Something Interesting Always Happens ...

Thursday, July 30, 2009:

Something interesting always happens when I run on my favorite dirt road alonside the railroad tracks. This time a train came, heading west as I was running east. I got to a street crossing before the train did. The crossing arms came down as I approached, and a pickup truck (blacktopping company) stopped. Then as I jogged along the track toward the train, crossing the street, the pickup suddenly zoomed around the crossing arms, nearly knocking me down. An opportunity for rarely-used language at high volume: The driver’s ears may still be burning.

And the engineer waved. All good. This was a long train, with several diesel engines on the front and three more on the back. It must have been at least a mile long, because I ran nearly a half mile while it passed in the other direction, going much faster than I was running. I wonder if the engines on the back are actually working, or if they are there just to make it easier for the train to reverse direction when it reaches its destination in the Twin Cities.

This was my "long" run for the week, just ten miles, and I took it slow, running three minutes and walking two, taking water every 15 minutes, and one gel at mile 4. 60 degrees with a little breeze, good running on the dirt road despite the overnight sprinkles. No pains of any kind whatsoever, and I felt stronger at the end than at the start. Breathing easy. End of 30 miles for the week. Next week 30 more, including a longer long run, probably 12 or 14 miles.

Splits: 55:38 (5 mi), 54:49 (5 mi), total 1:50:27, pace 11:03, includes two brief stops to pee. It’ll do just fine.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009:

Short run on local streets, just enough to hopefully keep the muscles in tune. What a beautiful, breezy, cool morning. Perfect running. No pains, no problems. 3.9 miles in 36:36, pace 9:23. Breathing easy most of the way.


Today's post-run breakfast: Gluten-free oatmeal with raisins and cranberries, organic strawberries, pineapple, organic apricot, blueberries, organic walnuts, organic plain yogurt, dark chocolate, organic nonfat milk.