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Torrential rains leave me with one pair of soggy socks when I arrive at work, so I decide to skip the morning run opportunity and not get the other pair wet. By afternoon it's still cool, the showers have stopped, and the damp socks that I hung over my computer have dried. So out I go, humid though it is, for three ~1.5 mile circuits around the parking lot perimeter, rough pace 9.7 + 8.7 + 8.1 min/mi.
^z - 2010-09-02
| Breathing as I run: One two three four One two three One two One |
Morning brings the urge to run, so four laps on the paved forest path go by with easy/medium/hard/quite-hard marked mile times of 10.2 + 8.8 + 7.9 + 7.2 minutes respectively. One squirrel watches my progress.
^z - 2010-09-02
Near the National Zoo a scruffy-looking possum startles us as it scampers across the trail in front of us. I lend Karen one of my flashlights when hers goes dark. At midnight two medium-large deer dart by. It's a Saturday night training run. Karen Taber and I first meet at the 2009-01-25 - Eagle Run and more recently chat at some VHTRC training events. Karen arrives at my home at sundown and drives us to the Ray's Meadow Park on Rock Creek Trail near East-West Hwy. At 9:07pm we set out. Almost immediately an impolite cyclist cruising without lights almost hits Karen. Whoops! We proceed downstream, tiptoeing across muddy patches from flooding earlier this week.
At the Thompson Boat Center I refill my hydration backpack from the garden hose. It's 11:30pm and a crowd of people—mostly young, mostly drinking—fills the boardwalk where boats take people out on the Potomac River. Proceeding up the Capital Crescent Trail we chat about family and running, work and studies. At Fletchers Boathouse construction/destruction is underway: the latrine is gone but there's a long line of portajohns. My right knee feels weak and twinges; Karen's feet are troubled by running so far on the asphalt pavement. For variety we follow the gravel C&O Canal Towpath for a mile, then scramble up the hillside to rejoin the CCT at the Arizona Av Trestle.
At 1am in downtown Bethesda three young men are ambling along the path toward River Rd. Our pace slows in the later miles as we take increasingly long walk breaks. My tummy troubles me somewhat; I take a Succeed! e-cap every hour, eat a Snickers bar, and suck on hard candies. Before setting out I had a slice of peach pie with whipped cream on top of some ramen and salty tea/lemonade plus coffee. Karen does well nibbling on Clif Bars.
At 0145 we take a slight short-cut in the final half mile, on the CCT Georgetown Branch trail after the Rock Creek Trestle, where we climb over a broken-down fence and cross an apartment parking lot to save our tired feet a fraction of a mile. A bit before 2am we're back at Karen's truck. My shorts are soaked with sweat; she's dry. That Sunday afternoon I visit Mary Ewell and walk a few miles with her along the W&OD Trail before picking up BBQ for the family.
^z - 2010-08-31
 | My dinner at 6pm: greasy french fries dusted with Old Bay seasoning + chunks of milk chocolate + a leftover pancake found in the refrigerator + a couple of big glasses of Pepsi Cola. The not-too-surprising result a couple of hours later: gastrointestinal "distress" when I try to run fast around the Walt Whitman High School track. And it's an excellent excuse for being slower than I was at the 2009-08-07 - MCRRC Going Green Track Meet last year! |  |
 | Bottom line: two mile race 13:53, pushing hard; one mile (half an hour later) 6:42. No timing information for my 400m leg of the relay (another 30 minutes later) with Christina Caravoulias, Jeanne Larrison, and Don Libes, but I suspect it was also in the 6:45 ballpark. Lesson learned: what one eats before a fast run sometimes matters! |
(photos by Ken Trombatore) - ^z - 2010-08-28
| Torque a nerve till tingles linger Tie taut tendons into knots Twist cartilage to mangled tangles Tear ligaments until they pop |
"Good job on that hill!" a dog-walker tells me. It's another warm, humid morning as I trot down Georgetown Pike past Langley High School and, after ~29.5 minutes, turn back at Balls Hill Rd. The return journey is ~29 min. Water sprinklers wastefully wet the bikepath.
