0-dark-thirty

"O-dark-thirty" is a phrase that I heard a while back that typically is used in context of very early morning... The Twinsburg High School Band was on Fox 8 news this morning, meaning that Gina had to be at school at 4:45am! I decided to take advantage of this and started my run this morning at 5am. 10 miles of trails, in the dark, watching the eyes(deer) watching me, listening to the owls call out to each other, and trying not to trip too much on the roots!

It was a great run! I had a mild bout of stomach upset from the cup of tea I drank but a Tums quickly calmed that down. I felt good running and it was nice and quiet in the woods. I attached my smaller headlamp to my waist belt and the extra contrast helped me miss most of the roots. A single headlamp, on your head, will usually wash-out the roots due to lack-of-contrast from the line-of-sight and line-of-illumination being the same. Having another light at a different angle helps to illuminate obstacles better. I just have to pick up my feet enough to avoid them...

Another crazy weekend in store for us. Cross-country meet, football game, basement painting, etc. It will be busy but fun. The leaves are really starting to drop from the trees and

It is dark out!

I will try to recap the past week or so since I have been blog-slacking a bit.... Last friday I used my last vacation day and ran a lap of the Run With Scissors course. I managed to run the correct course! and also managed to shave approx 30 minutes of time off too! I will not run the race at that pace but my estimate of sub-10 hours seems realistic, depending upon the weather/trail conditions. A nice 10 mile follow-up run Sunday went very well and I was able to hold a great pace throughout.

I have been running in the mornings before work and this means that my headlamp is required. My pace is a lot slower in the dark, but I don't have to worry about crowded trails either! An interesting encounter this morning occurred as I exited the woods onto the bike path. There was an elderly couple standing on the bike path looking back towards me. Of course, I turn to look behind me to see what they were looking at! The gentleman stated "That is what we saw in the woods!" They were looking at me! They had seen my headlamp as I ran along the ridge and could not figure out what it was. We had a short walk/talk together and I turned off into the woods again to complete my 8 miles.

Life just keeps getting crazier and crazier this fall. School activities for the girls, home projects, work, etc. are all adding up to make training very challenging. Denise and I are becoming more creative than usual in an attempt to get the miles in. Fortunately, there are only a few short weeks left before Columbus(Denise) and Run With Scissors(me). This is both good and bad: Good because we can take a break, bad because we never feel like we have trained enough!

This is where experience comes to play: Trust the training, have a plan, and be prepared to adjust/adapt when things don't go as planned! Because rarely does a race, or life, go as planned...

Kamikaze groundhog

I am still out here, just not blogging much. The family schedule this fall is crazier than expected, leaving little spare time...

A funny story from yesterday's run: I was running in the Center Valley Park in Twinsburg for a fast 6 miles (fast for me anyways) and as I rounded a corner of the trail, a groundhog was running full-speed straight at me! It took a moment or two for me to realize that indeed, this stupid critter was running at me! I started my attempts at stopping/slowing down/changing direction to avoid this thing when suddenly he darted into his burrow at the edge of the trail, just 3 feet from me! I guess that he thought it better to run to safety toward the threat than away from it... Anyways, I had a good chuckle from this and I am guessing that the groundhog was feeling pretty good about himself also.

I am taking my last vacation day this friday and am going to run one lap of the "Run With Scissors" course again. I should throw on a few extra miles at the end for 30, but we'll see how I feel. I love this fall weather and will try to take advantage of it as long as I can.