Friday 022814

Not the greatest sleep last night.  At least the girl in the room in the hotel next door seemed to be having a good time based on the sound of it.

RRR (running related reading):  HRM basics, my infamous getting lapped photo gets called out again in an otherwise good report on XC from a couple of weeks ago, apparently the FIVE minute mile was broken for the first time by a woman just three weeks after Bannister did the four minute mile, and then a reporter strikes out at Salazar.  A bit behind in my blogosphere reading given the work week.   NRR – annoying  business jargon.

Last day in Charlotte, and the “coldest” it has been.  Meaning it was a tad below 30 this AM so not bad at all really.  I am continuing to build back and test the calf.  8.2 miles this AM and even touched the gas a bit to get in a few sub seven miles.  No significant impacts to the calf.  More time on the Mallard Creek Greenway.

February ends at 162.4 miles and 3800 feet of climbing.  I suspect that might be one of my lowest months in a few years.  With the injury to the calf and the business travel I am not particularly surprised though.  The year tally is at 429.1. 

In past years, I’d hit January and feel a strong push to start preparing for the summer, and particularly Pikes.  I’d feel compelled to put in big miles in with a mental mantra that success in August was made in January, February, March.  I still think there is truth in those thoughts, but I can’t say that I feel strongly compelled towards preparing for anything.  Of course, there are days I get out on the roads and the thoughts bubble up about Pikes, or a sub five mile, or a 100 miler, but unlike past years where those thoughts would drum my brain outside of my run – these quickly dissipate once I start to unlace my shoes.  I will probably register for Pikes in a few weeks anyway, but I am not “fired up” about it like I have been in the past.  Or any other event in regards to running.  And I am okay with that.

Partly leading to this mentality might be the other commitments in my life at current.  Work travel, and more to the point – the effort associated with that, seems a bit more consuming than it was in the past.  I don’t see that changing much this year, and I wonder if I am not interested in fighting that so much.  Maybe the weather as of late too?  Or spending more time talking about chemistry with my daughter? 

Nonetheless, I feel an obligation to get out and exercise.  Exercise.  I can’t call it training really if there is no goal.  I have put on about 10 pounds since racing weight last summer and it would continue to slide if I just gave up exercise without a running goal.  I can actually feel it now.  I seem to not to carry it as a gut, but more in the legs and the rear end.  I need to remedy that some,

As a side note, without a running competition goal, I have wondered how much to maintain the blog.  As I started the blog it was a way to track training.  Now it is a bit of that, but also a ramble about aging, travel, the family, time with friends, running news and whatever else strikes me. 

Larry shared with me that my blog comes across often as an expression of being discontent about something:  my aging, my running, my running as related to my aging.   I can see how that conclusion is come to, and I don’t really want it to be that.  I do find I need to be reminded often that my perception of myself is often fairly different than the view held by others.  In other words, I probably actually come across as a grumpy old man who bitches a lot.  But I see myself as a funny attractive intelligent witty guy who is just starting to age a bit.

Perception, meet reality.

I suspect I will continue to post the miles and runs done, but that feels uninteresting – almost analogous to posting how many hours of sleep I got or my blood pressure.  Maybe there will be some nugget in seeing how I navigate through this lull of running fire.

Got out with Larry and his family again last night.  We met in Charlotte and walked around the city a bit before getting a bite to eat.  Apparently there is a basketball tournament going on which has translated into there needing to be hundreds of cops on the street.  No – seriously, no exaggeration.  A lot of cops.  Cops in cars, on foot, on motorcycles, on every corner.  Not really doing anything but … watching. 

Interesting tidbit that has come up in my travel … once folks learn I am from Colorado, a fair percentage of them feel compelled to make some statement about how we are all higher than a kite, or want to question about how pot shops work (or something else related to that).