I am late to work

Yesterday's run, post doc appointment:

Place: Central Park
Distance: 4 miles
Shoes: Brooks Adrenaline Sixes, stained from the last run which ended in a downpout
Lungs: fine
Knees: fine
Feet: fine
Shins & Calves: in pain
Cat hill: conquered.

It wasn't a bad four-miler, altogether, it just took 2.5 miles before the shin & calf pains finally abated to a tolerable level. This is an improvement - it's been taking three miles previously, if they went away at all. Maybe the shoes are starting to work? Or could it be... well, I did loosen the laces quite a bit to let my feet move around more at my one & only rest stop. Seemed to help. Still, it was unpleasant running, and the pain only increased if I slowed to a walk. So I kept running. I did figure out during that rest stop that rotating my feet in circles seemed to get rid of the pain much faster than other kinds of stretching, so maybe that helped.

The last 1.5 miles were actually pleasant. While the pains never went away completely, they receded enough to let me focus on my pace and what an astoundingly beautiful day we had Friday. I was startled to pass a runner clothed in long pants, long sleeve shirt, ball cap, shades, GLOVES, and what appeared to be a full-face beauty mask. On second thought, it must have been zinc oxide but.... avoiding the sun much? I suppose she had a medical condition which might prompt this protective gear, but geez.... if outdoor running means doing a sweaty impression of a terrified mime, I'd stick to a treadmill indoors. Well, anyway, at least she's exercising and that's all that counts. (Incidentally, I passed a similarly attired woman again today.)

Second surreal moment was when passing the Boathouse. I heard a guy on a harmonica playing a nice, slow bluesy version of In Excelsius Deo. Sounded great and by picking up the rhythm a bit, it was great running music in my head.

Partly because my appointment ran late, and partly because I chose to run, and partly because the beautiful brought EVERYBODY to the park and so the buses ran really slow...I was half an hour late to LSLP's studio. No biggie; I still got the job done and I hope their proposal goes well.