Time to Run

For the first time in a long time, I got my first run in on the first day of the week. I managed this because, though my boys are still in school, my week break between spring and summer sessions is this week.  Yay!  Aside from a six hour meeting on Friday, and getting the boys off to school for their last days, I have lots of time for chores and more time to run .

Monday was slightly an experiment in running for me.  I’ve cut back my calorie intake significantly because I am really starting to fret upcoming events in September and October.  For one thing, it would be nice to fit back into my preferred running clothes.  And for another thing, I will perform much better carrying around less weight come fall.   The experiment was how I would weather moderately difficult trails. 

The verdict – I believe at the moment my calorie intake is probably too low to take on tough terrain.  Though I only ran ten miles, I had some good climbing.  With that climbing I experienced a great deal of muscle fatigue.  And I also felt light-headed. 

Aside from my experiment of sort – even a bad day out on the trails is a good day.  I spooked three deer while running a heavily wooded single track.  And they spooked the heck out of me. For some reason, my internal reasoning was delayed, and it took me several seconds to register what kind of animal was running across my path.  Later, in the canyon, I ran up on what I thought was one deer.  Lo and behold, I got to catch a glimpse of another and two baby deer.  One of the babies had white spots all over his back, just like Bambi.  I also crossed many snake paths, but did not see one of them.  But I did get to witness a small bird attacking a larger bird in flight.  The larger bird had something in its beak that the little one tried ferociously to get at, to no avail.  But the larger bird did drop some of his bounty and I could see that it probably was some kind of nesting material, shreds of things like paper and straw. 

Notice the deer through the trees:

A stop in the shade going up Meadows Trail:

Miles run:  10.03

I’m looking forward to amping up my runs. 

Stay tuned.