10:03 am - running story
It's been a while since I've talked about my running. So I'll bore you now with it. I've been running a course that I thought was in the neighborhood of 3 miles, with Sunday runs that I thought were close to 5.5 or 6. When we were in Seattle on vacation, I clocked off a 3-mile course the odometer of a car, and in 3 runs, only once managed to go the entire course. I figured it was jet lag, dehydration and a mild cold that caused that.
I bought a running watch to time myself. Knowing that my 10K (6.2 miles) speed was 1:17, I figured 3 miles to be around 40 minutes. In PA, I ran a course that was 20 minutes out and 20 back, and when I had a chance to check it with the odometer, it was 1.5 miles out, so I know now that 20 minutes is 1.5 miles. Not exactly a speed demon, but for a guy who's been running for just a few months, still 30+ pounds overweight and not previously athletic, I figure I'm doing alright. But that 40-minute run still felt like an awful lot.
We get back to Athens, and I discover that my regular run was only 29 minutes - just over 2 miles. So what I had thought was a 5.5-mile run was probably no more than 4. No wonder the 10K was so frickin' hard. So I expanded the run a bit, but it was still only 35 minutes. Damn. How the hell far do I have to run?
I've started reading running magazines (you're probably wondering who the hell I am and how I got fshusband's password, aren't you). Yeah, I have two pair of running shoes, a running watch, some running underwear, more shorts than I've ever owned and I read running magazines. I even found a marathon in Norway this summer, the half-marathon of which would be a good gauge of my skills (think ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) annesblog would want to visit Norway?). And one suggestion I stumbled across was rather than running for distance to run for time. So I decided to run for an hour for my regular runs, and work up to 3 hours for Sunday runs. How else am I going to develop the stamina to go for 26 miles, which will probably take me 5-6 hours at my speed?
I'm close, doing 52 minutes. I go downhill to the 1896 Olympic Stadium, give a quick nod to the Acropolis off to my right and turn around to begin the uphill leg. It's hard, I'm tired and weakened, having only done it twice so far, but it feels very, very good. Very good. I think there's a distance runner in here somewhere.
The best part of my run goes most of the way from the Microsoft office, past the US Embassy, past Evangelismos Metro to the statue of Harry Truman. The sidewalk is broad, mostly whole, not too much dog crap, not too much construction, not too many people. The part directly in front of Evangelismos is challenging, because the sidewalk is paved with rough marble cobblestones. That's a bit challenging for the footing.
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