...AND PASTRIES







You might think it would be safe to assume that I love to run. Afterall, I am obsessed with doing it, have nearly as many running clothes as regular clothes, and I actually enjoy the taste of Accelerade. However, in general, I do not "love" it. More often than not just getting out the door in my running togs is the end result of much mental grappling with the voices many runners battle. I estimate that those trying to convince me TO run win out about 60 percent of the time. 40 percent is not a bad record for those urging me to put it off "til tomorrow" but it is a number I'd like to trim.

This morning's run along the San Francisco waterfront was more an exception than the rule. I headed out fully intending to squeeze in an acceptable 6 miler. It turned in to 13. The reason was, without much reason, I was loving it! I could wax poetic about the beauty of the area, but I won't. Suffice it to say I was feeling good enough at mile 6 that I just didn't want it to end. It may have had something to do with the fact that, at mile 3 or so I took off my new non-blister-producing Brooks Beasts and ran a mile and a half barefoot in the wet grass. That was seriously refreshing.

I then continued westward, toward the fog shrouded Golden Gate Bridge, accompanied, via iPod, by the best of Paul Carrack and, via itself, the periodic blasting of the city's fog horn. It was surprising how many times the horn fit right in some gap in the Carrack songs.

My half marathon PR is 2:17, set years ago. I usually do that distance in 2:25-2:35. Today, it was 2:30. I'm okay with that, with just over 5 weeks til the Rochester Marathon. I polished off the morning with a cup of Peets Coffee and a piece of their shortbread. Turns out finishing at Peets was a good thing in another way. As soon as I stopped running I experienced the aura that signals the approach of a migraine. I usually get them when I'm really tired. This week I ran 33 miles, my most for a single week in 7 years of running. I'm on vacation, so I've had lots of free time. The caffiene-rich coffee went straight to my head and fended off the migraine. The shortbread was a bonus.

Gotta run!