Month: September 2010

When I arrived in Central Park this morning to stretch, I saw a Caucasian man in his 20s or 30s sitting still wearing a bright white bathrobe over his clothes. What was extra peculiar about this sight was that it was also around his feet. He was just sitting there, still.

Later, running up Cat Hill, I almost missed that there were cars parked on the hill. I saw police tape and cops, then in the crux of a tree that branches low from the ground, a bright white sheet covering what seemed like a body. I think I was seeing a dead body.

Still later, when running by the museum, I saw a tree-trimming crew in a tree. However, there was a crowd of people gathered around watching. It seemed that the man in the bucket was trying to free something or get something. Was it a kid? Was it a cat? Was it something else? In my second time passing the place, I still couldn’t figure it out. What an odd day in Central Park.

While there, I ran 11.88 miles in 1:28:15 (7:25s). It was a breezy 66 that started off partly sunny but concluded cloudy. It was nice with negligible humidity around 45%. I concluded at E. 90th St. so that I could go to my old work to pick up some packages, hence the strange course for my run, as seen in my deets:

Plantar fasciitis seems to have, um, gone away, though I can tell it lurks. There’s no pain, bit it seems that it will probably choose a good time to flare up on me. I felt good. I wondered if my lack of pasta last night spelled a run in the 7:25s range rather than sub-7:10s. I’m not really sure, but I know I didn’t push myself in light of planning to go that distance.

I did a stray 7:08 deep into my run. I did that in trying to pick off a speedy-enough guy quite ahead of me. I succeeded! And that meant a faster time for me.

This next handful fo days may be tough for me to run. Give me some well wishes. Work will be solid Friday-Wednesday, it looks. OUCH. I have a feeling there will be early mornings, too. Long run, where will you be put? We’ll have to see.

Today I was hoping to do 8 but I did 6.27 miles, which was alright, because I felt like pushing myself and doing 6.27 in pushing myself today is just right.

I did 7:10s for 45:03. Not as good as a couple days ago, but today was 74, more than 10 degrees warmer. Despite the warmth and relatively slower speed, I felt pretty fast. I am surprised I did Great Hill in 7:47 because I thought it was more around 7:30, but whatevs. Humidity was a negligible 50% or so, but the sun was bright and made it warm enough for me to sweat quickly. Here are the deets:

Good thing to report is that my plantar facsiitis on my left foot was not there today. Yesterday I wore OthroSlippers around for much of the day–maybe that had something to do with it. My breathing was pretty heavy and intense for this run–I tried to keep it rapid and not get comfortable, and that seemed to help. Overall, I felt pretty good: A little lumbering and heavy, but better than yesterday when I actually went to Central Park, ran for about a minute, then turned around and went home. Part of that was that plantar fasciitis was affecting my stride; part of it was something deep inside saying to me, “Don’t.”

But today it was “Do!” I’m feeling good.

The CNN tower has been out the last couple days, so I’ve had to rely on the needle nearby for temperature readouts. Today it said 61 at one glance, 62 at another. Whatever the case, it was considerably cooler today–yea! Humidity was a neglible 44% and it was beautiful morning sun all the way. I did today’s loop in 44:20, my fastest loop this year. That translates to 7:04s. And in doing 6.27 miles today, I ended up with 65.31 miles for the week. I don’t remember when I’ve ever run that many miles in a week, and actually, I don’t feel bodily as if I’ve accomplished that. So pat-on-the-back.

Here are the deets for today:

This morning’s run was helped by a couple of guys running together who passed everyone they approached. They didn’t look all that fit but they were speedy. I figured maybe they were picking up the pace for a final mile, and when they split off for a water fountain, I thought I might have been right. But then they passed me again. Eventually, they separated from themselves, the less fit-looking one far overtaking the fitter-looking one, who split again for another water break. I never caught the fastest one, who got more than 30 seconds ahead of my by my estimates. But I did catch everyone they caught, even a guy who didn’t seem to want to be overtaken by them. Ha! All in all, chasing these pacers helped boost my time today, coupled with a desire during the run to challenge myself to pick up the pace.

My plantar fasciitis is back. I don’t feel it so much when I’m running, but I’ve been feeling it in my day-to-days walking around. I’ve already begun wearing my OrthoSlippers, which I keep taking off mysteriously in the middle of the night but don’t recall doing. I haven’t yet started letting my feet soak in hot water immediately when getting up, though that may be on the docket eventually.

What felt good about today’s run was the temperature but also my body. It felt pretty strong. I was feeling how strength really helps in pounding that pavement and moving forward. For that reason, I’m wondering if I can keep getting protein into my system to solidify muscle. However, my average daily rate isn’t going down (still hovering around 175 lbs., even though I’ll drop 5-8 lbs. in a single long run), so I’m wondering the balance. I want to get rid of excess weight in order to help me speed up, too.

I’m having a protein smoothie I made. That’s en route.