Running Journal, Sunday, 2007-02-04

Running Journal, Sunday, 2007-02-04
Resting heart rate: 65 bpm (60-second test, mid-morning)
Body Mass Index (BMI): (kilograms/(meters^2)) 22.966
Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR): 1879 calories
Weather: mostly sunny, calm
Temp: 17 C (62.6 F)
Time: 11:36-16:15
Terrain: flat, mild hills
Comments: 20 miles today. Head cold persisted today so I went out slow. Realized I forgot my lip balm. x_x Thought about wearing a Go Colts shirt today given the Super Bowl. Felt tired, mentally muted. A bike passed me with a radio set at a thoughtfully medium volume level near mile 18.5. At mile 18 I noticed a large crowd of people, perhaps an office party or a class reunion. I went through some of the things I remembered from two weeks ago, like relaxing, staying at a pace where I felt mentally alert, and so forth. It sort of helped but I think the head cold plus lack of sleep caused me to feel tired. Around mile 18 I noticed a house across the river painted yellow with a blue roof that in my opinion stood out like a sore thumb. :P At mile 17.5, I passed the cat feeder guy that Dawn and I met a few months ago. I also passed the older bearded runner I frequently see on weekends around mile 18. I enjoy seeing other people on the Parkway and being seen. I thought, how do I want to spend my time running today? Slow and enjoy it, or fast and feel additional soreness? I chose to go slow. It sort of helped, but I still felt tired. x_x At mile 17 I passed a biker talking on his cell phone saying that they had to be back before the Super Bowl. :) I noticed around mile 16 that I was rubbing off the external volume markings on my water bottle. Made a mental note to use permanent marker to record them before they completely disappeared. At mile 15.5 I thought, I'm feeling better. I stopped when I had a thought I wanted to record and took my time with refilling my water so I might drink about eight ounces every 20 minutes. Around mile 15.5 I also noticed warnings about Mountain Lion sightings around the Parkway. Also, the field sprayed with RoundUp had orange fencing around the western perimeter for some reason. Due to my head cold, the run quickly became an exercise in snot management. ;) Around mile 15, I also thought up the poetic thought of leaving my prints in the dust as I ran along the Parkway, along with the others before me and after. At mile 14.5, a biker closely followed by a rollerblader passed me. It looks like so much fun. As I crossed the Harold M. Richey Memorial Bike Bridge between Goethe Park and William B. Pond Park, I heard a biker with a bike-radio playing A Prairie Home Companion. Garrison Keilor's voice is unmistakable. It was around this point that I ran out of water, so I went a bit longer than 20 minutes before stopping at the 13.5 mile bathroom in William B. Pond Park for a refill. I remembered that two weeks ago my mental goal was How do I feel when I finish? This helped me stay relaxed. At mile 12.5, I passed mile 91.7 of the Kinder Morgan petroleum pipeline (363-1666). The signs read that tampering with them results in a felony punishable by $5,000 and/or up to one year imprisonment. :P Yeesh. At mile 12 to my dismay I noticed that the Rangers had shut down the pipes to the fountain. This meant another two miles without water. :P At mile 11 (which has no sign post, by the way), I passed a plaque reading, Jo Dallen Hagedorn Family Grove, with Natural Live Oaks, Planted and Cared for by Community Volunteers (established 1988 by the Sacramento Tree Foundation). At mile 10.5 I passed a sign with graffiti reading Leaf, Earth First, followed by the Anarchist symbol. Lovely, Leaf. x_x It was at this point that I thought it might be fun to have a shirt that reads, Runner Carries No Cash. Not that I've ever felt threatened. Mile 10-11 in my mind is the second most beautiful stretch of trail behind mile 18.5-19. Shady, next to the river, winding, quiet. At mile 10 I stopped and used the bathroom and refilled my water bottle to the top. The cat feeder guy passed me, biked up the embankment to Watt Avenue, and continued south across the bridge. A baby in a bike-carrier began crying, but to me it sounded sweet. :) The parents seemed attentive and gave it lots of attention. Turning around and running east I noticed a slight breeze in my face, blowing the wonderful scent of dry leaves and other plant material. The return trip sapped my mental thoughts. I felt tired. I noticed it might hold some interest to create a five-senses blog detailing some of the things each sense picks up during a run: the cry of a seagull, the crunch of sneaker on trail dirt, the inhalation and exhalation of breath, the taste of salty sweat or cold water, the sight of the blue sky and a community of people enjoying themselves. At mile 11 I noticed a biker stop and draw a breath from their inhaler. A sign at this point noted that a riparian habitat restoration was in progress for the elderberry bush and the corresponding elderberry longhorn beetle, a threatened species. Another sign at mile 12.5 noted that the field next to the trail was a testing ground for new ways to remove the invasive yellow star thistle (centaurea solstitialis) and listing the number 456-7423. At mile 13, an Asia-Pacific couple on bikes passed me, and the woman in front exclaimed, Oh, I ate a bug! Her male partner replied, Good, it's protein! I laughed out loud as he passed and he smiled. :) At mile 13.5, another Asia-Pacific family passed me, and the father scooped up a pile of leaves, whooped, and threw it over his head. :) His young children quickly followed suit. I smelled the comforting smell of charcoal smoke as I returned through William B. Pond Park. As I re-crossed the Harold M. Richey Bridge, I passed a small boy raking his stick against the metal slats. As the mid-day turned into afternoon, the number of people on the Parkway dried up. I assumed they left to watch the Super Bowl. Happily, I saw a handful of families enjoying the unseasonably warm February afternoon. I don't remember anything else in particular from the rest of the way back except seeing a satisfied-looking small boy with wet pants legs walking with his parents near mile 20. I finished feeling mentally tired and a bit sore, with a sore back and wanting to sleep. :) Overall, a relatively good run for 20 miles, considering that I planned and kept up a consistent pace, adjusting as needed for my head cold.
Running Time: 279 minutes (4:39), 13:57 pace (6:05 marathon-pace); split 13:55, 139 minutes (2:19), 13:54 pace (6:04 marathon-pace)
Goal Time: 4:30
Distance (running): 32.19 km (20.00 mi)
Total Running Distance For Year: 162.61 km (100.87 mi)
Weight (after run): 78.6 kg (173.31 lbs), 18% body fat
Any irregular feelings, aches, pains, heart rate, and so forth?: sore middle back, legs stiff, mentally quiet second half, kind of phoned it in
Foods eaten today: banana, blueberry bagel, DiGiorno's Garlic, Spinach, and Musroom pizza, Vanilla Crisp and Chocolate PowerBars