Monday, October 31, 2016

Running Again

I knew some personal issues affected my running.  I thought the weather was the biggest factor in my lack of desire to run.  However, the weather turned favorable some time ago, including the recent awesome fall colors.  Still, I had not run since the end of July.

Work is partially getting in the way.  I certainly have time to run if I really wanted to, but I have nowhere near as much as I used to.  Today, I don't work until 4 PM, so I dragged myself out for my first run in a long time.  Even getting out there today took some effort.

Part of that was knowing how out of shape I am and will be.  I knew it would be a struggle.  Still, I headed to Jacobsburg before lunch.  I needed somewhere easy.  I decided to park in the main lot, run to Sober's Run and complete that loop clockwise this time.

It was a nice and comfortable day.  I brought a sweat by the end, but I did enjoy the weather.  I headed out and was winded pretty early.  The air was just slightly cold and I'm not used to it.

I chose this route because it was kind of short and has a lot of singletrack.  I suspected some of the leaves would still be popping as well.  I was a bit happy to get on the singletrack, but was kind of bored before that.  I certainly wasn't enjoying running.  I was still struggling to breathe.

Some of the parts along the creek were pretty, but it was kind of hard to enjoy.  I came out on the main path after a bit.  I was right in front of two horses.  I was glad they went the other way.  I would've pushed way too hard if they followed me up the hill.

I decided to run in the reverse direction from usual.  This was because I knew I couldn't make it up the steeper hill.  I also knew this long gradual hill would be a struggle.  I battled up it.  The scenery was pretty, but my running was not.  I just continued to move forward though.

One problem is I don't go this direction much, so I wasn't quite sure how much farther I had to go.  At one point, my burning lungs had just had too much.  I walked uphill for a minute or so.  I recovered quickly though and then ran again.

I actually wasn't far from the top and kind of kicked myself for not pushing through earlier.  I was thrilled to be at the top and running down the powerline.  There was a nice blend of orange, yellow and red on the trees here.  It was pretty sweet.  I wasn't anticipating so much color.

Heading toward the small lot was a tunnel of yellow.  It was even more beautiful on the singletrack across the creek.  My watch had froze and I wanted to fix it, but I was worried I'd encounter the horses again.  My shoelace had been untied since the hill too.

My breathing had been good though ever since coming downhill.  I cruised along on the beautifully colored singletrack.  Eventually, I came to the horses and stopped to let them pass.  It was a good spot.

Running over rocks covered with leaves was tricky.  I managed to do it though.  I was back to the road crossing in no time.  An 18 wheeler came by.  That was bad timing.  I was relieved to get back on the trail and be heading home.

I passed a dog walker after alerting him of my presence.  The dog barked like crazy.  I then had fixed my watch and saw I was over 4 miles.  I came on in and finished up right back at my car.

It was good to sweat and see some scenery.  However, it wasn't much fun actually running.  I just have lost so much interest in running.  Other than running with people, I don't see how I'd get out there much any more.  I do need to try at least a 2 or 3 times a week though.

I'm backpacking on my day off later in the week.  That, I'm enjoying much more.  It is probably the route I'll be going down the road.  I don't see how I could ever do an ultra again.  It is just too much training.

I would like to run again on Friday and maybe travel somewhere knew.  Different trails are about the only running thing that interests me at the moment.  Maybe living in a new location would help with that, but I'd probably just backpack more.