It all started with a horse and a palm tree.
The plague got me. My infection began when Keith and Dan insisted that it was just a light drizzle outside as we went in between buildings at work. By the time we arrived back at our building, we were soaked through. That night I had a sore throat. For the next two weeks I was basically out of commission, and vowed with an annoyed fist pump in the air never to follow Keith and Dan’s advice on weather related matters.
After recovering from this death plague, I didn’t have the same motivation to do my daily runs. The body at rest just wants to keep resting… in front of the tv, watching Netflix, with a box of tissues to blow my nose while sipping slowly on warm honey lemon tea. Mmmm… honey lemon tea.
Today, I was convinced that I needed to get my training back in gear. Then plan was I’d start out with a quick 3 miles after work. I decided to run Santa Clara University again, but instead of running the perimeter, I wanted to try the track since it was better lit.
Got home around 7 and changed for my run. Looked at grabbing my Garmin, but I had let it run out of power. Then I decided I could use my Apple Watch as a back up, but when I tried to install the Strava watch app I’m having some strange issues with it not loading to the home screen. It’s then I realized I haven’t been getting any notifications from my watch in quite some time. This bugged me to no end and I began to troubleshoot by checking software updates. Finally landed on un-pairing the devices. This took an extra hour longer than expected and then I completely gave up on running and decided to make dinner.
Around 9pm I had a change of heart and headed out. A quick 5 min drive to Santa Clara U and hunt for parking and I’m ready. The perimeter around the school is packed, and to park on campus you need a permit so I find a spot near the back and that’s where I see a horse and a palm tree. Start the Dear Sugar podcast and get ready for running.
Renee introduced me to the Dear Sugar podcast a while back but I never really took the time to listen to it. It’s a romance and relationship help column by none other than Cheryl Strayed of “Wild” fame and Steve Almond. Today’s episode was about The Allure of a Forbidden Crush. I’ve included it for you below.
Mesmerized by their words about how in life we need more than just our significant other, and Almond’s soothing voice, I ran through campus and headed directly to the track circling it counter clockwise as another girl in a full hoodie circled it clockwise. She was doing sprint and recovery as every time we passed she was walking, while I kept a consistent pace throughout. On the field kids were playing ultimate and some kind of soccer where you were huge inflatable bubbles? It was fun to people watch. Glancing at my watch I realized that the track roughly was about .4 miles full circle. In my mind, I’d count out how far I was by the laps made.
At roughly 2.4 I didn’t feel fatigued yet, but I was super bored of running the track. I guess it was then I realized that what I like about running is a constant change of interesting scenery. I mean, what I loved about the Nike SF Half Marathon was my familiarity with it, but it never got stale with it’s iconic views. Running the track at SCU felt much like it did in college when Karen would drag me to the Edward’s Track, while super springy and comfortable to run on, I was always bored after the first loop.
Hitting 3 miles I turned around and headed to the car. Everyday you learn a little bit more about yourself through he challenges you put yourself through. I learned today that tracks bore me.
Days till Marathon: 179
Mileage: 2.4 miles
Pace: 10.21/mi
Met Along The Way: Didn’t really meet, but I felt like hoodie girl was competing with me in spirit.
