Lose Yourself

Yesterday the dogs and I hit the trail for our usual Thursday morning run. It was a chilly 19 degrees and my legs felt a bit heavy from the night before at the gym. I was only planning our usual 2 or 3 miler, so I'm cruising along watching the Brando and Emmylou snuffle every bit of ground they could get their noses on. It was so cold my phone died. It shut down right in the middle of Eminem's "Lose Yourself". So I stopped for a minute and then thought, 'do what the song said, lose yourself'. I had a short day of only 3 patients so I wasn't pressed for time. I know those trails well enough to find my way back to the trailhead at any time, so I lost myself. The rhythm of the run was just so head clearing. I started thinking of a friend of mine, a cycling buddy and a very nice lady. Her mother is dying from brain cancer. I lost my Daddy to brain cancer in 1996 at the fairly young age of 63, and there isn't a day that goes by that I wouldn't give everything I have to spend one more day with him. Everyone's experience is different, but I can really empathize with what my friend and her family are going through right now. I have never met my friend's mother, but I know she raised a fine daughter; a positive person who has a good heart and a ready smile. So I lost myself and meditated on her Mom. I prayed that her passing is easy and she is surrounded by people who she loves and who love her. I prayed that as she soars free of the surly bonds of this earthly existence, she will be greeted with the eternal light and eternal freedom from pain that awaits us all. Before I knew it we had been running for about an hour and a half, maybe five miles or so, and were almost back at the trailhead. I stretched my arms to the wonderfully cold and clear morning sky and hoped that when my friend's mother's race is run and she is in Heaven maybe she will meet my Daddy. Look for him Mrs C. He will be the barrel chested fellow with piercing green eyes, sipping good whiskey, reading a book or working the NY Times crossword puzzle in ink. When you both look down on the ones you loved, who think of you every day, know that you were and will always be loved and remembered, forever.

I Need to Learn to Run Like My Dogs

Today it was a chilly 22 degrees when the pups and I hit the trail for a short run. My ankle is still pretty sore and last night was leg night at the gym, so I was not really feeling it today. But I plodded along anyway; no music today, just trying to concentrate on high cadence and hip extension to limit my time on the ground with each step. Then I got lost in watching the dogs as they ran along. Brando never more than 20 feet away from me, Emmylou romping wildly through the woods and coming back to check on us every now and then. Then it hit me. They don't look any further than the next place their feet are going to land. There is no worry about what comes next on the trail or what comes next in the day. They are present and living in the RIGHT NOW. I am running along with 25 other thoughts going through my mind: work, things to do at home before work, things to do at home after work, BLAH, BLAH, BLAH. So for as long as my "monkey mind" would let me, I just shut out everything and felt every step, in the NOW. It lasted for about a quarter mile but it felt GOOD! I've found a new goal in my running. To run in the NOW. Sometimes a frontal lobe and opposable thumbs simply get in the way of just being and enjoying each moment as it comes.

Running on the Coldest Day of the Year and the Monte Sano 15K Race Report

This past Tuesday, Jan 7, was one of the coldest days we have had in our neck of the woods in about two decades. On a dare, I took the challenge to either ride my bike or run. I chose running so I could take the dogs with me. Here is a couple of pics of our 2 mile, 2 degree, 2 dog trail run.

It was so cold that by the end of the run, I had frozen eyelashes and the dogs had frost all over their muzzles. But it felt SO good to feel and hear the crunch of snow under my feet and watch the dogs running and tumbling and playing in the frigid air.

