running for glory

Post title is an ode to high school. I used to make up fictitious things and concentrate on extravagance of terms like glory, perpetuation, mortality, etc. Those were the things that made me run like a crazed freak the last lap of any race. I'm not sure what my splits were. Splits didn't matter. Time didn't matter. All that mattered was that I went so fast that I was out of control and attempting to ignore all reason. Those were fun times. As my good friend Ann and the crowd of students by the track used to yell "Rick Flare" it was apparent to everyone that something special was about to happen. Rick Flare, in case you didn't know, was a wrestler who would go crazy at some point in the match and cock his head back and just go WHOOOOOO! real loud. I would get so hyped up by two words, especially the "flare" part because it sounds like a rocket or something, that I would yell Rick Flare right back and burn off a lap. It was a psychological thing that probably wasn't the wisest thing, but it was fun and always worked.

Now this was about 9 years ago now, and I can hardly remember it. I can only take accounts from good friends on the actualities of what happened, because as I stated I wasn't exactly coherent at that stage. What I do remember is not wearing socks because it made me faster, wearing spikes as much as possible, and being superstitious about my pre-race day routine, right down to breakfast, what route I took to the bus, and countless other things I've forgotten. I also remember laying around a lot at track meets. I would go run an event, take a nap, and hope that someone woke me up before my next one (I always ran 3-4 events). I remember running a 4:59 mile right before I had to run the 2 mile after it at our last meet. I really slacked off on that mile because I knew I had to run again.... hehe.

Someday I hope to get back to that point of non-awareness in some respects. If I'm ever doing really well, I'll remember to sprint the last 400 meters and yell something. It was my trademark after all.

So today's run was pretty much the same old story. I did manage another 8 miles! This is really awesome. I normally take a day off or cut mileage, but running through the recovery has been interesting. My body has really responded well, and that is encouraging. It could mean I can increase mileage after my half is over and be able to handle it. Some people can only go up to 60-70 and they start breaking down rather quickly. I think efficiency has a lot to do with that. I could see people pounding out miles with bad form (which may or may not be the case) and paying for the increase. I feel smooth when I run, but there are times when I feel the opposite so it's hard to tell. I plan on watching the elite runners a lot in videos and hopefully picking up good things from them. I know I learned a heck of a lot just from watching Ryan in the trials. I would like to see more Gebreselassie although it's hard to find good quality video of him, youtube makes him look like mario.

Track meeting next Tuesday. Not sure if I'll get to run that day, but I'm kind of starting a new thing. Only take complete recovery days on days like that. Where something is scheduled or happening that I have to attend. I could always run in the morning or something like that, but I think it would be wiser to rest and prepare for whatever is planned. I like the idea of running everyday possible even if just a few miles, it just seems right for me.



8(8.62)miles. 52 degrees overcast. SM 438