"Come Back Here You Rabbit"

• date: 04/13/05
• time: evening
• weather: 47 ºF, sunny, wind S/SW at 13 mph
• mileage: today-8, week-8, year-127.3
• resting (bpm): 67
• after workout (bpm): 130
• weight: +30

comments:

I’ve been on a food bender. No meal skipped and every dinner gut busting. I may have even thrown in a second breakfast and an afternoon tea here or there. The binge was highlighted by two dinners. The first was an Italian sausage and bell peppers with garlic bread birthday meal for Brother-in-Law. The second, chicken parmagiano over penne pasta capped with rice pudding for dessert. The chicken was undoubtedly prepared with a crispy/crunchy seasoned breadcrumb crust smothered in the holy cheese trio of ricotta, mozzarella and parmagiano-reggiano.

Unfortunately, this spree coincided with four missed days of workouts. So, despite the 127 miles of running since February, I’m back to +30 lbs. of my target marathon weight. I got, “back on that old time is money kick,” today with an 8-miler. Cool and clear meant lots of traffic on the bike path. I drifted off the path for a moment and startled a rabbit feeding on the side. I was going slowly enough to get a long look at him. He scampered a few feet, then held still waiting to see if I would pursue. It reminded me of Bugs Bunny’s ether hampered flight from Mad Scientist and Gossamer.

“Come – back – here – you – ra – bbit.” That’s how this run felt. I wasn’t bothered by the young guns zipping by, but when the two senior citizens built like Patrick Starfish passed me, I was a little more than alarmed. Yeah, yeah, next time it won’t be so easy to pass.