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








Monday, October 31, 2011

I Ran Anyway

There were a multitude of reasons not to run Sunday. I ran anyway. I went out to Afton State Park and ran the 50K course (well, technically I walked 2 miles of it with the watch off and ran 30). This is the farthest I'd run since the Superior 50K last year. The first 15 miles were actually pleasant and easy and I picked up a deer skull on the way - so appropriate for Halloween - and saw "the creature" again; I don't know what it is, but it's black, bushy-tailed and in the weasel family (and not a skunk). The second lap was a slog.

While out there, I came up with some interesting (to me) ideas about training and diet, which I hope to flesh out a bit. Though I thought I was drinking a lot of fluid, I didn't urinate in the 6 1/2 hours I was out there; dehydration leads to swollen fingers for me, but they stayed normal size. I'm not sure what was going on with my fluid balance out there, but maybe it's a "you haven't run long all year" thing.

8 comments:

Diana said...

Did you just carry the skull for the whole run? I hope for your sake that it was clean.
Could your creature be a marten? Their tails are rather bushy.

SteveQ said...

@Diana: I had a pocket just the right size, so it sat there for about 6 miles. It was not clean - when I got home, I shook out the beetles and spider! I thought about it being a pine marten, but I don't think they come this far south.

Glaven Q. Heisenberg said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Glaven Q. Heisenberg said...

Don't run there anymore. That "thing" obviously already has a taste for venison. Next on the menu: Human Flesh.

Which, of course, leads me to the conclusion that it must be one of the Koch brothers (also members of the weasel family).

Ross said...

Glad you were able to run. Nothing cheers me up like a good long run on a nice fall day.

wildknits said...

Missed seeing you on Saturday - could have used your company ;->

Hmmmm... describe the creature in more detail please. Want to see if I can revive those long dormant naturalist skills to help with an identification.

Glad you got out for a run. I had thought about heading out Sunday but the first few steps that morning helped me to decide a rest day wasn't such a bad idea.

Jean said...

That might have been a fisher you saw. They are the largest of the weasel family. Very cool animals!

joyRuN said...

Wait. So you didn't really train for this thing? You just decided to up & run an ultra?

Geez - I can't even decide to up & run 10 miles at this point.