just do it
i rolled out of bed a bit late this morning and opted for an easy five miles to start the day. nothing real noteworthy happed while out and about on the streets of waukesha in the wee hours of the morning. i am debating showing up at the company fitness center for a 5K turkey trot on sunday, but may opt for a longer run instead. next weekend, i’ll be at my in-laws for thanksgiving (GO LIONS!) and may jump in a 15K that is being held on sunday in De Pere.
back to reality
this morning the sky was clear and the temperatures were lower than yesterday. i geared up and headed out the door to greet the low 30’s and patiently waited for my GPS to sync up with the satellites.
i rolled down to the glacial drumlin trail and headed west, out of town. there was no moonlight this morning, only stars to light the way. at about 2.5 miles, i fumbled with my watch to see how much time had passed and mistakenly reset the device. i kept running along and started the timer from zero once the GPS found itself again.
i estimated a 3.5 mile turnaround point and began heading for home. the area around the trail is rather swampy and i could hear some big splashes in the water as i ran by. i made the turn back into my subdivision, climbed the big hill on commanche and hit the shower.
are you sure it’s november?
i brought gear with me today and headed out for an afternoon constitutional. i opted for my normal route and tacked on an extra mile out and back which took me by north beach. while it was warm – close to 60 degrees – there weren’t any swimmers out in lake michigan. it felt good to work up a sweat with just shorts and a short sleeved shirt. to run comfortably during most of the late fall/winter/early spring you have to wear sometimes multiple layers which ends up feeling stuffy. more than likely, this is one of the last hurrah’s for 2007. (i ended up with 7 miles at just a few ticks slower than 8 minute pace)
MTD – 60
YTD – 1749
Odometer – 26,087
the fox and the hounds
i met up with dana and ryan down at frame park shortly after 6AM. it was still dark and i was a few minutes late because i had to scrape the frost off my windows. we decided to head toward minooka park and zig-zagged our way through town. along the way, we ran by my first house – referred to as the "little yellow house" by my daughters. we entered minooka park on it’s northwest corner and headed down the trails to the back of the park. recently, a monstrous dog walk area was fenced off so dogs could run around without a leash. we ran by these areas and couldn’t believe how much space was fenced off.
we looped around some trails on the south end of minooka park and began heading back in the direction of our cars back in town. wouldn’t you know that some dog owner was letting his dog run around on the trails without a leash? we detoured to avoid the dog and ended running up the sledding hill. turning back onto the trails, we encountered yet another dog that was running unleashed while his owner was huffing along. admittedly, i was very annoyed considering what the park offered for unleashed dogs.
regardless, we headed back into town without incident. once within the city limits, we noticed a fox that had bounded out from behind a house right in front of us. it paused for a moment, sized up the three of us running towards it and turned tail to run away. for me, it was only the second time i’ve seen a fox. neat stuff.
we ended up looping around frame park to add on some extra time and said goodbye to ryan as he headed home. i ended up with 1:48 on my watch but only 12.5 miles recorded on my GPS. after downloading the data to my computer, i took a look at the route that the watch had captured. it looked like it had a tough time syncing to the satellites – likely because i didn’t wait for that to happen before i started the timer. in the end, it was a good run. it helps to have company along to make the miles go by a bit faster.
lunch run
i packed gear and ran at lunch today. i packed a few options for gear but really could have used a vest to block some of the wind. regardless, it was reasonable outside with temps in the mid-40’s. i ended up with just five miles, which is better than having a "zero" for the day.