I've now finished 5 weeks of my training, with 15 more to go. I spent the past week in Portland, OR visiting family. It's always nice to run some place different for a bit. The change in scenery is usually a good distraction while running. That is, except when I'm at my folks' house. You see, they live at the top of a pretty good-sized hill. No matter which way you go from their house you're going to be running hills. And it's not just a simple downhill stretch to more level road... the roads snake around all over this hillside so the slope is always changing and there are just as many uphills as down. It's pretty harsh. I also did some running at the beach during my trip. I was mostly on the wet, packed sand but it's still different than running on the pavement. What this all meant was that my calves were a bit tight by the time I came home. It's OK, though. It's good to mix things up.
Yesterday I ran 8 miles around campus. I was looking forward to being on level pavement again. Of course, Pennsylvania isn't without its excitement. As I ran past a trash can I startled a squirrel that was foraging and he took a flying leap to the ground right in front of me. Had our timing been just a few seconds different I might have been wearing the rodent. That would have been one for the record books.
Tomorrow we're supposed to have record heat. Depending on how the day plays out I might be running on the treadmill. I'm not sure I could take the heat + humidity outside. I'll be glad when the summer weather starts easing up. My runs have seemed especially hard lately. I don't recall them being so hard last summer. Some folks would blame my age but I'm sticking to the weather.
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