Thursday, April 7, 2011

Thursday's Child Has Far To Go

There's an old saying that goes like this ...

Monday's child is fair of face;
Tuesday's child is full of grace;
Wednesday's child is full of woe;
Thursday's child has far to go;
Friday's child is loving and giving;
Saturday's child works hard for a living.
But the child that is born on the Sabbath day
is fair and wise, good and gay


In addition to being the lyrics of David Bowie and Steven Curtis Chapman songs (most of you will have no idea who the latter is), it's a a poem that superstitiously predicts the personality of a person based on the day they were born.  However, I can apply it to my last few runs/non-runs this week.

Tuesday ... Full of Grace!
Great run!  10 mile Tempo Run with an average pace of 7:26/mile.  But the last 5 miles went like this ... 6:43, 6:30, 6:43, 6:55, 6:41.  I felt strong, fluid, and down-right graceful while running.  Very fluid and light!

Wednesday ... Full of Woe!
Well, not woe as in sorrowful, but rather "whoa, whoa, whoa" as in SLOW DOWN! (just trying to make it relate to this post, work with me here).   I ran a 12 mile Recovery Run in Salina, KS.  I still felt really good and it was an awesome run.  About a 7:53, nice relaxed pace.  The best part was the elevation and weather.  If you've ever been to Salina, KS you know the elevation in the town only changes about 10 ft!!!  So it was nice and flat.  And the weather was 53 degrees with 4mph winds ... PERFECT!  The "whoa" factored in by continually having to slow myself down.  I really wanted to push it and take advantage of the conditions, but I held back.

Thursday ... Far to Go!
And then we come to this morning!  I'm in Garden City, KS ... maybe the worst town ever.  No offense if you live here - probably wonderful people, but you should really get out ASAP.  I went out to run in the overwhelming meat packing plant stench and 17mph wind, and after .73 miles thought ... " Um yeah, that's good for the day", and proceeded back to my hotel room.  At any other point in my training I would have been bummed for the rest of the day, but I'm in a taper period ... so who cares!  I probably needed the rest anyway.  

Back to "Garden City".  There's no gardens or a city???  It should be called Smells Like A Rotten Beef Carcass In The Middle Of Nowhere Dust Bowl Town ... but that probably wouldn't fit on their rotted plywood city limit sign.

P.S.  I'm not sure if it's coming through in my writing, but I'm in the dreaded first week of taper and getting REALLLLLLLY CRANKY!  Send race soon please.
... be great today???

19 comments:

  1. I have ridden my bike in Salina and I felt like a god!

    You are totally right about Garden City!

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  2. Garden City...nice. I grew up in McPherson, so I understand the flatness of Salina.

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  3. Love this post. Tapering is miserable!

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  4. You make me laugh!! Sitting at my desk laughing my butt off, everyone wonders why :) Love and miss you sweetie! Come home soon please :)

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  5. tapers suck - no way around it.

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  6. HAHAHAHA! That was brillinat. Sounds like Detroit!

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  7. I feel sorry for Michael with all of your taper crankiness. :o)

    I am so excited for you and all of those other Boston Marathoners.

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  8. I LOVE SCC!!! ummmm, hello? Magnificent Obsession? I will be here??

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  9. My wife keeps asking me why I am so angry this week... must be taper fever!!

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  10. I apparently am loving and giving, who knew. Good luck with tapering....

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  11. Haha. Note to self-just say no to Garden City. Put those question marks away!

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  12. Haha! I thought you wrote that you ran 73 miles. I couldn't see the decimal point. I was thinking, "Yeah... I'd be ready to quit too." Lol. At least you can run... Stupid strep. =(

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  13. Well, as one who lives in the DETROIT area, I have to completely disagree with Coy. Of course, I'm guessing she has no idea what she's talking about and has not actually run in Detroit. How do most of you get to work....hmmmm....think about that for a minute. That's all I have to say about that. Good luck on the taper Jim! We'll see how Royals and the Tigers do tomorrow.

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  14. Love relating this to running. I will be working hard on Sat. as I run my half. Good luck with your taper.

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  15. Sabbath Day baby here! Great way to organize your post--it was fun to read. But does it mean my run on Saturday will be hard??

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  16. Love this comparison. I just read that to my 5-year-old and it's crazy how spot-on it is!

    "It should be called Smells Like A Rotten Beef Carcass In The Middle Of Nowhere Dust Bowl Town ... but that probably wouldn't fit on their rotted plywood city limit sign." Laughed out loud. Literally.

    Good luck with the taper =)

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  17. That his hilarious on the Meat Packing name.

    Tapering for Boston....that just sounds awesome even if it is hard to do. Think about what you are doing and just know that it is incredible.

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