8 ain’t Enuff

Eight days of Augustathon down, a few more to go.

I’ll be honest – I was about to give up on Augustathon after Saturday’s run. Man, was that miserable. It was hot, it was wet, it hurt, and I was slow. I was cranky, and really, really wanted to throw in the towel.

Since Sunday, though, running’s been the bee’s knees (pronounced with a hard ‘k’ – “the buh-eez kuh-neez”). Sunday’s run was great.

Monday’s run was great – we headed down to check out a destroyer that had just pulled into the pier. Always nice to see a fighting ship of the line and happy sailors coming down the gangway for a little bit of liberty. Great run – really, really sticky but not too hot.

BlackberriesTuesday’s run was cut slightly short (Still got my 3 miles!) on account of the discovery of a previously unidentified patch of blackberries next to the sidewalk. We spotted them on the way out. Amazingly, I managed to fight off the urge to stop and gorge myself until we were passing them on the way back. Klink kept going – said he would have been dead in the water if he’d stopped. I ate them until my fingertips turned purple. The last 1/4 mile I had to do wasn’t fun – I could taste berries and coffee trying to come back up as I pushed up the hill. But it was worth it.

Yesterday – same old, same old. HA! On Monday, we took Missy’s ma to a lobster shack in Noank. In passing, Missy mentioned how she sometimes forgets how nice it is to have the water as close to the house as it is. Me – not a chance for taking it for granted. Probably has something to do with spending a decent portion of my early 20’s locked in a steel tube staring at the sea and sun but not being able to feel anything but the skins of poor naughas and nuclear-powered air conditioning. No, Wednesday was another of what’s probably my favorite run – a loop from Ft. Weatherill on Jamestown. The wx was miserable – hot, wet, and still. But the roads are enjoyable, there’s enough of a hill to make it challenging, and a dip in the cove at the end of a hot run makes everything worthwhile.

Harp and HoundOh, and last night I got on the bike after the kids were in bed. Yep, got on the singlespeed and rode downtown to the pub for a couple of barley pops and Trivia night. On the way back home, I made it up Cow Hill without going into distress, which puts my fitness at somewhere better than it’s been in a while. Pleasant way to spend the evening.

Thoughts on a week+ of continuous running:

  • Public commitments are extremely motivating. While I’m completely sure that there would have been naught but sympathy and support from the RBF if I had punted on Sunday, I didn’t want to have to type that I was a failure.
  • There’s a “hump” anytime you push your boundaries. One of my vivid memories of Officer Candidate School, the 13 most physically challenging weeks of my life, was somewhere around week 4 when doing calisthenics while getting yelled at was no longer physically challenging. My body had accepted that I was not going to stop due to perceived weakness, and so the challenge moved to my head – was I mentally tougher than the Drill Instructor?
  • There’s a strong correlation between temperature, humidity, and slower splits. Duh

Melissa still thinks I’m crazy, which, of course, I am. But she’s specifically referring to running without rest days for a month. She may be correct, but I think that in some ways the low-level, low-stress training I’m doing is sustainable on a daily basis. I’m hesitant to push my mileage above three per day until I’ve got no soreness at all day-to-day. But, there’s the New Haven 20K 3 days after the end of Augustathon, so at some point I’ve got to add some miles.

Wow – New Haven. I’m pretty confident that I can finish New Haven, and finish it pretty well based on the results of the Narragansett 10 miler. But, I’d like to have an 8 miler+ either the weekend of the 18th or the weekend of the 25th. We’ll have to see how the legs hold out.

Don’t forget the SPF 15!

4 thoughts on “8 ain’t Enuff”

  1. Congrats on sticking to it — your public commitment is not just motivating to you but to others as well.

    Stay cool and injury free, and keep posting!

  2. you’re doing good so far, dont get on the mtn bike for a wild ride until after augustathon.
    i saw blackberries at one of my regular run loops and it seemed so out place. the berries looked delicious but it grows where there are plenty of dogs and humans passing by – a good size bush to sneak behind.

  3. I’m impressed you are sticking to it in this heat. Its been an awful summer. August seems to be the worst.

    And New Haven. I need to sign up. I may be doing the 5K instead of the 20 this year.

    Call me a pervert but I read “There’s a hump anytime you push your boundaries” as “There’s a hump you anytime boundary.” Bad.

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