Training Log Archive: TomN

Going to hit 85 today so I ran early. Menlo Ave to the little park. Thinking about mapping this park for a summer series event. But I'm afraid there isn't much usable woods in it. I'll have to get out in it and see.

Back from Addie's graduation, with all of Addie's stuff but without Addie. She's going on some grand tour. And my cold is finally gone after almost 3 weeks, but the virus lives on because I gave it to Florence who's now in her second week of it. Yuck.

Still sick. Nothing to do but wait it out.

Setting out water stop and 1 control left off Orange course by mistake (it was shared with an MTBO course that we didn't run today). Not moving too fast. Would like to shake this thing.

The big MTBO trail in the park was mostly dry (kind of surprising) but with some wet patches that made big ruts when a couple of mountain bikers went by. The side trails were very muddy. On balance, probably best to have canceled the MTBO.

Picking up two MTBO controls that I had set out on Wednesday. Of course, they were at the far N and S ends of the park.

Setting out the rest of the controls for Rosaryville tomorrow. It had been raining for about 12 hours, but it had stopped this afternoon, and it was kind of nice in the park, with hardly anyone else there. No mountain bikers, a couple of horseback riders, and a few dog walkers. Crossing the grassy fields was like wading a river -- 2 steps and my legs and shoes were saturated.

Symptoms developed yesterday. I bet I got it flying back from ABQ.

Warm-ups for the Goddard Spring 2-mile. Mei-An agreed to run, so we drove in together, getting there around 11, registered and warmed up. Saw Kim and Jan, among O-friends.

The 83rd running of the Goddard 2-mile "Fun Run" (which I've always thought of as a not-so-fun run). I've had a pretty good training season starting in January, averaging somewhere over 20 miles per week the whole time. But no speed work, other than some hill sessions.

I knew I was not as fast as last year. I predicted 14:20, but I was way off at 14:40. I felt good the first half, and saw a 7:10 split, which was right on. Second mile was slow, kind of questioning the training theory. And I don't see how the second mile could have been 7:30 so I'm also questioning the split timing clock.

Maybe 400+ runners today, and it was sunny and right around 70. Not too bad for running at noon in May.

Setting out controls for Rosaryville. I meant to print maps at work and leave from there (because it's already half-way to the park), but I forgot my computer, so I went back home and printed on my crap printer. Traffic on the Beltway was atrocious today and I had to drive 2.5 times as far. Got 4 bags of controls out, the non-obvious ones, with 5 more bags to be done Saturday or Sunday. A lot of them are easy and close in, but there are a few far-flung MTBO controls left. Plus the water.

Up in a balloon this morning. Piloted by a friend of my sister's, we launched just after sunrise in a field just 5 minutes from where she lives. There were probably 20 other balloons and crews all rolling out, inflating, and sailing away.

Gently lifting off the ground in a basket is a sublime experience, with a strong sense of magic about it. There is total silence at 1000 feet, except for the intermittent blasts of the heater. Coming down in a spiny desert in a 10 mph wind is neither gentle nor sublime, but it had to be done.

We landed in the exact spot where I had just run yesterday morning, and the chase truck arrived a few minutes later. With the balloon still inflated, we had dragged the gondola over to the road. The primary goal in deflating was to keep the balloon off the numerous chollas and lined up in the dirt roadbed. Getting it all stuffed back in the truck was physical work.

I knew the way back, having just been out there, and I went for a run afterwards, into the desert for a second helping.

I ran out into the desert behind my sister's house on the western edge of Albuquerque. The maps show it neatly subdivided into streets and lots, but in reality it's a wasteland crisscrossed by a complex network of ATV tracks, with a serious "Breaking Bad" vibe. There's garbage everywhere. Household stuff, bags of trash, uncountable numbers of old tires. Where did it all come from?

In Albuquerque for a few days. I ran a loop on the Embudito trail. Up the northern canyon rim to the top (finally the sun), then back along the canyon floor. The trail was a little hard to follow, and I backtracked a couple of times. Then there was a little bit of route finding on the way back in the bottom of the canyon itself. This is actually a bushwhack, but well traveled. Very pretty. Lots of desert flowers blooming on account of recent rain, and there was running water in the canyon.

Morning run in the neighborhood. I felt like a lurching bag of cement, but a guy I know who was out walking his dog complimented me on my form.