Erica and Running,My First Love And My True Love

When I was first getting sober some twenty years ago my counselor often refered to me as "the history major"for my knack of remembering dates and anniversaries.
At certain points in each year Erica anniversaries crop up and tend to dictate my mood/moods for a week or so,June 16th is one of the bigger ones,if it was just her b,day I think the day would pass just like any other...........however back in 1985 on Erica,s 21st b,day we got engaged and that,s why for the past few years the week leading upto June 16th has seen me act like the proverbial "bear w/ a sore head",most casual observers can,t tell I,m extra testy that week,at best I,m as cuddly as a porcupine,at my worst I,m as pleasent as cancer............so I,ve been told but the fact of the matter is 23 years from our engagement and almost 20years from our subsequent divorce I don,t think I,m ever likely to find a love like the one I had w/ Erica and if your wondering what this has to do w/ running I,m coming to that.
Erica was my first love and probably the reason why after all these years I still carry an olympic size torch for her,running is the thing I love more than anything else in the world,in the general scheme of life it,s running,music,soccer, the holy or unholy trilogy depending on how you look at it and at a time when things I,d hoped would happen haven,t it,s been easy to commit myself heart,body,soul and mind to the grand plan of getting ready to step upto the next level w/ my running.
Over the next three years my focus will be on the World Masters C,ships in Sacramento in July of 2011,it,s a long way off but journeys have to begin somewhere so here and now sees the start of "The Master Plan"
6x600m tonite to kick the week off,it was looking a bit iffey there for a while during my warm up and stretches if I,d get the repeat in b4 the heavens opened,having conducted 2 2x1,000m repeats in the rain this summer already I,m no stranger to the heavens opening on me,for tonite at least the weather gods smiled on me.
Opting to continue w/ my new target time of 1.45 for my 600s I kicked off in a comfortable manner,68 seconds for the opening 400m followed by a 34 second closing 200m to clock 1.42.20,start as you mean to go on.
1.10/32 for the second repeat,1.42.59,if I could just hold onto this pace throughout the workout I,d be golden.
1.11/31-1.42.82 jaysus talk about consistant,my only concern was my opening 400m split was creeping up each repeat,forcing me to crank out the closing 200m to keep inside the target pace.
1.12/32-1.44.56,just inside,at least I,d bettered last weeks 3/6 tally and was still on pace to equal my previous weeks effort when I went 5/6 but I could tell my legs were beging to feel heavier than when I started out.
1.14/33-1.47.38................agh!!!!! repeat#5 is so often the fatherless child of repeats on the 6x600m, my feeling is providing you can get through the 5th intact sheer will and determination not to mention some guts and sheer bloody mindedness will carry you through the 6th repeat,fail at the 5th and you,re a little deflated going into the 6th and final repeat.
1.16/36-1.52.15.....thud the sound of the wheels falling off...........johnny nollocks,what can I say I gave it my all and came up short,however I take pride in the fact I,ve stepped up my "Death Zone" target time to 1.45,there was nothing to be gained by keeping it at 1.50 and while I,m a tad disappointed to fall short of my 6/6 I,m confident in time it,ll come,just as 6/6 at 1.50 took time back in the begining of my 6x600m repeats.
It would be remiss of my not to close w/out some further mention of Erica on her 43rd b,day,believe my when I say "Titch"where ever you are I hope you,re happy and please know I,ll always hold a place in my heart for you.
xoxo
Of the several songs that always remind of her I pluck this one from the several "Songs In The Key Of E"
"There,s nothing I can say there,s nothing left to do,it,s just that lately I feel so damn lonely when I think of you
And it may seem selfish now but I,ll hold onto the memory untill all this fear is washed away
Do you believe in love?do you believe in life? cos I believe a little part of you inside of me will never die"
"Do You Believe In Shame"
Duran Duran