4 is better than 2

4 miles early this morning in Tianemin Square Beijing China. 

I will attempt to recap my experience in China, but words rarely do justice to the magnitude of the experience.  To start, everything I thought I knew about China was wrong, it is not dark, bleak, and a place where the people walk lock-step under the thumb of an overbearing governement.  No doubt, I am sure there are places where that still exists, but Beijing is a world of brilliance, energy and diversity.  I have been to a few places around the world, and the people in China were without a doubt some of the kindest people I have every met.  Always happy to offer a greeting, and always willing to share, and a love of laughter.  Despite not speaking a word of Manderin, we found it possible to communicate quite effectively and the Chinese found great humor in listening to us butcher their language.  China is a country of extremes, exceptional wealth, and poverty on a scale that is unimaginable.  Stunning views and pollution that blocks the sky 24 hours a day.  Constant traffic and movement, yet a feeling of calm and safety.  Not once did we ever feel concerned for our well-being, and we certainly were well of the beaten path, people were just repectful and always kind.

Running in Beijing proved to be a challenge, if you were not out by 5am it was just too hard to get out moving, the traffic made it difficult to navigate.  Due to the demanding travel schedule I was hoping to get three days in while away - goal achieved.  I did the Tianemen run twice, and it was some of the most peaceful runs I have done.  The run this particular morning was to see the flag raising ceremony that takes place every day at sunrise.  Sunrise this day was at 4:45.  I really thought I would have the place to myself, but was shocked to find about 50,000 if my closest Chinese friends there to watch the ceremony - keep in mind, this happens every day!!  The ceremony was pretty amazing, and shows the Chinese are very proud people.  Interestingly enough, I was approached by several people to have my photo taken with them, I guess I was somewhat on an anomoly to them. 

Can we say jet lag - 2 miles with a client this morning and then I spent the rest of the afternoon horizontal.

Short warm-up and then 7 x 4 min.  The goal was to do 8, but I had some stomach distress on the 4th rep and skipped number 5, and jumped back in on the the 6th.  I actually felt very relaxed for the first 4, and even on number 6, but I started to struggle on the last 2, and the hill we finished on in the last rep about did me in.  Overall, I feel good about the workout especially for not having worked out hard to 10 days.  I am looking forward to getting back to normal for the remainder of the week.

Apparently I am still jet-lagged.  I fell asleep at 6:45 and did not  get up until 5:00 the next morning.

Warmed up three miles on the JRT with the goal of running a 3 mile tempo back.  I got a little later start this morning and it was already in the 90's.  I really wanted the workout and decided the heat was just a price I was going to have to pay.  I never really felt good, but my goal was to be under 6 min pace for all three miles.  Total time was 17:45, 5:55 pace.  I will take it considering the heat, but it was far from comfortable.  I will rehyrdrate and head out this evening for a few more.  It was good to run this on JRT because it is about as honest as it can get.  Often times I struggle mentally with doing tempo runs, but I am working on staying more positive about them because I know they can have a lot of value.

am 4 miles easy, felt pretty good.

pm 5 miles up at Jeremy Ranch - a beautiful run, nice and cool -  a nice change.

Ran the first 17 of the des news course with BC . We got out before it was too hot, and had a nice run down the canyon. Bill and I had some faster miles in the middle and by the end my legs were cooked. I will be exceptionally sore from this run, but this was the purpose and I am glad to have done it.