Tourists

This weekend, I did close to 30 miles. 20 on Saturday and about 7.5 on Sunday. My body is quite fine and I wish that I had given myself the chance to go all the way to 30. I think I'll definitely be in pain during the 24 hour race, but hopefully I'll be able to do a substantial amount of mileage.

Did I mention that I finally got a new fuel belt? I was out running at least a month ago with my old one when it suddenly just completely fell apart on me. It was a very sad day, most of all because I had to abandon the idea of a long run and head home. But now it has been replaced with a new one and it is PINK. Even the water bottles have pink lids. How can I complain when I have a pink fuel belt? And it seems to be less prone to falling apart so I am all set.

I also got a new pair of running shoes last week (Nike of course) and tried out a new flavor of GU - vanilla. I was kind of nervous about it, but it ended up being pretty good. However, with the heat lately, I've been considering switching to the chews/chomps/whatever. They're fruit flavored and perhaps slightly more refreshing...however, I've also been running with Gatorade because I've been too lazy to drag it home from the store. When I have fruity Gatorade, the fruit chomps are overwhelming and I like to stick to the ice cream flavors of GU.

Isn't it amazing that I can talk about GU and chomps and you're still reading my blog?

During my long run on Saturday, I was thinking about several things. But I was running in the heat of day and therefore ran into a lot of tourists (despite designing my run to be in the least tourist-dense but still safe areas) and was plagued by a horrible nemesis: SMOKE. People walking around, smoking their cigars, smoking their cigarettes. Puff, puff, puff. HACK. Whenever I see someone smoking, I want to take their cigar/ette and stamp it out right in front of them. And scold them. Harshly. And perhaps punch them in the face (ok ok we know I'd never do that). Especially young people. Old people, ok, I get it, you didn't know the risks when you started. But young people? Seriously? I don't get how it can seem like a good idea in 90 degree weather to light something on fire, stick it in your mouth, and inhale the grossness that comes out.

Of course, they probably don't see how it could be a good idea to run 20 miles in 90 degree weather....

However, this still does not trump my #1 pet peeve of tourists. They will always, ALWAYS walk 5 abreast on the paths around DC and ALWAYS stare blankly at me as I approach them. And continue to watch me as I stumble over tree roots, dog poo, and cars because they REFUSE TO MOVE OVER. If you were in Spain for the running of the bulls, you'd move over right? I'm going to start wearing bull horns. Maybe then they'll get the picture.