Saturday, October 27, 2012
16 miles and what do you get......
Good grief, Lucia must have a sense when I need to get up a little early for a long run because she was up in the middle of the night rolling around protesting over who knows what finally at 6:00 am, fifteen minutes after I was scheduled to get up I got her a juice box and she finally settled in. I on the other hand had to start my day.
Grabbing my running stuff in the dark to try and not disturb the ol' ball and chain. I sneak downstairs have some Nutella on bread and move on out.
Nice group at 7:00am, 6 strong. Within a half mile of the run I already feel like a piece of poop. No energy, sluggish, no focus. I make a decision right before the two mile mark to eat a gel. I always have a couple when I run 10 miles or longer but I have never had one so early. Today I did and within no time I started feeling a lot better. My focus improved, my cadence normalized, and I started talking more to the other runners. This was the main clue that I was back to normal self. Lots of tough hills today most of them will be on the 25k course so the more we do them the better prepared we will be on race day. We meet up with 8:0 o'clock group and we become a centipede of 12 strong. Right up Moses Mountain and right down. we loop around the red yellow trail then we turn around and loop back where we came another massive hill that takes us up the back end of High Rock and the 8:00 o'clock crew is dropped off.
We start back to WillowBrook minus one but plus two, the Ferrittis. A devious duo of fierce speed and passion. Ferretti in Italian means passionate runner, I think anyway. Moses Mt. again up the lil' bastard hill that leads to the trail intersection that gets us to Rockland. The Step Hill is next, A hill that starts out very technical but stretches out to a nice hill where you can power up the second half of it. The Nature Center is our last water stop and then its just 2.5 miles to the finish.
As we wrapped up today's run Myself, the Ferritti's, and Cupcake Bob pulled ahead. Once you cross the last street there is approx. 1.75 miles left and we decided that we had enough trail running for the day. We turned it up, cruising over roots and rocks. Gracefully negotiating through the switchbacks. Finally through the cracks between the trees we see glimpses of the Carousel. We are so close, my lungs are burning, my legs are this weird mixture of jelly and concrete but I burst out from the trees a stumbling, sweaty mess. Tired but elated that after 14 miles of tough trail running I had the ability and more importantly the will to finish strong. A great precursor to what I should be able to do on race day.
Saturday, October 20, 2012
New wizards arrive
In the morning the girls are awoken to a weird buzzing. The silken furs are busily running around the room gathering bits and pieces so they can create a nest for themselves. Silken Furs are very social but they also like a place of their own to eat and rest so any toys left around are being scooped up as used as part of the new nest. Yaya sees one of her favorite toys in the nest and begins to protest. She starts squawking and stomping around. Yaya runs over to Theressa and starts tugging at her and pointing at the nest "Yaya stop it!" Theressa does not like to be awoken early and even this famously happy child will be crabby in the morning. Yaya doesn't stop she keeps tugging and pointing until Theressa looks up and realizes that all of her favorite toys and jewelry have been used as well. "Yaya, we will have to get them a proper place to sleep so we can get our stuff back." Yaya nodded her head in agreement and both girls began their day.
After breakfast the uncles take to the markets to find something that will make a perfect nest for the two silken furs. The citizens of Esser love to see the princesses and it's especially exciting when the uncles make an appearance. Everyone moves aside and greets the girls as the search for the perfect nest. As they move along a merchant shows them a beautiful box that would be perfect for the silken furs. Its big, and bright, with lots of jewels all over it. the girls love it, the uncles buy it and everyone is happy. Everyone except A man in a cloak watching from across the street.
The wizard Quitz, he was called to the castle early on to work with Yaya but he is very quick tempered and started yelling at Yaya. It didn't take long for the king to pick him up and throw him out a window. Quitz vowed revenge from his humiliation. As he passes by the girls he tries to throw a powder on Yaya but Fop tripped over a rock bumping into Quitz and the wizard ended up throwing the powder into his own face. Quitz's face immediately turned a bright blue. Quitz had some blue razzle powder. A blue razzle is a large beast with thick skin that grows about four spiky horns on its snout. Once the horn gets to be about two feet long it falls off and another one begins to grow.These horns have been used by wizards for centuries.
