Time Keeps on Ticking, Ticking

I’ve been thinking a lot about time lately.

Yesterday was all about time. Trying to squeeze stuff into the time allotted, missing things by losing track of tim, being ready in time, not having enough time, time passing too quickly.

Fitting in the Long Run at Bastrop

I went out to Bastrop State Park to get my long run in yesterday so I could thoroughly give myself over to the Hokahey 5K today for Dano. I had calculated my time pretty precisely. I needed to be on the road at 6:15AM at the latest; I’d get to the park by 7:00AM; I’d be on the trail no later than 7:15AM so that I could be leaving the park no later than 11:20AM to get back to Austin for my 12:00 fun seminar with friends.

I missed my leave time by about five mintues–no biggie. I hit every red light leaving my neighborhood, and that adds up. Once on 183, the fog got thicker and thicker and traffic got slower and slower. I didn’t pull into Bastrop’s Overlook parking lot until 7:30. Shit. I took a few minutes saddling up and hit the trail 7:39AM.

There’s something about a time constraint hanging over my head that makes the run crappy for me. My hips were so stiff; I kept visualizing our old beagle, Benny, whose spine fused together in his final days and make walking painful. I felt like that. Of course, my ibuprophen was in the car. Grr.

Slog it out, keep moving, put my head down and go, go, go. I was going like that when I took the wrong turn at the campgrounds. Twenty minutes later, I realize I haven’t finished the loop like I should’ve…and there comes the purple trail where I should never see it. On a day when time mattered, I screwed up the route. Damn. No choice but to take the purple back up to the overlook, doing less than I’d planned.

So I did more than basic 8-mile loop but don’t know how much more. Look at the watch–what can I do? I figure I came all the way out here to get the long run in, I should at least get more than 16 if I can’t get the 19. Off I go to do another loop, this time the short 8-mile loop. I took some ibuprophen and about 15 minutes in, I felt much better.

Ran into Diana…argh…no time to chit chat but I can’t be rude…darn, why am I running so slow? With the chit chat, it takes me 2 hours to finish the loop. Uh oh; it’s minutes before 12:00, not the 20 ’til I’d mentally calculated…I’m really going to be late. Just get in the car and drive; takes me more than an hour to get back, thanks to the truck that lost it’s load of lumber in front of Callahan’s. I just was not meant to get any of that done satisfactorily.

In the evening, a lovely time with friends out to dinner and seeing the timeless opera, “La Boheme.” It’s my favorite. I love going to the opera–I wish the whole world worked like that, where you burst into song when overcome with emotion.

Hokahey 5K Race Report

Today was the 5K. I was there to support Dano and so my time didn’t really matter…except it always does. It makes me so sad to be so slow any more. I’ve just got so little juice in the legs. One of these days, I’m going to have to completely lay off distance and spend a year or more doing nothing but short and fast. Probably triathlons to loosen me back up and make sure the pounding doesn’t get to me. Sigh.

Time goes by so fast. My baby boy is so grown up. I guess a benefit of being so slow was that I got to see him coming back in as I was heading out. And he was so sweet; he wanted me to warm up with him a bit before the race.

It’s nice to have down time this afternoon.