So, okay, my running regimen is pretty tight,eh? I've got this whole schedule and shit and stick to it pretty good.
Today, I caught my gorilla. Granted, it wasn't the naked-teenager-type gorilla, but nonetheless, it was a beast of a run.
While the temp was reasonable - about 78 degrees I guess - the humidity was 100% and it was sprinkling when I started my run. On top of that, it seemed like every gardner, maintenance man, and random-loony-on-the-street was whipping his hose out and drenching various patches of helpless grass, asphalt, or sidewalk, only adding to the humidity.
Me and humidity don't get along.
And how 'bout that smell? Between the liquid-petrochemical fertilizer they were spraying on the grass in Central Park just south of the resevoir, to the pungent chemically-magnified-human-waste odor of the ranks of port-a-johns outside Rumsey Field, to the ever-present tapestry of horse-shit, piss, and exhaust fumes that passes for air on 60th street -- well, given all that, today's run certainly smelled like a gorilla.
4 miles. I wanted to stop; a lot. I was sweating pretty freely and my lungs were wide open and that was all good. Despite my legs feeling like lead, I didn't stop, not even at the turnaround point, where I'd promised myself I'd take a break. And I made it the whole four miles with no stopping, no walking, and - predictably - all the little pains and the fatigue in my legs went away at about 3.3 miles, leaving me with a lovely .7 mile run. Yay. That's what I live for: 80% pain, 20% reward. I'm not the first person to note the link between exercise and masochism, I'm sure.
Hey, I'm just sayin'!
And now for the important news: I have signed my life over to NYRR for November 3, 4, 5, and 6. If they pick me up for duty on all I signed up for, you can look for me at the registration tables at the Javitts on the 3rd and 4th. I'll be assisting somehow at the Continental Airlines Friendship Run on the 5th, and will voluntarily get my ass out of bed at 2 a.m. in order to help setup, get ready, marshall, or whatnot for the 36th Annual New York City Marathon!
4 comments:
i think you should start saying to yourself, and regularly, 'i like humidity. i don't mind humidity. there is no moisture in the air' and so on and so forth. i hated hills...but my running partner would run up them like they were flat ground. so i said, f' it i will too! and i did.
so pretend you're running alongside someone who's like, 'i love humidity' and love it too. (or at least, don't hate it)
unfortunately, it's not that simple. my lungs aren't your average pair of organs and humidity really does have measurable, adverse affects. It does not, however, stop me, only maybe slow me down a little.
cool about working at the marathon. i worked at one of the medical tents one year it was a lot of fun. (notwithstanding the picture my friend snapped of me massaging some guy's butt!) i hope to see you there! ;-)
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