Thursday, April 25, 2013

Rainy Run


Distance: 2.57 miles
Time: 41:43
Pace: 15:52 (told you I was slow!)

On Tuesday, we were going to watch a lacrosse game after work, but we wanted to sneak in a quick run first. It was raining, but it's been doing that a lot lately, so it wasn't a good excuse for skipping our training. It wasn't that cold, and running in the rain was actually kind of pleasant.

Since we were limited on time, we decided to run at Fenner Nature Center, which is literally 5 minutes from our house. I renewed my association with Fenner a few months ago after they lifted their dog ban. (I used to hike and snowshoe there all the time until I got a dog, but then I stopped going because if I am spending time outside I usually want to have Maddy with me.)

Fenner is a great place to run. As I mentioned, it's very conveniently located. It's in a peaceful setting, mostly woods with a little bit of meadow. The trails are a mix of wood chip and dirt, with a few paved loops near the trailhead. If I have one complaint about Fenner, I would say that I wish there were more trails. It's not a good place to get in a long-distance run unless you want to run the same trails multiple times, which can get boring.

Our run was very enjoyable except for one point when we came across some teenagers with a charging Great Dane. David ran into them first since he was ahead, and he quickly got Maddy and I turned around. He thought the dog looked mean and was concerned that she would come after Maddy. This pissed me off a bit. For one thing, I didn't like having to turn around instead of going the way I want to. But I also don't want a few people breaking the rules to result in not being able to bring my dog there anymore. (Leashes are required on all dogs at Fenner.)

 
I felt pretty good during this run even though it was slow. As you can see from the stats at the top of the post, we ended up with about 2.5 miles and it took more than 40 minutes. I usually don't pay too much attention to my speed on trail runs because I know they are going to be a lot slower, but having a lofty goal like the Dopey means I have to change the way I do things. It means that the status quo isn't going to be good enough anymore, because this race is going to be HARD. I have to not only put in my time, but I need to continue to improve. And that means I can't be content to just slog through the woods. I need to be in the best shape possible come January.

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