Go Tribe.

Monday, May 24, 2010

Cavs? Browns? Sure…I like it when they win, but it’s just basketball and football…and they’re just games.

Baseball…the Tribe…well…they’re the fabric of my life…so to speak. And I’m watching them tonight and wondering…did the 90’s really happen? Like so many Tribe fans, I’d suffered through one of the longest spells of bad baseball in professional sports. I’ve been an avid fan since the 60’s and if you know Cleveland baseball, you know what that means. Yet…I waited patiently…and like so many others…was rewarded by the product John Hart and Dick Jacobs brought to the Jake in 1995 and 1997. My cousin Donnie and I were in Florida for that fateful World Series Game Seven and the Jose Mesa meltdown. What I’m saying here…is we were fans.

My daughter Savannah and I were even sitting in the Jake watching another meltdown on the scoreboard – the game being telecast from Fenway Park in 2007. The Indians succumbed to the Red Sox that day, failing to reach the Series. So close to our dream…and three years later…we’ve traded away two Cy Young pitchers (seriously – how f’d up is the ownership?) and a host of other terrific players and here I am watching…what? Well…I think I’m back in the 60’s, but I’m an Indians fan.

Yeah…I digress…but sometimes you just need to vent a little.

I didn’t pick up any new tubes for the bike yet…not that I would have skipped my run. It was pretty hot and humid again. I’d say probably about the worst of the year to date, but not close to how bad it can get. I’m so lucky to be so close to the Metroparks with summer coming. I mean what a difference it can make to run in the shade on hot, humid days. No matter how hot it gets, it seems that, in the woods, you can still manage.

I had to do another long one because Holly had sabotaged me yesterday. She’d made Gramma Paula chocolate chip cookies with peanuts again and I’d eaten about…well…all of them. I did drink skim milk with them, at least.

So…to run them off I figured I should run…oh…to Columbus?

Anyway, I hit the trails thinking I’d do at least an hour. I decided on my park perimeter run, which is more like 70 minutes. I have done it in 66, but that was under ideal conditions, cool and comfortable, and not on the heels of a one-hour run the previous day. I did want it to be a good effort though, and I took off with that in mind. I hit my first check point about a minute slower than my pr for the course…not too bad with these conditions. I forced myself to keep moving…ignoring the sweat pouring into my eyes from a saturated sweat band until I reached the 43-minute mark. A quick wring-out and I was back on the trail.

I descended back into the valley around Squires Castle and was feeling frisky so I actually picked up the pace. A quick stop at the drinking fountain and then… the final 12 minutes to the car. Those were a long 12 minutes as I discovered what the heat, humidity, and aggressive running had been doing to my body for the last hour. I slowed noticeably, but still made it to the car in 67 minutes – about 30 seconds off my pr for the course.

So…it was a good run…again. Sorry, John. And sorry about that whining about the Indians stuff though I can’t say it won’t happen again. Oh…and they lost to Chicago, 7 to 2. Rebuilding year or some such nonsense…

Run duration: 67 minutes.

Training Heart Rate: 140.

Calories burned during workout: 1140.