I was on my cool down mile, headed back home after a killer workout at the park (more on that later) when I had a rather frightening experience. In order to get to and from the park, I have to cross one major road. There is no major intersection at which to cross. There’s only two cross walks with flashing lights. So, when you want to cross, you press a little button at the cross walk. The lights flash and the cars are supposed to yield to pedestrians.
Today, I was heading back home. I pressed the button on the crosswalk, and looked out into the road to my left. A huge garbage truck was baring down on the crosswalk.
“Okay,” I thought, “He’s never going to be able to stop. I’ll just wait here until it passes.” The driver of the garbage truck made a valiant effort. He hit the brakes. With a lot of squeaking and some “thumpety thumping”, the truck finally came to a stop way past the normal stopping line and right up against the crosswalk. Somewhat impressed, I gave a “thank-you” wave to the driver and jogged out into the street. Unfortunately, the lady in the lane next to the garbage truck apparently didn’t see the flashing yellow lights or consider why a garbage truck might have stopped at a crosswalk. Fortunately, I stuck my head out in front of my body and saw her coming just in time. I stopped quickly and darted back a step as she slammed on her brakes with a horrified look on her face. One second earlier and it would have been Honda Civic bumper to left knee at 35 MPH. That would not have been pretty.
It really ruined my mojo after a great workout. The plan was for some threshold training: 2 miles at T pace with 400m jog, 1.5 miles at T pace with 400m jog, 1200 m at T pace. My T pace is currently 7:10 per mile. Here’s how it went:
2 miles: 13:16 (6:38/mile)
1.5 miles: 10:26 (6:57/mile)
0.75 miles: 5:07 (6:40/mile)
Total (including recoveries, warmup and cooldown): 7 miles in 53:04 (7:34/mile).
So, it really was faster than it should have been and I might not have exactly accomplished the true “threshold training” aspect of the workout, but damn it was a nice confidence booster. I’ll probably feel it in the morning so I’m just going to bask in the glow right now.
Whew! Thank goodness you looked!
whoa! so glad you looked!! at first i thought you were going to say you had almost been plowed down by the dumptruck, pancake. nice job once again on the speedwork – that’s now what, 100 awesome days and only 1 off-pace one?
Wow, I just had an experience like that yesterday!! It will definately put you in a different mood.