The Adventures of Cowboy Hazel

If nothing else, it’s an amazingly fun word to say. Try it with me. Fartleks. Wasn’t that fun? As fun as that is, it’s not as fun as running them today was. I had the best run I’ve had in a really long time. I hadn’t intended to do anything out of the ordinary and, in fact, as I took my first few steps I was feeling pretty crappy — aches and pains all over. They were gone within a couple minutes, however, and then I started feeling pretty decent. I ran up to the end of the East River (near the Triborough bridge — 125th Street, I think) then turned around and headed back down. It was an uneventful run for the most part up to that point — I was running into a strong headwind and zoned out, my mind a million miles from the run at hand. As I turned around at 81st Street, I was still pretty much on auto-pilot when a guy coming from the stairs entered the path doing almost the same pace as me. We ran alongside each other for a little bit trying to figure out who was going to go first and when we got to the hill coming down out of the park, I decided to pass him and open up my stride, taking advantage of the hill. At this point, the wind was behind me and the slight burst of speed felt amazingly good. So I decided to run faster. I looked at my wristband and noted the time then took off at a near sprint. I kept it up for just under two minutes then went back to normal pace. The next speedy stretch was slightly slower but a minute longer. The next few, I wasn’t really even paying attention. I was just running for the sake of running. It felt so damn good. I felt like a kid out on the track. When I got back home and entered my time into my running log, I found that I had run the five and a half miles at a 6:56 pace!

You may have notice that it’s been a while since I’ve written. A lot of that is because I was out in California (photos) for almost a week and then, when I got back, playing catch up at work for the time that I’d missed. While out there, I was able to do some runs, including a wonderfully relaxed ten miler through the vineyards that border my cousin’s place in the Livermore Wine Valley. As much as I love running in NYC, it was great to get a break from the crowds of tourists and the heat and humidity. Instead of fighting through the hordes of Middle Americans waiting in line to see the Statue of Liberty, I had a beautiful little path all to myself — well, almost all to myself — I did pass a coyote and two deer. But, I guess we all have to share, right?  :)  Still, it’s good to be back in the city. I’m definitely looking forward to Summer Streets on Saturday (and so bummed that I didn’t know about it last Saturday.) I only have to do a 12 miler this week so I’ll actually get to enjoy it. Next week, the last of the three that the Summer Streets is running, I have an 18 miler scheduled and my legs are already hurting in anticipation.

I’ve been spending a bunch of time watching the Olympics too. I’m glad they only come around ever four years because they completely take over my calendar. I don’t really ever watch t.v. outside of Yankees games and football, but every day this week I’ve watched at least a few hours of the coverage. In fact, I have it on now and, frankly, the swimming is more interesting than writing this, so I’m going to switch chairs and kick back to enjoy the evening. Go USA!