Crunchy ‘Nanas

It doesn’t take Einstein to figure out how sand gets into my car and into my house, especially during the summer months. I can expect no less when I splash out among the rockpools, trudge across the sandy beaches and then return home, without, you know, rinsing my shoes and feet or anything. (Why on earth would I want to do that?)

It doesn’t even take a genius to know how sand originally got into my running shoes. I’m pretty sure our run along Sandwich Bay to the River Stour estuary a few weeks ago did the trick.

But, I cannot figure out how sand keeps re-appearing in my right shoe. Every time I remove my shoe and sock, out comes half of Thanet. I stick my hand inside. Nothing there. I vigorously shake the shoe upside down. No golden grains pile onto my floor. And yet, I can nearly guarantee you, the next time I remove my shoes and socks, I’ll have more grains for our living room sandbox.

I’m okay with that. It reminds me life is good.

At about 9 pm England-time on Tuesday, I grabbed my non-virtual partner, laced up my running shoes, and hit the road for the latest installment of virtual training. Crunchy husband and I don’t run at night very often, so it’s always fun to have these opportunities to go out when the world’s chillin’ at a slower pace. The air was cool, and felt fresh– the farmers were watering the fields next to our path.

It was a pretty uneventful run, which I think is what we both needed, quiet time to decompress from the day. We simply ran from our house down to the Monkton roundabout and back along the fields. At one point a bat fluttered by. It could’ve been a black bird, but we decided it was a bat because a) it sounds cooler and b) with a bat cave about a quarter of a mile from where we were, it was certainly possible. On the way home, a hunting kitty looked up at us, annoyed. I think he thought we were going after his mouse in the field. We passed as quickly as possible, which at that point wasn’t very quickly at all, so he could get back to work.

The best part of the run was the sky. I like to run with my camera, but I didn’t on Tuesday because I figured it was going to be dark, and it’d be a waste of energy. Oh mama, was I mistaken! The artist JMW Turner once said, “the skies over Thanet are the loveliest in all Europe.” I haven’t visited too many places in Europe, but let me tell you, the sunsetting skies where I live now are something else. The dusky sky on Tuesday made me regret my decision not to bring the camera. The pink strips of cloud and jet stream glowed in the wake of the setting sun. It was beautiful. (Sunsets are probably the only time you’ll hear me use “beautiful” and “pink” in the same description.) It was the perfect cap to a peaceful and calming jaunt out.

Virtual Training Run# 6 Stats:

Distance: 4.0 miles (no 10k for us at 9 pm!)
Time: 36:29
Pace: 9:06 min/mile

For recaps of other virtual runs from around the world, check out these blogs:

1. e-rod - Freeport, Bahamas
2. Jaymie - Alabang, Philippines
3. DATC - Philippines
4. Caloy - Davao, Philippines
5. Stephanie - New York City, USA
6. Hitme - Quezon City, Philippines
7. Jinoe - Makati, Philippines
8. Chefsy - Philippines
9. Chaia - Australia

I just received an email: virtual training is back in action. Yahoo! The deal-i-o is simple. We all run, or bike, or swim at a preset time, so that we’re all training together around the world.

Virtual Training Run #6:

DATE: 29 July 2008, Tuesday (US East Coast)
TIME: 6:00 P.M. (US East Coast time)
DISTANCE: 10 km/6 miles (or whatever you wish)

Unfortunately, 6 pm Eastern means 11 pm in England, which is way, way, WAY past my bedtime. Plus, I have to be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed to help coordinate surfing, beach art, and Beach Blast activities tomorrow (I’ll be all day on the beach- life’s tough, I know!), so I may be running the “pre-wave” tonight when I get home, and then thinking of you all as I fall exhausted into bed.

Wa-hoo!

I am always faced with a mental challenge when I go to the gym: run for a couple miles on the treadmill liked I’ve set out to do before heading out to the pool. Usually, I get there and the pool looks so nice and inviting, beckoning me to skip the smelly ‘mill and just go for a swim. I can be easily tempted to divert all attention to its flowing waters. But, today I stayed strong and didn’t give in to temptation. I was good and did the two miles I bargained for. And yes, I am pleased with 2 miles because treadmilling is so-oh-oh snoozin’.

And can I say I am totally diggin’ this chick called Lykke Li? I’ve been intrigued these past few weeks since I read an article, but I didn’t rush to buy the cd. But, then we were at this independent shop in Brighton over the weekend and they were playing the album and the lady was nice enough to point it out when I asked what they were playing and really, if you are in an independent record store and you know you’ll probably buy it eventually anyway, you just do it, you know?

