I missed a couple absolutely beautiful days of running this weekend and have seem to have slipped from 3-4 days a week to 2 as my blog also seems to indicate. Bad Mikey! It seems every morning I don't run is one of the nicest mornings to have run. This morning I started at Car Quest again. I like starting there I guess because it feels like I am going somewhere for a race. I will say, as the season continues to age, the sunrise also continues to slip later and later. I may have to adjust for that somehow. I can see myself now - running with a headlamp looking like a half crazed miner huffing and puffing along the roads and streets of Madison county and Winterset...
Today I ran from Car Quest out to Cedar Bridge and back. I figured it would be a hilly run, and it was. It was also very dark once I escaped the street lights of town. The shoulders on Cedar Bridge road are narrow, and as I ran, I sort of pondered what I would do if I met a car. I didn't have long to wait. The predawn darkness flickered a few times up ahead as a car approached. I weaseled off to the left and shielded my eyes trying to gauge the width of the shoulder. The car saw me and moved over into its left lane. With it being as dark as it was, I decided to move over to the right side of the road and run with traffic. Good idea. A couple more cars passed me on the road, both coming and going. I managed to keep oncoming traffic in the opposite lane for the rest of my run.
As I approached Cedar Bridge, a car passed me on the gravel leaving me in its dust wake. I just about gagged on the limestone dust. That is one of the nice things about running on pavement...no limestone dust. In the nose and out the mouth went my breathing until the dust had settled. At my turn point, I descended the short approach to the bridge. It loomed before me with its ominous entry drawing me in. I entered the north end of the bridge and thought, "oh god, what if I meet a skunk on the bridge?" That would have royally sucked. And at one point, about midway through, I saw a black shape on the bridge planks. I gave it wide berth, sped up and shot out the south end of the bridge. I think it was just a stain on the floor...but I was taking NO chances.
Now, if you know anything about geography, you will remember rivers usually lie in the lowest part of a valley...at the bottom of a hill. Cedar Creek is no exception. Coming out of the bridge and back on the road, I was at the bottom of the hill. So I downshifted and started up the hill. It seemed to take forever, because once I crested this hill, it seemed another was laying right in front of me. Not a lot of relief heading back into town until I was about a quarter mile or so out. Then I got a couple short reprieves. Check my link to the right for today's run and look at the elevations.
I arrived back at Car Quest and took a cool down lap around the old Clark Industries parking lot. This was a 4.4 mile run today. Total run time: 33:14 (7:32 pace). I'm getting faster...or my endurance is improving and I am walking less. Either way, I like it.
myk
No comments:
Post a Comment