I drove to the park prepared for a muddy run. The trails were almost completely ice free now, but puddles abound. As I ran though, I was pleasantly surprised to find it was not as bad as I had suspected. To some degree, the dirt was partially frozen making the footing solid. I did find that the hiking trail surface of dirt was giving way beneath the weight of my steps as I ran, almost like ice. I suppose it had heaved up slightly from being saturated and then re-frozen and could not support the impact of running. It was an unusual sensation to have each step feel as though I would break through the turf, though.
I started the run heading uphill. I like to get hills out of the way early in a run rather than finish going up one, but once reaching the top, it seemed to take ten minutes to catch my breath. I’m really a long way from being in running shape – or cycling for that matter, and suspect I’ll be sucking wind for the next several weeks as I regain my ‘Tour Ohio’ level of conditioning. My 59th birthday is approaching and I’ve been questioning whether I will attempt the ‘birthday triathlon’ this year. I could run the 59 minutes by then and likely be ready to ride 59 miles, but I doubt I’ll put the kayak in the water anytime soon and putting all three together may be too much to expect with only three weeks to go. I’ll play it by ear.
I’ve made a couple of trips into the tall grass that borders the rugby field looking for golf balls. The grass grows about hip high in the summer and balls hit in there are basically gone. The weight of the snow pushed it all down though, and revealed last fall’s errant shots. I grabbed 44 balls over three days and now have probably 800 or so. I either need to take up golf and lose some of them or consider renting a storage unit to put them in.
I had some leftover Amish casserole when I got home, but held it to one helping because Jack and I were planning on meeting Jason at ‘The Local Tavern’ for a burger after his rugby practice two hours later. I was still full when my food came; I decided on a bowl of corned beef stew, but couldn’t finish it. I was proud that I didn’t force it down just because I’d paid for it.
I’m looking forward to some sunshine tomorrow and possibly comfortable temperatures for a good outdoor ride. I rode eight centuries in 11 days during Tour Ohio, so a 59-mile ride in three weeks shouldn’t be a big deal…right?
Run duration: 37 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 140 bpm.
Calories Burned: 625.
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