Owls, Beaches, and the Trial of Miles

In Once a Runner, the book's protaganist refers to the Trial of Miles, a phrase he uses to basically described his personal history of running during his college career and how through it all no matter what crisis he faced, he ran. I am not currently going through a crisis, but I find myself looking more and more forward to the runs that I do each week as a way to refocus and meditate on what is going on in my crazy little life. Plus, sometimes like last weekend it serves as a nice little sojourn down memory lane. (It also helps that I am getting in killer mileage with 33 miles run last week in total.)

As I have a lot recently, I spent the weekend at my parents' places (old and new) in order to finish off the great family move that has featured them moving from their old house into a brand new shiny one. As such, I decided to vary from my planned long run, which was to be 16 miles this weekend to two shorter runs of around seven miles. This decision proved to be very sensible since this weekend featured some of the coldest of the season. (Once again, this is Popstar's fault.)

For the first run, I ran a loop that I have done since I was a wee little babe that brings me along the town's coast line through the mansion section and back home. It is relatively flat with only two real hills, but a great run nonetheless as I pass many of my old friends' houses and various places where I used to create problems for myself as a teenager. Saturday's version featured extremely cold temperatures, a bastard of a wind, and several aches and pains. Regardless it was nice opportunity no matter what the conditions to zone out and revisit this little run.

For the second run, I mapped a route through the woods near my old and new house to get to the state park nearby where my high school cross country team had its home course and where I spent many summers and winters either running the trails or cross country skiing when the weather cooperated. Also, this run brought me to my favorite part of the world, a little dock that juts out into the marsh in the state park where I feel most at peace. And yes, I am listening to John Denver right now.

The run went off as planned, and it was nice to run up the boardwalk through the pavilion, and into the woods. The best part of the entire run, however, occurred right at the outset while I was on the first trail near my house. As I was approaching a dense section of pines that creates a very dark section of trail, I saw out of the corner of my eye something flying out of no where. Now, I usually see birds and other various creatures, but the shear size of whatever the heck this thing was made me slow down and try to figure out where this thing went. Then as I saw a large gray head looking out from behind a tree craining its neck to get a good look at me, I realized this flying enigma was a good old fashioned owl, something I had never seen in the wild. (Actually after research at home, I saw a Grey Horned Owl, the second largest owl in the owl lineage and the largest of the eared owls.) And then, as soon as the owl realized that I was looking at him, he took off above me finally landing in a classic owl perch in the trees.

I thought about the significance of the owl during the remainder of my run and continued to think about it the remainder of the weekend and up until today. And while I still cannot figure out if it really means anything in terms of the effect the sighting may have on my life, it once again reaffirmed my need to get the hell out of the City someday and settle myself in an area where I can atleast hope to see another owl.

Trial and shizzle

So the last couple of days have been spent picking my first jury. It was a really interesting experience in that I basically spent two consecutive days in a room with complete strangers trying to figure out if they were the right fit for my case or if they were simply lying with the answers to my questions waiting to screw me once the trial started. It was an intensely mentally draining experience in that I essentially tried to read minds while looking interested at the same time. Plus, you cannot let them see you sweat as the saying goes... Is that even a saying... Anyway, after three days of trial, here are some highlights:

1. The 82 year old woman who sat their patiently in silence with no expression on her face until it was her turn to be questioned and then, when it her moment to shine...took us on a uniquely magical voyage involving her professional soccer player nephew, her job at a respected library, and the daughters that abandoned her (apparently) by moving to Colorado and getting married... But you know what, she was the most lucid person in the room at any point over the course of the two days.

2. The cranky old news editor who sat in the front row with a giant scowl the entire time he was in our presence.. or as my friend would say like the face a woman would make if she smelled a fart while she happened to be sucking on a lemon. Anyway, bitch pants sat there and judged the entire time until I asked him if he had any opinions about this great City of ours. His response, "I have many many opinions..." When I asked if he would like to discuss them outside, he informed me that it was his Constitutional Right to express them in the room. (I believe this falls under Amendment 9 or is that Article III) We topped this conversation off with a rousing game of All Lawyers Lie, which usually involves saying something about how all lawyers are liars. (the game stuck to form.)

3. Finally, today, before my case settled (ruining the ending), I had a conversation with the plaintiff's own son who informed me that he goes to the park by near my house where he practices karate and punches the concrete handball wall with different types of blows. He then asked me if I ever ran by the park in the morning, and if I knew what he meant by how he was punching the wall. Needless to say after the case settled, I ran from the court room hoping that he did not ask for my number or wait for me outside the office to follow me home. I will never run by the park again atleast not between the hours of 8 and 12 in the AM...

So that was that, the case settled, but I got to pick a real life no bull shit jury of 7 women and 1 man. Not sure how it would have all worked out if we had taken this thang the distance, but I am sure there will be more down the road. Atleast for now, I can relax, have a beer, get some sleep, and focus on running again.

No Mile Inside

As part of my training for this damn marathon, I have made a private and now public vow that I will not run a single mile of my training inside. Now this is not some source of inane pride (well it kind of is) or because I think I am better than everyone else (I am and way better looking) BUT more because as I have discussed to a point that it makes me numb to repeat it that I HATE THE GYM. Further, this is not to discount those that run indoors, PAF just ran 10 miles on the treadmill the other day mainly because she is a crazy crazy hard core chica, who needs to run a marathon to prove her real hard coreness(sp?). Anyway, the point being is that I don't care how cold it is outside or whether it is raining, snowing, or some crazy wintry mix of fucked up precipitation, I will be outside.

As such, this is exactly what I did yesterday the day after the BLIZZARD of 2006, which for the record, I blame on Popstar, who just started training again for her second marathon and thus doomed us to an awful remainder of the winter. Anyway, I went out and ran six miles while many of my fellow New Yorkers complained about puddles of melting snow or tried not to bust their tailbones on newly formed ice. Similarly, I went out on Saturday before the storm broke and got in a quick 14 miles just to make sure that good Old Mother Nature did not mess with my training schedule. Sure, I took Sunday off, but that was some serious snow, and anyway, I get Sundays off. BLOW ME.

And this is how I will continue to train through hell or high water, outside where it is only me, my music, and your mom... I mean the elements...