back to reality and what does it mean?

decided to take a trip to the oxford university track today, having not been there in awhile and wanting to get an idea of how easy or hard it would be to do track workouts on a regular basis. bus driver missed my stop so i had a chance to walk back and warmup a little. i tried to remember that i am trying to put a positive spin on things. almost hard when you are standing next to the driver and remind him that this is your stop and watch him "forget" and pass it by.

anyway, there was a small difference of opinion from two of the people who worked there about what i could and couldn't do, but listening to them gave me the consensus opinion that wed. and saturday mornings could be crowded with football game going on and tuesday there was a running club who took over the track. this seemed to meet my tuesday and thursday needs.

rather than pass up the opportunity to run there i ran 2 miles without a warmup in 17:11. an 8:50 and an 8:11, with all eight laps turning into a really nice headwind for the last 110 meters.
but i did it and passed a mental hurdle of going pass one hard mile; last lap in 1:58 with a heart rate of 159 tells me just how much conditioning i have lost as i used to be able to do the last lap in 1:50 at 150 heart rate. not talking about my 11:44 two mile pr here am i?

on a bright note side i did run one 200 in 48.5 at 158 and some 100's in 20 seconds at 153. showed some of the leg speed is coming back. after having run 88 miles in the last 11 days this is not the workout i would have planned for myself, nor is the way i did it the way i want to be able to run them, but all in all it was a decent start and a call to reality to show me where i have to go.

now to get some more weight off and cut back the miles some while i work on the speed with less chance of re-injuring the usual injuries that running fast has given me over the years and especially the last 6 years. this in the face of turning 61 on sunday.

still, running around the track brings on the usual feeling of wanting to die while at the same time a good feeling about doing it. much better than plodding along. next test will be three miles, but i want to write up more organized workouts to get there.

i did have the track to myself the entire time and met the groundskeeper, jason, a nice lad from lincolnshire, who has been to orlando and wants to go to NYC. to everyone here those seem to be the places to go. i told him to skip nyc and go to washington and see and do more for less money.

then later i walked up to the track, a tad tired, but not much and a tad stiff, but not much and hit 200 balls. some well and others not as well, but must continue to work on takeaway and right knee staying flexed- both of which keep me on plane and lengthen my swing. tried not to be disappointed that it didn't go as well as the past few days.

came home to find that some of the bills i mailed at the post office yesterday came back today as they mistakenly mailed them to the return address. i love this post office - did i mention they lost 2 boxes of our mail and all of our professional and personal magazines as well.

quiet birthday weekend ahead i am sure as nobody can call me and the weather is somewhat iffy to far and there is nowhere here i want to go out to eat at. not as positive there huh?

tomorrow will be the 40th anniversary of the tet offensive. that's how i spent the night before my 21st birthday. waiting to see what that would bring to our compound. good war to come home from and those who didn't will always have a special place in my heart. also the big reason i hated everything about tricky dicky nixon.

easy to rant when you want to as there is so much to be upset about, but i am a newly formed positive man. i will lose some more weight and stretch my hamstrings and pf and itb and will get just a little faster, just to see if i can.

off to read my book club book.