Running Commentary

Did my third Slow-Zone run this morning, that outing where once a week I leave my Garmin on the shelf and just lollygag and shuffle for a few miles and then go home. I went out for only three (or so) miles this time, as I was feeling a bit fatigued. The idea of the S-Z run is to recover, anyway, not to tear up the trail with blazing speed. So today I went out the Ohlone Greenway to the chickens (what Z and I call the quail sculptures at the bridge over Codornices Creek) and then back, a total distance Garmin has repeatedly told me is three miles.  One of the features of a S-Z run is that I allow myself to follow that ever-present impulse to take pictures, be they silly or serious or somewhere in between.  Another feature is that there are no restrictions on features. This morning I added the activity of running backward for a while. Then I tried running three steps with eyes open, three with eyes closed (did this on a newly paved, open straightaway displaying no dis...

It was off to the track again this morning, for installment #2 of the Yasso 800s project.  The track was ready for me--on the field someone had stenciled a giant "E" in the end zone. I'm sure they knew I was coming. I had a good run--not much to say about it, except that I'm still trying to capture not only the spirit of the Yasso 800s but also the mechanics, as in, how fast I need to run. Let's just say my comprehensive understanding is a work in progress. My ultimate goal is two-fold: to increase my weeklly mileage without getting hurt, and to wring as much speed from my aging body as I can without getting hurt.  (I guess you could add "without getting hurt" to most anything I aspire to do, running-wise.) Yesterday I was beat from running long Sunday and short Monday, so I took a 20-minute nap in the afternoon. This morning I felt just fine.  Fine enough to appreciate this tree that I passed on my way home from the track. I am an unabash...

In my continuing effort to bump up my weekly mileage, this morning I did another "Slow Zone" run. I left my Garmin at home and just set out to lollygag for three or four miles. Often when I run I put pressure on myself to hit speed and/or distance goals, or at least to forego walk breaks. But the purpose of a Slow Zone run is to forget about all that. (Its other purpose it to recover from a longer run performed the day before by just getting the blood moving without courting injury by being too zealous). Not much was going on at 5:45 this morning, a circumstance that is perfect for S-Z running. On yesterday's long-ish run, before I'd gone a mile I saw a spaced-out young couple sitting on a blanket on the ground at the local tennis court, sheltering a candle from the breeze and looking very solemn, like people who had been up all night and had deep matters on their mind.  Not long after I passed them I heard another couple--age indeterminate--shouting angrily i...

As the end of summer draws near, I thought it appropriate today to go back to school. To schools, actually. I was looking to run five today, so jumped up early and got out the door. I headed up the hill to Berkeley High, where the track is always accessible these days because a bunch of big burly guys consistently show up at the crack of dawn to work at all the construction happening on campus. The rather sepulchral and very serious monument above is part of the school's new look. Luckily for the school, the worrisome tilt of the whole thing came courtesy of the photographer--it's actually pretty plumb (if not totally plum dandy). For fun I thought I'd try a couple of Yasso 800s   just to see how it felt. The run up to the track was .75 miles, so I was more or less warmed up--enough, anyway, to start my workout. The idea is that you start with a goal time for a marathon or half marathon. For me my marathon goal these days would be 5 hours, while my half would be 2...

And what is the law? It's that when I visit LA I have to run along the route I was running twice a week last year during the time I was living here.  The law requires that I run by the kind of businesses I won't see on my Berkeley runs. The law also mandates that I run south to Santa Monica Blvd., head west over to Greenfield St., high-tail it north up to UCLA, go to the gym for a short workout, and then eat a granola bar and left-right it all the way home.  A subsection of the statute demands at least one crossing of Westwood Blvd. I obeyed the law--to borrow the words of Richard Nixon, "I am not a crook." All this is to say that this morning, I heeded the LA Law. I hadda do it! Great to be here and see family, and to relax a bit. And, as always, to run.

It was that kind of day. A day when I was fatigued, yet wanted to run. Decided to take a true recovery run, and so left my Garmin at home. No info about pace or time--yikes. It's how I ran for years and years, actually, but I've become a Garmin addict. What? No lame (but cute) little map to upload to the computer?  Confession: I knew how far I wanted to run and, because Garmin has told me 100 times how far out the Ohlone Greenway I need to go to hit the 2-mile mark (to BART pillar number 114), I actually know what today's out-and-back gave me mileage-wise. But. I went at a comfortable pace; I looked around, for a change, and saw some sights that are often right before my eyes but rarely in my consciousness.  How about a bright orange house?  How about a yard full of flowers? I'm trying to keep my weekly mileage around 20 miles, and am thinking a Slow Zone run every week could help me do that by adding in some stress-free distance. Yes, I see th...

... this on my run this morning. My monkey mind might have been auditioning for a part in The Wizard of Oz , the way it was screeching and jumping around as I ran. To think I used to believe that when I was older I would be through with feelings, worries, etc. In reality, although I think I've mellowed with age (or am I just tired?), a lot of the time I find I still have to fight with myself to stay positive. That's where running comes in. Woke up this morning ready to fight the world--came back from my 7.5-miler feeling blessed and, if not blissful, at least ready to approach the world about working out a truce for the day.

My running has actually been going well lately. (I hope the running gods aren't paying attention as I write this.) Z and I are living in the chaos of a house remodel--the current phase of this upheaval involves emptying the house of all our worldly goods and putting them in a storage container that looks like it came from the gulag--all so we can get the floors refinished. Because of the domestic craziness, plus a lot of (welcome) freelance work, I'd have expected my running to suffer, but it hasn't. Also, we re-joined our old gym, and I've even been able lately to heft some iron (which is cool talk for "lift some not-very-heavy weights) a couple of times a week. Last weekend I ran by Elaine Street. This as part of a visit made on the fly to my favorite nephew and his family, who are settling into a great house they recently purchased, in the burg they like to call Cartoon City.  I haven't taken a lot of photos on the run, lately, a sure sign that my runn...