Equinox Training Report

I have not regularly done runs this long since... um... 2002, I believe, when I ran the Avenue of the Giants.

Anyway, the following are things I had forgotten about, but which came back to me right quick:

* Lots of food
* Lots of naps
* Feeling hot all the time

I am also re-adopting engineered foods, such as Clif Bars and Power Bars. As a rule, I don't eat processed foods, not even ones made with so-called "all-natural ingredients". Yes, that includes the high-fallutin' ones, like Annie's Organics. I pass no judgement on folks who eat those; I'm just not interested myself.

However, while running, I do find that foods that are engineered for quick digestion and quick access to nutrients, carbohydrates, and proteins in carefully chosen ratios are helpful. Plus, Power Bars have a form factor that I like--it's a chewy, disgusting mass of goo. So, I cut the mass of goo into bite-sized pieces, stick them onto my water bottle, and peel them off and eat them while I run. Does that sound revolting? Why yes. Yes, it does, but it's convenient and does the job.

So I've been running up and down Ester Dome in preparation for the Equinox. The doggies joined me for that. However, since my recent runs have been longer, and the weather has been so savagely hot, and Autumn has had a recent surgery to remove a benign tumor from her wrist, they've been joining me for only the first 3 miles, and then I drop them off at home and continue alone.

Yesterday I had a 14-miler, which took me to the top of the ridgeline, past my old rental cabin, past Rosie Creek Farm, and on the trail that Autumn and I used to walk or ski almost every day, before we got Linden and moved into town. Since we moved away, it got developed into a proper dirt road, but it's still lovely to walk or run.

At mile 12, on the home stretch, I spied something yellow in the middle of the trail. What was it? As I approached it, I was astonished to realize it was a sunflower! It had been cut with a knife, then dropped there, why? But it was the perfect length for me to clutch in my left hand while running home, and so I took it as a grace. It looks lovely against my blue cabinets, does it not?

When I paused at my neighbor GP's house to refill my water bottle on the way home, I showed it to him. He was surprised, and told me that it ought not to have been that fully bloomed for another month or so!

14.65! Not bad.


In other news, I had never thought that a fast food chain could give me a genuine warm fuzzy, but Taco Bell did.