Buddy run under the San Mateo bridge

I had a fantastic run this evening with Mary (See our pic to the right). We met up at the Fishing Dock along Beach Park Drive in San Mateo for our buddy run. We decided to go at it on our own because I'm still not feeling 100%. The strange haze I mentioned last post is still with me. I thought it would be better for me to run on my own than to meet up with the TNT folks and peter out.

So we met up as planned and I decided to plug in my MP3 player while running. I know, I'm not supposed to do this during training. I was told at the Women's Clinic that I need to be careful with this because I can't hear what's going on in my surroundings when I'm listening to music. For personal safety reasons, I can totally understand this warning. However, I have found that I can run further and longer when I have some rockin' music blaring in my ears.

Mary decided to plug in too and she said: I guess we're running on our own today. I asked if she minded and she said as long as I didn't mind her running ahead. I told her to that she should run as far ahead as she wanted.

So we began our run. We took off going west, under the San Mateo Bridge. This path is quickly becoming our favorite spot to run because of the beautiful view of the Bay across the bridge. I have always loved the San Mateo Bridge because when I was a kid, every time I'd travel across it, I felt like we were driving directly above the water. It was the only bridge that made me feel this way. I knew that the middle span of the bridge is right above the water, but when I was a kid, this part of the bridge had a magical quality. It felt like I was a bird, flying low, across the water.

The other reason why I like this run is because there are an insane number of stray cats along the path. Any imaginable color and size cat live in the rocks off the water. It's quite amazing that these cats can live wild out there because the wind is pretty strong and there are a lot of people around. I was told about these cats at our Seal Point Park run back in early August. However I was disappointed because I didn't see too many cats during that run. I realized this evening that if Mary and I continued westward, we would eventually hit Seal Point Park again. I wonder how long the path is because when I work my way up in distance, I want to do that entire run. I bet it would be beautiful at dusk as it was tonight.

Speaking of dusk, the sun and sky has had this weird orange haze for the past several days. The tint has been caused by this raging fire in Santa Clara County, east of Morgan Hill and Gilroy. Fortunately no one has been harmed in these fires but according to the Merc, this fire will be the largest in Santa Clara County history. Ironically, the massive fire has provided a beautiful sepia-like quality to the sky, just like the orange lenses filmmakers use in movies to create a nostalgic affect. Dusk this evening was a brilliant wash of orange, magenta and red.

My earphones got tangled in the first five minutes of the run and I kicked myself for not getting new earphones to run with. I totally need to get new earphones because mine suck to run with. They are great if I'm just chillin' out somewhere or studying, but otherwise, they can't take the bouncing around and the sweat. Reminder to self: find new earphones.

Annoyed, I untangled and somehow got my left earphone (the left one always falls out) to stay in long enough to make it to my first song: Lose My Breath by Destiny's Child. How fitting I thought. The beat was enough to get me started on a good pace. Immediately sharp side pains came on. I knew it wouldn't be a good idea to eat my banana right before my run. Note to self: don't eat anything at least 30 minutes before my run. I couldn't shake the side pains. But I was determined to run through them.

I had dinner with O and K and told them about how training was going. I mentioned to them how my biggest battle was my head - being able to stay positive and mentally strong to finish a long run. I told them that I was going to stay mentally strong during the buddy run this evening and they told me I could do it. I remembered this goal for myself and somehow found a way to run through the duration of my side pains, which lasted about 15 minutes before they went away. Stupid banana.

By this time, Mary was probably a quarter mile ahead of me. I could see her turning into the bend in the path. I kept an eye on her to make sure that I could still see her. I thought about trying to run faster to catch up to her but I refocused my efforts on keeping a steady pace instead. This paid off because I was about 18 minutes into my run before I checked my timer.

My playlist also helped me run strong too. I think I need to put together more playlists but the shuffle function keeps things unpredictable and exciting. Shuffle gave me some great jams tonight:

Take a Chance on Me (Erasure)
Wrong (Everything But The Girl)
Somewhere Only We Know (Keane)
Run to the Sun (Erasure)
High (James Blunt)
Through the Wire (Kanye West)
I Go To Work (Kool Moe Dee)
'93 Til Infinity (Souls of Mischief)
Uptight (Everything's All Right) (Stevie Wonder)
Never Let Me Down (Kanye West)

The best part of the run tonight is that when I caught up to Mary as the timer hit 45 minutes, I felt like I could run more but I just stretched and savored my small victory as I chatted with Mary about her plans for the weekend. Next challenge: 1 hour and 30 minutes run on Sunday!