I like mafia movies. Normally I don't like movies with a lot of graphic violence or gratuitious crime, but give me Bobby Deniro and Joe Pesci, maybe Al Pacino and la cosa nostra, and I'm pretty happy. I don't always like how they kill off some of my favorite people unexpectedly (Joe Pesci), or how they tend to kill people suddenly while they are getting into cars to go visit their wives or return to their humble wigmaking businesses. I guess the people making the films are trying to show how killing is part of these people's lives just like driving cars or making high quality wigs. Still, I tend to get on edge as soon as anyone, at any point in the movie, opens a car door. I don't like that kind of stress. Maybe it means I couldn't hack it in the mob. Hell, I know I couldn't hack it in the mob. They'd give me a nickname like Skinny Joey and push me around all the time. I'd have to be crazy and whack people all the time just to get some respect.
I only mention this because I just rented and watched Goodfellas and liked it a lot.
Today I ran the longest, distance and time-wise, that I ever have in a day or in a single run. I started out with all of the guys who showed up for morning practice (coach lets us choose whether to come at 10am or 4pm on Sundays) and ran towards Carlisle, where we've gone for three out of our last four long runs. I really didn't want to go there even though it's a cool place where they have trails and horse stables and stuff so I turned onto a bike path that runs through Lorain County and took it through the arboretum, where there are a number of paths through woods and another access to the bike path. After jogging around there for a while I hooked back up with the bike path. When I'm running, and I believe this is true for a lot of runners, I'm really tuned in to things around me. I was running on the shoulder of one of the roads, going north into a wind with one leg on the ground and one in the air and I noticed a green frog with brownish spots below the airborne leg. I certainly didn't want to step on it, so I pushed off slightly harder with my left foot and sailed past the frog. While in the air, both legs off the ground, I wondered if the frog was scared by my coming upon it, or if it was even alive to be scared. In flight I saw that indeed it was dead, and had only a red spot on the gravel where its right hind leg should have been. I ran on, left-right-left-right for another half a minute, and wondered how long it had taken me to notice and process that frog. I take around 90 strides in a minute (180 foot contacts) and it had taken me about half a stride to know all of that about a frog and change my actions accordingly. So, maybe 1/6 of a second? Pretty cool. I've noticed this a few times before, trying to avoid things that are only a footfall away and seeing thorns on a protruding branch individually as sharp, shiny spikes and angling my shoulders to avoid the prickers. I don't know if my mind is active or very calm when I'm running that it can notice these things to actutely and even react with control over swinging legs and arms. It is tiring, though, running 2 hours with a pretty sharp focus and not really getting a break. I'm looking forward to a nap before dinner.
Aside from the normal whole-body tiredness I get after a long run, I don't feel too tired. I even learned how to rock climb this afternoon, which was exhausting enough by itself. I will sleep well tonight, anyway.