I’m not disappointed with my purchase. The album’s very catchy. You kind of have to get past her little girl-ish voice, but I think I’ve done it. It totally kept me going on the treadmill, all 17 minutes glorious minutes. “I’m Good, I’m Gone” kind makes me think of Feist’s “My Moon, My Man” and Peter Bjorn and John’s “Young Folks” mixed together, kind of funky.

And she swallows her ts (”li’l bit”) like someone else I know.

The weather here teases and taunts me. I’ve sat huddling, shivering, willing the winter to run its course and warmer months to drop in for a visit. It’s not that I don’t appreciate rain, because I do very much, but we haven’t actually had that much of it. It’s just been cold. I do not like cold. I like to be able to feel my fingers and toes when I run. I like to be able to turn the key in my car after a trip to the beach. Snow on Easter was exciting because it was pretty and novel and different. But now I say, bring on the heat!

The flowers have been out for weeks, but the air temperature has still been bitterly chilly. But yesterday, I felt signs that Mother Nature has started to warm her oven. I got (overly, as it turns out) excited about being able to run in shorts today and shaved my legs. All for nothing. The gash I took out over my Achilles’ tendon? ALL FOR NOTHING! I woke up to rain and it’s cold, cold, cold again. I am a cold-weather wuss, I know, but I am so ready for spring and summer.

I am, however, feeling a bit pertinacious today, so I think I’ll wear them anyway. And freeze. Just like I imagine this man was doing on Easter:

*Note: I have to graciously eat my words. (They are delicious.) After posting this, the sun came out, the temperature rose, and not only did I run in shorts but I shed my warm hat and gloves. It was wonderful.

Then, as if I thought it couldn’t get any better, the temperature hit 17, yes 17!, as we drove into London for Youssou N’Dour.

It is 9 degrees C here today. Woo-hoo! We went out for a beach run at low tide on Saturday and it was so cold. So, incredibly cold. It is hard to run when you can’t feel your feet. Really, really hard. The balls of my feet, the only parts I had any feeling in at all, kept feeling like they were pounding boulders. The day’s saving grace was the bright sunshine. It didn’t warm me, but it did make me feel happy so I didn’t turn around a mile 0.01. By the end of the run, I was hot and bouncing. (I think part of me was really excited about getting into my wellies and going out on the rocks!)

In other good news, I am now an official card-carrying member of the Deal Tri Club. Work it! I’m hoping I will meet people that I can connect with and have fun with. Sometimes I feel like I have all this pent up social energy and nowhere to direct it. I am hopeful.

How fun does this sound? The BBC’s going to attach audio equipment to volunteers to capture the sounds of the race down where the action is taking place.

Mike, over at Complete Running, just posted an article about how chatty the back of the pack is. I wonder if we’ll be able to recognize the differences between the front and the back from this.

This reminds me, I never posted the video I took during the Paris-Versailles 10 mile road race I did back in September. I’d just like you to know I’ve struggled with youtube and cannot get the thing to upload right (really folks, there’s hair all over the floor here), so don’t hold your breath. Sorry. But really, you’re not missing much. It was shaky and horrible. Maybe the next time, I can wrangle a steady-cam out of the ‘beeb!

If you haven’t already caught it, the Complete Running Network has launched a brand, spankin’ new site and it’s hot! Lots of people have been stickin’ forks in it (’cuz it’s done). You should too. Mark did a great job in the re-design. So pop on over and check it out. Don’t forget to point your mouse to the top right-hand corner to bookmark it, digg it, del.icio.us it, backflip it, mister wong it, or whatever gets you there. If you must dropjack, please drop him nicely.

If you have a running blog, you might want to (re) join the Running Blog Family Directory (RBF). You can now search for blogs by things like location, favorite race distance, and tags/keywords. Even if you’ve signed up before, submit a new entry so that it will be search-able by these things.

*Bonus* The site now includes author and member profile pages. So, if you got behind in your Science Wednesday reading over the holidays, you can catch up from the links on my profile here.

Conveniently, the Big Sur half marathon in Monterey falls on World Run Day this year. World Run Day is a day to run any distance you desire and donate to your favorite charity or organization. Sounds good.

You can register for the “event” online. But, I didn’t. Enough of my money went to the Big Sur registration, and I rather what was “left” go to my charity/organization of choice. So, I suppose I’m not official. But, I embraced the spirit and gave the good folks at the Thanet Coast Project some much appreciated cash, so I think that’s better. If you are thinking, “hey that’s cool. I should do that tomorrow!”, but you are having a tough time deciding who you’d like to make a donation to, click here. Decision made. I am glad to be so helpful! (Shameless, I know!)