Another Day...Another Mile

I got in some great running last week, but I'm finding myself bored with running in India.  The daily struggles just seem to get to me every now and then.  I'm tired of running past the 4 trash piles, which are often times on fire, to get to the park that offers the only reprieve from running on the bustling roads; I'm tired of everyone staring at me, sometimes stopping their cars to watch me run by; I'm tired of dodging Tuk-Tuk's and motorcycles, who don't seem to care one way or another if they hit a pedestrian;  I'm tired of the monotony of running in the same park every day.

With the thought of returning home for a bit this winter, all I can think about is where I want to run while I'm there.  Right now, I'd give anything to run along the water in Puget Sound, the Burke-Gilman trail in Seattle, the Interurban trail in Mountlake Terrace, or the trail to Mount Si, but mostly I can't wait to reconnect with the Seattle running community.  It's unfortunate that it took moving to India to realize how much I took for granted in the Pacific Northwest.  I always enjoyed living in Washington, Oregon, and California, but I never really understood how ingrained the mountains, lakes, rivers, wilderness, and people are in who I am.

In another four-ish months I'll get to go home, and, hopefully, be re-energized with a healthy dose of home, family, and mountain running.  I'll get to run a 50 km trail race with my brother, I'll get to catch up with friends and family, most of which I haven't seen in over 2 years, and, best of all, we'll get to bring baby #2 into the world.  As Dr. Seuss would say, I'm trying not to get stuck in the 'waiting place', but I'm just so excited to once again be immersed in the lush green, and partly snowy, landscape of the Cascade Mountains that I can't help but daydream about it daily.  One day at a time, I'll make it back home, and I might even manage to have a little fun in India before I get there.

Happy Running!

Training Summary for Last Week
Total Miles:               34.07 miles
Total Time:                5:52:27
Average Pace:           10:21/mi
Total Elevation Gain:  2,275 ft

Juggling Life and Running

I've found myself in a little predicament in balancing running and my family life.  In the past month I haven't missed a single scheduled run, and have been regularly hitting in the mid 30 km's each week*.  I've been getting excited about feeling like I can actually start pushing my endurance limits again.  Last Saturday I hit a new distance high for India of 14 km.  I'm still nowhere near the mid 60 km weeks I was logging in the States, but I'll get there.  This all sounds great, but, unfortunately, the ever increasing amount of time spent on the trails leads to an ever decreasing amount of time spent at home.  I'm faced with the challenge that runners everywhere face, how to compromise with the ones you love to make time for the activity that you love.

I run early in the mornings, so it's not so much the amount of time that I'm gone.  Basically the only thing that I'm missing out on at home is sleep.  I think the major issue, is that I generally run on both Saturday and Sunday, so there never gets to be a lazy wake-up-in-bed-together kind of morning with my wife.  I've thoroughly enjoyed mornings in the past of waking up to the brightness in the room, rather than a blaring alarm clock, and rolled around half awake, perhaps pillow-talking with my wife, or not, until we hear the distant squawking of our son in the other room.  One of us would then  go and grab him to bring him into our wonderful Sunday morning lounge made up of blankets and pillows.  We all just get to be a family together, and it's great.  As gratifying as running is, the mornings together aren't the same if I go and run for two hours, then eat something because I'm starving by the end of a long run, then shower, then try to climb back in bed. At that point our minds are in two entirely different universes.

I've always exercised 5 days per week with 2 rest days, both of which were on weekdays, but now I'm contemplating moving to 6 days per week and having that one rest day be a really good one on the weekend.  The biggest obstacle I foresee is that the weekends are my only chance at big distance running, but I think I can get around that by adding another day to run during the week.  This will allow me to keep my volume up, hit one long distance day, and still get to dedicate one day to just being a dad and a husband.

I'll give 6 days per week a try, and see how it works out.  The only way to know how my body and mind will respond is to give it a go.  I think it actually sounds kind of nice approaching my rest period with the same 'quality vs. quantity' mentality often used for training days.  I know that my wife will be happy that we'll get at least one day on the weekend that is all ours, but I'm also excited to have one day that I don't need to wake up to the alarm clock, and to experience more of the blissful mornings we used to before I started running all the time.  I know that balancing time between the things I love will be an ongoing struggle for, well forever, but the simple fact remains that both of these are things that I love.  I'll always find a way to make it work, both for my family and myself, but it may require a little trial and error.

*When I said, "...hitting the mid 30 km's each week" I was referring to my total distance adding in the kilometers of rowing also.

Traning Summary for Last Week:

Monday:       Off
Tuesday:       6.32 km; 34:42; avg. pace 5:29/km
Wednesday:  Rowing 4.0 km; 19:20; avg. pace 4:50/km
Thursday:      Rowing 4.0 km; 18:56; avg. pace 4:44/km
Friday:          6.36 km; 34:14; avg. pace 5:23/km
Saturday:      14.02 km; 1:18:58; avg. pace 5:38/km
Sunday:        Off

Total Distance:  26.7 km
Total Time:       2:27:54
Average Pace:  5:32/km

Happy Running!

Journey Through the Wilderness

I had a great time rowing and running last week.  I opted for rowing on the machine two days because my wife had to go into work early, and I couldn't convince myself to get up and run while it was still dark outside.  I have enough 'close calls' with cars, tuk-tuks, stray dogs, and motorcycles running in the daylight, that I imagine it's terrifying running here when the sun goes down.

I got an awesome surprise when a friend from the consulate offered to show me around some of the trails near his house.  He took me on a network of trails that lead us past several temples, through some livestock grazing areas, and around a 'lake'.  I say 'lake' because in other parts of the world it may be called sewage dump, trash-mud slurry, rotten mosquito breading ground, or any other name you can think of that conjures images of the grossest 'lake' you can think of.  Throughout the run I found myself hyper-aware of the things around me, just waiting to see a flash of movement or hear a rustling in the leaves and be greeted by a giant Indian Cobra.  I don't know what the hell I'll do if I ever run into one here.  Luckily all we saw were some peacocks and buffalo on our little journey through the wilderness.  We finished the run with a Tuk-Tuk ride to the bottom of the hill near his house, and ran the last kilometer or so home.

I felt great last week, although I'm still nowhere near the mileage I was putting up in the States.  It was really nice to run somewhere other than the usual park trail where I log most of my time.  One of the best parts about running out on the trails, was that there was hardly anyone else around.  It doesn't normally bother me too much that I'm this crazy oddity running down the street here, and many people literally stop their cars to watch me pass, but a break from the spotlight and being able to just run felt good.  I'd love to find more areas of open trail close by, but I think the 'close' part is going to be difficult.  I'll keep running and, hopefully, I'll manage to find some hidden gems in Hyderabad.

Training Summary for Last Week:

Monday:       Rowing 3.0 km; 14:17; avg. pace 4:46/km
Tuesday:       Rowing 4.0 km; 19:15; avg. pace 4:49/km
Wednesday:  6.29 km; 34:18; avg. pace 5:27/km
Thursday:      Off
Friday:          6.31 km; 35:12; avg. pace 5:35/km
Saturday:      7.78 km; 43:23; avg. pace 5:35/km
Sunday:        Off

Total Kilometers: 20.38 km
Total Time:          1:52:53
Average Pace:     5:32/km

Happy Running!