"Goosed" on the "Fool's" Course

First of all, I want to wish everyone running the Fool's 50K tomorrow a safe and fun run! I ventured out this morning and ran one lap of the course and threw on an extra loop of the Boston Run for a nice 18-19ish miles.

I was happy that it was cold this morning since the trail was nice and frozen. There were lots of shoe/boot prints in the frozen mud and tomorrow's cold temps should provide a fast course. I started at Happy Days and eventually made my way over to Ledges and Pine Grove. Nice quiet morning with the sun shining strong. I crossed over to Kendall Lake and was running across the dam when I noticed two canadian geese on the trail ahead of me. I started making noise in an effort to get them to wander over to the side of the trail. One goose cooperated, the other one however wanted to be difficult. It started hissing and spread its wings and started to charge at me! The goose made a lunge at me but missed as I ran by it. I had a couple of chuckles as I started up the hill on the Salt Run Trail.

As I passed by the short-loop connector, my right foot caught a root and I started to fall. I almost caught myself but started down. As I felt the gravel start to embed into my gloved hand, things started to move in slow motion. I realized that I really need to learn how to tuck and roll when I fall. I then relaxed my arms and started to roll onto my right shoulder. That worked and I found myself flat on my back with my waist propped up on my water bottles. The slow-motion mode stopped as I wondered "How did I get here?" I picked myself up and brushed off the dirt and had another laugh to myself...

The rest of the run was uneventful. Nice morning, great route, good hills! It does not get much better than the CVNP on an early saturday morning!

Watching the snow melt,,,

The past couple of weeks has provided a wild mix of weather here in NE Ohio. My training through the week has been pretty spotty, but I have managed to get my long runs in on the weekends. Last weekend I went 10 saturday and 20 sunday. Yesterday I managed 12 miles in the slush and another 20 miles today.

Yesterday was sunny and mid-40s. The snow was literally melting as I ran laps on the Old Hickory Trail. My foot-prints became larger and larger as the snow melted and by the last lap, the trail surface was visible. I decided early on in the run to simply run through any water/slush/snow/whatever since it would be impossible to stay out of it. My feet were cold and wet for most of the day, but it was very very fun to splash around through the muck.

Today's run provided a good mental challenge and victory since I was letting the gray sky and the thought of running another 20 miles around Twinsburg get me down. I realized that I should stop thinking about the entire distance; break it into manageable chunks, just like an ultra! Also, I need to get my attitude adjusted back and be thankful that I am able to run, yet alone be able to run long... I finished the day tired, but with a smile on my face.

Laurel Highlands is coming up fast! With the winter that we have had, I am sure that race day will be hot and humid! But you know what? I am ready to sweat...