"There's only one hard and fast rule in running: sometimes you have to run one hard and fast."








Saturday, April 30, 2011

I'm Back, Baby!

Nobody loves me; Everybody hates me. I think I'll eat some worms.

I have no idea where that childhood saying originated, nor what it really means, nor why I thought it was appropriate to put here. So... there. It's that kind of day.

After being seriously ill, I was champing at the bit (and yes, it's "champing," not "chomping" and, while it has nothing to do with today's post, I was irritated yesterday hearing "bartend" as a verb; if you work as a bartender, you "tend bar" not "bartend." The rant endeth.) to get outside and run. I awoke at 4:45 due to the rainstorm and I thought, if I got moving, I could join Matt and Bill out at Afton for their 6 AM run. Then I thought I was probably still contagious and I probably should set my own pace, so I had breakfast and packed my bad weather emergency gear in the car.

I got out to Afton around 7:30 and saw Matt's and Bill's cars, though I never saw them. I headed out in the heavy rain, thinking it'd let up - it didn't - and discovered that I was going downhill very carefully, as water running over mud and leaves made me wary. I spotted 5 deer and 3 turkeys in the rain, but there wasn't much else to see. I did the 16 mile loop in 2:42, about a minute slower than the last time, but it felt much easier and I wasn't walking the hills toward the end this time. When I hit the parking lot, there was no one around. I reloaded my water bottle and headed back out, not seriously thinking of finishing a full second loop.

I slowed a lot. I saw fiddlehead ferns (not rare, but the first I recall seeing) and a weasel; there's always something new to see out there. Finished 23 miles in 4:05, my quads screaming at me... I have some work to do before the Superior 25K!

Added: Sunday, my quads were completely fried, so the illness did take away some strength.

7 comments:

JojaJogger said...

First you bite the heads off, then you suck the guts out, see how they squiggle and squirm....

Just finishing the song for you Steve.

wildknits said...

Nice run in not so nice conditions. See you at Superior!

Glaven Q. Heisenberg said...

It's "chary", not "wary"!

GET IT RIGHT!1!

This factosio brought to you by WORD VERIFICATION, the people who bring you word verifications (when they're not bartending, that is).

SteveQ said...

@G: "wary" comes from the same source as "aware," and "chary" from an old English word meaning "sorrowful." I stnd by my choice.

Jean said...

Saturday was awful weather. Glad to hear you able to run after being sick, and I hope you are feeling a lot better.

Saw lots of new birds today - white-crowned sparrow, palm warbler, swamp sparrow, and the green heron. Nice to see some signs of spring!

Diana said...

Glad you're feeling well enough to correct people's horrible misuse of the word "chomping." I just spent five minutes on OED online just to make sure you're correct. You are. Now I'm thinking about all the times I've probably said it incorrectly. There was probably some guy standing behind wincing as I butchered my mother tongue.

Sounds like a great run. I love seeing all those great signs of spring.

SteveQ said...

@Diana: Way to run the gantlet. That's right - gauntlet is something you wear. English be tricky.