Friday, November 03, 2006

Me and My Shadow

I was accompanied last night by an ever changing set of companions on my easy 4 miler in Via Verde. As I proceeded from street light to street light I was aware of my shadow. I was fascinated watching my shadow appear at my side then race ahead of me getting taller and taller as it went, eventually fading away only to be joined by a new version right next to me. At some points I had a partner on my side and in front. I imagine I had one behind me too, but I don't have a 180 degree swivel neck so I can't be sure. I can't really know why I noticed this tonight, but it was fun to watch and made the run go by pretty quickly.

Wednesday was 6 miles with at least a portion of that at marathon pace. Because of the time change I don't run on the bike path at the dam after work. I depended on the mile markings there. For the next few months I will fall back on the 6 mile route around neighborhood streets. As an alternative to running a known distance I ran for time. After about a 1.5 mile warm up, I picked up the pace. I set my watch for 8 minute intervals. I ran at the faster pace for 24 minutes followed by about a 1.5 mile cool down. While I can't be sure of my pace I guess I put in about 3 miles at a faster pace. It felt pretty good to be moving along like that.

I moved my Tuesday run up to Monday. I figured there was going to be enough traffic out on Halloween, I didn't need to add to it. I ended that run at my mother-in-law's house. My wife and son met me there. We broke into Grandma's stash of Halloween candy. You know after an easy 4 miler, a guys got to replace those carbs!

I looks like we are on for the La Jolla Legend this weekend. It should be fun.

7 comments:

kivster said...

You should consider getting a garmin or the polar GPS watch. It's usually roughly correct and it gives you pace.

darrell sounds like you're like me - i run so i can eat - no point in not enjoying life. though there was an interesting article in this week's New York Times on calorie restriction diets - not sure I can do that long term though.

enjoy La Jolla - sounds like it's a beautiful race, make sure to get a massage at the end.

Backofpack said...

Darrell, you know about gmaps, right? I use that a lot. Eric keeps wanting me to get a garmin, but I don't really want that much detail. I just send him out to check trails that I can't measure with gmaps. (That's probably why he wants me to have a garmin).

I was looking at your marathon times on your sidebar - you have been making some amazing time improvements! Wow!

Have a fun weekend and a good race!

Jessica DeLine said...

Ah the fun of running at night :) I'm glad La Jolla is on. You should have fun and I can't wait to hear about it!

Unknown said...

At least you have the running as an excuse for eating the candy. I have not been running much and yet I have been throwing in 3 to 4 pieces of candy in with my lunch everyday. Good luck at the races this weekend.

Rae said...

Shadows have always fascinated me!!

Good luck this weekend!

Joe said...

Wow...when I was a kid, the same thing with shadows always fascinated me too. Exactly the same sequence...over and over. Probably gave my parents pause....

I like my Garmin but, like Michelle, don't always want that much detail. So, I measured my A, B and C routes on a bike and made small spray-paint marks each half mile. Works great. Just an idea.

Enjoy LaJolla this weekend...what a beautiful weekend. Will be interesting to compare that with southern Indiana!!!

Anonymous said...

So you had a shadow in front and behind. You said it made you go faster. Were you afraid that someone was chasing you???