the journey of a thousand miles begins with a good pair of running shoes
9.4 miles.
I had set the alarm for 6am, because I'd planned on doing a long run. The temperature in the LA summer just gets too hot past 8am to keep going. Evidently during the middle of the night I turned the alarm off--I don't remember doing it or why, although I do remember being woken up by a series of banging noises that scared me half to death, until I realized the house alarm was still on. And once I was fully awake, I didn't hear any banging noises, so I don't know what it was that I might have heard--whether there really were noises outside or I just dreamed the whole thing.
I woke up at 6:51am, which would be too late to go for a long run if the sun were out, but thankfully the sky was overcast. It stayed overcast for my whole run--basically, there was no getting out of this run. I hopped out of bed and got ready to go.
Running on Sunday morning is the best, because there's hardly anyone out. Very few cars. Few of the people that I have to dodge during the week are out at the wee hours of Sunday morning.
The ones that are out I have to be extra careful with, however, because they don't think that traffic laws apply to them if the streets are mostly empty. This morning a minivan was waiting at a red light at Ventura Blvd. No one was coming either direction, so the driver just took her left through the red light.
After the run, I came home, read e-mail, and went back to bed for 2 hours. Darin woke me up at 11, when he decided to have a series of phone conversations in the bedroom, two feet from where I was sleeping. Darin speaks loudly, have I ever mentioned that? After 15 minutes, I decided being in the shower with the water on full would be quieter than being within 10 feet of Darin talking at full volume
I've noticed my legs have been a lot more tired recently. I'm feeling these runs. I don't know if it's because I've been doing more long runs or because of the higher temperature. (Would that affect my muscles?)
I haven't noticed I'm developing a runner's body, though. I don't know what it takes to get that lean, muscular, possibly starving look. Maybe I have to run a whole bunch to get that body. Maybe it's genetics I don't have.
A real good test of how much I really enjoy this running thing will be when I'm in Washington DC in August. Do I get my butt out of bed really early to beat not only the heat but the 100% humidity?
What I'm thrilled about is that a year ago I found doing a mile to be torture. Now I'm finding 9 miles to be torture, not because it's hard--I can do it! I really can!--but because it takes so much time. If I were doing 8 minute miles, it would only take 72 minutes instead of my current 90 minutes, so I have incentive to get cracking.
(And a year ago I was still having trouble growing my nails. Now I have long nails that get shortened only by splitting or ripping. I have accomplished a few things in the past year.)
Out of the blue today, I got e-mail from a friend of mine, whose writing and analysis talents I respect, and she said that she thinks I have what it takes to make it.
Now, maybe she's just saying that. And maybe she says that to everyone.
But coming from her, "...you've got what it takes" made my day.
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Send comments and questions to diane@spies.com