Up today was the Monte Sano 15K Trail Run at the State Park in Huntsville. It rained all night so I knew it was going to be muddy, sloppy, slick and hilly. It was all of the above. Our "adopted son", Matt and his girlfriend Leanna, were nice enough to drive me down there. My gorgeous other half opted to stay home today. I can't say that I blame her, three hours of standing on the top of a mountain or hanging out in the car waiting on someone to finish a trail race isn't much fun in cool weather. I wore my Salomon Fellraiser shoes and a set of Salomon short gaiters that a running buddy was nice enough to loan to me. Very happy with the performance of both the shoes and the gaiters. My only expectations going into this race were to have fun, finish, enjoy the scenery and learn more about my new sport. We started at 8 am on the dot. The rain had cleared out but it left plenty of wet trail and slick rocks to challenge everyone. The first really cool feature was running thru a rock tunnel at about mile 2. This is a picture showing the outside of the tunnel. It was too dark inside to get a decent shot.

I got into a good groove early, running the flats, easing down some gnarly downhills and running/power walking the hills. There were PLENTY of those. It seemed like 90% of this trail was either up or down. Lots of deep water and MUD,MUD,MUD. The second pic is about 4 miles into the race, this waterfall formed a calf deep creek crossing at it's bottom. 

I kept on  keeping on, listening to my music, enjoying the scenery and just generally having a great day in the woods. My shoes were great! Other runners were slipping and sliding badly in the muddy stretches but those Fellraisers just chewed it up and spit it out. The gaiters were great too. One drawback to having 4x4 type shoes is that they toss rocks and small pieces of wood from underfoot. Some of these will inevitably find their way INTO your shoes. The gaiters stopped that. I DID wind up with sandy mud under the balls of my feet inside my socks, but with all the water and mud, that was to be expected. I stopped at the aid station at mile 5.5 to refill my Camelbak and clean out my shoes. I was moving right along when I misjudged the depth of a mud hole at mile 7 and twisted my right ankle pretty hard. I just kept on running after tightening my shoes. What can you do? 2.4 miles from the finish, out in the middle of the woods. It was painful but not debilitating, so DRIVE ON! I took this picture at the base of a waterfall at about mile 8. I stopped to soak my ankle in the cold water to keep it numb.

Mile 8 to 9 was ROUGH! Lots of climbing and scrambling to the top of the hollow, to make a flat finish back to the stone pavilion start/finish. I had a blast at this event. The course was definitely challenging, made doubly so by the torrential rain the night before the race. The course was well marked and there were volunteers at some of the more obscure turns to make sure we headed in the right direction. My unofficial finish time was 3:06:30. Since I was one of the last to finish, the event crew had already taken down the finish line clock. I will be returning to this trail for the McKay Hollow Madness 25K in March. That will be my last trail race, as triathlon season will be upon us. I have the Dry Creek Trail Half Marathon at the Cheatham Wildlife Mgmt Area, just north of Nashville, in February. But the big event I am trying to get into is the 10 mile Swim the Suck race. It's in October in the Tennessee River Gorge area north of Chattanooga. Only 75 swimmers get to race. I will be on my computer at midnight, February 1 to try to get entered. Then I may have to chance the name of the blog to Turtle Slow Soul Swimmer! I REALLY want to get into this race. When I first starting doing triathlon I could barely swim. I want to train really hard and prove that I can go this distance. But for now, I'm going the distance it takes to stretch out on my couch and prop my right foot up on some pillows. Today was an excellent adventure! Tomorrow go outside and do WHAT MOVES YOU!!

