1:08 Ben Franklin Pkwy to Boathouse Row (10K) - Antonia Font/Alegria

I decided to go for a long run today-- I realized two miles out that I only had to run one mile more to make a 10k (I was running out and back), so I did.

I listened to an album that was recommended to me by a catalan girl in FNAC in Barcelona-- Antonia Font/Alegria. It was fine, didn't really trip my trigger the way Els Pets does. Actually, by heart wasn't in it anyway. I mostly was running to get my mind off of a problem.

It worked, somewhat. I've been trying to be mindful lately, and I received the suggestion that I concentrate on my breathing. I ran along, thinking, "Breathing in, I move forward. Breathing out I move forward". That didn't work for me. I couldn't stay focused on the moment at all. Finally I hit on the most basic: "breathing in I breathe in. breathing out I breathe out." It sounds laughable, but I can actually concentrate on the moment without disassociating by telling myself that.

I noticed after doing this for a while that I sometimes have trouble synchronizing my breathing with the tension in my abdominal muscles. I actually fight my breath a little bit. I relaxed my abs and relaxed them breathing in, tensed them breathing out. That helped a lot.

I was slow as hell, that I can say. The last time I paid attention to my 10K time, I was 27. I ran a sub-40 10K at the Cherry Blossom in DC. Of course, that was 15 years ago, and it was a race-- I didn't have to stop for traffic lights. Still, how the (marginally) mighty are fallen.