After a relaxing weekend, I found myself back in the woods stomping out a 5+ mile lumber on an early, crisp, sunny autumn morning.
The leaves continue to change and fall, and in the silence of the forest, you can hear the constant sound of acorns hitting the ground. It often sounds as if the squirrels have had enough and are fighting back, hurling nuts at us humans. But I don’t think so.
I got a couple OK shots, but I feel like I’ve been off my game in the photo department. If you’ve come here looking for “not bad” photos to ease the pain of my unsolicited opinions1 and mindless blathering, you have my apologies.
OK, back to the mindless blathering.
Tuesday was a planned 5-mile run, but the weather doofus was wrong, and the morning was filled with rain showers. That’s OK by me, but I felt compelled to make some minor tweaks to my “run.”
With my forays into trail running just over two months old, and this being my first run in the rain, I knew that I would need to take extra caution so as not to hurl my hulking body to the ground by slipping on the wet roots or a rock hidden beneath the fallen leaves.
I mapped out a 4-mile course that stuck mostly to the main woodsy park paths; except for a few sections, they have fewer rocks and roots to keep a lookout for.
There would still be a steep, sandy, water bar-filled climb up to Goshawk Trail and then a steep, sandy, water bar-filled descent down the other side to contend with, but I was still hopeful of keeping my mile times well under 12 minutes.
Sadly, I would be wrong. Now, let me share my excuses.
I totally underestimated how the leaves would fuck with my eyes and the extra care needed to avoid my old ass falling. It was also a kick in the junk when the descents that I can usually make time up on also slowed me down for the same reasons except with way more gravity involved. Along with that, I wore my light rain jacket, and that only made me overheat. I end every run drenched in sweat, yet for some reason, I was worried about water on a 55˚ morning. I’m a moron.
My first and fourth miles were respectable for me (11:31/11:18), but miles two and three put a real stick in my metaphorical spokes and were pretty woeful, coming in just over 13 minutes.
I finished the 4.01 miles in 49:05, a little disappointed but happy to be out in the wet woods, learning from experience and pushing myself physically. I was also happy to burn some calories because after I was done with my stretching and mandatory post-run dry heaving, all I could think about was getting home for coffee and a big ol’ breakfast.2
The rain has ruined my planned outdoor chores for the day, so I’m off to find something to do inside in order to keep any feeling of fitness/perceived manly failures at bay.
Note: Monday’s photos were taken with the Nikon z50. Tuesday’s pics were taken with the old and beat-down Canon s95.
Later.
- You may notice that I almost always tag my posts with “Unsolicited Opinion.” That’s because, like it or not, this blog is MY voice, and after years of having fucked up views and opinions forced on me and biting my tongue, I’m doing it to you. I say whatever the fuck I want here. If you don’t like it, you can just not read it, but all too often, I have no choice but to sit and listen. That tag is my way of saying that I 100% completely recognize that this is NOT a conversation; it’s me spewing what’s in my head, for better or worse, warts and fucking all. Having said that, I hope I can make you laugh now and then or help you waste a few minutes of your workday. Thanks for checking in.
- A giant homemade crispy hash brown, 4 eggs (3 whites, 1 yoke), toast, and Tommy K.