Week 5: Slight derailment due to travel

It's a fine day in Brooklyn, NY. Today I ran 7 miles at Prospect Park, half of which I ran with my brother. The park, which was is shutdown to traffic during the day, had plenty of room to roam around on it's 3.5 mile loop, and was well shaded. There were a few lengthy inclines and declines, but nothing too steep. There was a bike race supposedly going on at the time, but anybody riding by appeared to be taking it easy.

This week I was shipped off for some business travel to Houston, TX. This isn't the ideal place for a runner... The intense sun was not often obscured by clouds, and the heat was on. My Tuesday run was bypassed due to a day of travel and planning. I ran 7 miles on a treadmill Wednesday at the hotel, which reminded me why I hate running on treadmills. First off, in order to maintain sanity, I watched the Sotomayor hearings (in which it seemed no one really cared to explore the knowledge/experience of this candidate). This required me to use headphones, the cable of which frequently got in the way of hand swings causing a huge nuisance. This particular treadmill had some issues, and as I pushed it to 8mph, it started sticking on my left footfalls... I could see someone getting a bum knee from that.

Thursday morning I took to the Houston streets, running a 4.3 mile/32 minute tempo run. The graph looks good with a mostly continuous decline to a max pace of 6:27. The whole run I was trying to find a sprinkler or some water to run through. I passed a guy watering a lawn, and asked him to turn the hose toward the road, but he looked blankly back at me and continued his work. I got the impression he didn't speak my language. The one sprinkler I ran across was shooting at no more than knee height leaving me with some slightly soggy shoes near the end of the run (not quite what I was hoping for).

It's time I spend some time with Jim, Jenny, and Annea. It's been fun being Uncle Matt for the weekend. Annea giggled for me this morning as I made a fool of myself and played with her toys. It's a good way to cap off a long week...