Trails

Sunday ended up being a pretty good day. Carol was in New York visiting her sister so when I got up in the morning I was able to do as I wanted. Sounds bad, but normally I try to see what she would like to do before I go off to do as I want. Sunday morning I wanted to get back on the trails. I drove to Bluff Point to run some of the single track trails. The morning weather was cloudy and humid, but cool. I started off on the wide pedestrian trail, but soon veered off to the single track that is in the area between the two wide tracks. This was the only place that I would pass mountain bikers, two, while out for the hour plus that I was in the woods. The trails were in their summertime mode, with vines draped over certain sections of the trail and the growth on the sides of the trail pretty high. The bugs were not bad at all, with them buzzing around my head only a couple of times, mostly when I slowed down to look at a new side trail. After getting through the trail back onto the wide track at the Bluff itself, I headed back toward the railroad tracks looking for the single track that would take me back down to the cove. It took a bit longer than I remember to be able to dive back onto the single track and into the woods. The trail here was a bit wetter and muddier than the earlier trail, but very passable. After traversing this trail to the point that I was almost to the water, I passed two of the young bucks (trail runners/very fast college guys) that were going in the opposite direction. They were yakking it up while running, so I heard them coming before they knew I was there. It was nice to have them behind me and to envelope myself back into the noise of the woods. Going along the trail, heading for the back trail along the water, I came upon a baby stroller. What the hell was a plastic, Greco baby stroller doing in the woods on the single track? I slowed to look around for someone who might have taken their child out to show them something. But no one was around and as I passed by the stroller, I noticed one of the rear wheels had come off. So someone decided to take their child into the woods in a not-for-the-woods stroller, had the wheel come off and decided to leave the stroller there to rot. I made a mental note to come back in the near future on a hike so that I can remove it. It really ticks me off that people come in to enjoy the peace, solitude and the non-urban enviroment that comes with places like the Bluff and they have to ruin it by being selfish. I know that the person or persons had to carry out the child/baby and all their belongings, but at least they could have come back to get the stroller. I guess what really blows my mind is the fact that someone decided to take this stroller off of the wide regular trail onto a single track with all its roots and rocks. Who was thinking here? Anyway, back to my otherwise enjoyable run, I past by the stroller and followed the trail along the water for a bit until the first side trail up the hill away from the water. Up and over the hill toward the other side of the Bluff, hook up onto another trail heading back to the water and down the hill again, back up the hill and headed back to the parking lot. A good run, enjoyable feeling at the end of the run and happy that I know I can get out in the woods for a long run real soon. Looking forward to it.

Three days

Three days! Sunday, Monday and Tuesday have been run days and I have gone 7 miles each day. Actually today I went 7.5 and it was a bit more difficult than the other two days. I did not enjoy the heat at 10:30 this morning. I headed out the door to run to the fitness center at 10:05 and it was starting to warm up quite nicely. Humidity was down which helps me out immensely, but it being the third day and quite warm, it was a difficult run. I ran to the fitness center for my far too infrequent yoga class. Do one hour of yoga and then run home. Running at noontime was really warm and I definitely felt it by the time I was home. But I feel good now and while I think that I will bike tomorrow (it is supposed to be soupy) I do feel good about being able to do all three runs and not feel like crap while out there. So I will look to run Thursday, Friday and Saturday or Sunday go for a longer run. I really need to start cranking up the mileage. I signed up for Bimbler's 50K and StoneCat 50 miler. I also signed up for the Shoreline Biathlon which should give me a good indication of where I stand in fitness. Of course my wife is already complaining that I am over doing it. I told her that I have not even come close to starting to over do it. After all, I have not even made it into the woods yet.

It takes time

So it has been a bit since I posted anything. It has been more because of my inability to mentally get past feeling sorry for myself than anything else. I have been kind of down due to not running in the way that I am wanting to. I believe that I have kicked the Lyme, but for a while I did not think so. Every time I went out for a run, I felt lousy and for want of a better word, weak. It took a bit, but I believe that since I have not run very well for quite a while, when I did start running (or trying to) the weather had changed from what I was acclimated to. Instead of the abnormally cool, wet but not humid weather that I was used to (and liked), it was now humid and hot. I am not used to that. My system is not used to that. Biking has been my saving grace. I am able to get out and enjoy a ride without feeling like I just drained all of my energy. So I will continue to plug away at improving the running, but with having the bike to keep my fitness level up hopefully I can also improve my mindset. It is definitely worth it.