W3 and Hardcore

Windy Wednesday Workout.

Rode my trail bike around Kingwood. Beautiful day, albeit windy. I actually saw "white-caps" on Kingwood Lakes, which is something I have never seen before at this small lake. It was serene cycling along the lake, listening to the wind howl and watching the water crash against the bulk headed shorelines of the lake.

Trail Bike:
11.03 miles
54:45
12.09 mph

Rocky Raccoon trail race is quickly approaching and I'm getting a tiny bit apprehensive. Andrea and I decided to run tonight at East End Park, where the terrain is similar to that at Huntsville State Park. We even started later hoping to run in the dark. My RR 50k run starts at 6am and the RD sent an email making us aware that the 50k'ers need to be prepared to run one hour before sunrise. Today's run was exciting and tons of fun!! We measured out a 3-mile outside perimeter loop (we ran 2.5 times). Our daylight timing was a success. As we started the second loop we ran in complete darkness.

It has been overcast with a few small rain showers most of the afternoon, but 45-minutes into the run it started raining hard. So, there we were running trails, at night, in the dark with a tiny LED hat light, and all this while enduring a significant rain storm. Oh yeah... it fuckin' rocked! I enjoyed myself so much I felt like giggling. I kept thinking to myself.... This is HARDCORE running at it's best. I didn't want to stop, but I'm trying to train smarter and take care of the aching right foot.

The session was mixed with 0.15-mile walk intervals every mile. Cool side story: Shortly after the rain started something caught my eye. I happen to look down, because whatever it was didn't seem right. The object was different and shinny, so I felt the need to stop and look. As my eyes focused in near my feet I saw it was a copperhead snake. He was laying across the trail soaking up the residual heat from the pathway and he scarred the bejesus out of me. We stood there for a second in shock and saw that he had his big arrow-shaped head in the air looking around. And I was about 18-inches away! I don't like snakes whatsoever, so it creeped me out. Andrea and I went around the snake without incident and I was a lot more alert after seeing a snake. Makes the hair on my neck stick up just thinking about it.

Glad to report, no negative dog experiences at East End Park. Today I was armed with a small handheld mase canister. The days of letting aggressive dogs threaten me are OVER! I'm glad I didn't have to use it and find it every sad I have to "arm" myself to run at this BEAUTIFUL park, because lousy pet owners can't control their animals.

Run:
6.15 miles
1:13:49
12:00 pace

Walk:
1.1 miles
19:32
17:45 pace