Run #113

Before my "official" run started, my 4-year-old Chickie and I did a warm-up walk and jog together (walked about the first 1/3 of it, then jogged most of the rest). It was a great way to start the day! Then I dropped her off at home so I could do my normal Saturday run. I was proud of her; not only did she have fun with her jog, but when I woke her at 5:40 a.m. she immediately and happily got up! Mileage was .69 miles, and it took us 15:12. (That's not included in the stats at the bottom of this post.)

Then it was time to drop her off at home and head off on my long Saturday run, with a new meandering route to Starbucks!

What a great run! I am reading the amazing book Born to Run and one sentence really stuck out to me. It's talking about the Tarahumara, a tribe of ridiculously skilled runners who live in the mountains of Mexico. "The real secret of the Tarahumara: They'd never forgotten what it felt like to love running." So today I focused on ENJOYING myself, even more than usual. I gave big smiles to drivers and fellow runners/walkers. Wow, it was fun!

There were some challenging parts, as there usually are on my long runs! My left IT band was bothering me. I was frustrated; I'm focusing on improving my form (even in shoes-on runs like this one) and still, this pain. Then I realized my ankles were VERY tense. When I relaxed my ankles, it was a world of difference! I still had some aches to stretch out (to be expected when I'd been running at least a couple of miles with that tension) but it was so much better. Amazing how all that is connected; tight ankles were contributing to upper-leg aches.

Happy moments of this run: Some wonderful, freeing downhill running after a tough mile of mostly uphill. "Runner's high" after about 52 minutes of running. Again, the scent of rosemary bushes. And smiles from friendly drivers and pedestrians. The smiles--from them to me and from me to them--are all like little gifts of extra energy!

No barefoot at all today. It was dark when Chickie and I set out, and even with streetlights, I'm not confident enough in the toughness of my feet to walk or run barefoot when I can't see the street totally clearly! I think that was a good thing anyway. My foot has had one sore spot ever since my ill-advised barefoot stroller run on Wednesday. It feels a lot better after today's run, so hopefully that muscle or whatever it is has loosened up. I look forward to doing another very short barefoot run Tuesday (and maybe a short one tomorrow.)

8.86 mi, 1:49:45, 12:23/mile
Weather: At just after 5:30 a.m., Google told me the it was 77 degrees/89% humidity out there. Two hours later, I texted Google again* and found that the temp was 75, but humidity was up to 94%. Whew, it was icky--but still it was such an enjoyable privilege to be outside running. Chickie and I started our warm-up a little before 6, and I headed out on my own for my run at about 6:20. I finished by 8:10. The sun was annoying for part of it, but more for its brightness than its heat. (I hadn't brought sunglasses.)

*Tip for those of us who don't have Internet on our phones, but can text: Text "weather" to "GOOGL" (46645) and it'll text you back with current weather conditions, for free. If it gets your location a bit wrong, you can text your ZIP code or city/state too (e.g., "weather 01234" or "weather los angeles, ca") and it'll give you more accurate info. Do that a couple of times, and it even remembers your default location, and you can omit the ZIP from then on.