866 Calories Later...

Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous day in San Francisco. Again! I'm starting to think I've died and gone to Southern California. Or something.

I spent the majority of the day getting food going for the Super Bowl. On the menu:
Grass-fed beef sliders with caramelized onions and Parrano cheese
Slow-cooked BBQ pork shortribs
Homemade guac
7 layer bean dip
Sounds pretty good, doesn't it?

Knowing I was going to pound down enormous amounts of calories during the game was a motivator to get my run in today. I skipped yesterday's run because by the time I got around to it I was feeling sorta crappy—like I got a little micro-cold or something. @LosBee says it is possible to catch a slight little cold, so I'm going to believe that's what I was feeling.

It was pretty warm and very sunny out there. I was glad that the warmth didn't completely crumble me. If I had more opportunities to run in heat at this level and a bit higher, I think I could get past my inability to handle it.

I felt like I was going pretty slow, but I was going steady. I cruised until about mile 2, then started focusing more. By mile 3 I was trying to focus on relaxing—relaxing my shoulders, relaxing my back, relaxing my arms. I even relaxed my face a little, like you do at the end of a yoga class. It was good. I felt like I had more energy and felt less fatigue in my upper body.

I'm not built like a runner. I'm pretty much built like a linebacker that's gone to seed. But I like having upper-body muscle that's ultimately impractical for running—just one of those things. It's how I'm built. Granted, I have quite a bit of non-muscular weight along for the ride, which sucks, but that's why I'm running. At some point I'll hopefully run that extra non-muscle meat off.

Tomorrow's a rest day for me, but it's also GROUNDHOG DAY! (W00T!) Growing up in Chicago, I know Groundhog Day psychologically matters more to folks that are struggling on the frozen tundra. Out here in San Francisco, I can't complain about sunny, 65+° days in January. So to all y'all that wake up to an ice-cold bedroom and have to scrape the ice off your cars every day, hopefully Punxsutawney Phil doesn't see his shadow tomorrow, and winter is over sooner rather than later.

(Oh, BTW: the little gel lift I put in my right shoe seems to be working nicely. I feel really comfortable with it, and so far my hip and other pains seem to have gone completely away. Pretty sweet, huh?)

Photos courtesy of rick and fauxto_digit on Flickr.