What's a run for?

I probably ran too long considering how late I started. I probably ran too far considering how tired I was to begin with. I probably ran too hard considering my knee and hip are a bit stiff, my ingrown toenail is not totally healed and I am less than a week away from my longest race to date. However, this was not a run for time. This was not a run for distance. This was not even a run for any sort of training that I needed to get in. This was, pure and simply, a run for sanity.

Since my Friday afternoon run up Mission Peak, I have spent over 12 hours of this past weekend behind the wheel of a car. Friday night Freddy had a league game up in Oakland which is normally a pretty quick drive, but it was a 7pm game which meant rush hour driving combined with the fact that both the Warriors and the A's had games that evening. Considering all this we got pretty lucky on the way up and only hit normal slow Friday traffic. Our mojo ran out on the way home as a crash which included an overturned vehicle was on 880 south just below the intersection we would be coming off of. Saturday, we had to be up early to drive up to Sacramento where Freddy's team would be playing in the AAU Under-16 regional qualifiers. There's no traffic at 7am Saturday morning, but it is a 2 hour drive nonetheless. It was also a little over 2 hours home. We had to be back up there Sunday morning as well. We could have stayed up there, but Zane needed to stay home Sunday to pack for a business trip and get some work done. So, Sunday morning was another 2 hour drive. So far, it wasn't terrible. About 8 1/2 hours driving, but most of it straight forward and only one major traffic issue to get through. The team did well placing 3rd and beating a very tough team that beat us earlier in the tournament. So, it was time to head back. I needed to drop someone off in Oakland so I planned to head down 80 to 580. Anybody who lives in the Bay Area (or pretty much anyone who had actually paid attention to the news on Sunday) can guess what this meant for me. Had I been paying attention, I would have realized that earlier that day THIS had happened. I could tell the whole story of me not getting the news until too late, of my failed attempt to avoid the traffic by taking city streets along with all the (many, many) other clever people. Suffice it to say that somewhere between 3.5-4 hours after leaving Sacto, I finally arrived home.

Over 12 hours of driving. I thought about it and realized that I could have been at the Grand Canyon after that much driving. My legs were stiff, my back was achy and I was cranky. I needed to go for a run. I told Zane that I needed to go only shortly after I got in the house. She understood. She asked "How long? Or, are you just gonna go?" (She knows me too well). I said that I wouldn't be taking my normal route as I needed a run with no loops. I was going to head out toward Ed Levin and just turnaround when I was "done". I needed to just run to move my body and clear my head.

In the end, it was just under 12 miles and my head was much clearer. This ended my week with a little over 40 miles. A little unplanned taper week as time controlled the distance. My plan to keep at around 60mi/wk was a little off, but not too bad. This would be my last real run before Miwok as I plan to want to keep my mileage around what I have been at and the race is 62. My plan is to do some walking this week in place of my running. Since Freddy has early morning workouts at school this week, it will actually help with two of my goals. I will be getting up much earlier than usually helping to ease the transition to Saturday morning and I will be using the extra hour after dropping him off to walk near my work. I don't like the sluggish feeling my legs get if I make my taper a cliff and do nothing. I also always need to work on my walking especially of I want to complete a 100 miler in the (hopefully not-too-distant) future.