My plan for Thursday was a morning hike at the trails surrounding the Mid Michigan Community College, about 25 minutes north of town.
I can’t remember the last time I rode my bike there, but I think it might have been 2020 or 21, and I am certain that I never hiked or lumbered there (walking a busted derailleur out doesn’t count). I have cross-country skied, and snowshoed there, but those are different beasts for a different time of year. So, this was all new to me.
After a mug of coffee and saying goodbye to Wifey, who was taking advantage of her use-it-or lose-it vacation days and leaving for Pennsylvania to visit her dad, I headed out for my non-runners version of running.
The morning air was downright cold for August, hovering right around 48˚ with not a cloud in the sky. Downright cold, yes, but also downright perfect for a sun-loving, big-boned person such as myself.
In my mind I planned to get out for a short lumber with my camera over the weekend, but it never really materialized.
Some of that was due to the fact that I had already hit my weekly mileage goal and lacked motivation, but the main issue was the fact that I was balls deep into the kickoff of the 2024/25 Premier League season (Nerd!). That means early weekend mornings filled with copious amounts of coffee and a big-as-your-head breakfast burrito and then an afternoon spent enjoying adult beverages and listening to music as I catch up on the rest of the European football action. Good times…. good times.
I was recently thinking (I know, I know, I shouldn’t) about this whole lumbering thing I’ve been doing for the past two years, which has sometimes morphed into attempts at trail running, especially recently, and why I have been enjoying it despite not being good at it.
I was eager for a lumber at Deerfield on Thursday morning and was in bed Wednesday night just as the sun set.
Sadly, I was wide awake about 4 hours later and would remain so for hours before briefly falling asleep and dreaming about legs covered in mosquito bites that I squeezed like pimples and orange centipede-like worms came out. Needless to say, I passed on breakfast. And I almost thought about passing on the hike.
I did not.
It was nice to return to the Hall’s Lake Natural Area for a hike in the woods on Tuesday, and it did wonders to improve my mood as well as help get my creative juices flowing despite not seeing much to photograph.
I was also eager to get back to running1 on Wednesday and mapped out a new 5-mile on-the-nose course using Mapmyride.com. Apparently, they don’t discriminate against you if don’t plan on riding a bike.
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 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).
