GETTING SOFT

To listen to the local weather forecasters, you’d think we were in the middle of an ice age. Sure the temperatures “plummeted” overnight. However, when temps are 35-40 degrees in mid-January, dropping 30 degrees shouldn’t come as a shock. Sure it sucks, but we were still above zero (4 degrees) this morning – and we’re supposed to get up to 14 degrees today. So what’s all the hype about? Yes, the wind chill is about 10 below, but even that’s not too bad. I think we’re just getting soft.

I won’t lie. The first 5-6 minutes of this morning's run – into the wind – were a bitch. My forehead was cold and it kind of felt like a brain-freeze from eating ice cream too fast. (Which reminds me, I just read somewhere that when that happens, you’re supposed to press your tongue to the roof of your mouth.) But within a mile, I was feeling toasty warm. About that point into the run I decided to throw in some hill repeats. Last week I did 3, today I managed 4. These aren’t bust-a-gut repeats. They’re just controlled repeats designed to get my body ready for future bust-a-gut repeats. After the hills, I continued on and got in 10 miles.

I’m happy to report that my knee is feeling pretty good. There was a comment from “Getwell” yesterday regarding being “careful of how you rate your injury.” Yes, that’s good advice. Right now, I wouldn’t call this an injury. It’s more of a nuisance. If I ran to the doctor every time something like this flared up – like some articles suggest – I’d be better off being a doctor or at least being married to one. Since that’s not going to happen, I’ll just make due the best I can - through trial-and-error – like everyone else.

On a “National” note, the Houston Marathon and Half Marathon, which serves as the U.S. Championship, are this weekend. There are quite a few local runners participating, including some of the people I’ve interviewed recently. Here’s wishing they all have great races.
Eric sent me another New York Times article. It’s not really running related. It’s about “happiness” and running makes me happy – so there you go. It’s kind of long (6 pages) and I’ve only read the first page so far, but it’s interesting.

Finally, since some of my readers are triathletes, I’ll throw this new blog out there. I think it’s safe to say that Curt is a very good local triathlete. Stop by and encourage him to post more often.

Quote of the day;

“I don’t want to plead that it’s the life of a monk, but I can’t think of a sport – with the possible exception of swimming – where people train as hard.” – Sebastian Coe on distance running