Friday, April 14, 2006

Moisture of Many Types


So let's start with the weather yesterday. I sat in my office on the phone with Cap'n Ron, who was watching weather maps as we prepared to ride the 20 miles from Edmonds to Everett, where Truckasaurus was parked waiting for me.

Those big bright colored cells on the weather radar? Oh. That's weather alright. But it was technically still dry, so we braved it and headed north. The 20 mph tailwind didn't hurt much...Turned in to a nice ride just on the edge of a nasty downpour. I arrived to Casa GVB in a complete monsoon. No real data on the ride. I forgot to push "Start" on the computer. Oops.

This morning was more threatening but dry again. I had a 5 mile plan and after pushing the kids out the door, I set out.

Some days it just hurts. The first 2 miles sucked. Every stride was work. I almost cashed it in and went to the pub for an oatmeal stout. But no! I pressed on. Wooopsy.

At 3 miles I felt better. The God of all the people who hate me must have been watching because the heavens opened up on me. The wind decided to come straight out of the southwest (read: in my face) and it rained. Really rained. Betty McDonald "The Egg and I" sorta rain. Run for the car or stand under a tree sorta rain. This is what I get for running a path that is in the foothills of one of the wettest mountain ranges in the country.

So Mr Squishy shoes pressed on. What the hell, I'm already wet. Besides, I had Jack Johnson on the Nano. I could pretend it was Hawaiian rain. Sorta.

Ended up finishing the 5 in 41:44, which is an 8:21 pace if the math is correct.

Ms Realtor is at the house this morning taking photos and such for the listing. Time to sell this thing and get out. Anyone want a house?

It's off to work for me. Miss me while I'm gone.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

How to run 6 miles on two bananas when you THINK you have actually eaten your lunch?

You cannot.

You head into the wind and at about 1.5 miles you start feeling vague. At 2.0, the vagueness increases and you cannot feel your legs. At 3.0 you feel like you are floating (and not in a good way). At 3.2 you say "fuck-it", scrub the run, and wobble back to homebase or the car or whatever. The you eat something and wonder what went wrong. That is when you realize that your peanut butter and jelly sandwich, carrots, and apple, will be welcoming you back to your office on Monday. Then, after a bunch of other stuff happens, you go to bed, get up the next morning, and realize on your three mile run that what you eat and didn't eat the day before and what you ran and didn't run the day before has an impact on what you do today.

At least it did not rain on me. :-)

GVB said...

Low fuel. Hate that. I pulled that trick on a Rainier climb once. At about 12,000 feet my legs just stopped working. "Huh...What's up with that? OH!!! Look here, my Powerbar is still in the bag. Woops."

Anonymous said...

Gu, mmmm, yummy Gu—in new packaging and flavors too . . .

GVB said...

GU rocks. Need some GU. The problem with it on alpine routes is that it freezes. Then again, so do Powerbars. That's a good way to lose a tooth.

Anonymous said...

I have some news for you. GU (and other gels) freeze at lower levels too. Sucking packets at 18 degrees on Tiger is something of an experience.