09/17/07 - 09/23/07
Week Total: 28.9
Seventeen is a prime number, my favorite number, the day I was born, the day my son Diego was born, the age when my husband went to Vietnam and my favorite age when I was young.Seventeen is the number of miles I ran yesterday with results singing "improvement" over previous weeks.
The day was cold, 55F, and the sky was overcasted. Not having any desire to drive 20+ miles to Seward Park in Seattle, I stayed in Mukilteo. My regular route there is 7.2 miles, which I doubled, throwing 3 more miles in the same route.
The streets were empty during my whole run. My heart rate was lower than normal, being inclined to believe that was due to the cold temperature.
Some sadness surrounded me after a stressful work week, work negative feelings kept coming back pounding in my head. Same thing happened during my 8-miler on Wednesday in DC, when crossing the Potomac I literally made the gesture of grabbing the work thoughts out of my mind and threw them over the Memorial Bridge. It worked.
But, on Saturday, not having a bridge to throw unwelcome thoughts, I abstracted myself thinking on my number and relating it to the amount of miles I needed to achieve that day. I clicked "play" and transposed myself to my 17's, as well to my kids'. It was a nice movie.
After more than 3 hours of absolute solitude I re-confirmed it was a beautiful and magic age.
"Seventeen only comes once in a lifetime,
Don't it just fly by wild and free
Goin' any way the wind blew baby
Seventeen livin' on crazy dreams
Rock and roll and faded blue jeans
And standing on the edge of everything
Seventeen".
7 comments:
Congrats on the 17-miler! I like how you let the work stress go through running. Running really mellows me out.
I use a Garmin Forerunner 301 (an older model) to record my mileage, heartrate, calories, burned, etc.
Thanks for the comment on my blog!
Nice work on the 17 miler. I like to imagine the work and miscellaneous stress falling off, sort of like the Propel commercials.
I like your physical action of throwing your stress off the bridge!
you are amazing....
Hi Lizzie -- thanks for stopping by and for the comments. I love the solitude of running at night. Running is the place where I process thoughts and experiences and find some clarity about life.
Seems the training for the marathon is going well. How great that you are your daughter are making this journey together. I wish you the best as you work to reach this goal.
Hi Lizzie - I know how those work stresses can be - and it's nice to know a run can help. I like your physical throwing of your stress. I will need to keep that one in mind.
Congrats on finishing your 17 miler and your continued training with your daughter. I hope to run a marathon with my daughter some day as well!
Oh, and your question from my blog - I run 2 min and walk 1 with my husband. But he is bumping his runs up to 3 min 1 min now. When I run by myself I run a mile and walk a min on shorter runs (3-5 milers) and when I am trying to last a long run, I run 5 min and walk 1. I use my heart rate as a guide for breaks if it is especially high (on those hot and humid Florida days).
Lizzie,
Thanks for your comment on my blog. So Lynnwood huh? We're pretty close - we're in Puyallup. I ran Seattle last year in the sleet - yikes! It was a good course though. I just told my husband today that if the forecast was nice I might register at the expo - but only if it's nice this time! Good job on the 17 and very cool that you are doing this with your daughter.
Great attitude! I've been to the Seattle area a couple times and think it's great for running. Cool weather, hilly but still at sea level, some nice scenery that reminds me of the S.F. Bay area where I grew up, and an RRS located in town!
Keep up the great work!!!
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