天玉之

行於山水，愛在心頭，教書育人，詩意人生
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我這樣參與慶祝夏季奧運會（My Own Summer Olympics ） 3

(2021-08-07 12:17:01) 下一個

When it's over, I want to say: all my life, I was a bride married to amazement. I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms —— Mary Oliver

Nothing is impossible. —— Eliud Kipchoge

Tomorrow morning, I will run the thirdhalf marathon in the third week, and complete the self-made Olympic challenge set for myself. I am excited to get it done. I feel great so far amd enjoy doing it. Yesterday, I watched the Olympic women's Marathon and watched the US runner Molly Seidel won the bronze medal. These ladies ran at a swampy 78 degrees with 82% humidity and finished at 2 hours 27 minutes, very admirable. It is funny that their full marathon finish time is about the same as my half marathon time. Nevertheless, I am proud of my time — I am not 27 years old and I am not a professional athlete : )

A well throughout and detailed preparation is essential to any formidable journey or adventure.

Tomorrow morning, the weather is going to be hot and humid, with humidity 93%! It won't get better towards the end of the day or Monday. Just do it, although I expect that it would be a tough run. I plan to hold a frozen ice bottle to run and use it to cool down my body temperature when necessary. Salt tablets are must haves.

This morning, I went to a Yoga class and had a good stretch all over my body, felt so good afterwards. A yoga class before a big race is a must do and highly recommended.

This is the so called "carb loading" for marathoners. I've learned this from an Olympic marathoner: doing carb loading and hydration not on the night before as most runners do but doing it during previous days.

Eliud Kipchoge from Kenya just finished men's marathon at 2:08:38. He once finished it less than two hours, to show human can do it less then two hours, but that time is not recognized officially since it was assisted with pacers, etc. Still, he is the only one did it.

What struck me was that he ran with such elegance and ease the whole time...it must be in his genes to be a runner. "Nothing is impossible," he likes to say.

One thing I have learned from watching the marathon today is that to put ice over armpit and neck can quickly lower body temperature.

I won't run if the temperature comes down to the "extreme caution" level. We just had torrential rain the whole night. Hopefully, it makes it cooler tomorrow morning.

The place that I am going to run at tomorrow is a 400-acre lake surrounded by 1,000 acres park. It went through three years of renovation and just reopened last week. The $23 millions dollars improvement all came from private donations. There are many generous citizens in my city. It has a 6.2 miles trail, horseback riding trail, golf course, and a marina. I ran on this trail ten years ago and half of the trail was wild and not paved. I am looking forward to explore it for the first time tomorrow. Frankly I it is really not a good idea to run a half marathon on an unfamiliar trail. But, who cares, it is fun to explore new routes and sceneries and the worst case senerio would be: I could get lost or slow down the pace. In either case, it doesn't matter that much. I would find my way back eventually ～

Done! Three half marathons in three consecutive Olympic weekends, about 40 miles total. Yeah! How fun! I had a great time. Thanks for being there with me for this outdoor and spirit adventure! : )

Now I am going to have a ice bath. Tell you more about this journey later...

____________________________________________________________________________________

August 8, 2021, I am going to run the third half marathon today, the last of the three in this challenge.

Last night, a torrential rain storm poured down to the city, adding three four inches of rain, caused flash flood in many places, and many people lost power. Luckily, my house was not affected. I am going to this newly opened park and run a half marathon on a unfamilar trail. I hope the storm didn't affect the road condition too bad since it is newly paved road. All these uncertainties make me worried a little. At the same time, they also make this adventure a little more exciting.

A bowl of raison walnut oatmeal, I have been eating this before each of my races. t works for me. There shouldn't be any new food, new clothes, and any other surprises on the race day. Everything should be tested already.

I put two bags this time, micrawaved it, still, my tummy can only take half of it. I listen to my body, a good habit for an endurance runner.

【聽樹】

文/天玉之

落葉之前，樹各自講述自己的故事

風是一個熱忱的信使

放慢腳步，仔細聽吧

那些彎曲的，枝葉稀少的樹

身上刻著上帝的吻痕

它們的故事閃動著露珠

故事裏自然會有浪漫

樹邊那叢年年盛開的相思紅豆

湖中一對天鵝的朝夕相守

樹上小鳥與樹下情人的惺惺相惜

銀杏葉合二為一蝶羽般的細密

在秋風裏聽樹吧，緊貼著樹幹聽

給每棵樹一個傾訴衷腸的機會

即使未在春天複活, 也了無遺憾了

我想與樹並排站在一起

在春天裏長出一圈新的故事

2017.10.28

【山間小路】

文/天玉之

八月的天氣正好，不冷不熱
沒有了春的忐忑，夏的陣雨
沉澱了的激情，是蝴蝶翅上那抹藍
樹上的果子在春天播下的夢裏
一圈一圈地膨脹著欲望
風似走在山間小路上的少女
心裏揣著秘密，小心翼翼地探尋著
愛情的走向

我在無邊的草地上奔跑
仿佛這樣，就可以跑進你的眼底
跑進山中那灣碧綠的深潭
花枝在風中搖曳你看見
麵色嫣紅的我胸口顫動的汗珠
白雲與藍天
在一片醉蝴蝶的喘息裏
我們看到了天堂的影子

2017.8.29

Go straight to the ice cream shop from the lake —— I have earned it, haven't I? : )

Cold and delicious, low fat too. Today the salted caramel tastes the best, probably because my body yearns for salt. Qodoba is just next door so I bought a grilled chicken burrito, a good balance of protein and carbs. It was huge, I couldn't even finish it.

Post race recovery is very important too. I drink a lot of this in the following two three days. I have also prebooked a facial and a message for the next two days. I take good care of my body and they work hard for me ～

Goodies and must havens for long distance runners:

The highest SPF sun protection for lips that I can find is SPF30. Rencently, I found Hawaii brand has a lip balm with SPF 45, I bought a few right away ：）

2021 Olympic Three Half Marathons Summary & Lessons Learned:

1. Race day temperature affects the speed and performance a lot
2:25:00 cool weather vs 2:45:00 hot humid weather

2. Start early, 6:30am, then don’t need much sun lotion, cut down prep time

3. When the weather is hot, wear a hat instead of a visor, put ice cubes inside the hat, and carrying a frozen water bottle

4. Cool down armpits, neck first, wear a bandanna with a frozen banana, tie over neck

5. Carry a cooler in the car with post race cool drink

6. No sun lotion is “sweat free” when it is very hot. Put a small cloth or tissues in the belt bag
to wipe off sweat from eyes, to avoid “crying” on the road

7. Take ragweed allergy medicine a month before. Avoid t shirt that leaves sweat marks

8. Put an extra hair band, spf lip balm, and a poncho (raining season) in the belt bag

9. Doing it when another race is going on gives me competitive energy.

10. Take a yoga class the day before the race, to get a good stretching.

11. Freeze the water bottles for the water belt and use them to cool down body temperature. They will melt by the time I need to drink it.

12. The goal of this challenge is for heath, fun, and adventure. If it starts to affect health, well being, or not safe, cancel it.

2024 Olympic is in Paris, one of my favorite cities. The Paris Olympic director just said that regular people could also participate in the marathon in next Olympic, after the athletes. Maybe next time, I will run a marathon in Paris, and you will cheer for me. Nothing is impossible ～～

Two songs I often played on my running trail, good night, and sweet dreams ～