Super Month is Over!

Thank Jesus!

We made it to November 1--I didn't think my wife and I were going to make it. For the next three weeks we won't have a single anniversary, marathon, hotel reservation, 13-hour work days, surprise guest, rental car, birthday party, road trip, pumpkin carving party, delayed flight, or holiday to worry about.

So we will be recovering this weekend and doing absolutely nothing, which may even include not running. The NYC Marathon is this weekend and I won't have a damned place to run because of the Olympic Men's Marathon trials on Saturday and the race on Sunday. We'll, I'll just jump off that bridge when I get to it...tomorrow night...when I'm trying to decide what route to take the next morning.

Speaking of running, last weekend's run was AWESOME. Not only were there perfect conditions for a nice little six-mile run, but I held an 8:25 pace!! Ok, yes, that's only a little bit on the fast side for me--not exactly new territory--but the strange thing was that I wasn't running fast! I was slowing myself down most of the time! Every time I would feel myself going too fast I would slow myself down. I didn't force a single step until the sprint at the end. I've had runs where I'm pushing the hell out of myself throughout the entire run to get an 8:25 pace.

If that doesn't teach me the lesson of pacing, nothing will.

Also saw one of my running fears come to life in front of me: a head-on runner-on-runner collision. I was passing this one woman who appeared extremely concentrated on her running. As I was passing her on her right, I saw a couple running against traffic coming straight at this woman. Since this woman only had a foot or so of street between her left side and the curb I sped up so that she could slip in behind me and go around the couple coming at her. But said woman did not move; she kept going straight. The oncoming couple didn't separate or fall in line either, they too were in the mood to play chicken. Meanwhile, I'm just watching them get closer and closer until BAM!!

The woman I was passing and the woman from the couple slammed into each other. And I'm not talking just a brushing of the shoulder. This was a full-on, face-in-face, tangled arms crash. Assuming each was going at about 5 mph, that's a collision speed of 10 mph--ouch! But in true New York style they just kept on running, not checking if the other one was ok or pausing to see if they themselves were ok. It seemed as normal to them as wiping sweat from your face. Amazing.

That's about it for running...haven't been able to get on a set schedule because of the general craziness of things. But will pick things up this weekend and next week.

For those of you curious about that pumpkin carving party mentioned above, here is my finished product: