The Elusive Runner's High

I was going to write about the runner's high, and how it's become more elusive for me as I've increased in running prowess, which isn't as impressive as it sounds -- more on that later. But then, what should appear in my email In Box, but another message from my high school alumni office. And just as I was about to delete it without opening it, I read the subject line:

FOREIGNER Concert at Reunion.

Shut. Up.

Never mind that I can't distinguish Foreigner from Journey from Kansas from Asia (wow, never thought I'd be writing that). It kind of makes me wish I wasn't running Bay to Breakers on the other side of the country during my high school reunion. I'm sure I can dig up a lighter somewhere.

Speaking of which, training for Bay to Breakers has finally begun in earnest this week. And it fizzled. I got to work on Tuesday and then realized that I was scheduled to run four hilly miles that day. Of course, there's only a nice headwind on the National Mall, no hills. Nor any hills within four miles of my office. So, I thought I'd do the next best thing: the cross-country program on the treadmill. Bad idea. First, there's no such thing as "downhill" on the treadmill. Everything's just a different degree of uphill. Boo. Hiss. Not pleased. Second, I couldn't figure out what an appropriate pace was for me. It just got worse from there. I made it a measly 2.5 miles. It's when I flail at something like this that I become a little unsure if running a 12K race in San Francisco is that great an idea. Granted, it's not 26.2 miles (I'm not loony enough to go running around for 26.2 miles, like some people I know), but it's my personal Everest. And there was definitely no runners high coming from that workout.

Random: Does anyone else look forward to New York Times writer Gina Kolata's stories as much as I do? If I were on Facebook, I'd start a Gina Kolata fan group if one didn't already exist....