November 4
Yesterday was November 4th, 2008. I woke up early, only five minutes after Jessica, and I turned on the radio. There's only about a month left with Dale and Jim Ed hosting The Morning Show. They greeted me with Here Comes the Sun and told me it was already 50 degrees in Minneapolis. On Monday it hit 74.
I savored The Morning Show and ended up running late. School had started, but the sun was bright and the sidewalks were still full when I left for work. At 2nd Moon, Cindy gave me my coffee along with a smile and a thank you. I sipped through the rest of the morning, almost too hot for coffee. By the time I met Jessica for lunch it was close to 65. Unraked leaves were bright yellow and thick. We kicked them, crunching through our neighborhood to Pizza Luce, where our waitress thanked us with our lunch.
Minnesota Novembers are not usually so warm. Most years it would have been about 45 degrees, so after work I hopped on my bike for a summery ride. I waved to my neighbors sitting on their porch and felt sweat bead under my corduroys. I crossed the river and sailed the windy afternoon.
By the time I got back and started my run it was 70 degrees. The last time it hit 70 two days in a row during Minnesota's November was 1999. It's only happened four times, though appropriately it happened twice in the 1970s. I loped out the door and thought about The Morning Show. Here Comes the Sun was recorded in 1969, like a warning for those 1970s Novembers as the Beatles said their goodbyes. I crossed the bridge into my old neighborhoods and felt that the wind had grown much stronger. I ran past past landmarks and past past apartments and felt in each the degrees of past past.
We had dinner plans, of course. Jessica and I drove to the Warehouse District to share sandwiches, salads and spirits. We ate, and we also shared TOEFL worksheets, Jon Stewart, cat naps and stronger spirits. It was a beautiful night. We drove home past a throng outside The Nomad World Pub, soaking in the November warmth. Shouts and honks echoed from the downtown streets.
At home we crawled into bed and closed our eyes. It was November 5th, 2008.
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Training has been progressive. Last week hit 103 with a 2 x 20 min tempo on the Elk Refuge, some good Snow King running, and various other endeavors. Great run through Teton Park as a shakeout post-tempo, followed up with a hike up the secret Buck Mtn approach trail. Had no idea it was there.
This week has started a bit slow. Easy 12 on Monday morning, a pair of 8 milers yesterday--the evening jaunt being through the snow and darkness on the Aspen trail. Got a few inches of lovely powder here in the Valley overnight, looks like quite a bit more in the hills. Hope to put together another week in triple digits then evaluate where this is going. It feels sooo good right now.
Hung out with the local democrats at the Wolf last night until Barack made it final. Drove home to listen to the speeches on the radio, where they could be heard. Laid on the couch until 4:15 this morning, happier'n shit. And yes, Obama won Teton County, ID. As did a full slate of smart growth county commissioner proponents. I may have arrived at the office an hour late this morning, but I'm still the first one here. . .today is for celebrating!!!
Another good week. Haven't figured the exact mileaj, but right about 100, despite an 8 mile day and a 6 mile day. Sunday was spectacular, with 4:15 worth of running up Cache Ck to Noker Mine Draw, following a game trail up to an abandoned yeti camp--seriously, total yeti hangout--than back over Game Ck divide and up West Game to Wilson, up the backside of Snow King and down Josie's Ridge. Saturday was just a nice relaxed jaunt Up Josie's and down Ferrin's with Quandt. Rest of the week was okay, but mostly just on the road from home.
Prognosis for finding a way to get to Tuscon is lookin' crappy, so over the next couple days I'll have to decide if I need to switch my focus to the Thanksgiving 5k instead.
Monday, easy 8 on the Elk Refuge than an easy 6 on the road at home. Tuesday, easy 10 mile loop from home. Wednesday, light track workout with Quandt--warmup, 1200 threshold, 6 x 400 w/400 jog, 4 x 100 w/300 jog, cooldown. 400's were generally in the 79-82 range. Pretty chill workout, but I think that's Kris' 4th or 5th time on the track ever, so the idea was to not do anything crazy, just get in a little work. The 100's were pretty quick, I definitely feel good about the speed these days.
Swam with Lori this morning--haven't been in the pool in quite a while, and it was really friggin' difficult. Hope to start doing that a couple times a week. Will get in a run of some sort this afternoon. Tuscon is officially a no-go, so the running season is pretty much over. 5k in Jackson in a couple weeks is about it, unless I make the trek to Club Natty's in Spokane. Might be best to just wait until spring and try to get in some solid nordic races instead. Bedar.
Managed 93 on the week.
Hoping to go under 16 for the first time on Sunday. Tuesday workout was 1 mile in 4:44, 10 minute jog, then 6x400 in 66 seconds with 1 minute recovery. Everything felt under control, so I know the speed is there. Lack of tempos this fall are still burning me.
Oh, by the way, my team is out for club nats, so if anyone's thinking about running up there, I'd be willing to be someone else for the weekend.
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