Tuesday Trails, Thursday Speedfest

Tuesday after work, I met with my beloved at the Fells, to continue in our quest for the 8:00/trail mile. He'd brought Copley with, so as we careened around corners, puddles, and along the beaten trail, jumping over root and rock, we also evaded her attempts at herding us closer together. (Good dog:))

This time we took a bit of an oddball route--looping right at a usual left, which took us to Copley's favorite haunt--Sheepfold Dog Park. She trotted around merrily for a bit, but within a few minutes we realized there was one of those dogs there--the ones who play a little rough, play snarl a little too realistically, and in general, terrorize our 75-lb. flower. No matter to us, though, as we headed back into the Fells, and onto the trails.

A longer than expected break happened then, as our dainty lady decided to get her feet wet--figuratively and literally--by running headlong into the water next to the trail, in chase of a golden retriever and his ball. A big deal--as Copley's barely been willing to put a white-spotted toe in the water before! (They grow up so quickly....sigh.)

After a few minutes of gamboling in the cool water, Copley was lured away by Jared and I, eager to get back to our run. A handful of sweaty minutes later, we were back at our cars, and happy with an 8:18 pace. Now to just do it without stopping for one reason or another...

Thursday was our next planned outing. Jared texted me around the middle of the day, though, to let me know he'd been asked by a friend to fill in at a basketball game. Not about to go sprinting around the Fells by myself in the evening, I decided to head to the courts with him. I'd run while he played, and meet him back at the gym afterwards to head home together.

Garmin-clad, and just having watched the end of the first game of hoops, I was, frankly, raring to go. Added to that eagerness was a couple week's worth of missing a long run, and...well, you get the picture. I bolted out the gym door, thinking I'd run to wherever seemed convenient--and easy to find my way back from.

My legs stretched and my stride lengthened, and I soon found myself gasping a brisk pace down Cambridge Street, past bars, restaurants, gas stations, and C-stores. I sped past trees, leaping on and off curbs as needed to pass oblivious walkers (couldn't they see my need? My need for speed?). Within a half mile, I'd decided to RUN--to just run, to see how fast my legs and sadly out of shape lungs would carry me. At a little under a mile, I realized I'd have to run a creative route to even make it a mile straight out from the gym--as the road looped and curved in an assortment of directions. I curved around an oddly-shaped corner, doubling back on a side street until I hit the 1-mile mark--8:00 minutes. Ok, not bad, I thought to myself--this is how to learn the pace we need to hit on the trails.

A quick 30-60 seconds of stretch and shaking of already looser legs, and I was off again, back to the gym, tracking my candy-cane shaped loop in the opposite direction. By the time I arrived, sweaty and panting, I felt great. Looking at the Garmin made me feel even better, as the second mile had been a sleek 7:29/mile. I could barely stop myself from sprinting inside to tell my beloved.

Now to just duplicate it on terrain that's 3x more difficult, for a little over twice as long.

Easy, right?