My Comfort Zone

I've been itchy for a good run the whole week and was ready
after the 9 hrs sleep last night. After 1 cup of water and
listening to "Subaru", I went on the trail.

I didn't want to set a personal record today. In fact,
trying to do that has never given me much pleasure which I
expect from the sport. With music in my head, let's just
run as happy as possible.

The water's receded in the creek and the muddy torrents have
turned into an energetic stream. The trail was quiet and at
one point I saw a big oak tree lying on the side, with thick
branches cut into logs. It must have been brought down by
Thursday's storm. Well. I hope the reserviors got a good refill.

At mile 3, a familiar sensation came from the left
knee--ITBS. After 5 weeks, the devil's back! Didn't I beat
it? Apparently, like many things I did, not entirely ;-) I
stretched but didn't exercise the glutes medius regularly.
Let's not panic and just do as much as we can. OK? It got
more annoying in later miles but not enough to stop me. Now
I had one more reason to be slow.

The second half of the run was pleasant despite of the pain.
I realized, conciously and for the first time, that my
engine was in its comfort zone. My legs felt mechanical and,
each time I felt slightly exhausted from hard pounding, a
deep breath always put me back in the zone. This felt like
swimming, I thought, as I only remember to take a good
breath after enough pain accumulates in my swims. This might
be what they call in the books building the engine,
improving endurance, burning fat instead of sugar, or all of
them. I should remember what it felt like and the pace.

The ITBS didn't get as bad as the first time a month ago and
I only stopped to stretch once. I ran 9.39 miles @9:06/mile.