Of Trail Dogs and Runners High

So today I took the dogs to AEDC mountain bike trail for a 5K run. There were a couple of mountain bikers I know already out on the trail so I leashed the dogs instead of letting them run loose. I use a combo belt leash for Brando,the Perfect Trail Dog and attach a long lead to Emmylou, the Wild Thing Puppy. She wears a standard harness and leads the way. Brando stays right at my side as if he is off leash trained. I realized something today. Emmy LOVES to pull and she was attempting to pull 200 lbs of me for 3.1 miles. This wore her out as well as her running loose for 6 miles! She has been tired and very well behaved all day! From day one of running with me, Brando has always been the perfect trail partner, stays right at my side, on leash or off and never runs off. Of course he was 6 years old when he started running with me and is the best behaved dog I have ever had. Emmylou is a work in progress. She started running with us at about 6 months of age. She loves to run over, around, under or through anything in her path when off leash. But today she showed just how smart she is. When I leashed her, she stayed right on the trail, never veering left or right or entangling us all into a heap of arms and legs. So proud of her!
     Almost everyone who runs or who knows someone who runs has heard the term "runners high". It supposedly happens when the endorphins produced by intense exercise causes a feeling of well-being, pain free, effortless movement. It's usually associated with long distance running. Let me preface my thoughts with a bit of my love/hate relationship with running. Anyone who knows me, knows that I do triathlons. Anyone who knows me well knows that running is my least favorite of the 3 disciplines. I am built like a linebacker, not a runner, and I am SLOWWWWW!! But today I realized that for me, the runner's high isn't about distance, speed or form. I literally felt my chest open up, my breathing became effortless and for a brief time I felt as if I could fly. THAT is the runner's high. It might last a minute or an hour; a hundred yards or several miles. But it's THAT feeling that I unconsciously chase every time I lace up and go. For that brief time I feel like a runner and not like a cinder block with arms and legs. It's freedom. It's the freedom that only comes from moving one's body through space and time using this perfectly imperfect human form that we borrow for our brief time on the planet. So everyone bundle up and stay warm through these next few days of intense cold in the South and always do WHAT MOVES YOU!

Testing New Shoes and Enjoying the Windy Woods

So the plan today was to get up early and take the dogs for a short run at AEDC mountain bike trail then join my buddy, Matt, for a longer run at Tims Ford State Park Shoreline Trail later in the day. Sometimes plans get changed. I made it to bed by 10 pm, but when that alarm went off at 6, I slapped snooze and didn't even here it go off the second time. So I guess I needed rest more than I needed an early run. I had a new pair of shoes to test out today, the Salomon Fellraiser. These shoes are designed for muddy, sloppy conditions. I never again want to go through what I went through at the Lookout 10K. I wore Salomon XR Missions. It's advertised as their "door to trail" shoe and that's exactly what it is. It was NOT designed for the wet, muddy conditions in Chattanooga. So enter the Fellraiser. I met up with Matt and we hit the trail at Tims Ford. The first mile is paved and I could definitely tell that these shoes are made for MUD. They are very lightweight and flexible. Just enough padding but there isn't much medial support. I overpronate on my right foot quite a bit and was worried this would be an issue. After we left the pavement and hit the real trail I fell in love with these shoes. They grip everything! Rocks, mud, roots, it was like I had 4x4's on my feet. But they also have good trail feel and never felt clunky. Where they came up a bit short was in keeping stuff out of the shoes. They are a mesh-like material across the top and some small twigs and dirt found their way in. The fit is true to size but they are a bit narrow. I have long skinny feet so it's not an issue, but runners with a wider mid to forefoot might find them too tight. They also cup the heel well. These will be my go to shoe for wet conditions.

It's always fun to be out in the woods running. It's double fun when it's a purely social run with a good friend. Matt and I kept a mellow pace and talked our faces off. We walked when we wanted and ran when we wanted. I truly enjoy this special young man's company. It was especially windy today. I purposely waited until the "hottest" part of this cold winter day to go run. Even the trees couldn't block all the wind. UnderArmour is a gift from the gods! Out in those woods is the best I've felt all week. But a promise is a promise, so tomorrow I take the dogs to AEDC for more shoe testing and to let them run loose in the woods. Watching their enjoyment of the trail never fails to make me smile BIG. Till next time, do what moves YOU!

So I'm sitting here this evening, exhausted from a LONG week at work. Planning on doubling down on my trail running tomorrow. A short one with the dogs in the early morning and a longer one with a running buddy at around noon. I'm entered in the Monte Sano 15K, next Saturday, 1/11/13 and I'm SO undertrained. But I always finish what I start, so I'll get it done. It may be a fugly race, but I won't quit. This entry is short and sweet, I'm off to bed. Welcome to my blog!