“Easy” Run Day

Today was another day where I really didn’t feel like getting out there to run. But I knew that I would be happy that I did and it’s also another cool, almost Fall-like day, only we had brilliant sunshine to go with it too. These kinds of days always seem so rare, so it’s wonderful to be able to take advantage of them when they happen.

I decided that I was going to try and run as “easy” as I could, since the last three days have had me doing some intervals, some sprints and some hills. Not that any of that has been too aggressive, but still I think I was due for a bit of a recovery run. I walked the asphalt company road, down the offshoot that leads to the set of trails that I wanted to start with. I usually walk these asphalt parts as a warm-up or cool-down and to save my legs for the trails. But today as I was passing by the basketball court, I happened to glance over and see a bunch of guys playing a game. And wouldn’t you know it but a colleague of mine was one of the players and he was … SHIRTLESS! Trust me, this is not the male specimen that you want to see bouncing around without a shirt on ( I wouldn’t care so much had it been a stranger, but someone I work with and have to see and deal with in professional capacity every day? Yikes!). My immediate reaction was, ‘My eyes! My eyes!’ And I picked it up and had to sprint out of there. By the time I made it to the start of the trail, I was already gasping for breath (as well as gasping in horror).

I took a few seconds to compose myself at the start of the trail and then ran into the woods. I decided to take the “Rookery Trail” which I enjoy and took the fork that turns into the trail that takes me to the “Duck Pond Trail”. I was able to run most of the Rookery part and most of the little forgotten fire road after that. I ran in on the Duck Pond Trail and then started the loop that I did last week that takes me around the two ponds. It was so much more pleasant today than it had been last week. Being cool, but bright, the mosquitoes weren’t really the problem they were then and the ponds did not seem at all stagnant & murky. I guess that day that I ran past them was just stagnant & murky (and humid), which colored my impression of the water I was running past. I even saw a bunch of ducks, noticed that the ponds had lots of lily pads (with flowers!) and I even saw a frog and some dragon flies. Today when I got to the North side of the set of ponds, I took a fork in the trail that brought me down between the two, and over a little wooden bridge. Which was a nice variation from last week’s route. I followed the path back out of the woods and back to the fire road and to the Rookery Trail. I felt that I had much more energy on the return trip today and I was able to run much more. I’m sure the cooler weather was a big factor.

Thankfully, when passing by the basketball court on my way back to the gym, there were no shirtless wonders left to scare me. All-in-all, I did about 3 – 3.5 miles. Probably closer to 3. I have to say that it was a great run that I enjoyed very much, I should always run on the days when I most don’t feel like it, those always seem to end up being the days when I have the best runs. During this run, I made a big effort to run as lightly and easily as I could, and as a result, I feel like I didn’t need to take nearly as many walk breaks as I usually need to. So I think I was successful in making this a relatively easy run.