6.05.2005

Make the Most of the Day

Thinking About Running. I woke up this morning well rested and realized I had time to have something to eat and make it downtown to participate in the ritual Sunday morning running swarm. Everybody parks on the Avenue and takes off running in the direction of the shady million dollar home neighborhood(s). Some kind soul always has a water/Gatorade stop set up near a park that offers facilities for those with tested bladders. There are variations of distances to go, ranging from 3 miles to 15 miles. I had my mind set to go about 10.
Running. I arrived downtown a little after 700 and saw the crowd had taken off already. They were in the distance about a half mile. I jumped out and followed them, not expecting to catch them and resigned to enjoy the run on my own. At the 2 mile mark I saw the swarm coming out of a 1-mile loop that I was entering. We waved. At 3 miles I ran across a former colleague from my old job and I stopped to chat and hear the latest gossip of who else was leaving. They're dropping like flies.
Onward. Oh crap: the water/Gatorade stand was not there today. I used the water fountain and moved along. At the 7 mile mark I merged with a threesome of runners who were going a little faster than me but I kept with 'em for a mile or so. I completed the 10 miles in 1:35, a 9:32/mpm pace. That's right around what I usually do. After yesterday's Army Run I didn't figure to set any records today.
Weight and Stress. Back in December Jon from Michigan gave me a link to a very cool excel spreadsheet template (David Hays) to track time, HR, shoe wear, lifetime running and stuff like that. One worksheet is to track weight which I've been doing since the first of the year. To my surprise I looked at the trend line and found that my weight has gone up since school let out. The stress levels have dropped and my weight has gone up. I am fairly certain my caloric intake has been about the same. Go figure.
All else being the same, I'm counting the days down to my 2-week summer vacation in Rhode Island. I am starting to fill out my dance/run card with fun things to do. Anybody know of a good race between July 3 and 17?

6 comments:

Jon (was) in Michigan said...

So they all run together every Sunday? That's kinda neat. A club or just a mutual interest?

Anonymous said...

Nice people in Florida, hanging out with a Gatorade stand!

Tracy said...

Cool - that would definitely be motivating - epecially when it's time for those longer runs to kick in!

Tracy said...

I forgot - check out signmeupsports.com for some good races in any area you'd like. I've found some good ones there.

Rhea said...

Hi there - Thanks for your comment on my blog re our road trip. Yup, SO and I are getting along better, thankfully. Or else we'd have a lot of 'splainin' to do to our relatives if we broke up. :-) Hey, how many people run on Sunday? Sounds fun. And very organized - a Gatorade stand, even.

David said...

The Orlando Runners Club and the local running store have, for years, been coordinating runs every Sunday morning at 0700 with anywhere from 20-50 folks running in different size groups. It’s loosely managed in that everybody just shows up before 700 at the high end shopping/dining street in town, fills up the entire prime parking on the avenue across from the park and takes off running over mostly brick streets, past huge lakefront homes, under oak tree canopies and back to the avenue. Starbucks gets a lot of business and people lounge around the park and street cafes while the rest of the world wakes up. It’s very peaceful and fun. Volunteers go out before 700 to designated parks and corners to set out water and Gatorade coolers and cups for anyone and everyone to enjoy. It’s very human!