The fog is thick as I park near the Arnold High School track. Since it's my first time here, I don't know whether it'll be locked up like Brunswick Stadium. I'm in luck. The gate is wide open, and there is no one else around at 5:30 AM. This is gonna be great. I love the track.
But then I notice that the surface seems extremely hard for a track. Is it just a very hard rubber here? I reach down to touch it, only to learn that it's asphalt. That's not so wonderful. I like the softer surface of rubberized tracks, and I think it's generally a good thing. This, in spite of the constant turning. I try to mitigate that by reversing direction when no one else is around, and by running in the outside lanes occasionally.
Oh well. A hard surface it will be. After a slow warmup, I'm ready to do something of substance. What's that, you ask? More or less on the spur of the moment, I decide on half a Yasso workout, figuring that five 800's is enough the day after my long run. Besides, 800's has always been my go-to workout. Don't ask me why.
Even though the foggy air is so thick you can cut it with a knife, there is quite a breeze. The temperature - upper 60s - is fine, however. I do the first one in the 3:50s, and it just about kills me. Can I complete four more?
The second is even faster - under 3:50. And so is the third and fourth. Around about this time, I start to think that perhaps I ought to do six instead of five. But I make a deal with myself: if I can do the fifth one under 3:40, I'll call it a day.
And I do manage that sub 3:40. I'm done.
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Today's weather is a carbon-copy of yesterday's - 60's and heavy fog. Why in the world am I going back to the track once again? Because I had been thinking of doing some sort of tempo run later in the week, but later in the week may involve some heavy rain. So today, the day after yesterday, is the day.
There's another reason as well. Yesterday I had found a pretty blue Marlins hat just away from the track near a baseball field. It was so cool, and I wanted to take it and clean it up for myself. But I decided that no, I'll employ the methodology I usually do when I find something I want at a school track: I leave it for a day or two to enable the original owner - probably a kid - a chance to get it themselves. After some period of time, if it's still there, it most likely will not be claimed, so it's mine.
Well for some reason, I truly wanted this hat. It was just sooo neat! (I later learn that it's not a Florida Marlins Hat; it's an Arnold HS Marlins hat.)
The first place I head this morning is over toward the baseball field to retrieve that hat. Alas. It's gone. Either the original owner got it, or someone else did. I'll just have to remain hatless. Except for the ones I have anyway. I'll live. Oh yes. The run.
After a warmup, I start my tempo run. This means at least three consecutive eight-minute miles - quite the challenge for me these days. I (barely) manage to do it. I should say that my Garmin watch measures long for the track, so I am really running slower than that. But for tempo runs, I figure it's close enough.
Can I do another one? I'm pretty tuckered out, but I decide to try. I start this one really slow, but I somehow manage to run faster and faster and just barely make my goal.
So it's Two Tremendous Tempo Trots. And now I'm really done.
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