Cool Reprieve

63F and only 60% humidity this morning. It made for a comfortable 4.5 miles. We hardly even broke a sweat.

Day Off

Took a vacation day to get caught up/ahead of school work.

Ran 8.5 today. Heavens, it felt good. The weather was a little cooler. During the run, Denise and I passed an overweight lady in her 30's run-walking. She remarked that we made it look easy. We slowed to a walk to exchange some words of encouragement and to tell her that while its not easy, the fitness transformation is well worth the sweat.

Single Set

I did a barbell workout today, abbreviated so I could continue my school work. I was interrupted yesterday by having to retrieve my car with a flat tire at work. Anyways, no run under the clear morning pastel sky today, rather a basement barbell workout. Single set to failure on each exercise.

Mid Term Weekend

I did 7 miles today. 83F, 70% humidity. I think I'm adapting to the heat.

We saw one rabbit this morning. There has been a rabbit population boom this year, I suspect last year's rains provided more green fodder for the populations. They will be challenged this summer. It is becoming clear that this one will be more hot and more dry.

I spent most of the day doing my mid-term.

Time, again

6.6 miles, with 3 miles embedded at a tempo pace. Tempo pace is still around 8:20 mpm, so its not fast compared to many. However, whereas my mind and body used to rebel at the greater intensity running, now I find it refreshing. As I have gotten older, my body has gotten more tough from the training. Zipping along my neighborhood roads while people in cars drive by with almost astonished looks is emotionally empowering.

Trades, again

I passed up 2 morning's runs to work on my  comp sci projects. Turned it in last night, not in the state I would have preferred. Now, back to body.

3 miles today. 69F, 91% humidity. Mixed in with my workout, specially the lunges, I really felt the 3 miles in the wetness. Now...its off to work.

Solstice

Its the longest day of the year. Its ironic that I'm not running today, as I strongly prefer running in daylight. Today is a quick barbell strength training session before rushing off to the dentist.

Tomorrow, a shorter day.

Threshold

I started running at 5:15 AM today to beat the forecast 94F heat. 6 miles in the neighborhood. After that, Denise and I went to the Anacostia Trail System for another 13 miles. I'm moderating my efforts because of the heat. An easy 21 to 24 miles in 45 F can translate into a difficult 19 when its 80F. Additionally, the heat is destroying my usual 10 mpm pace.....for now.

We had to an opportunity to do our Karmic good deed for the day: a large black racer was laying on the path sunning itself. Given the propensity of people to indiscriminately kill snakes, I shepherded it to the nearby stream.

I find I psychologically need a run of 20 or so miles on Sunday to legitimize my view of myself. After missing that long run last Sunday in an effort to get caught up in my computer organization course in grad school, being out there pounding the miles through the heavily wooded trails made me whole again.

Trades

I had hoped to do 4 or so today, maybe later in the day just to prod my body into adapting to the heat. Summer semester at Johns Hopkins means 2 classes and 2 projects in each week, vice one. I tried unsuccessfully to get both projects done today.

We spent the day in our daughter and son-in-law's new condo in DC. While Denise hemmed curtains and Phil built the closet organizers we have bought them as a house warming gift, I coded MIPS assembler. I wasn't able to complete the second of the two projects due this week.

So, no run today, which means I'm shy of my preferred 23-28 miles going into Sunday's long run. Life is trade-offs.

Wildlife

5.1 miles today. I had to cut it short versus my planned 8.1 because we got off to a late start. Beautiful weather, 58 F. I opened all the windows in our home to bring in the cool morning air before the daytime heat.

We had a serendipitous moment in the last mile. Crossing a clearing we came upon a small fox. While I've seen foxes on several occasions this summer, never have I seen one run in the open for such a distance. Today's fox was smaller and not as red as some of the others. It seemed in no great rush as it loped across the grass unlike the others which seemed very shy.

Another reason why we run.

3 miles today at 6 AM. It was in the mid 60's again, but the hollows harboured pockets of coolness. There was a low mist hanging over the grassy commons which caught the sunlight as it filtered through the trees. The tendrils of light shone through, glistening in the dewy grass.

I gambled yesterday doing the run before my project was error-free. I hoped that a close inspection of the assembler code after class would yield my mistake. The gamble was rewarded. I had my 8.1 miler and submitted a bug-free project at 8 PM last night. This particular effort was fulfilling on two counts: it was well designed and error free.

To cap this morning's exercise off, I did my dumbbell work out too.

Back Again

Gratifyingly, I did 8.1 miles today, in the muggy predawn 65F. Tonight's project is almost done. I'm pleased with it. If it is possible for assembler to be elegant, I think my MIPS work for this assignment actually achieves it. Too bad it doesn't quite work completely correctly.

My legs are fresh from the time off, my last 3 miles were nearly at a 9 mpm pace. It really felt good to go out and just let the run happen.

Saw one of the biggest robins ever this morning..

Priorities

I hate to skip runs. Today, in an effort to get caught up on my second MIPS assembler project of the semester due tomorrow, I spent the morning at my desk coding. The first project was turned in last night on time.

I got behind on my school work last week. Monday, a Hummer ran over the front end of my SL-class Mercedes just before I was leaving work for class. Missing class was to hurt my coding efforts over the weekend.Tuesday I lost focus as I struggled with sinusitis. The cumulative effect of all these was to put me behind on the 2 projects due this week.

Tomorrow morning, hopefully, if I can get my project done tonight, I will go out for 5 to 8 miles.