http://www.strava.com/activities/104336371

2300 calories in 2 hours 48 minutes

I’m not really a foodie. I love food made with love. Small portions, elegant plating. Farm to table… etc, etc.  But sometimes when the furnace is burning – it doesn’t matter what goes in. The worse feeling … not actually a feeling, but a smell – is the smell is ammonia. After a long, sustained effort with too little nutrition going in, the body will start to  break down muscle – the catabolic state. Ammonia is the smell of your body eating itself.  I wasn’t quite there today, but I definitely didn’t bring enough food. One vanilla Gu and a grandma strawberry hard candy – you know the ones. Love those things.

At mile 6 (about 45 minutes in) I got all excited to find some water and and eat my Gu that I forgot to zip my pouch back up after throwing away the Gu packet at the Rose Garden and continuing on.

Other contents of my pouch included my keys,  driver’s license and a debit card. At about mile 8 I looked down and noticed the zipper was open and my ID and debit card were *fucking gone* … along with my strawberry candy – that was like 15 calories at least! Gone somewhere between the rose garden and arboretum. So I turned around and ran all the way back looking along the side of the trail. Near the playground I found my candy. Yes! But no dice on the ID and card.  Then I turned around and ran back the way I was going – up to Council Crest and back to PSU over the Hawthorne bridge and home.

How to say that the run wasn’t so great without saying it sucked. It didn’t sucked. I lost my ID… but found my candy (in the street) so I had that after 2 hours and the sugar provided me a little energy. I was a bit wrecked when I got home though – the total elevation came in around 1800 ft mostly because I ran one hilly section twice looking for my ID. It had me thinking that … who cares how you react when things are going well. It’s when things go pear-shaped, or something unexpected happens – how do you react? How fast can you recover. I was rushing. I think the losing the ID weighed on my mind and my performance suffered. I need to work on that…

The Cocoon

Since the summer I’ve had this ritual when I get home. I start thinking about it when my focus starts to waver as I’m getting closer to home.  My running shirt and hair are typically drenched when I get home – even when it’s below freezing as it was when I started today.

So here’s my top secret, little slice of heaven, super cocoon ritual. I strip off my shirt(s) … let the air in the house dry me off a little bit and then …. wait for it… I put on my 900 fill puffy jacket. If you’ve never worn a puffy (synthetic or down) with nothing on underneath it – you’re missing out on a little slice of heaven.  You must try it.  And the beauty of the cocoon is that you can zip all the way up and… no one will *ever* know that you have no shirt on underneath. Sooooo… nice! Trust me.

So I’m standing in the kitchen in my puffy eating a bagel with almond butter and honey, and a banana, and a big cup of diluted gatorade and a cheese stick and some crackers… when I hear my phone buzz and it’s an email from TB:

“I found your ID and card in  Washington Park just now — let me know how to get it back to you.”

WAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!! I was like this guy (turn captions on):

So I emailed back and an hour after I ate some more food and took a shower – recovered by DL and card. My week was about to start off very badly… but saved by an awesome person. They exist.

Time for a couple of days off from running and  lower mileage this week.

Lesson

Slow is fast and fast is smooth. I was rushing, not paying attention. I shouldn’t keep my ID with my food. I think I’ll take some cash in the future and just wear my Road ID for emergencies.