Late night scrabble/cocoa/chia seeds with roommate, some sleep, not enough sleep, darkness, hemp, blueberries, dawn, layers, barn #1, ponies, sunny/snowy herd antics, fewer layers, barn #2, more layers, Shen!, ginger snaps/hay, home, workity work on whatever it is that I do, etc...
It was after 3pm when I finally began to run away. I only wore two fleece long-sleeved layers! And was quite comfy. It was probably around 20 degrees. Creaky body all day today.
I ambled down the yellow blaze and experienced some, uh, PTSD, since that was where my shin situation fell apart last time. The trail had been broken by now though - my footprints plus a handful of others made for slow but easier running. I hit the road and went up the Maranacook driveway, partially on some adjacent nice/well packed snowmo trails, and then broke my own trail for a little bit to get back up to Suicide Hill. Skirted a few neatly groomed XC ski trails too. (Note to self: go skiing.)
The sun was sinking and I headed straight for it, in love with the huge sky and the muted colors. Muted skyward musings. The ski trails turned away (or did I?) and I completed the ascent with too much crashing and crunching through the iced-overness. A Wry Climate song was winding through my skull along with lots of questions; nothing remotely meditative was occurring, but I was thankful for the time and space to experience time and space, as such.
The trail breaking hadn't lasted long but it was tiring, and when I noticed a strand of my old tracks from the ill-fated recent run-turned-hobble, I eagerly headed for them, and somehow something somewhere was validated. Today's shin forecast was sketchy and constant but it never got bad enough that I felt the need to stop. Meh. I did, however, have to go tend to the equids again, so I finished up after 46 minutes and 3 tiny little miles.
...Except there was just one problem: I was not okay with that being my run for the day. For years, I have been the eternal beginner or perhaps under-achiever or perhaps something else, better left undefined. Actually, I'd change it immediately if it was ever defined, so it doesn't matter. But I digress.
Theory: If you're going to underachieve, you should do it wholeheartedly. Don't hold back!
Post horse chores, my headlamp and I went to the Maranacook driveway. I ran up and down its gentle slope for a while, but I wouldn't call these hill repeats since I didn't exert enough effort for this to be a "workout". It was, however, a fairly focused evening of running on nicely packed snowmo trails. There were street lights and no traffic, and the temps were still probably 20s. There was a faint blueish glow in the east. Other than shin/etc annoyance, it was a comfy and relaxing run, and somehow after three more wildly slow miles, I was...hm....Ready. Alert. Peaceful.
~46 minutes
~3.08 miles
Overcast, low 20s, slight breeze.
Maran trails, yellow blaze to driveway to Suicide. Rolling hills.
Fleece base layer, fleece grid mid layer, fleece hat, light Ariat gloves, fleecey base layer tights, windpants, Smartwool socks and Brooks Cascadia 6.
And...
~41 minutes
~3 miles
Maran driveway repeatedly - on packed snowmobile trails - very nice footing esp since it was night.
Same gear as above, plus a hoody.
Way to get back out :) that's so much harder in winter.
ReplyDeleteEh, I couldn't NOT do it. You know how it is sometimes...!
ReplyDelete