…to being an asshole today and going 12 just so I could write “oooh, I went 91 miles, look at me, I PRd again!” but good sense prevailed and I left it at 90.  I had to, otherwise there will be no end to this.  But I admit, it was tempting.

Anyway, it was a stellar week on the joy scale.  It rained for 5 days and with it came some intensely beautiful scenery: deep dark skies, vibrant flora and fuzzy waddling fat-bottomed baby geese.  A deep serenity accompanied me everywhere.  Should I be embarrassed to say that running is why?  Yeah, ok, I kind of am, but hell, happiness is happiness and as long as I’m not drugging, robbing banks or stealing children, there should be no shame in the mild-mannered way I’m getting mine.

Two runs that mattered
Tuesday’s 14 was such a good time that I extended it to 16 and if I hadn’t had a job to get back for, I would have made it 17.  Considering the big deal I made at the start of this aerobic adventure “I don’t have to go farther than 14mi if I don’t want to!”  this is some funny shite.

The thing is, the more I cover 14mi, the shorter it feels, so it went from being “my long run” to “the one that takes me to the prettiest place in the park”.  I love my 14s.  And once I’m at the turnaround point, what’s an extra mile?  Nothing.  In my goofy reasoning, it’s only 4 more minutes since ½ mile later, I’m turning to come home.

So this month has introduced a good number of 15s.  16s will soon become common and probably 17s, too.  This is helpful since longer runs mean I can have some shorter ones, too.  A gal likes to have options.

The other run worth mentioning was on Thursday.  I rarely wear my heart rate monitor these days and if you remember, the last three “fitness checks” were all in 55 degree temps.  But now, with summer emerging, it was time to see how my heart fares in warmer, muggier conditions.  And the verdict is:  it fared fricking fabulously! 81 degrees, very humid, more sun than clouds: 15@8:01, 73%HRR (157).

Here is what that means in English:  No longer will I wistfully recall 2009 as the peak in my running life.  That was just the first one.  The second one begins now.

This Week’s Pavement Escapades:
Monday: 9@8:33
Tuesday: 16@8:17
Wednesday: 12@8:17
Thursday: 15@8:01
Friday: 12@8:06
Saturday: 15@8:10
Sunday: 11@8:01
Total: 90 mi (avg pace 8:11)

A Social Weekend
My great pal and race roomie Audra recently moved from NYC to San Francisco, but she was in Philly this weekend so I got to hang with her over dinner last night.  I’m gonna miss that chaquita, even if we did only see each other a couple times a year.

And another online running friend was here from Australia, Rachel.  She was in town to run a Half this morning in the midst of some US traveling (and got 4th O.A., the fastie), so I got to meet her and share a lovely brunch with her family today.

I will never cease to be amazed at the number of wonderful people I’ve had the pleasure of meeting in real life, just from a mutual love of running and an internet connection.  It’s fantastic.

Music
I’ve been downloading a good bit of new music recently – another reason running is exceptionally fun lately.

Simple Math from Manchester Orchestra totally fooled me.  When I heard it the first time I didn’t even get past the first few bars, thinking “oh, so plodding with that slow snare and [what seemed to me at the time] fragile vocal…definitely not a running song”.  But when I saw the video, which kept my attention from start to finish, I was blown away.  This song builds into something epic, and not in the throwaway use of the word, but in a Gone With The Wind type of Epic.

Around 3:12 to the end, when the strings build, drums become bullets and vocals harmonize into a wall of need, it absolutely moves me and I run like a demon.

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