If you've seen "Sexy Beast" then you'll know Ben Kingsley's dramatic opening line is "I need to change my shirt,I,m sweating like a @#$%" well that's how I felt after 7 miles of my Sunday 10 miler.
Setting off around 10.40am following the Italian Grand Prix I headed into my traditional Sunday long run w/ no real worries or concerns,10 miles would give me my required 5 day/40mpw and I'd already successfully logged four 10 milers in the space of twelve days upto Aug 28th.
Conditions were or so I thought ideal sunny and warm Peco Tower doesn't operate during the day time so I don't get my exact temprature reading along the Schuylkill Banks and whle the US Open tennis has been on I haven't caught the NBC news to get a 7 day forecast so I've no ideal what the expected mercury level was......judging for the state of my so called dri fit shirt by mile 7 hot!!
I love running in September for numerous reasons,the conditions tend to be "runner friendly" and the Schuylkill Banks and Kelly Drive tend to be populated w/ a larger number of runners than anyother time of year,I think it's a combination of the weather,the start of the fall semester for schools and colleges,the fact that October always feels like National 5k month where you can't turn around on a weekend w/out a local 5k race being held and then there's the fall marathon fraternity prepping for Chicago,Twin Cities,New York and Philly so I'm not short of people to run w/ while I'm out there.
Even on a Sunday long run where the object is to just get the miles in at a leisurely pace I found myself having to give the running equivilent of a bitch slap to a would be overtaker.
It's not an ego trip w/ me,but IF you're gonna overtake me do it w/ conviction all that huffin' and puffin' as you go by me.....the you slow the hell down w/in a few paces.....wtf!!!!!! no wonder I reclaim "pole position" w/in a few meters and then repell your futile attempts to overtake me again,it came as no majot surprise I didn't see this guy till I'd turned at 5 miles and began heading back along Kelly Dr.
W/ 3 miles to go I was struck by two things,how wet my dri fit shirt was and how non exsistant my knee lift and leg turnover was.
I doubt there was any link between both I will say my shirt was SO wet I thought about pealing it off and running the last three mile shirtless,but I didn't want to tempt fate by stopping plus I'm not a big advocator of the shirtless look during the run.....but ladies please feel free to run w/out yours if you feel the urge to!!
As is often the case on my 8 or 10 mile runs my feeling was once I got to the South St bridge I was almost home but it was getting there that may be problematic,I'm not keen on stopping for the sake of stopping during the run,it's one thing if it's a call of nature or your sholeace is undone but stopping because you're tired kind of smacks of cheating, I mean you don't stop on a dime during a race so why do it in training?
As is more often than not the case I caught the red lite which allowed me a "legal breather" but thankfully as is often the case on a Sunday long run the traffic was lite so the few red lites I hit from there on along the route home didn't offer too long of a stop,there was still the possibility of the dreaded "bonk" so the less slowing and stopping the better as I was now reduced to the "soft shoe shuffle"
Thankfully years of marathon training have prepared me "grinding it out" over the closing miles of far longer runs and I had no problem making my way up the final mile of Baltimore/Cedar Aves and finishing off the run.
It's been a while since I've finished a run of any distance w/ my hands on my knees catching my breath outside my front door,I still stand by the mindset that it's good to be humbled now and again to keep you honest and remind you that on any given day when you least expect it you could be asked to work a little harder than you antisipated to see the run through to the bitter end.
Making my way up the three flights of stairs to my apparment I was only too happy tp peal off my sleeveless dri fit running shirt.the wack it made as it hit my left shoulder blade confirmed just how wet it was and the promptness in which it was dispatched into my laundry bag upon entering "Chez Forde" would have no doubt had Ben Kingsley smiling......
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