Two Saturdays ago I felt some shame because I couldn’t give my weekend running partner Cyndi a decent pace despite the flat terrain we ran in. It was at that time that my dizzy spells started and being unsure of its cause, I gave a conservative effort. Before today’s run, I informed Cyndi of my problems and a caveat that I may have to take it really easy. Despite that, she still agreed to run with me and I’m so appreciative of that. After my solo run last Thursday and knowing more about my condition, I figured I might be able to give a better effort than what I could muster two Saturdays ago. I woke up dizzy as has been usual the past week but it was time to “buck up” and run with my best effort. Cyndi told me before we started today that I should just run my pace no matter what it is and see how it feels and she will match it. And that’s how we started.
Since we didn’t run together last weekend because she was occupied, we caught up with the happenings of the past two weeks. This is why I like running with other people. It makes the time and distance pass. Cyndi is faster than me so when we run together, that would be considered her easy day while it would be my tempo effort day. For people who read this blog who are not runners, tempo effort means you are running comfortably hard (even though for me, it gets uncomfortable at times).
Running the usual AREC (A Running Experience Club) 8 mile course, we climbed up 6th Street hill at the halfway mark and what do we see but a Siamese cat crossing the street at the apex. We stopped a moment while Cyndi consumed an energy gel and I tried to catch my breath because we went up that hill at a pretty good clip, and the cat approached us. I was surprised that it didn’t run away and allowed me to pet him/her. Could it have been the pheromones emanating through my sweat, or just my animal magnetism ( LOL!)? Talk about attracting the wrong kind of creature. I told the cat that I’ll be back for him in about an hour to take him home with me. I didn’t of course, but I miss having cats at home. What I don’t miss is the tracked litter all over the place. Up to now those tiny things still come up out of nowhere. Last week a runner gets killed by a crashing plane, and yesterday another runner was assaulted by a kangaroo, and with some stroke of luck, all I encountered was a mild mannered cat. Thank God!
Running the usual AREC (A Running Experience Club) 8 mile course, we climbed up 6th Street hill at the halfway mark and what do we see but a Siamese cat crossing the street at the apex. We stopped a moment while Cyndi consumed an energy gel and I tried to catch my breath because we went up that hill at a pretty good clip, and the cat approached us. I was surprised that it didn’t run away and allowed me to pet him/her. Could it have been the pheromones emanating through my sweat, or just my animal magnetism ( LOL!)? Talk about attracting the wrong kind of creature. I told the cat that I’ll be back for him in about an hour to take him home with me. I didn’t of course, but I miss having cats at home. What I don’t miss is the tracked litter all over the place. Up to now those tiny things still come up out of nowhere. Last week a runner gets killed by a crashing plane, and yesterday another runner was assaulted by a kangaroo, and with some stroke of luck, all I encountered was a mild mannered cat. Thank God!
Anyhow, we left the cat behind and trekked back to where we started from while trying to keep the pace that we attacked the hill with. We must have done pretty well because our overall time for 8.37 miles was 1 hour 18 minutes and 6 seconds or 9:20 average pace per mile. Two weeks prior, we did a 9:36 pace on a flat course. So today, I hope I was able to give my weekend training partner a decent workout compared to two weeks ago. Thanks again for running with me, buddy!
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