saturdays are my hard training days. especially now since i'm exactly three weeks out from my race season and kicking it off with a half-marathon! on saturdays i go to a gym in a nearby town and get an overly-brutal swim workout with the local tri-club, then i normally find energy somewhere to get a nice run in and call it a day. i hadn't been able to swim with the tri-club in a couple weeks due to work or just wanting to be lazy and sleep in, so i was thinking today was going to be extra hard. turns out it was extra hard! at one point i actually thought i was going to yell for the lifeguard to save me. judging by the bored to death look on the sixteen year old dude's face while he was chatting with someone...i doubt it would've helped.
after my swim session i knew i didn't want to run the track since twelve laps equal a mile. after twenty laps i feel a little insane. the most i've ever been able to do around that track is a five miler and i'm pretty sure i travelled time. i also knew that i wouldn't feel like getting a run in when i got home. it's about a ten minute drive home...that's enough time for laziness to kick in. so, naturally i decided to just run home from the gym. i mean come on, that's how people used to get around way back in the day. you got a message to give to jimmy? i'll run it over to the next town and give it to him, no problem! so i threw my bag in my car, kept my keys and my cell phone and took off for home. turns out it's a little over eight and a half miles, so it was a little more than the six miler i had planned on doing but who's counting. wait a second...
around five and a half miles in my phone rings and i look to see who is calling me. it's emily so i decide to answer. now here i am running home from the gym on a whim, in between towns, on a semi-busy road (sorry Mom) talking on my cell phone to my wife. classy, right!? what'd she want, you ask? she needed to know what our six mile route is because she can't remember. this happens to other couples on saturday, right? i let her know that i was running home and since i hadn't planned on doing that i could tell she was rather confused. finally she just said, "ok be safe and i love you." since i knew the route she'd be taking when i got closer to town i veered off my unplanned course to pass her and give her a high five. no, seriously...that was why.
now here i sit typing this up laughing because i feel like emily and i live a rather odd life. or do we? maybe this type of day happens to everyone.
4.03.2012
running in Africa
first off...wow...it's been like at least 23231211 years since i've blogged, right? that's what i was thinkin'.
the past several weeks since we've been back from north africa have been like a whirlwind for me. not like in an artistic way either. more like in a, "whoa...my life is pretty close to out of control" type of way! does that make sense? i'm finding it hard to keep up with life. i'm behind on emails, returning phone calls, work stuff, you name it...i'm behind on it! this is not me!! i'm on a country music kick and digging taylor swift...i can even tolerate kanye west...WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME!?!
maybe this title should be 'running AWAY in Africa!" while emily and i were there i barely thought about "stuff" back home. to be honest with y'all it happened maybe twice. i think one time i thought, "man...the weather is not this nice back home" and then another time i thought, "dude...people (including me) back home are way too obsessed with schedules and dates!" well...both of these statements/thoughts are true!
i met a boy while we were there who was into running. he was into running like i am into running. that's what he thinks about. from the first day we were there he was asking me when we'd go running together. i heard from his parents he wants to be an olympic runner. an olympic runner! how's that for a life goal!?! it was so awesome to hear! the first time we tried to go running together was after we had been there just a few days. well...turns out, i got really sick. mainly from the neck up...but i couldn't really talk and could barely think straight because of the african drugs i was taking (proscribed by a nurse, of course)! i felt so terrible that i had to back out on him, but i let him know that we would
although the photos shown above aren't from africa....i still love them. to be honest with you, i think during this run when these shots were taken i still had red dirt from africa on my shoes! i almost wanted to retire my shoes because african dirt was on them! now unfortunately, the red dirt has faded and i'm back to running on illinois land, but...i still love running! why? because it's worldwide! no matter what country you're from, what you believe, what color you are, why you do it...running is running!!!!
the past several weeks since we've been back from north africa have been like a whirlwind for me. not like in an artistic way either. more like in a, "whoa...my life is pretty close to out of control" type of way! does that make sense? i'm finding it hard to keep up with life. i'm behind on emails, returning phone calls, work stuff, you name it...i'm behind on it! this is not me!! i'm on a country music kick and digging taylor swift...i can even tolerate kanye west...WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME!?!
maybe this title should be 'running AWAY in Africa!" while emily and i were there i barely thought about "stuff" back home. to be honest with y'all it happened maybe twice. i think one time i thought, "man...the weather is not this nice back home" and then another time i thought, "dude...people (including me) back home are way too obsessed with schedules and dates!" well...both of these statements/thoughts are true!
i met a boy while we were there who was into running. he was into running like i am into running. that's what he thinks about. from the first day we were there he was asking me when we'd go running together. i heard from his parents he wants to be an olympic runner. an olympic runner! how's that for a life goal!?! it was so awesome to hear! the first time we tried to go running together was after we had been there just a few days. well...turns out, i got really sick. mainly from the neck up...but i couldn't really talk and could barely think straight because of the african drugs i was taking (proscribed by a nurse, of course)! i felt so terrible that i had to back out on him, but i let him know that we would
definitely run before i left. then came saturday...our last day at the children's home. i told him to meet me outside at 6:30am and we'd go out and run a bit. so, me being me, i was early outside and guess what...so was he! we ended up going out for about a mile and a half run and he kept a great pace! i kept telling him he was doing awesome and for some reason i felt like he was taking it easy one me! HA!
although the photos shown above aren't from africa....i still love them. to be honest with you, i think during this run when these shots were taken i still had red dirt from africa on my shoes! i almost wanted to retire my shoes because african dirt was on them! now unfortunately, the red dirt has faded and i'm back to running on illinois land, but...i still love running! why? because it's worldwide! no matter what country you're from, what you believe, what color you are, why you do it...running is running!!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)