I felt good physically after Monday morning’s lumber/run (runber?), and in a perfect world, I would do the same thing again Tuesday, especially since the mood I was in at 6:00 AM called for intense flogging and punishment for unknown reasons, although I have a feeling that it has something to do with still being alive. But it also could have been gas.
Before I start typing shit that no one, including me, cares about, I am coming clean that I missed my already shortened goal of 25 miles lumbered last week by 5 miles. It was the second failed week in a row.
Or was it?
After I recovered from Thursday’s lumber/run and lawn mowing, I was eager to get back into the woods on Friday morning, especially since the horn-happy UPS dude dropped off some new shoes that I was anxious to break in.
After months of going back and forth between the Speedgoat 51 and the New Balance Fresh Foams2, along with reading and watching shoe reviews, I finally found a running shoe that appears to fit my needs as a shoe to hike and lumber in, but more importantly, are light and supportive enough for my version of trail running. That shoe is the North Face Altamesa 500.
I had a loose plan to do my version of running on Thursday and found myself at the trailhead parking lot and ready to go at 7:45.
After three lumberless days, I was back in the woods early Wednesday morning for a slow but much-needed 5-mile hike. It felt swell. Not great, but swell.
I’m now entering my third day without a lumber. It’s not good, but it’s not bad.
Sunday was spent doing normal Sunday stuff (sans lumber) and included such activities as watching grass grow, making/eating food, drinking beer, flipping through channels looking for some shred of international football to watch (thank you, Scottish Premiership), and having sexy time (not exactly in that order, but sometimes done at the same time).
I was up and in the woods by 7:15 Saturday morning, looking to stomp out 5 miles, hit my 25-mile weekly goal, and get home for breakfast and coffee while watching the USWNT quarter-final game.
That was the plan, until it wasn’t.
Wednesday’s “runber” was a mild success for me (I don’t run), but it came with a painful cost, and that meant skipping a lumber/run altogether on Thursday to concentrate on mowing the lawn and a variety of other tasks about the Cul De Sac Shack that required functioning feet.
Tuesday night was a horrible night’s sleep, and I found myself wide awake at 2 AM and unable to get in the temperature zone: too hot, then too cold, then needing to pee, then falling asleep, then repeating the process until 6 AM when I could finally end the cycle and get out of bed.
Monday’s early morning 5-mile run in the hot and humid woods really zapped my energy, so I knew that on Tuesday, I would need to dial shit back a little bit and lumber.
