Building the Base

Sunday, July 20:

We got a half inch of rain last night (in about five minutes), and I decided to see what would happen to my favorite dirt road along the railroad tracks after a rain. Would it be muddy, or would the rain soak right through the soft sandy soil and leave a decent trail? For sure it wouldn’t be dusty, as it was last week. Answer: It was fine! Shoes did bring home a little wet sand, but that’s the worst of it. I met a train again, and the engineer saluted me with two toots. Love it. Do you suppose he’s actually trying to tell me to get the hell off railroad property? Naw. Anyway I don’t care. I wonder if it’s the same engineer who has saluted before.

Twelve miles, started at 6:00 am (after 5 ½ hours sleep), plenty of wildlife (mostly bunnies and birds), no problems. Slight pain in the left lisfranc joints, which were injured in a snowshoeing faceplant a few years ago, but this is not a problem. Nothing from the achilles tendon, knees, hips, plantar fascia, or muscles. Gosh that’s 33 miles in four days - I’m feeling like the myriad injuries are mostly behing me. Hope hope.

Splits: 9:17, 9:23, 9:22, 8:49, 9:39, 19:38 (2 miles), 9:06, 9:50, 8:35, 11:03, 9:29, total 1:54:10, pace 9:31. Not bad. Breathing was moderate, four footfalls per full breath almost all the way. It’s a masterpiece.

Saturday, July 19:

St Croix Valley Runners, five miles in 44:00, pace 8:48. Nice run with Doug and the rest of the runners, beautiful morning, 73 degrees with a decent dew point. This is good running.



Lunch: Beets, beet greens, zucchini squash, leeks, spring onions, ginger, tomatoes, coconut milk, turmeric, grape seed oil, brown rice. Most ingredients are organic. Topped with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese (not shown).