Day 17: Blood, Sweat, and Tears

Date: February 23rd 2011, 8:30 am
Distance: 4.4 miles
Weather: Night

Blood

1 Pint. O positive. That what I was missing when I ran today. You see, yesterday I got a text message saying that there was a low turn out at our stake blood drive. I decided to go and donate. Bada-bing-bada-boom and I've got a bandage on my arm and a sticker on my shirt saying "I make a difference". Since I wasn't supposed to do any strenuous activity for 12 hours I put off this run 24 hours. It still wasn't the prettiest run. I wouldn't recommend running when you're down a pint of blood.

Sweat

My mid week courses are starting to get longer. It is no longer just "a quick run" on my weeknights. Today I put in 4.4 miles, but most of the sweat didn't come until the last half of the run. The first half was mostly downhill and I was trying to pace myself and avoid the whole fainting after blood loss thing. Once I got more comfortable I started to pick up the pace and get pretty warm. At mile 2 the gloves came off. I wanted to take the beanie off but it was helping hold my earbuds in. At mile 3 I really put on the afterburners, thinking that I wanted to be completely spent when I got home. I got pretty close.

Tears

We might have seen some tears if traffic was a little heavier on bulldog. As I run by the parking lots near the athletic facilities I see a sign that says: "Caution Pedestrians: No Sidewalk". I took caution and kept running... I mean they didn't provide any other alternative. No crosswalk, no nothing. So I'm cruising just north of the Hinckley Alumni building and the heavy bushes on the side of the road are forcing me to run in the road. I'm in the middle of the right-most lane as I go around the corner. That's when I realize that with the corner and the bushes a car coming up behind me wouldn't see me until it was right on my tail. By then I would be road pizza. Not knowing if there was any traffic behind me, I engaged in a dead sprint. The danger zone seemed to stretch on indefinitely but I eventually made it out and lived to tell the tale.

Overall, it was a longish run with a variety of unusual challenges. But that's how I like it. Gotta keep things interesting.