I think the sentiment for today is nicely summed up by what a friend said sometime back, "Reasonable greeting of well being for approximate completion of Earth's orbit from an arbitrary origin."
Today morning, I woke up with a sore body and I knew just what I had to do: Put my running shoes on, walk to the nearest Starbucks, have two shots of espresso, and go for an easy slow run.
After yesterday's pavement incident, I was really grateful to get any amount of running done today. I woke up in the morning with my knees still hurting but the swelling was mostly gone. That was a good sign. I popped another pain killer, rested and waited in hope for the pain to subside. By evening I was felling better, so I confirmed Jay last minute about today's run. We ran to Lake Montebello and did five loops before heading back home. Lake Montebello is a beautiful almost-flat oval loop in northeast Baltimore. On a nice warm day this place is milling with joggers, runners, dog walkers, housewives taking a stroll, bikers, and kids on skateboards. But on this cold (31 degrees) evening, we were pretty much the only ones there.
I had a long work day today and wanted to get fresh with a nice long run. But alas, I had to trip on a pavement, fall flat, and abort a run that had begun so well.
Today was my running sabbath! I met with my best pal and his wife in DC and kind of toured the city. After quickly seeing the obligatory monuments, we spent most of the time at the Arlington National Cemetery. There is something nice about this place -- beautiful and serene -- but it's also the first runner unfriendly place I've been to. There was this big sign at the entrance saying "no jogging". How about running, sprinting? May be I'm being borderline irreverent here but I guess that was my first reaction as a runner. Are there other public places where runners are prohibited?
The whole DC travel, catching up, etc left us with little time for breakfast and lunch, so we had a late meal of cannelloni spinach ricotta and gnocchi, and finished it with coconut macaroons and latte. For dinner today, I just heated up a bowl of pasta fagioli (left) that I had made earlier. After my recent large expense computer purchase, I've been doing some cost cutting and started cooking at home. I am constantly surprised at how easy, cheap, healthy and efficient it is to cook at home. Ask me for a killer almost-instant pasta fagioli recipe :-)
Why does it feel that Christmas is not yet over! I am still in that holiday mood for not doing anything other than running. For the most part of the day, I ate, slept, cleaned the house, and messed it up again. The weather outside is becoming warmer. 48 degrees, really? Perfect weather to run long distances but today was a recovery day for me. So, I did a slow 7 mile run to flush the toxins away. Reading Galloway's book, I realized I am not hydrating enough. Jeff seems to be drinking from a fire-hose all the time!
I did the usual route to the Inner Harbor, Federal Hill, Fort McHenry, Little Italy, Fells Point before heading back with a comfortable 8:10 pace. The post run drink was a quart of chocolate milk. Yes, I drank a whole quart of chocolate milk! Isn't that worth running for? With all the calcium and Vit-D it's the best $1.69 I spent. What do you like to eat/drink after runs? My favorites are pizza and chocolate milk. I usually carry a credit card so I can buy something on the way but today being Christmas, most places were closed. After relaxing a bit, I heated up a HUGE lunch (left) that I had made earlier. Brown rice, tofu, 3 kinds of beans, mushrooms, celery, tomatoes and onions. Yum!
Wonderful weather today evening with a nice cool 34 degrees. Jay & I ran to the harbor, Fort McHenry, and back. The snow on the roads are mostly plowed, or walked over making it easier to run. But watch out for the clear roads with black ice! Those clear puddles of water with a dangerous icy film on the top waiting to deceive the most unsuspecting runner. On these days, your best bet would be to run on slush however yucky it might feel.
I still haven't figured out a way to beat the traffic lights and esp. with these road conditions you've got to be extra careful on the roads with approaching traffic. Fortunately, there was nice 4 mile patch around Fort McHenry where I could run uninterrupted with an avg 7:30 pace but overall this run took around 8 min/mile.
