Night Run

Last night, I did something different for the scheduled Los Angeles Marathon training run; I ran at night. Running in the dark was nothing new since I have been doing most pre-dawn. I did it for two reasons: one easy one of wanting an extra hour of sleep in the morning and one not so easy ... there was yet another fatal shooting in my neighborhood Tuesday night at about the same time as I headed out Thursday night.

My neighborhood in Santa Monica has seen a lot of violence in the 10 years I have lived there. Teens and young men being killed, four being very, very close (as in within a block). I have basically become accustomed to vigil candles and stunned teenagers. It is not pleasant obviously. Murders are not.

So, I decided to run because I needed to and also because I wanted to. I wanted to show that the vermin who cause this mayhem and tragedy can not rule the streets.

Off I went past the basically and eerily deserted Virginia Avenue Park. Normally there would be basketball games and such; but, not Thursday night. It was noticeable how many police cars were patrolling the area.

I headed down the side streets, trusting my Garmin electronic conscience to keep me on pace or close to it. I then headed south to Ocean Park Avenue and a niceish commercial area, even with a lot of empty offices. I ran down a sidestreet and towards Santa Monica Airport.

While running past I noticed the business jets, including a Gulfstream G-IV which costs well in excess of $20 million.

It was just a strange run. I felt a bit sluggish, perhaps because it has been a hard week on many fronts. Still, it felt good to be on the Night Run.

Me vs. the Electronic Conscience

Well, it was Sunday today and the revised Roadrunners schedule has us on aerobic running now. So, off dark and early I went, with my new running friend, the Garmin 305.

I am still working things out with it. It seems a tad distracting checking my wrist, especially as all those sprint years have you focus dead ahead and ONLY dead ahead. Also, the pace monitor has me a bit perplexed. I try to run at the 12:00 target pace; but, with the realities of running on streets with stop signs, traffic lights, etc. even pre-dawn, it is hard and suddenly my electronic running conscience says I am off pace badly! So, being intent on returning to the target pace, ... I SPRINT! That is what I am not supposed to be doing ... not that I mind it mind you. This looks like a question for the paceleaders.

So, my 30:55 minutes of running yielded 2.13 miles. Overall, I was happy and may be that is what the key is to this whole experience.

They're Watching Me ...

Today was another pre-dawn mid-week run. It was another clear, star-filled, well relatively, sky as the wind was actually blowing a tad.



I brought out my Garmin GPS unit and decided to try to run to now run to pace goal as I learn more of the ins and outs of it. After having it locate satellites (rather nifty feeling knowing the thing on my wrist finds satellites!), I started off determined to add the new tool to the training. This proved a tad frustrating, especially in the dark.



I set off on what felt like the pace I wanted; but, the unit would say too fast, too slow ... and then there were traffic lights, etc. It got a frustrating trying to adjust to speed and I found it a lot less enjoyable to run with "watch the clock" joining "watch for bad drivers" and "watch for fallen tree limbs" as goals. I just wanted to get the McCourt soap opera out of my mind!



Finishing was a bit disappointing as the unit said I was 30 seconds too fast per mile; so, I slowed down and then halted for a traffic light ... Soon, I was way OVER the goal. In the end it was a run of 45:12 for 3.39 miles of aerobic running.



I am just placing my faith in this system as the aerobic concept and not stretching prior to starting is so foreign to sprinting. The Roadrunners sent an article about how humans are actually designed for long-distance running; but, modern surfaces and shoes (oh, oh) lead to problems.



Still, I hope I will become more accustomed to the unit and running with it and make the training better. Anything that helps me finish the marathon ...