Dark Satanic Hills

(with apologies to William Blake for the deliberate misquote)

Character building, that's what it is. Or maybe just stupidity. Whatever you call it, today was my third day in a row of double digit mileage. Still hot as hell too, and muggy to boot. But look on the bright side - posh health clubs will charge you good money for a cleansing sauna, but here all you have to do is run. Good deal, no?

Anyhow, I was still feeling the fast hills from yesterday so I knew it wasn't going to be a great run, but I managed 5 hilly miles on the trails of Bull Creek and then switched to the road shoes and hit the 10 mile monster road hill loop of Ladera Norte/Far West again. Believe me, it took a lot to convince myself to go back out for the road portion. Needless to say, I was a lot slower than yesterday but finished up just as soaked. The temperature gauge read 85F as I drove home at 9:30pm. And it's only May.

So I'm sitting here tired but too juiced to sleep. I don't want to lie there and stare at the ceiling, so I'll browse blogland for a while, listen to some cool jazz on the jukebox and chill out. Actually, a nightcap sounds like the perfect accompaniment to John Coltrane. I'm probably low on salt too, so a Bloody Mary it is. Come to think of it, there's still a piece of fudge brownie cheesecake in the fridge too. As I'm headed that way I think I'll snag it.

But before I do, here's the positive part of tonight's run. At mile 50 or 75 at Cactus Rose, when folks are hurting, throwing in the towel and not wanting to go back out for another loop, I will remember nights like this. And I will get my lazy ass up, get back out there and make sure I finish the damn race.

And the other positive - I get to eat cheesecake.

Update
Ok, the Bloody Mary did the trick - I'm off to bed.