Honking at Runners (please don't), Stretching, & Sunburn

To the person who honked at me today: you may be someone I know, but I have no idea.

As a general rule, if you honk because we know each other, I will probably never figure it out in that moment. It's too hard to make out a person's face in the car, especially tinted windows. I am a spaced-out kind of runner. I'm aware of my surroundings, but not so much auditory awareness. Meaning loud noises are shocking and usually obnoxious. I'm almost always listening to podcasts. Not so loud that I'm unable to hear things around me. But it means there is someone talking in my ear and I'm trying to listen, whether it be Two Gomers Run For Their Lives or one of the many fiction podcasts I subscribe to (Dunesteef, TGMG, Journey Into, Podcastle, Escape Pod, Pseudopod, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, The Roundtable Podcast) which are all really good and entertaining. Helpful distractions while running.

The thing about getting honked at while running, it never has the intended effect.

Unless your intent is to:

a. Scare the person (a "boo" kind of scare) and throw them out of their rhythm
b. Creep the person out (think rubbernecking males and female runner) and make them wonder if they should be worried about getting chased by the creep
c. Warn that you are about to run the person over (if the runner is on the sidewalk, this will still be a "boo" because they don't usually expect any cars to be driving into the sidewalk)

I guess c. is okay if it's true. So if you care, please don't honk at a runner UNLESS you are about to hit them with your car.

I can appreciate a wave. So if you see me running and we know each other, I'll take a wave. I will probably wave back even if I can't figure out who you are.

Off my soapbox.

Since my last post, I have managed to get through a six and an eight miler. The six (right after the "Preparing for Pain" post) turned out to be pretty great. Maybe it helped that I was expecting the worst. I went out slow, and felt good throughout. Praise the Lord for that.

The eight was tougher. It felt pretty good most of the way, which also surprised me. Near the end I struggled a bit. But not even as much as I would have thought. This could mean good things for my running, or it means that I just happened to have a couple of good runs. I don't want to read too much into it, but I was grateful that I felt as good as I did. After, I felt some soreness in my hamstring.

Reminder to self: stretch.

I haven't been stretching much, and I may be getting to that age where I can't get away with it anymore. So I'm going to work on stretching, at the very least, after my jogs.

Both times, the weather was fantastic. Cool, pretty much cloudy, and comfortable.

Today, I did about three and a half. I had read about a 70% chance of rain today. I was expecting another cool, cloudy day.

No. It was HOT. I actually have a sunburn on my face! Of course, I noticed sun shining before I left. Should have applied the sunscreen, but I figured it would cloud over quickly. Nope. Clear, blue skies. It was only seventy-two degrees, supposedly. However, it does say 83% humidity, making the temp feel ten degrees hotter. I got home dripping in sweat.

Unexpectedly difficult and hot three miles. Must be running's way of reminding me not to get too comfortable. 

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