Sunday, July 18, 2010

What Was I Really Doing on Vacation...?

I think this is a case of "a picture is worth a thousand words."



Wine and the beginnings of my epic tan

Beer (and fried shrimp and onion rings, YUM)

My last day there and a Cosmopolitan.

Oh, there was running, too. Quite a bit of it, actually. This was on the Cape Cod Rail Trail in Harwich, during my 13 miler my first day of vacation. I ran seven days in a row for a total of 40 miles. Throw in my 14 miler from this morning and that makes 54 miles in 9 days. I'm pooped.

There was lobster, too. That crustacean went DOWN.

I'm back in Michigan and not really looking forward to returning to cubicle world tomorrow. Such is the price one pays for being on vacation for 10 days. Was it really just a week ago I raised my glass of wine in the first picture? *sniffle*

It is unspeakably hot and humid here. I shudder at the thought of the coming weeks of training. Fortunately I have habituated myself to early morning runs, so rising before 6:00 am in order to take advantage of the coolest part of the day is not really an issue. Given the present conditions there is no other option for me. I begin coming unglued when the temperature hits 70. After 80 I'm all but useless. Throw oppressive humidity on top of that and you get something like the ghastly slog I had this morning: 14 miles of fucking torture. I was all right through mile 5 when there was a cool blanket of fog obscuring the sun. Then, that wretched orb burned through the mist, however, and I was trapped in a haze of heat and sweat and fatigue and hating every second of it. I made it to the grounds of a school near my parents' where I suspected there might be a port-a-potty (THERE WAS, THANK GOD). At that point I had made it about 10.5 miles and despite my mood I was not going to give up. I ran 2.5 miles on the track at the school and then the last mile on the road back to the house. I really hated running this morning. Not just running, as in the action verb, but running as in the activity itself. Sometimes I wonder what the hell I'm doing, why I continue to do this to myself when so often it makes me so ANGRY and TIRED and EXASPERATED...

8 comments:

Ann (bunnygirl) said...

I didn't even need to see the caption to recognize the Cape Cod Rail Trail! Squee! Did you make it to Seymour Pond? Dan took a pic of me there the day we rented bikes.

As for heat and humidity, come here for a vacation. I run in temps approaching 90 and humidity well above 60% and even as much as 80%. A couple weeks here and your runs at home will be much easier, much as mine are after a couple weeks running at altitude. (Houston is sea level.)

Unknown said...

I still have dreams about running, the feeling it gave me when I was still healthy enough to do it. Nowadays I'm prepping for a motorcycle to idly putter through vineyards and wind through tree shaded canyons, in and out of fog banks. I'm hoping to snag an OPOC powered bike in a few years and run it off biodiesel, since that's one of the primary uses for that engine. Meh. All the running in the sweaty country is good for your heart. Hopefully you'll enjoy life that much more because of it. :)

B. Kramer said...

Smart vactioning! Welcome back. Cheers!

chia said...

Debating if I'm more envious of the vacation or achieving superwoman mileage ;). A little of both, I suppose. You're something kind of awesome :-)

Anonymous said...

Yeah yeah. Tan tipsy & happy. When are you going to blog abt the relay?

Lace Up And Run said...

Way to tough out that hot, oppressive long run. You wanted to quit, but you didn't. I LOVE that!!

Lace Up And Run said...

Way to tough out that hot, oppressive long run. You wanted to quit, but you didn't. I LOVE that!!

Spike said...

glad to see you managed to move from one side of the porch to the other.