For years I kept journals -- in composition, spiral bound, and French graph paper books. This blog is an attempt to get back to writing and documenting the world around me using photos, newspaper headlines, and other articles.

Friday, November 23, 2012

Looming 5 miles

Ever since I put my training plan up on the refrigerator, this day has been looming -- the 5 mile day.  I had tried 5 miles back in the spring or early summer.  That day I ran 3 and ran/walked the last two.  So I had never run for 5 miles before.  The distance had been on my mind all week.

This morning I headed out to the beach at 8:00.  I was happy that the day was here and that I would be trying to go that far, finally.  There was thick fog on the highway.  By the time I stopped for gas on Lafayette, it had burned off.  When I pulled into Wallis Sands parking lot, there was one other car.  It was warmer today than it has been in a while, so I was able to leave the scarf in the car.  I had my mittens with Kleenex in them, and my hat.  Off I went.

The first two miles I felt like I couldn't get my legs to turn over at a quick pace.  I dragged.  No crows said good morning from the telephone wires.  No other birds to admire.  There was a lot of traffic and I had to be alert for cars going way to fast along the curvy road.  When I came out of the woodsy area by Odiorne, a fierce head wind greeted me.  That didn't help my time any.  But my overall goal was distance and not speed today, so I didn't worry about it too much.  At least the stiff breeze cooled my down.

I felt pretty good at mile 4, where the loop ends and my car was parked.  I pressed for another 1/2 mile to Wallis Rd and then turned around.  The last 1/2 mile the wind and sun were at my back and I think I relaxed a bit and ran faster.  I made it back to my car after running 1 hour and 2 minutes or 12.30 pace.  I was pleased.

I spent a little time stretching on the beach before getting in to my car and driving south towards Jennes Beach.  There is a 6 mile loop that starts at Rye Harbor that I may run next week and I wanted to check it out.  I thought I knew which street to turn on to from 1A for that loop, but when I drove past, I wasn't sure if the turn was at Locke or Cable.  So I continued down to Jennes.  The parking lot was packed with surfers and dog walkers.  I got out, feeling better about safety in numbers and took a few pictures of the people in the water.  Crazy!  Some day I would love to take a surfing lesson, but not when the water is around 50 degrees or below.

Driving back home, all I could think about was having leftover pumpkin pie and whipped cream for breakfast dessert.  That is my favorite ritual on the day after Thanksgiving.  Forget shopping on Black Friday, give me pie!

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