Highway Runs

Although I've never experienced it firsthand, I understand that some animosity exists at times between runners and motorists, particularly in big cities. When I read about such conflict, I always think, "Why does this happen? How hard can it be to share the road?" I don't want to sound too much like a stuck-up runner at this point, but apparently, it can be very hard indeed. I know that when I take to the road to do my runs, especially when I'm on the highway with a small shoulder and then a ditch, I do not have the right-of-way. I get that. But really...is it that hard to maybe drift over the center line just a little bit when you see a runner and there's obviously no traffic in the on-coming lane for miles? Or perhaps when you're driving a Hummer, and you notice that a runner is moving farther and farther to the side of the road to the point of almost standing in the ditch, maybe you could allow the runner just an extra foot?

Okay, . Otherwise, the highway run was great yesterday. I love the smells of spring in the air. My allergy medicine must be working because the smell of flowers caused joy and not agony. I ran past fields with freshly tilled dirt, and I can't count the number of people grilling. That might have something to do with the incredible craving I had for a big, juicy homemade cheeseburger with homemade fries and chocolate milk that I had on my run. I realized, though, that I've had that craving before while running. Does anybody else get mid-run food cravings on a regular basis?

The run itself was fine. The weather was perfect. It had just rained, so it wasn't too humid, and the temperature was in the mid to lower 70s. I did 5.23 miles, and although I had a positive split and ultimately went slower than I would have liked had I not been injured three weeks ago, under the circumstances I can be pretty happy. I started having some IT band issues around mile two. I ran through it, though, and my leg must have loosened up because the pain went away. My left leg (opposite my broken toe) was very tight for most of the run, remnants I'm sure of limping around for the past three weeks. Hopefully that will work itself out through training and cross-training. My toe continues to hurt but once again I don't think it affected my run that much.

My per mile time was right around 12:24. Again, this is slower than I would have liked but actually faster than my training plan would have called for at this point. Sunday hopefully I'll be trying around 6-7 miles.