Photo courtesy of Andrew King - D4 Productions

Saturday, January 5, 2008

20 myles - 2.39:17

Sante Fe loop - 10:45 a.m.
light overcast, strong North East wind, dry roads
body felt sluggish
easy effort

I had plenty of motivation to run today despite the 30 mph winds with gusts of 50mph. Number 1 and 2 motivation to run today was part of a package from my good friend Aric Manning. In this package was a DVD from our 1995 soccer national championship trip and a new pair of Smith V-ti sunglasses. Number 3 motivation to run is a quote: there is no such thing as bad weather, just soft people.

The DVD was a complete surprise and after I watched it I got very inspired, needless to say it uprooted a whole lotta emotion. Playing soccer at Weber State was (and still is) the core of my essence. I always tell people today "running is what I do, it's not who I am" but on the contrary soccer is what I did and IS who I am. The person I am today is because of soccer, primarily from the friendships I formed and the coaches I learned from.

As I started my run I knew it was gonna be a long day not only because of the wind but because I just didn't feel it today. I didn't actively seek mile splits but I happened to glance at my watch after the first mile: 7:03. Not bad... and to tell the truth I thought I was slower than that. As I said before I usually gage my fitness on how strong I finish and how fast I recover, in addition I will sometimes see if I can match my first and last mile on an out/back. Well today, I took splits the last 3 miles with a concerted effort trying to stay within the 7:03 range. Last 3 were: 7:44, 7:35, 7:24 not as slow as I thought but I couldn't match my first and last which makes me believe that my fitness is still coming along. Normally this is a 19 mile run but I ran along Sante Fe for 12 minutes to make it a total of 20 myles

Last, and certainly not least, I wanna comment on my brand new sunglasses. The Smith V-ti are THE best glasses I have ever worn during a run. Aric told me Smith updated the Frontline model because bikers were complaining that the brow line was too thick and couldn't see. I thought the Frontline were comfortable but the V-ti was that much better! I put the polarized copper lens in today because of the thin layer of clouds, perfect choice! The frames are weightless on my face and the lens created a crystal clear view. If you do any activity outside you need these frames! I will never go without these again.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Sounds like the traing is going great Fast Eddy!
The way I heard the quote was: There is no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate clothing (or soft people). Speaking of weather, Turquoise Lake 20 mile snowshoe race, heavy snow and white out conditions on the lake. We all got lost on the lake and ended up running the course backwards. I ended up 9th or 10th in at around 4:50. Deep snow especially on the lake. Could of used a pair of those new Smith glasses!
Hope this kick starts my training for the year.

Cheers, BFish