Running with Jack

It was a bright, sunny, blue and beautiful day when I got home from work at 4 p.m.. The thermometer was peaking at 31C/88F and the trail was calling my name. I rushed around the house, filling my water bottle, getting everything ready, just get my short on…ring!

The door bell…
WHAT, can’t you see that I’m getting ready to run?
It was a salesman from the phone company.
He: Good day…blah-blah…can I take two minutes of your time and explain our latest offer for a DSL Internet hookup.
Me: I don’t have time, I’m going running.
He: Really it will only take two minutes, I ….
Me: You don’t understand, I’M GOING RUNNING!

Doesn’t this fool realize what that means, even my wife knows not to try to talk to me when it’s TIME…TO GO…RUNNING!!

Me: Sorry, I don’t have time, SLAM!

Obviously not a runner, I hope he at least doesn’t have starving kids at home.

Hmmm, I’m supposed to be tapering, although I really don’t know how much ultramarathoners taper – is it like a marathon??

I decided instead of running my 14K/8.7M loop, I would keep it shorter, say 8-9K (5-6M), but would pick up the pace and run through the sunny fields. Nothing like running through the fields at almost 10K pace during the hottest part of the day to help get you used to the heat, right!

So that is exactly what I did. I jogged for about 5 minutes at an easy pace, than picked up the pace. I ended up running 8K/5M with an average pace of 5:05/K (8:11/M). I started to feel the almost 90 degree heat towards the end, but probably because I didn’t slow down enough to drink. After a 5 minute walk to cool down, some water and a cool shower I was feeling fantastic, ready to go again :-)

Tonight I am heading to the pool for some laps and tomorrow (Wednesday) I will probably repeat last night’s run, albeit at an easier pace. Thursday is another holiday in Germany (I love it!), I want to do a 20K run, probably a 10K out and back on the 80K race route - but during the hottest part of the day.