Rainy Friday

Ran the Warrington version of the Cobbs Creek loop, along with a little extra at the end to make it a full 7 miles. Typical Friday run, E & I nursing legs battered by the week and trying to save a little for the weekend. As is usual in those kind of runs, when the pace lags the conversation picks up. We didn’t come up with any ways to change the world, but did get new insights into how bizarre it is.

The Polish guy I’m supposed to guide in the NYC Marathon emailed me yesterday and said that a “contusion in his calf’s muscle” has forced him to sit out the race. I’m really disappointed about that, as yesterday was also the day I scored a great place to stay in NYC for the weekend off Craig’s List and I was looking forward to just running the marathon and taking in its full splendor and energy. I emailed Achilles Track Club and maybe they’ll have some person on some waiting list who I can guide, and I can do all these things after all.

As a target marathon approaches, the geekier I get, and as a sign of that I dusted off my old logs and started comparing workouts between this cycle and the glory days. To my surprise I find that my current regimen compares favorably with any of my previous training cycles. An especially direct comparison was between my 800 meter track rep workouts. So I’m not training any faster, but should be in at least as good a shape as when I ran Chicago in 03 and pr’d at 2:45 on what I felt was an off day.

So more reinforcement on my feeling ready for Philly. I’m already telling people that 2:45 is going down!

It started raining just as the loop was winding down. Streetlamps and headlights reflecting off wet streets in a darkness just starting to lift gave the sensation of running in an oil painting. 7 miles today in 59:01.