No pain...

Monday, January 10, 2011

I spent the day walking normally and not thinking about any pains in my body. That’s because for the first time in a few months…I didn’t have any. I can hear Kim saying “nice story, grandpaw”, and it is a nice story. Oh sure…I remember how my grandparents used to get together with their old people friends and talk about who had what removed and how much they were aching. I didn’t pay it much mind then…that’s what old people did…but now it’s me and I’m not old…much.

Anyway, I felt good as I drove to the park. The trails were snow covered, but pretty well packed and I thought I’d be able to get in a decent distance run if I could avoid falling on my ass again. My first issue in this kind of weather is parking my little Honda. Since there are certain courses I prefer on a particular day…none of which begin from a parking lot…I’m normally pulling off on the side of the road. Well…someone forgot to notify the Park snow plow about my personal parking locations. When I parked in one of them at the bottom of Oxbow with John, I figured we could push it out after the hike if we got stuck. No John for this run.

Still…I couldn’t let the snow dictate my course, so I parked at the bottom of Oxbow anyway. I started my run along the same course I’d dumped on last week, but found the icy parts were now covered in enough hard packed snow to keep me upright. I reached Clear Creek shortly after and saw that it was icing over. I wondered if it would support me, so I stepped on…and in…to the creek. I only got a little wet and kept going. I looped past the sledding hill and noted that it looked good for sleds…my vehicle of choice…and vowed to return later in the week. By the time I’d circled Squires and was feeling completely fine, I figured I could go beyond the 40-minute mark I’d run the day I fell. I made it back to the car in around 38 minutes, but added a loop that took it up to 47 minutes….and pain-free.

Good news for now. We ate leftover turkey stew for dinner and I had the rest of the peach cobbler slathered in whipped cream for my fruit course. Holly had also made a platter of brownies, but I figured I really didn’t need any of those…yet.

Run duration: 47 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 140 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 800.