Tony Dorsett a marathoner? In my dreams.
As anybody who has ever come back from an injury knows, some runs are good ones and some are bad ones. On Wednesday, I had one of those bad runs. Running with the Gazelle group, 8 miles, U-Loop, from Barton Springs to University of Texas and back – I could barely manage 8:45 pace and got chicked by the preggo lady … again!
So today (Thursday), I decided I’d be slow by myself. That was the plan, at least. Before I took off from Run-Tex, I strapped on my Sony MP3 player , which was loaded with fast-paced music that always gives me the chills: NFL Films music by Sam Spence, and Trance dance music by DJ Tiesto (A few years aback, a friend of mine shot a video of me running the 2008 Dallas White Rock Marathon with Tiesto music in the background.)
Then I pressed play.
And my legs and lungs went from sappy to springy. (It helped that temps in Austin this morning were in mid 50s!)
Good running music produced these crazy splits:
Mile 1: 8:38 ….. NFL Films stuff. My fave: “The Autumn Wind is a Raider”
Mile 2: 7:33 …… NFL Films…”Drunken Sailor.”
Mile 3: 7:22 ….. Tiesto is playing now, “Adagio for Strings” and “10 Seconds Before Sunrise”
Mile 4: 7:45 ….. I “slow down” this mile to run with a fellow Gazelle who was doing a recovery run after a track workout
Mile 5: 6:55 …. More Tiesto. “Elements of Life”
A few notes: That time on Mile 5 was my first sub 7-minute mile since coming back from my pelvis stress fracture . Lungs were feeling fine. No pain in the pelvis. NO PAIN AT ALL. But last night’s dinner (frozen fish patties and french fries) didn’t agree with me at all, and just as the run was ending I got nauseated and dry heaved. Blek!
(Since I started running again, I’ve forgotten what I can and can’t eat/drink the night before I run. I need to lay off the preservatives, which means no more Lean Cuisines!)
Also, some of you may be asking, “What is NFL Films music?”
Ok. Let me take you back. When I was a kid growing up in the 1970s, there was no ESPN or FOX Sports highlights. To stay on top of my favorite sport, pro football, me and my brother got up on Sunday mornings (before we were dragged off to church by our mother) and watched NFL highlights from the games played a week earlier.
(The NFL Game of the Week was the name of the show and they always showed that same dark, dingy St. Louis Cardinals lockerroom where the players chanting the Lord’s Prayer before the game). These highlights were synced in slow-motion with a symphonic soundtrack to make the action on the field look almost mythical. Doing the voice-over was the late, great John Facenda, who could read a grocery list and make you get the chills.
So sometimes, when I run with NFL Films music playing in my headphones, I go back to my childhood, imagining that I am Tony Dorsett or Walter Payton, galloping around Austin’s Town Lake trail.
Tony Dorsett a marathoner? In my dreams.
As anybody who has ever come back from an injury knows, some runs are good ones and some are bad ones. On Wednesday, I had one of those bad runs. Running with the Gazelle group, 8 miles, U-Loop, from Barton Springs to University of Texas and back – I could barely manage 8:45 pace and got chicked by the preggo lady … again!
So today (Thursday), I decided I’d be slow by myself. That was the plan, at least. Before I took off from Run-Tex, I strapped on my Sony MP3 player , which was loaded with fast-paced music that always gives me the chills: NFL Films music by Sam Spence, and Trance dance music by DJ Tiesto (A few years aback, a friend of mine shot a video of me running the 2008 Dallas White Rock Marathon with Tiesto music in the background.)
Then I pressed play.
And my legs and lungs went from sappy to springy. (It helped that temps in Austin this morning were in mid 50s!)
Good running music produced these crazy splits:
Mile 1: 8:38 ….. NFL Films stuff. My fave: “The Autumn Wind is a Raider”
Mile 2: 7:33 …… NFL Films…”Drunken Sailor.”
Mile 3: 7:22 ….. Tiesto is playing now, “Adagio for Strings” and “10 Seconds Before Sunrise”
Mile 4: 7:45 ….. I “slow down” this mile to run with a fellow Gazelle who was doing a recovery run after a track workout
Mile 5: 6:55 …. More Tiesto. “Elements of Life”
A few notes: That time on Mile 5 was my first sub 7-minute mile since coming back from my pelvis stress fracture . Lungs were feeling fine. No pain in the pelvis. NO PAIN AT ALL. But last night’s dinner (frozen fish patties and french fries) didn’t agree with me at all, and just as the run was ending I got nauseated and dry heaved. Blek!
(Since I started running again, I’ve forgotten what I can and can’t eat/drink the night before I run. I need to lay off the preservatives, which means no more Lean Cuisines!)
Also, some of you may be asking, “What is NFL Films music?”
Ok. Let me take you back. When I was a kid growing up in the 1970s, there was no ESPN or FOX Sports highlights. To stay on top of my favorite sport, pro football, me and my brother got up on Sunday mornings (before we were dragged off to church by our mother) and watched NFL highlights from the games played a week earlier.
(The NFL Game of the Week was the name of the show and they always showed that same dark, dingy St. Louis Cardinals lockerroom where the players chanting the Lord’s Prayer before the game). These highlights were synced in slow-motion with a symphonic soundtrack to make the action on the field look almost mythical. Doing the voice-over was the late, great John Facenda, who could read a grocery list and make you get the chills.
So sometimes, when I run with NFL Films music playing in my headphones, I go back to my childhood, imagining that I am Tony Dorsett or Walter Payton, galloping around Austin’s Town Lake trail.