The girls continued on without even knowing that the wizard was running the other way so he can get the anecdote for his blue skin.
"One silken Fur can be a handful/" said the king "but two, this is going to lead to trouble, and when it does I will hold the uncles responsible." "I will see that the girls are being responsible." said the Queen. "Its good for the girls to learn some responsibility." "Now, I want to talk about the Toad Queen. I know that she is going to try something else." She has really lost her mind living all by herself in that swamp." "I fear her ability to talk some of the more hostile tribe of Skeel into becoming aggressive. She is your family so I want you to talk to the other members of your family about getting her out of the swamp and back into proper society." The actions of the Toad Queen really riled up the king. He knew that she was using Yaya as an excuse to go after the Queen. To kidnap the queen would resul in an attempt to gain more riches or possibly more land. This is a babaric tactic that was used when Esser had many tribal leaders instead of one king. There are some including the Toad Queen that would benefit if Esser went back to that system.
As Quitz stumbles away a flock of red ravens flies from the castle into the swamps. The Toad Queen sent the Red Ravens to the castle to spy on the princesses. A flock of red ravens has the ability of remembering everything they see and given some magical feed will lay eggs that when cracked open and looked at by a powerful enough wizard then can read what the Red Ravens witnessed the day before.
All 8 Red Ravens returned and they were fed the necessary feed. Tomorrow they will tell the Toad Queen all she needs to know.
In a pile of broken shells the Toad Queen sees that Quitz has failed to humiliate the princess. "Idiot wizard. I want those princesses out of my way, I want the Queen out of my way. I want the King out of my way! I want to rule all of Esser not just the swamps. Not just the shadows where the the bugs and the lizards hide. i want it all."
Before the royal family visited The Toad Queen she devised a plan to humiliate them so that they would have to vacate the throne. As the ruler of Esser it is very important that the royal family keeps an appearance of strength and dignity. If they do not they could be forced out by a vote of Hippeldeedoo. All the Knights and the families of the knights can vote for Hippeldeedoo if it can be shown that the royal family has not kept up to standards. The Toad Queens plan is to continually embarrass the Royal Family so that she can bring up a vote of Hippeldeedoo.
Her plan to embarrass the family at her house failed, her plan to have Quitz embarrass the princesses failed but the Toad Queen has many more plans to embarrass the royal family.
8 miles or 9.84 moles and we keep on rolling
This morning I had the honor of leading the siac group through 8 miles of trails in and around our illustrious Greenbelt trail system. Everything we covered was part of last years 25K event so most group runs from now until this years 10/25/50K trail festival will be on the trail route.
If you noticed in the title I said 9.84 moles. A mole is unit of measurement created by world famous trail runner Johann Schlitzerberger. He was a Finnish man who lived in the 17th century and is a pioneer of trail running. He came up with the term mole instead of mile because his eyesight and handwriting were so bad from a bad fever as a child that nearly wiped him out. He got the distance of 1 mile equaling 1.23 mole by sheer bad math.... Johann was a moron apparently.
No deer today, a few hikers and a mountain biker who did a nice skid stop. We covered Moses mountain named this because this is where Moses was given the 15 commandments but as Mel Brooks' historical documentary "History of the Word part 1" showed us he dropped one of the tablets so we only have ten. We traveled up the red trail over to the multi use trail where we opened it up for a nice chunk then up and along the slopped path above St. Andrews church. This section is very technical, you have to take your time here. We stopped at La Tourette for a potty stop then cruised along red trail until we reached the Nature Center for our final water spot and then we shot back to the High Rock parking lot. A good run with mixed terrain. As run commander i decided to pick up the pace where the terrain was relatively rock and root free. It's time to step it up the 25K is only 6 weeks away.
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Toad Queen/ continuing of details pt.2
The King stands in front of the Toad Queen his black eyes are staring directly at her as she glares back her mouth hanging wide open as she begins to croak in fright. Before the king can grab her she hops out her window and escapes into the swamp lands.
