My Morning Commute

Small feats of Endurance of a Middle Aged Man

As I stepped outside, the temperature was surprisingly warm despite the 5:30 
am hour; the full moon hid behind some high spurious clouds. I hitched up my 
pack and started running...

The other day I was reading of Matt Hart's 100 Mile Ultramarathon in the Tetons, and I had this idea pop into my heard that if he could run a 100 miles (and 40,000 vertical feet), surely I could run to work. Such logic is nonsense of course, but I decided I'd give it a go. On Tuesday I schlepped me a change of clean clothing to work and returned home that evening without my pack or laptop. Tuesday evening I laid out my running stuff, threw in my pack a pair of normal shoes, a minor detail I had overlooked the day before and some water and a couple of cliff bars (the nectar and mojo variety).

5:15 am the alarm went off and I got up, brushed my teeth and got dressed. Off we go. I was surprised how right out of the gate, my lower calf's started aching, this has been occurring at work on my street runs during lunch as well, but never bothers me when I run on trails. I have also noticed that this aching is exacerbated when my legs get tired and I shuffle vs. rolling my heel to toe as I run. I have been chalking it up to the difference in how hard the street is vs. the trails, but it could also be that I need a new pair of shoes. I kept on going and after a couple of miles, the aching had faded and I had settled into a comfortable rhythm of breathing and leg moving. For me its all about pacing, not going too fast or burning out, I suppose its the same for the professionals as well only their pacing is much faster. I also find this is one reason why I don't enjoy formal racing with competitors is that in face of competition, I have hard time pacing myself.

I rarely hike/run/bike with music. Its a moot point to make now since I can't find my i-pod, but I generally enjoy the time to think; I enjoy the rhythm of motion and the surroundings. Long distance road running is a bit different, its fairly boring. And after a while its a matter of keeping the mind busy. Given the early hour the road I was on had little traffic and I started off counting the number of cars that passed me on the left as I ran with the traffic. As a car approached me from behind, the headlights made my shadow lengthen out in front of me and then my shadow rapidly passed me as the car passed. The passing automobiles left me with a distinct savoriness, as I could taste the exhaust as they blew by me. I got to where I could distinguish the the piquant of a bus on diesel from the bouquet of early 1980s Ford Panel van. Newer cars had little emissions and almost no discernible sensation. This contrasted with one of the reasons I love running trails of the lowlands; on the trail the abundance of flora inundates you in an oxygen rich environment. You can almost taste the pure clean oxygen which almost overwhelms you.

Approaching the one hour mark I felt great, I was nearing the top of the hill on Newport way, as I started down in to Bellevue the sky began to lighten. By 2 hours and 15 minutes I was onto Mercer Island. I stopped on "the lid" (the grass covered concrete area that is over the freeway) to take my shoes off and re-tie them a bit looser, and take out the tiny rock from my right shoe that had been bugging my big toe for the last 8 miles. By 2 hours and 45 minutes I was on the I-90 bridge. The sunrise was breaking across the sky, and I began to feel the fatigue set into my legs. Now it became a mental effort to not stop, to not walk up the hill, to not walk for 5 minutes, to just keep putting one foot in front of the other. As I approached the ramp up from the water to the Seattle side, I put my head down and just focused on one foot in front of the other. It was now a matter of endurance and mental stamina more than anything else.

Reaching the top of hill near Pac Med I crossed the freeway and ran down through the International District to arrive at work. 3 hours and 9 minutes 16.16 miles. Time to go to work.

Route :