A Sample Run

Last night Darin and I go out to dinner with Dave Feldman, and then Darin and Dave stay up a while chatting and playing a computer game. Ah, think I, at midnight, perhaps I will not be able to go running tomorrow, because it's so late now and the heat advisory continues -- by the time I wake up, it will be too late to leave the house.

I don't waste time looking for excuses. I make them the night before.

Doesn't matter though. I wake up at 6:20. I consider going back to sleep, but then I say, Self, you know if you go back to sleep you will wake up too late to go out and then you won't go. And there's nothing stopping you from going back to bed once you come back.

Well, okay, I can deal with that logic. I get up, get dressed, and get out. I make a deal with myself: I can go as slowly as I like, but I have to keep going until I absolutely can not continue jogging. After that, I will be happy to walk the rest of the way home. I make this demand on myself, because the last time I went out, when I got to my goal street, I stopped and I never picked up the pace again.

So I go out. It's not particularly warm -- maybe a mild spring day. More noticeable than the temperature, however, is the humidity. It's pretty darn humid at 6:30am. Maybe the air is sucking up all the water being sprayed on lawns at that hour. Everyone has their sprinklers on. If I were running really hard, I'd need to take a detour through the sprinklers.

I start off by walking a little bit. I do this as warmup, and I do this as a safety precaution: the street curves off to the left at the beginning, which means oncoming cars aren't going to see a damn thing as they zoom around that bend. There's no sidewalk to speak of, so I have to be in the street.

(Now, here's a question: pedestrians are supposed to go against traffic, yes? I keep seeing other runners out there who are going with traffic.)

So, I begin. The first part of my jog goes uphill. Whee! I go slowly. I remind myself that it's a short hill. On the other side -- the hill goes down. I go slowly down that as well.

Then the beginning of the long flat middle. The first stretch is through a residential neighborhood. I look at the gardens as I go by. That's a nice flower...ooo, good colors...what were they thinking with that? (One particularly out of place bush comes to mind.)

I end up at Ventura Blvd., because all roads in the San Fernando Valley lead to Ventura Blvd. I can see some reasons to avoid Ventura Blvd. when exercising, such as avoiding sucking up all those fumes. It's not too bad at 6:40 in the morning. There also aren't too many people around, which I actually find kind of scary, but I don't have to worry about bumping into someone.

            DIANE
        Oops!

            PEDESTRIAN
        It's not like you were going so
        fast you didn't see me!

I go down maybe a mile on Ventura Blvd. I pass lots of shops: furniture, shoes, clothing boutiques, beauty salons. There are plenty of restaurants there too, but not too many are open for breakfast. Still, I smelled something wonderful as I passed one of them. There are also a lot of psychics, palm readers, astrologers. I wonder if people eat a lot at dinner and then go to see a psychic to find out when they'll start that diet.

I turn and head away from Ventura Blvd. at Fulton. Back to the neatly kept, well-manicured residential areas. This is an incredibly beautiful area. People really enjoy living here, you can tell. These are their homes. Not too many people out at a quarter to 7 in the morning except other runners.

The other thing about the turn here is that it's a slight upward grade. Enough so I can tell it's there, but it wouldn't faze me in a car or even on a bike. I consider stopping, but then I remember what I asked for before I set off this morning. So I keep going.

There are far more runners off of Ventura. And they all head up the growing hills like they don't even see them. But, I keep going. I'm not going very fast -- in fact, at this point, I'm willing to bet I could walk faster, but I know if I stop I'm not going to be walking fast either.

I get to the point that I know marks 0.5 mile from our house. Most of that half-mile is uphill, with a nice flat finish. Several times I've felt the need to stop at this point, but not this time, as I am still putting one foot in front of the other. When I stop on the hill, I stop (and that's okay), but for right now, I'm not stopping.

The humidity has lightened a little, and the temperature's going up.

I can't believe it! I've reached the flat part! Even I can keep going on flats!

I get home. 3 miles, 37 minutes. See, I am a slowpoke. But I didn't stop. Whee! I am so excited I immediately consider going back to sleep. But I don't.

Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics

3 miles nonstop! Whoo hoo!

Didn't do much writing yesterday. Most of yesterday was spent waiting for various repair people (dishwasher, air conditioning) to show up. The landscaper asked if she could reschedule for today. (Sigh.)