(cf 2009-06-24 - Balls Hill Rd, ...) - ^z - 2010-08-26
Comrade Caryn rolls down her window and wolf-whistles at me as she drives past. A jackhammer busts up the sidewalk, preparatory to replacing old concrete slabs. At 0730 I trot out to circle the office complex this warm and humid summer morning. The ~1.5 mile loops are at approximate paces 9.7 + 8.8 + 7.7 min/mi.
^z - 2010-08-26
 | "Vanity of vanity, all is vanity." Ecclesiastes 1:2. On the way home it looks as though the GPS will read 29+ if I go the direct route, so I divert from the Capital Crescent Trail at Jones Mill Rd and go via Susanna Ln to Rock Creek Trail. The extra half mile gets the display to read 30.2 and makes the ego happier. And when I run out of water with a few miles to go I tell myself that dehydration will lower the number on the digital scale—which it does, to 149.0 lbs. All is vanity! |
The moon is a thin crescent in the east as I set out before dawn. A rabbit runs ahead of me on the CCT. I wait 20 minutes at the Bethesda parking lot for the group to gather, The GPS keeps running all the time, and at latrine/water stops, so perhaps the pace while "moving" is ~1 min/mi faster. My right knee feels "weak" but not "achy" after a few hours, no matter what I do nowadays. This reminds ever-cheerful Rebecca Rosenberg of the "Beverly Hillbillies" sitcom episode with Granny's common cold cure, a foul concoction of possum guts and what-not. Take it and you cold goes away in 7 days, instead of lingering for a week! Rebecca and I sing the "Beverly Hillbillies" theme song in chorus as we pass the National Zoo.
Gayatri Datta and I stick together for the whole 21 mile loop. She pulls me along especially during the middle. At the end, I walk much of the final mile home, Possibly it's due to sodium and potassium deficit, since I foolishly only bring one electrolyte capsule with me and one energy gel. The Clif Builder's Bar I eat along the way perhaps helps some, but perhaps causes some minor intestinal distress. Good lessons to learn for future long treks!
(cf. 2005-10-23 - CCT-RC Loop, 2006-10-07 - Caren's Loop, 2007-10-20 - Mary's Loop, 2009-01-10 - CM's Loop, ...) - ^z - 2010-08-24
A yellow-and-black caterpillar with an orange head humps its way along a twig; unfortunately, the twig is lying on the ground, so I wonder what the bug will do when it gets to the end and finds no leaves. By the time I pass on my next lap, it's gone. A cool morning tempts me out onto the woodsy loop at work again at 7:30am; no one else is there. On the first circuit I try breathing every four paces (inhale 4 steps, exhale 4 steps), then pick up the pace and for the next 1.1+ mile do a full breath every three paces, then every two, and on the fourth go-around it's a breath every pace. My mile-marker times accelerate accordingly: 10.3 + 9.4 + 8.3 + 7.2 min.
^z - 2010-08-22
I'm not planning to run on this humid morning, but enthusiastic colleague Stephanie drags me out for two laps on the paved jogging "trail" near work. The first marked mile is at 10.3 pace and the second, which I insist on pushing, goes by in 8.8 minutes.
^z - 2010-08-20
Caren Jew meets me at the Lake Needwood parking lot and downstream we head along RCT, taking walk breaks as needed and enjoying the early Sunday morning. No signs forbid us, so although it's still unfinished we cautiously venture onto the pedestrian bridge over Veirs Mill Rd and view traffic passing below. There are no safety railings, equipment is strewn about, and the concrete is covered in plastic sheeting.
Caren has The Eye and on the way back points out a barred owl and a chipmunk. To add some hill work we cross the scary metal mesh bridge and climb the side trail to Marcia Lane and Linthicum Street as used in the long-ago 2005-11-13 - Rock Creek Park Marathon and Relay (see map). I amuse Caren by reminiscing about the volunteer at the top who gave me a powdered donut during that race. We push between mileposts 13 and 14 to make the final mile in 11:34, and follow it up with a cooldown loop around the parking area road.
^z - 2010-08-20