The things we carry

I set a new record for drops today. First, my key popped out of my back pocket. Despite claims to the contrary, my hearing is very accute and so I stopped when I heard the sound of the key hitting the gravel. Lucky. That would have been a disaster. About 2 miles later, a women rode up from behind with my glove, which I had dropped as well. How I missed the sound of that falling I'll never know. And finally, the water bottle popped off my belt probably four times. Each time was a nice excuse to stop for a moment, but after 10 or so miles it gets tough to bend over and pick my stuff up off the trail.

We ran through the Guadalupe downtown trail, which is a surprisingly nice weekend trail. It has a bit of a "San Jose downtown" feeling as we run past junkyards, Alviso, the airport, the homeless encampments on the river, etc. It's quiet, flat, and with no traffic there is little smog. Today I did 16 at about 8:15 to 8:30 pace. It was more of a "long fartlek" since we were constantly yo-yoing between the prescribed slow pace (8:30) and a 7:30 pace, which for some in the group feels more natural (I can hang but it feels quick...). Thank God for GPS watches - whenever things got too quick someone would look at their watch (occasionally prompted by yours truly) and recommend an easier pace. Ian had the route downloaded on his watch and it kept us right no track, very nice feature and, well, I FREAKING WISH I HADN'T LOST MY GARMIN!!! Ahem...

Today was also the day to break the news of my lack of employment to the group. This is not an easy thing for me but it is beoming more natural and quite necessary since we never know where our next job will come from. Maybe I'll start carrying my resume with me on these runs too.

Which beings me back to the title of today's post. The point here is that as I've gotten back to long runs, I've become much more self-contained, preferring to bring gear with me and not sweat the extra poundage. Today's list is a bit shorter than normal as the weather was a bit warmer, but here it is, with a tip of the hat to Tim O'Brien:

1) wicking "muscle shirt" champions brand from target. Possibly my favorite running shirt ever and also one of the cheapest at less than $12 bucks. They need to stick to solids though, black, grey or navy. Their color combos are hideous.
2) Long-sleeve Big Sur Marathon Shirt
3) Sugoi Short Tights. I've switched to short tights for the long runs to help with groin pain
4) Asics socks
5) New Asics 2130s, bought for just $54.99 at Sports Authority
+ A quick not to the Brooks Adrenaline. They have been my favorite shoes in a long time. My last pair was also a favorite. They wear great, they are comfortable, the fit is perfect for me, and stability is apparently just what I need
6) Super Feet Insoles
7) Acrylic gloves, light cheap and warm enough
8) Amphipod belt loaded with
+ 1 ten ounce bottle of H20
+ 1 ten ounce bottle of Accelerade (whatever flavor we have at the moment)
+ 1 five ounce bottle of Hammer Gel (4 ounces gel, 1 ounce water to make it easier to drink. I am SOLD on this method of Gel intake and it is the main reason I will wear a belt at the Napa Marathon for the first time ever - I hate opening gel packs and sucking half the gel, then carrying them for 15 minutes and sucking the rest, then stuffing the sticky empty in my shorts for lack of a convenient trash can. See, I can change!)
9) Descente Ear Wrap. Perfect weight for a day like today, warm enough to keep the chill off, easy to stick in the belt when it warms up
10) Five Salt Stick Salt Tablets
11) 1 Ibuprofen
12) $5 (actually I forgot to carry $$ today, but usually I do)
13) 1 NUUN electrolyte replacement tablet that goes into a 10 ounce bottle when I refill
14) Car Key
15) Nike running hat

No MP3 player today since I was running with a group. No Nike running vest either (I love that thing).

I think that's everything, so I guess dropping stuff once in awhile is forgivable.

Heavy week: 19.5 miles on Saturday, which took over five hours due to a very hilly course; 1 x 11 mile marathon pace at 8 min/mile; Spinning Class Monday; 4.5 track miles, 6 x 1200 at ~5 minutes each Tuesday(that one was tough); and 16 flat today at steady pace. I should've gotten in a swim day or another ride but, well, I didn't.

As my son Graham said to our Italian cousin last night: "Ciao for now!"