Yaya and theressa, hiding behind the kings robe, know that when the king gets mad somebody gets in trouble but not this time. The toad Queen escaped her fate for now. Unfortunately for Yaya she will return.
"Ready the chariot and get us out of the swamp ordered the king." Everyone moved as fast as possible. No one liked being around an angry king.
These swamps are barely under the Kings control their is a race of creatures that live in the swamp that used to rule the island. They have the upper body of a human but instead of legs that have long tails like a snake. They are more like Eels though as they are very fast in the water but clumsy on land. These creatures are the Skeel. Normally they are friendly but they are not unified in there beliefs so the king wants to leave as quickly as possible.
As they fly back over the mountains the king looks out towards the sea and thinks back to why he actually started covering his armor in mud. When the king was a young knight the king at that time sent his bravest knights to an nearby island that was used by pirates the kings ships. The ships landed deep on the edge of a thick forest the brave knights made way through the incredibly thick forest until they found where the pirates were hiding out.
The pirates saw the the knights coming forward and the took to hiding in the shadows to ambush the invaders. As brave as the knights were they were also very loud. They believed that they were the toughest, smartest, finest warriors ever so they feared nothing in front of them. The pirates, not wanting to fight let the knights pass by they then circled behind them and ran back to their own ships.
The knights kept moving forward not knowing that they passed right by the pirates. The island was not very big and after a couple of days they realized that no one was on the island. They didn't realize that the pirates escaped and were waiting for the knights to leave.The knights decided to leave but they left the king and one other knight behind to spy on the pirates when they return.As the knights ship leaves the king and his companion settle in they made a camp on the highest part of the hill so they can wait for the pirates to return. Later that night the pirate ship returns they quietly slip into and tie their boat off and return to their hideout. The knights saw the ship come in and they began searching out the pirates. Everytime the knights thought they saw one there was no one there. They ended up walking in circles all night the armor was weighing the knights down where they eventually had to rest and that is when they realized that they were surrounded.
Red eyes stared at the knights. The night turned quiet, the knights were encased in a bubble of silence. Swords made of a red metal, skin a smooth brown, hair red but covered in the same brown that covers their skin. The eyes, a deep red like a burning ember. No one who sees these eyes ever forgets them. This is tribe of very secretive people. They rarely speak to those outside of the tribe. South of Esser is a series of volcanic islands nick named the "Hot Rocks" by Essers knights the natives call them Kor-MooM in their language it means mad mother. These islands seem hostile at first but past the cliffs of volcanic rock and lava filled beaches is a rich, fertile land that the Kormo use to farm and raise livestock. They learned very quickly to not trust newcomers so using a natural sailing ability the Kormo decided that the best way to keep outsiders away was to create a aura of mystery and misery that no ship wants to deal with. Piracy done in a way that usually leaves the victimized ship burning on the beach is the main way that the Kormo keep intruders away.
Tonight though the Kormo and the two knights are stuck staring at each other. yes there are more pirates than knights but even the Kormo know how dangerous a knight from Esser is and the knights know how unpredictable the Kormo can be so everyone decides to sit still. Everyone except of one.
The Kormo do not have a king or Queen they have a series of Generals and Teachers. Every Teacher and General are promoted through a series of ceremonies after they have shown their value. Soomah is the daughter of a General and a Teacher. Soomah means heart of fire. Soomah walks towards the knights lifts up her sword and slices at the future kings neck. The other knight lunged at Soomah knocking the blade out of her hands and saving the future kings life. Both knights spring into battle. Knocking down some Kormo and stealing their weapons the knights attacks the Kormo holding onto to them so that they cannot sneak back into the shadows to attack. The fight was quick and brutal the king sustained serious wounds. His partner slumped over a boulder, his body is filled with spears and a short sword called the "sihtah" translated into poisonous sting. The Kormo who survived disappeared into the shadows. Soomah lays unconscious in front of the knight next to her were three dead Kormo how many disappeared the knight doesn't know.
