Sunday, February 19, 2012

Some runs and start to vacation

There is a great U2 album called Zooropa.  It gets lost in U2 lore as the album are Achtung Baby and before whatever else they did.  It actually was a series of outtakes from Achtung Baby that didn't make it onto the album.  At any rate, I remember I bought the CD walking on the way to work one day in 1993.  I still remember the day and buying the CD.   And then I listened to the CD over and over and over at work.  Late at night, it can be hard to keep up the energy, and I listened to music, just like I used to when studying.  And that album just spoke to me.  I don't know why.  There was one song that perfectly encapsulated my experiences in life at the time: Somedays Are Better than Others.  Its a collection of kind of cliche lyrics about how some days are better than others.  But the song just always stuck with me. That song summed up my day today.  Next week is a break week for kiddos at school and for first time in four years, I am going away with the family on vacation.  Awesome.  Our flight left late Saturday, and so I decided to get in a good run before we left for airport.  I decided on my hilly route given I ran my long flat route the weekend before.  I was a beautiful day here, about 50 degrees, and  a perfect day to run.  But en I started gearing up.  My Garmin was dead' of course (despite being at 50 percent power last night).  And my sunglasses fogged up maybe 10 seconds into the run.  And then Garmy just stopped tracking at about two miles (a good two miles, too!) so I have no idea what my real pace was.  And just as I was getting into a groove, a crazed driver honked at me and almost ran me over to get directions.  But most troublesome was my right hamstring.  It felt as tight as a guitar string.  I mean I couldn't tell if my leg was bending or if it was just swinging straight from my hip.  When I was done, it was honestly sore, a feeling I can honestly say I have never had in my years of running.  Tender, almost; tight and sore.  And good news: I about to sit on an airplane for seven hours! So, some runs are better than others.  And this one kind of sucked.  My time (if Garmy hadn't gone on strike in middle of it so I would have actually known it...) would have been OK, even good.   But jeez, it felt like a struggle, and the old hamstring just said no mas. But still, hard to complain in big scheme of things. Ah well, who cares, really.  Tomorrow, we will be in Paris.  Long story how we ended up here on winter break, but the beaucoup miles from my work travels last year made it a lot easier. (Short story is that last year when I got the bill from the winter break trip that I didn't go on, to a place I consider to be eminently forgettable for my 10 year old, I told the wife the next trip would be a lot more memorable, so Paris here we come!). Anyone know of a good run in central Paris?  By all accounts, it is kind of hard to run in Paris (as someone who works in NYC, I totally understand that; few things make me angrier than seeing Johnny Runner trying to run down Sixth Avenue, dodging crowds of working stiffs like me on the sidewalk, cars and traffic lights; if you run in NYC, please run in Central Park or along the rivers.). But I did bring my running shoes and gear to the City of Light.  And my Garmin too, in hopes of getting a cool map of my run.

2 comments:

  1. Grr to tough runs. But hey, you're heading to Paris so that makes everything alright! Have a wonderful time and I hope you find a great route - be sure to post that map!

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  2. Wow, Paris! Have a wonderful time. I was there in the 90s as a student and I used to run laps around the park surrounding the Eiffel Tower. Running along the Seine may also be a possibility. The drivers are even more wacked there than in NYC, though, so be careful!

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