My only goal for today’s long run was to get in 3 hours. I didn’t care about the pace, how far I went or picking up the pace towards the end. I just wanted to be on my feet for 3 hours. Within the first 3 steps, I knew it was going to be a good run. My legs felt great and the weather was perfect – 35-40 degrees and fairly calm. Plus enough snow had melted recently that I was finally able to make the local golf course useful again. I ran on it for about 70 minutes before heading to my favorite trails. They weren’t in as poor shape as the ones we tried to run on yesterday, but they weren’t much better either. I’m still trying to figure out if slipping in the mud is better or worse than slipping on the ice.
After about 70 more minutes I headed back to the golf course to finish my run. Earlier in my run there was a hole that had a bunch of golf balls in the fairway, even though no one was around. I thought nothing of it and kept running. As I was nearing the end of my run I decided to pick them up. Luckily I had on a vest that had lot of pocket space for the 47 BALLS I picked up!!! I almost felt guilty, but hey, if you’re lazy enough not to pick up the balls after practicing your “sport,” it’s not my fault.
The only problem now was that I still had 25 minutes left to run and 47 balls weigh a lot. I decided to take my vest off and just run laps around one of the fairways for 15 minutes and then run home. The good news is I felt great for the 15 minutes without the vest. That’s especially good since that was from 2:37 to 2:52 of the run. The remainder of the run home was tough, but I just considered it a new form of resistance training. When I finished, I’d run 3:03 and called it 22 miles.
Quote of the day:
“I don’t train. I just run my 3-15 miles a day.” Jack Foster
Slipping in, on and around mud is way more fun than slipping on ice. Cross country is still a part of running, whereas ice 'dancing' is not.
ReplyDeleteYes, but ice dancing is in the Olympics, but cross country isn't.
ReplyDeleteHow's that for a rebuttal?
That run sure took a lot of balls!
ReplyDelete(Sorry--couldn't resist.)
Depends whether you like ice dancing or not.
ReplyDeleteThe world cross country championships are far more competitive and prestigious than Olympic ice dancing. Indeed, I'd go so far as to argue that a world cross country medal (esp. long course) is at least the equal of a world champs medal in track, and probably close to an Olympic medal.
I can't for the life of me figure out how Cross Country is not an Olympic event. The politicos must have some reason. I don't know what it could be. Conspiracy!
ReplyDeleteXC is way tougher and much more interesting than track or even road racing, let alone 80 percent of the 'sports' in the winter olympics.
Anyway, nice running lately Zeke. You're really piling up the miles and the quality. Keep it up!
Good one, Sara. That was a little to easy wasn't it.
ReplyDeleteEvan, you'd think a world x-c medal would mean more than a world track medal because there are only 2 events (long and short) in x-c. In track you have guys running 1500, 5k, 10k and steeple which dilutes the number of good runners in each event.
Thanks, Eric. I think seeing a x-c race on TV would be more interesting than a track meet and even a marathon.
BTW that's an awesome new photo.
Cross country was part of the Olympics from 1912-1924. But it was removed because it isn't a summer sport. Quite right!
ReplyDeleteI think it's better that it's not an Olympic sport, since as Chad notes we get a strong field that isn't segmented and then further dessicated by heats and finals. Several hundred of the world's best runners all going at it.
LOL. I am imagining you picking up all teh golf balls. So funny.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I kept looking around to make sure I wouldn't get busted. It's not like I even wanted them. I kept about a dozen and gave the rest away.
ReplyDelete