Halloweekend

went to cedar point for halloweekends. the first pic of gabbo was taken in one of the haunted houses...a pretty good summation of her technique for getting through the night. my brother came in from NYC, because he loves Halloween as much as i do and needed a serious fix.

67 miles for the week. not bad.

new trail

i've been running around Munson park in monroe for over two years. it's boring. it's a flat gravel track that circumnavigates a bunch of tennis courts, soccer fields, etc. i only run there because it's a good distance from the gym and i can get a solid run out to the park and back, then end with a workout.

every now again i would review the wobbly little signpost with the "trail" information on it...just to make sure the track really was 1.75 miles and that it hadn't suddenly shrunk, i guess. I'd see these additional little wiggly bits on the map, but ignored them as either leftovers from a bygone era of Munson or some ambitious young park designer's unfinished dream.

finally, today i just ran off the far end of the gravel path and started jogging uncertainly through some shaggy, rutted grass and across a farmer's field. and lo...i see a park bench and a trailhead sign! two different little patches of single track trail right under my nose the entire time! to anyone who lives outside of SE MI, the notion of being excited by just shy of 3.5 miles of flat trail is likely pretty bizarre. for me, however, this basically more than doubled the previous amount of trail available to me in this town. yes. that's right. more than doubled.

anyway, it was a great run as i was obviously extremely psyched about the new discovery. the pictures above indicate what i should try to NOT be (hiding my head in the sand) and what i SHOULD try to be (a chicken with it's head cut off? what?) it's more an indication that i need to run more "freely," avoid logging the same routes over and over again and allow myself to run off into unfamiliar territory more often.

i think i just wanted some gore up on this blog. halloween coming up and all.

the stache is (on it's way) back.

45.5 miles for the week. i felt super dead legs this week...and generally just wiped out in all aspects of my life. the toxic combination? more aggressive methadone taper, more running without ever having fully recovered from woodstock, fast runs with Ava and a lingering sinus infection/chest cold.

it wasn't all bad though. i had a solid 10 mile run with Gabbo keeping me company on the bike (7:30 pace). it didn't feel bad at all. i also sort of "broke through" the incredible leaden quality of my legs earlier in the week when, on friday, i went for a shitty 6 mile run (dragged myself though it), then hit the gym, then came home and cooked for a bit and inexplicably my legs suddenly started feeling really good. i grabbed Ava's leash and took her to a new trail (to her) and we had a really zippy 7 miler that felt nothing but good. i can't really explain what happened, but i have to assume that running two recovery days on wed and thurs (4 and 5 slow miles, respectively) had everything to do with finally turning things around.

not a great week, but i'm very glad to have powered through it and not rested more than i needed to.

i can't wait to be able to twist that little bastard up with some wax!! it's been too long...

10/4-10/10/10. a solid 10!

62 miles this week. beautiful fall weather. way too much food and beer, but what the hell? going to see dan deacon right now (picking up gabbo first at the airport). this will be concert #3 for old dan and i. good times. wearing dancing shoes, for a change.