Terrier tracks

This past weekend was rainy - actually this past week has been rainy, I'm getting heartily sick of rain. Saturday was supposed to be our running club's annual picnic. But just before I left to meet the club for our run before the picnic, the skies opened up and starting dumping much water on our soggy area. I bagged the run and went back to bed. The weather was kind of on and off all day, so I wasn't sure if they were having the picnic, but I didn't go to the park to find out.

Sunday dawned dry, if threatening. This time, the skies waited until I was already in the car on the way to the park. I turned around, but the rain would lighten if I headed back home. I did this like three times and finally decided to go all the way to the park and see if there was anyone there.

When I arrived, the walkers were heading out with their umbrellas. About 6 runners were heading back toward the parking lot. They said they were going out and did I want to join them. Now these were the diehards who usually go much longer and faster than I do. I asked how far they were planning to go. The plans called for a 10 mile run. I hesitated. They assured me that they weren't going fast. I decided that I'd go and turn around when I felt I had gone far enough.

We headed out at about a 9:30 - 9:45 pace. I'm not sure because the Garmin couldn't believe I was running and refused to give me a reading. We got to the 3 mile mark and I still felt good, so I didn't turn around. It had started to rain while we were running and I really started to get wet at this point. Soggy shorts, soggy shoes, wet head and rain spots all over my glasses. I ran with Christina and we shared a lot of moaning about the wetness. But I was still feeling pretty good with the running. At about 5 miles there was a bathroom so we stopped for a little while to refresh and to complain. I didn't see any point in turning around as I would have ended up doing 10 anyway, so I continued with them. I finished the 10 miles in about 1:40. This was the farthest run I've ever done. And at what I would have considered a reasonable race pace. Gosh, maybe a half marathon at some point is not totally out of the question :-)

Yesterday, I met Chelly in Manhattan as she had agreed to come with me to get my haircut. I've been talking about going short for a while, but hadn't got up the nerve. Saturday I decided that I was just going for it. I really like it. It's really short. Short enough that a razor was applied to my neck. Short enough that styling consists of running my fingers through it. I took a photo that isn't great, but you can get an idea. The top is longer with fairly short sides. The natural wave is coming out in kind of a tousled look. I figure I could probably use some styling product to encourage it to curl if I wanted a different look. Otherwise, it's just wash and wear.

Today I took my bike out instead of running. I really want to do a 22 mile ride at the end of July and I'm trying to figure out if it is a reasonable wish. I did about 6.3 miles in 40 minutes on the multi-use trail in the park that the running club uses. I knew it was hilly, but I didn't realize just how hilly until I tried it on a bike. I kept thinking that this is so much easier when I run. No wonder I barely notice the hills in Central Park. The bike was practically not moving at some points. But it wasn't too bad. I've never had a bike before and never really rode when I was a kid. Just enough to be capable of not falling down, but not enough to ever get that true comfort that kids get. So I've been having some mental obstacles. It's getting better and I'm pretty comfortable now on the bike paths in the park. I even let it go fast downhill! Auto traffic on the streets is different, though. I'm not sure if I'm ever going to get truly comfortable enough to ride on the city streets with the cars. But I think I can enjoy the bike even with these limitations.

OK, I'm off to Boulder! Have a great Independence Day!