Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Down By The {Frozen} Water

See this ancient riverbed see where all the follies lead down by the water and down by the old main drag
I was just some tow head teen feeling round for fingers to get in between down by the water and down by the old main drag
The season rubs me wrong the summer swells anon so knock me down,tear me up,but I would bare it all broken just to fill my cup down by the water and down by the old main drag

Down By The Water-The Decemberists

The "best laid plans of Mice & Men" or so it's said......the original blue print for the week was: 8 miles Monday,8 miles Tuesday,4 mile Thursday{1.5 mile warm up,mile race,1.5 cool down}6 miles Saturday{4x400m 1 mile repeat x2 mile warm up.mile cool down} 14 miles Sunday.......well all that went out the friggin' window w/ Mondays rain......ergo why when I write my weekly schedule I write it in pencil........
The rewrite looked thus:8 miles Tuedsay,4 miles Wednesday,4 miles Thursday,4 miles Friday,6 miles Saturday,14 miles Sunday,prehaps not the worst thing in the world,w/ Friday off work since I won't be home till gone midnite the easy 4 miler can be done mid morning/lunch time plus it'll help get any lingering gunk out of my legs post race b4 hitting the track on Saturday.

A "balmy" 28 degrees compared to the bone chilling 19 or 20 degrees I ran in last Wednesday,once again large sections of the Schuylkill River were frozen solid.....and I do mean solid as was eveident by the  large rocks sitting atop the ice a the foot of the footpath that links from South St bridge and the start of the Schuylkill Bank trail,you know it's cold when the river freezes over!!!

W/ an easy 4 miler on tap tonite this was my last chance to get some serious work in pre race,tonite will be more ceremonial than anything,maybe that's why I responded to the "challenge" thrown down by another runner.
I forget where along the Schuylkill Bank I overtook this runner but I became aware  of the fact she wasn't going away anytime soon,going up the ramp to South St bridge I worked the ramp to put some distance between us......which turned out to be for naught when I got held up at the red lite on the intersection of the on/off ramp of I 76 and South St but my responce to the walk sign{or in my case run!} sign put me back ahead of her.......till the next red light on the corner of 33rd and Spruce,she ellected to play "chicken" w/ the traffic where as I waited a split second to get the clear and safer run,I guess she wasn't reading from the "respect your elders" songbook.....
Speeding up to catch the green lite on the next intersection at 34th St I "opened it up" heading up Spruce St and heard what sounded like a groan from behind me.......if you want to run w/ the big dogs sweetie you best bring your A game there's still life in this old dog yet!!!!

No comments: