passing in the dark

11 miles . . .

in the harsh winds that the brooks jacket blocked. and mostly in the dark. i stuck to a mostly lit course until i turned off of commercial and then total darkness. i figured when picturing this route that the sun would be up when i hit that turn. two things worked against this plan.

first, baby gracie. she woke up at 4:40, 4:45, and 4:55. at which point we gave up and my wife fed her. i asked her to wake me up after the feeding. so at 5:30 i was finally rolling out of bed. hit the streets by 6:10.

second, a little bit of clouds streaked over the foothills where the sun comes up. this delayed the true brightness of the sun by about 10 minutes.

while running along that dark stretch of road with not a single streetlight, i heard a large strange shuffling scraping noise in the drainage ditch. this caused me to run in the middle of the street. this stretch brought me back a few years. right after college, i lived in apartments on this street. once, before i was a runner, i even remember running this street. i maybe put in a mile. and then i couldn't move or breathe afterwards for about an hour. that was the first and last time i ran from the apartment. and now i'm soaring by it before sun up with 10 additional miles tacked on for good measure. before i hit the lights, the sky turned from black to dark blue. i passed an older runner on this dark road. we exchanged the classic runner's head nod.

earlier, at about mile 3, i passed a guy that i recognized only after we passed. his name is john. he was the leader of the hood to coast team last year. he wasn't into running yet, maybe he did the whole thing on a dare. his first leg, he ran in khaki cargo shorts and a cotton t-shirt. this morning he was completely decked out with hydration belt and blinking light.

this sport has a way of sucking you in.

my wife keeps saying i look pale. at times i feel week, dizzy, and exhausted. i researched nutrition books and they have some in our library. i also need to get a blood check.