The returning runner
Act 23 – Just do four.
The first time around my 1.6-mile Rancho San Rafael loop, I was “dead” – no zip at all. Not that unusual for me as I need some warmup to get going. I had dropped the 5-month old puppy after the first loop and headed toward the mid-point of the loop for hill repeats. I had hit a record of 17 reps about a month prior but hadn’t been able to match that since. I was hoping to hit the rounder number of 18 today. At the bottom of the hill, there is a very slight dip that seems to launch me on my way as I head up. Usually, the body responds with dab of adrenaline that says “let’s go!”. Today, nothing. I pushed it up the hill but it was nothing more than a bit harder run than my normal loop pace. Not a sprint at all. Hmmm… well, sometimes I had gotten in the groove and actually felt better after a half-dozen or so. At the top of the hill, I stopped to etch a tic mark in the dirt with the edge of my shoe before heading down. I’m lazy. My mind imagines reps that I haven’t done (or does my mind imagine that I’m over counting and I do extra?). The soil had hardened from previous rains and then a subsequent dry period. I scratched harder with the side of my shoe. That would do it – I could distinguish today’s first tic from the hundreds of blurred tics now faded.
Hmmm… As I glanced down the hill, a runner was coming up and fast! Must be a college runner by the way he moved. As I headed down, we passed going opposite directions. He responded to my “tear it up” with a nod. He wasn’t a college runner but a younger Masters runner, maybe 45 or so. My second rep wasn’t any more encouraging then my first, still no zip and now my right hammy was starting to ache just slightly. Midway up I passed my “friend” again who was heading down. Was he doing reps? As I scrolled my second tic in the dirt, I spotted him starting another sprint up the hill. He started from a little bit further down in the “flat” before the hill then I did and was still moving faster than I but appeared to be going slower than his first sprint. We passed again at the midpoint. Although he was going a touch faster, his slightly longer version kept us in perfect sync – a matched pair going up and down the hill as opposites. Hmmm…I had never seen another adult doing hill reps on this particular hill. I had once talked a “B” college runner into doing a few with me and one time I had seen a youth team. I had mentioned this particular hill on my blogs and a couple of Instagram postings – could this possibly be a fan?
On my third rep, my hammy ache had progressed to mild pain and I still had no zip. My “shadow” runner had kept faithfully in precise time, passing again at the midpoints. Maybe I shouldn’t do 18 reps, maybe I should do 10 or 12? On my fourth rep, the pain in my hammy solidified as a permanent resident but not yet causing a limp. I should stop. Just do four. That was the smart plan. I had ran four faces in the previous two weeks. Or, was I being a wimp? Maybe at six, it would loosen up and feel better? I argued. I have had hamstring injuries before that had taken several months to heal. Wimp or not I should stop at four. I had a twinge of regret passing my “friend” going down after the fourth rep. I didn’t want to break the perfect equilibrium of our efforts. The gravitational field of the earth would certainly be thrown off balance. Who could know what the impacts would be? Another time my friend, another time… Today, I’m just doing four.