Re: Long Run One: last Sunday.
1. my aunt (a verteran niagara region cyclist) disagrees with me, but the fact is: trails should have water fountains. certainly trails that go past public parks, and which are not groomed in the winter so clearly are for the summer months, in southern ontario... yeah, they should have water fountains (how do none of those parks have them either?)
but the Welland Canal Trail? ... no water fountains.
result? after about 4.5 miles running shadeless hot sun with no water, i had to schmooze another runner on the trail to help me figure out a place to run off trail and buy gatorade. when i finally acquired an anti-freeze coloured beverage, it was like The Oatmeal's heavenly experience of Japanese long run purple drink (my internet connection on this train won't let me look at the images required to assess the link, but if you don't know about this Oatmeal post, go google it). this Gatorade was joy, survival, soulbalm, life-giving energy, unicorn tears, etc etc.
i felt pretty bad that i hadn't been able to buy lemonade from the kids a block before the convenience store, but the thing is they didn't take debit. when i expressed this sadness to them, one little girl said: "that's what the last adult said!" and the second little girl muttered to the third: "we gotta get a machine..."
2. the whole run was about 11 miles, maybe a little more. it involved running along a canal, above and below and around the locks and some huge boats chugging uphill; first i ran down said hill, and then eventually i turned around and ran back up. turns out this felt a lot harder than it was -- because having forgotten my garmin, i did some pre-run google pedometer measuring... and i didnt' realize i was measuring in miles, not kilometres. um, so my long run was definitely long. good.
Re: Next long run? I've done a couple hot/humid short runs since then, with medium success... but the real deal is i'm running this 'rolling hills' half marathon on Sunday, and I'm in an oddly good mental space about that. It's only supposed to be between 15 and 20C during race time, and my last three runs have all been at 25C or warmer, so I have hopes that I'm a little bit ready. (Not dying of fever or pre-strep like last time, so that's gotta be a bonus?)
My goal is really just to finish under 2 hours, which shouldn't be hard unless the weather sucks -- well, or if my running partner is having a rough day (which she claims is her every run lately, but I have seen her battle through crazy before so who knows.)
Re: the short skirts -- in particular, the men reacting to the short skirts. Sometimes before I run a race I try to read blog posts from other runners of that race, old race reports and what have you? And somehow I keep coming across reports from male Michigan runners which all comment on the sexiness (or otherwise) of the female runners around them on the course. Complaining about women who don't seem to have put thought into the attractiveness of their running gear. And that running skirts are stupid because they prevent men from checking out girls' asses. And so on.
This advanced fuckwitting douchebaggery can just go to hell.
I admit that I complain when (usually elderly) men are running wearing very short shorts, and I am worried I'm going to see their junk by accident. I feel that's a reasonable cultural norm: no flapping genitals, from anybody, regardless of sex or age. It's not because I think the old men runners owe me their effort at looking sexy while they run! You don't even have to look human; I hardly request more than I provide. You just need to be vaguely decent and maybe not fling your sweat on me. Otherwise, nothing that isn't my running is about me. ... And if anybody is running races to assess other people's hotness, their new assigned task is to stop being such a jackass and get a new hobby. Like maybe running in place alone and silent in a locked room where they can't bother anybody else. Very good.
Till Sunday morning: I will chill. I will stretch. I will eat some pasta tomorrow night. I will take a little more advil (some lady business unpleasantness, nice timing, whatever.) I will stretch more. And I will run me a good one Sunday morning!
... And then it will be time for the formation of real training schedules and summer racing plans. But not yet. Wish me luck.
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