Hard work today.

http://www.strava.com/activities/230648012

This is my new favorite run from bSIDE6. I love being about to get on the steep trails and and suffer a little bit during the day. Winter rains are causing the trails to become muddy and slippery. I’m still running in road shoes because of the road approach. I slid a few times descending.

It takes me most of the morning to mentally prep for a run like this one. The distance: I need to visualize every section and see myself moving quickly through each one. The weather: if it’s raining or cold – I need to prep for being cold and wet and getting muddy. I came back with mud all over my face today. Don’t know how.

I took my iPhone in a ziplock bag on my small waist pack today and took a few pictures. There is a natural desire to share experiences, especially solo experiences, but it’s so difficult to stop and take a photo. It slows me down, I get cold – I worry about capturing what I think would best describe the experience. It’s impossible. I concluded today that if someone wants to know what it’s like… they can read about it, they can ask me, or they can join me.

I’ve never lived in a place that is a perpetual state decay and growth, but that’s the best description of the PNW that I can think of – the forests are dripping with moisture, moss covers everything, decomposed organic matter everywhere, green everywhere.

Mile 8 was at a 6:44 pace… which is fast for me. I was pressing very hard coming back along the Esplanade. I think I scared a woman running as I crossed under the Hawthorne Bridge – her accoutrement was fitness chic with pearl earrings to match.

I was drooling, face caked with mud, OK if I puked, grunting my exhales LOUDLY.
I got after it today. Run happy. Perfect.