What a great week. The runs I ran felt good (with one exception), were fast (with a couple of exceptions), and were satisfying (with no exceptions). In a week chock (choc?) full of heat and humidity, I managed to knock out just over 30 miles. Though I've been moving into the 40s for some time, this wasn't the week to push it.
I had a few runs with my buddy, Adrian, who can knock out 5-10 miles faster than I can, so there were some challenges. The biggest challenge came during a midweek, midday, death run in ridiculous heat and humidity. With 2.5 miles to go I told him to take off. I was tired of trying to stay on his pace. When I arrived at the finish looking like I'd gone for a swim in the river, it turns out he had only beaten me by a few minutes, having wilted in the weather as well.
My best run was on Saturday. It was overcast, so I popped out on the levee and did the 9.3-ish out and back run from the Mass Street Bridge to route's eastern terminus and back. It started out a bit hard to breathe. I had to fight the urge to pack it in for the first couple of miles. I concentrated on my breathing and trying to find a pace that would allow a pleasant run without pushing me into oxygen debt. What happened over the next 7 miles was that I found a comfortable pace and was able to run negative splits the rest of the distance. Mile 8 - 9.3 was the fastest of all. And, while I only had momentary episodes of going into the zone, the repetition of the flat expanse of levee coupled with the solitude (there were very few bikers or runners out) still served to create moments of mental relaxation that I always seek when doing runs of 10 or more miles.
Disc golf was also good. I managed three rounds on Lawrence and Perry, KS courses. Perry is always special because it may just be the finest course in Kansas. I've waxed poetic about it before, so I'll hold off here. But my partner and I (we played in 3 teams of 2) were able to knock out 4 birdies, each a frisson, on the very tough and beautiful course.
In literature,I'm in the final few pages of Mark Plotkin's brilliant, Tales of A Shaman's Apprentice. It is a wonderful exploration of ethno-botany in Suriname and Brazil in the 1980s. I'd been meaning to read it for years. The book was one William Burroughs read and told me about, but I had never given it a thought until I had a discussion with someone who had been in South America recently to meet with shamans and experience their use of plant-based medicines. I would highly recommend it.
The next book in my queue is Intelligence in Nature, by the well-known anthropologist, Jeremy Narby.
This week I also saw a couple of outstanding films. Boyhood is worth seeing at the theater. If you can find a bad review of this movie you should run out and buy a lottery ticket.
The Second film is The Trip. It is available on DVD and from Netflix. You can read about it here http://www.ifcfilms.com/films/the-trip It is an absolutely hilarious and understated movie about two British actors (who play themselves), taking a week to travel around Norther England sampling food. Doesn't sound great? It is. So much so that there is a sequel coming to art theaters shortly called A Trip to Italy. The trailer for that looks great as well.
Finally, there are a couple of items related to running that you should read if you have time. The first is a short piece from the SFGate about a guy who just set the record for running the PCT (Pacific Coast Trail) - basically from Mexico to Canada. He averaged 45 miles each day. If you dig deeper into what a PCT hike entails (let alone running it), you should be impressed with the athleticism, will, and sheer madness that it takes to accomplish a feat like this. See link -
http://blog.sfgate.com/stienstra/2014/08/16/new-pct-record-2660-miles-in-53-days-with-pics/#25873101=0
The second is from a blog I follow called the Science of Running. It is written by Steve Magness, one of the country's premier coaches who is also the author of the new running bible that share the its name with the blog. The article in this case deals with bias in coaching and training. I found it to be an enlightening read because it made me question the way(s) in which I run and train. http://www.scienceofrunning.com/2014/08/whats-your-bias.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+stevemagness+%28Science+of+Running%29
I hope your coming week is filled with the three Rs - reading, 'riting, and running.
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