days 6/7 :: learning to spit

saturday was to be a cross training day. i started my training with a lovely scramble of garlic, olives, spinach, smoked salmon, sundried tomato pesto, feta and jack cheese, and eggs. then i helped julian drag large amounts of wood (2x4's, boards, siding, flooring etc.) out of his shed so he could inventory it. it was a bit of exercise, but not enough. i went home and took my friend's bike out for a little leisurely spin before dark. i don't know how far i went, but i was gone for about an hour, tooling around the side streets of irvington/alameda/alberta. steering clear of the main roads because i'm a bit nervous to ride in traffic. not much experience in urban cycling. i came home and intended on taking a nap (up too late the night before) and then meeting some friends out around 10pm. i lay down at 7, and the next thing i know it is 12:30! whoops - there went saturday night. and i was WIDE awake at 12:30. stayed that way until about 3 - tooling around the net, listening to music...

i fell back to sleep between 3 and 4... not waking up again until 8. i snuggled in bed with mookie (the fat cat) for a couple hours, procrastinating my 3 mile run. i made tea, had a small breakfast, got back in bed... soon it was 11 and i was irritating myself with my procrastination. so i threw on my shoes and hit the pavement. ipod dialed to mike doughty - so far he's my favorite running companion. his music is uptempo w/o being manic. a nice backdrop to my journey. (i just downloaded some harvey danger and can't wait to take it running...i think it will be perfect...)

my route was much the same, with a small addendum to push it into the 3 mile mark. that little addendum included a hill. ugh. it hurt me. it brought back all the feelings i hate about running... i couldn't catch my breath, my stomach was cueing up in my throat wanting to spew forth, my heart was beating like a meth addled drummer in a speed metal band right between my ears. so i walked for 3 blocks. once i recovered myself, i started running again. felt much better... felt human... felt like i'd found my pace again. i was proud that i didn't give up. i was proud that i didn't feel defeated. at the end of the run, i felt really good.

so, week one down. i stayed on schedule with little impact to my daily schedule, which is really nice. today after swallowing too much air, decided i need to learn how to spit - i've never been good at it and to do it while running w/o getting it over myself is my next milestone. not so keen on the snot-rockets tho, i'll wipe my runny nose on my sleeve until it is crusty before i'll blow snot out of my nose onto the pavement.

this isn't going to be easy, the training or the run. but i'm already feeling that it is going to be tremendously worthwhile.