This morning started like the last few have, cold and overcast. The last few days it has really dumped buckets of rain over Victoria. I went to school and continued to work on my projects that are due on Wednesday. It was the official last day of classes so the beginning of the Summer Semester or break, depending on how you look at it. On my way out from some seminars in the afternoon, I realized that the sun was out and it was warm. Students had set up volley ball nets and were throwing frisbees. There was music blaring and everyone was in shorts. It was amazing the difference from the cold morning to the springy afternoon. I absolutely loved it.
Well I had to take advantage of the beautiful weather so I planned on running a 'shorty' 9 mile loop around the Mount Doug Gutbuster course + another quarter lap. It had been a few days since I have ran due to my intense schedule. I was amazed, it was as if the entire mountain sprang to life. The wild flowers were blooming, all of the undergrowth had big bright green leaves. I was amazed. Just days ago, my little microcosm of Mount Doug was still in a silent slumber. What an amazing sight to see life literally springing out of every sunny corner on the mountain.
The tragedy is that my running has taken a passive role in my life while I wrapped up these papers. So the run was a little painful and I can notice the first signs of my wimpy milage. I am just dieing to start running 50+ mile weeks again. I crave it all day long. I have lost much of my fitness as a result. I will have to battle hard to get it back, come the middle of next week. That being said, I still had an absolute enjoyable run. Just cruising in the warm sun, as the afternoon sun stretched the cool shadows of the Douglas Firs across my path was inspiring.
Now time to get to my training blog and discuss some observations and lessons learned from this run. I did the full 9 miles in 1:30:26 - slow, I know, but remember I am coming off from three low mileage weeks in a row and am under some serious pressure. Excuses aside, there were some other unique challenges as well. The trails were completely waterlogged. I mean it was wet. Some observations I have made from a day of running in the 'soup slop' is that it really tweaks a lot of your ligaments and stabilizer muscles. I found my legs and muscles consistently having to strain or adjust to keep my balance. Most of trails were small streams. My strategy was not to skirt around the edges of the muck like many people do, but to run right through the middle. This strategy offered several advantages. First I dislike the fact the trails become wider and wider as people circumnavigate soggy areas, and second I found that the shoulders of the trail were quite gummy and slick, whereas the center, where the water was flowing, washed the mud away and left a nice gravely surface (all be it a wet one) for traction. I love a good romp in the mud! the biggest negative aspect of my strategy was that I got hot spots and some blisters starting due to soaked feet. If I had lubed up my feet with non-petroleum jelly or body glide before the run, and had a nylon or polypropylene base sock, I would have had no problems. This will be something I will consider in the future. Overall it was a nice run, and I learned a bit more about running in the slop.
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