emphatically thanked me.I left the house and moved on to the next piece of the game board, my perennial running route, the Ohlone Greenway. When I arrived under the BART tracks, just past Gilman Street, I was about at mile 15. Even in November, the morning glories that are bent on eating all of Albany were showing in purple and
green profusion. I could almost hear them chomping.For me, mile 15 in a long run is about where I start to realize I've been left-righting for a long time. To shake myself up and avoid falling into a shuffling coma, at this point I veered off the straight segment I'd been on and hooked a right just south of the El Cerrito border, to Cougar Field, where I ran a couple of miles. A lively co-ed soccer game was under way!
All this time, dark and light clouds were chasing across the sky (I was wearing my new rain jacket, even), but precipitation never materialized. I left the soccer players to their corner kicks and their yellow cards, and continued along the greenway.
The next part of my game map ran west on Stockton St. and ended on San Pablo Ave. OK, this was not a random foray. Who should be on San Pablo Ave. that day, doing some remodeling with our neighbor in his veterinary clinic, but --yessss!--my own Z.
I had to use my cell phone to find him, but find him I did. By that time I was past mile 17 and had become slightly delirious. Not a problem--I headed back up to the greenway, up Gilman Street, and onto the track at King Middle School.
I took the hint from the sign at the track, and headed home along the last leg of the game board, California Street.
In all, I covered 23 miles. The run was a bit disjointed and a bit painful, but I did it. I'm hoping that means that next Sunday I'll "just do it," for the whole 26.2.
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