Running Commentary

I set out to do the LMJS 15K at Lake Merritt last Sunday. It was a freakishly hot day, so after two laps around the lake I gave it up and settled for a 10K. Picture me running across this finish line, a bit more "finished" than I'd planned on being. Still, I was pleased to be running hard and have suffered no noticeable after-effects. Even when I threw in the towel, the infrastructure (muscles and bones) still felt strong--but lightheadedness and mild mental confusion gave me the message that I was overheating. (No smart-aleck questions about and how was the latter any different from my normal state.) I am registered to run a half marathon Oct. 11 and hoping to get cooler weather that day. In other news, Z and I went to our new gym together this morning early. It was the first time we've gone to the gym together in years--maybe three or four years, even. It felt great to see him working out and looking so healthy. He had open-heart surgery in April and has recover

10.62 -- Number of miles run (per MapMyRun) 16 -- Number of Miniwheat biscuits consumed for pre-run breakfast 3 -- Number of red lights waited for 159 -- Number of days since hip injury 5.5 -- Number of backyards along trail being eaten alive by morning glories 2 -- Number of couples arguing as they walked along 1 -- Number of chocolate Clif Shots slurped on run 12 -- Number of dogs being walked 4 -- Number of songs playing in my head at various times 10 -- Number on a scale of 1 to 10 representing my happiness over being healed

Puddles on the path! I was awakened at 4 am when the bedroom was lit up with a flash of bright white. No, it wasn't aliens come to take me away. But it was something almost as unusual in these parts--a thunderstorm. We have gone so many consecutive days (weeks, no, months!) without rain that in my sleepy stupor I had trouble grasping what was going on. Then I started to worry about the stuff we have lying around in the backyard, a byproduct of our efforts to straighten out the garage--but when I considered running out to battle the rain in the pitch dark wearing my sensible flannel nightie, suddenly I became rational. Which is to say, I went back to sleep. I had it on my schedule to do a longish run early, so when I awoke again at 6 am and it was raining only gently, I suited up, stuck a Clif Shot in my pocket, and headed out the door anyway. The morning turned out to be quite mild and only a little wet. I did a good, leisurely seven-and-a-half miler out the Ohlone Greenway. Didn&#

Just a brief post today. I'm home from Idaho and busy already with too much work and its corollary, not enough time. Anyway. I ran the Pocatello 10K and was thrilled to find I felt pretty strong. Of course, I was so thrilled that I ran for three days in a row immediately after that and came home from the trip pretty trashed. I took a couple of days off from running and then went out yesterday morning for a happy four-miler. Below is my photo from that run. I feel blessed that I am in heel-and-toe mode again--it was five months ago today that I fell and hurt my hip. I did take some phone photos on my trip. Have posted most of them on my Flickr page , which I hope you'll go to if you're interested. My preference is to post my running photos in this blog but I find that I take so many that sorting and uploading the appropriate ones gets to be a chore. Keep on breathing, y'all.