Guys, I don’t know why it’s so awesome to run to the theme songs to old Sergio Leone spaghetti westerns, but I’m super glad I randomly discovered it when this little number shuffled onto my iPod during a long run a few weeks ago:
Whew, first day in a week that I haven’t felt like complete ass (just like, half an ass or something). To celebrate I made my commute a bit of a tempo run, with decent results. Well, decent in a oh-god-I-guess-I-still-have-a-bit-of-a-fever-don’t-I-and-it’s-like-10-degrees-hotter-than-I-thought-it-was-maybe-I-shouldn’t-be-running-with-this-full-backpack kind of way. Still I cranked out a solid sub-8 minute mile for the first 4 miles at least. Might have even gone a bit faster if that crazy homeless guy hadn’t been hogging that water fountain. C’est la vie!
Damn these cold/allergy/demonic possession symptoms straight to some Judeo-Christian construct of a punishing afterlife! Bad enough I had to add an extra rest day this past week due to exhaustion/sniffles, I actually ended up cutting today’s long make-up run short because I felt like butt. I know, I know, you need “time” to “recover” from illness, and you’re not helping anyone by pushing yourself too hard on days your body’s not up for it, but it’s damn frustrating all the same.
The cloud of being a bit laid out this weekend (thanks hayfever!) did have a silver lining, in that I got a chance to finish up Scott Jurek’s excellent running memoir/mission statement/recipe book “Eat and Run”. For those who don’t know Jurek is kind of a big deal in the UltraMarathon circuit, not only for winning all sorts of completely insane races over and over again, but also for doing 99% of it as a vegan. “Eat and Run” is as much about that lifestyle choice as it is about running, with Jurek not only espousing the health benefits and moral implications of his lifestyle, but even going so far as to include a ton of runner-specific vegan recipes throughout the book, some of which he created himself!
Sick day! Sorry, gang, but the past couple sub-6-hours-of-sleep-plus-running-and-sprinting-in-90-degree-weather seems to have gotten to me. Right now all I’m really capable of doing is placing my forehead on this nice, cool table and trying to read some more of Scott Jurek’s so-far excellent “Eat and Run”. Not quite sure what the hell’s up with these cold symptoms, hopefully it’s just allergies or something. Worst thing in the world is getting sick in this heat. Anyhoo, I’m out of material for now, but I’ll be back next week with more rambling nonsense. Stay cool, buddies (Snow Buddies?)!
(Oh yeah, and good luck to a bunch of the guys over at 2 Fat Nerds, who’re competing in this weekend’s B.A.A 10k! Hope it cools down a bit!)
StaufenRunning 