“A person should set his goals as early as he can and devote all his energy and talent to getting there. With enough effort, he may achieve it. Or he may find something that is even more rewarding. But in the end, no matter what the outcome, he will know he has been alive.” - Walt Disney

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Taper Run with Cattitude!

Today was my last "long" run before San Francisco, and it was...interesting...to say the least!  Since I was tapering and only doing 5 miles, I decided not to join the group (for several reasons: save gas, sleep later, no waiting around for them to finish) and run on the trail nearby.

So what's this about "cattitude?"  About a mile into the run, the trail squeezes between a row of houses and a creek.  As I'm running along, a big fluffy orange tabby cat darts out of the foliage around the creek and starts running towards me!  I figured he belonged in one of the houses, so I slowed down to let him cross the trail ahead of me.  Instead of crossing, he stopped right in my path and looked up at me like "ok, I'm here, now pet me!"  I'm a cat lover, but didn't want to stop, so I maneuvered around him and kept going.  Next thing I know, he's running ahead of me and has once again stopped in my path a few yards ahead, waiting for some attention!  We played leapfrog a total of 3 times before I guess he gave up on me - it was the funniest thing!  I can't help but wonder how many people stop and love on him that he's now perfected this routine?  I've seen plenty of wildlife on and around the trail over the years, but this was a whole new kind of interaction - too funny!

As for the run itself, I definitely didn't prep well enough for it since it was "just 5 miles."  I started out too fast, and got in a decent first 3 miles, but then the heat and humidity definitely started getting to me and I faded fast after the sun started rising high.  The last 2 miles really stunk - boo.

Oh well, it's done, and now San Francisco's only a week away!  The forecast for next Sunday is a high of 65 and mostly sunny - it's gonna be amazing running weather!

Other items of note from today's run:
  1. I ran in my new Lotta Breeze Capri Skirt (in all black).  This probably added to the crappy last couple of miles because they're longer and exacerbated the already warm temps.  But I want to wear them for SF and didn't want to not have run in them beforehand.  SkirtSports has another winner with these - no budging, and a cute skirt to cover any areas you don't want the world to see  :o).
  2. I think Zico Coconut Water is yucky.  I bought two bottles to try - one regular and one flavored.  The regular is drinkable, but not enjoyable - definitely not something I'd want to carry with me on my run (glad I tried it before I put it in my bottles).  I'll try the flavored one this week to see if it's any better.
  3. I used the IMapMyRun+ app on my phone to post my progress to Facebook.  Seemed to work pretty well - still debating using this to post mile marker progress during San Fran.
  4. Today's run put me over 300 miles for the year!

Today's Run:
  • 10 min. warm-up walk
  • 4.99 mi run; 1:05:06; 13:03 min/mi avg. pace.

4 comments:

  1. Wow! You're a lot nicer than me. A Husky chased me other day to try to get me to pet it and I yelled at him to get away. Hey, I didn't know he was friendly.
    I tried the coconut water today for the first time and it is pretty gross, but Eve loved it!

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  2. J - I will admit, I had my hand on the pepper spray just in case I needed to pull it off my belt... I don't worry as much about cats as dogs, though.

    And Eve must have a more sophisticated palate than we do... ;-D

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  3. That's funny about the cat, but a good distraction.

    I'll have to check out the capri skirt - I've been looking for one. I have a pair of running tight capris and I love them because they don't chaffe and they stay put, but I don't really like to wear them out in public unless I have a really long shirt :)!

    Great mileage this year, keep it up and enjoy that taper. The week is going to fly by!

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  4. I don't like Zico's coconut water either. Last year I got some from a giveaway, but gave some of it away. It tasted artificially sweetened or something.

    Good luck with the SF half this weekend!

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