The knight, Soomah and the other injured Kormo were transported to a cave by another group of pirates that landed on the island to check on why they didn't meet up with Soomah's crew. "why didn't they just kill me" thought the knight. he looks around and sees Soomah resting. "I will kill her" he thinks to himself . "When the time is right I will kill her"
"No one is killing anyone here" The knight looks over at the voice who said that. "You knights of Esser are brave but I thought you were smarter than this." "Confused? That's understandable.Some of us from KorMoom have learned to read minds. But I can tell what you are thinking just by looking at you."
Out of the shadow stepped a man covered in a matte black substance, his red eyes stared right into the knights soul. A Teacher, a very important one by the way everyone is following his commands.
"Knight, you are quite a valuable treasure do you know that?""Soomah tried to kill you yet you lived, not many can say that knight of Esser." As the knight looked over at a still unconscious Soomah then back at the man speaking to him. "My king will not be pleased that you are holding me hostage." "You are not a hostage knight, you are injured. When you are ready you can go. We will give you a boat and some provisions. We are not savages, on the contrary we are more civilized than even the mighty land of Esser!"
Over times the knights wounds begin to heal and he begins to slowly interact with the Kormo. Soomah intrigues him. Her skin is stripped of the coating which he learns is a mixture of sediment form Kor-Moom that acts as a type of armor but works more on a psychological level. Her body has scars from past battles and her facial features give the impression that she is a scowling at you but when she smiles she face lightens up and her true beauty shines though.
The teacher who first spoke to the knight watched and knew that Soomah and the knight were getting close. The teacher knows that this will not end well. Soomah is his daughter all her life she has run from relationships. She is to wild and never be tamed. The knight doesn't know this yet but he will.
"Look Daddy", Theressa is grabbing at the Kings robes "In the sky, it looks like a ball of fire in the sky." The king and queen look over and in the distance they see a bright ball getting closer wih what looks like ribbons flowing back and forth above it.
"You there! Hello there." A booming voice comes from the ball and immediately everyone in the royal chariot knew who it was. Filp, and Fop, the girls uncles and world travelers. They have somehow, somewhere acquired a balloon that looks to be powered by DRAGONS! "Land that balloon!" screamed the royal guard. "Land it before we knock it out of the sky."
"Alright alright were landing." said Fop. "Hello Theressa, hello Yaya." "Hi Uncles" screamed Theressa, Yaya runs to the window and waives furiously to the balloon.
"Guards" said the queen "We are close to the castle. The girls uncles may follow us." "Yes your highness". As the royal chariot and balloon begin to land the King feels the scar from his fight with the Kor-Moom looks at his girls and walks into the castle.
"All bow for the King, all bow for King Orune." The Black Kings birth name is Arustif Orune. The Orune family has a long line of kings in their families history. In Esser a king rules then when his reign is over another king is chosen from the 8 ruling knights of Esser. The 8 knights are called the "points" because the kings crown has 8 points this symbolic reference means that the knights have loyalty to the crown and to Esser above all else. This process of rotating in new Kings has stopped all civil wars in Esser.
"Your majesty!" Filp and Fop call for the King. "Your royalness, most hononarble King." Usually the king enjoys the tales from Filp and Fop but the Toad Queens actions weighs heavy on his mind. What was her plans for the princesses he kept thinking. A quick look to the guards and the the uncles are pushed out the doors locked and the king finally gets some time to himself.
"Uncles!" yelled Theressa "tell me where you got the dragons!" There are no dragons in Esser they are found in the southern mountain range and the far far western regions that are also home to other creatures The huffump is a large, round, smelly, furry creature that hops when it wants to move.
" Technically they are not dragons they are a type of Lizard that glides more than flies. The balloon rises due to the cloud stones that are in it. As long as the lizards are fed some fish heads they will gladly power us where we need to go." "We have gifts for you both. Fop get the girls their gifts please." Fop comes back from the balloon with a stack of gifts starting with very big boxes to very, very small boxes. Toys, clothes, exotic candies littered the room and all that was left were two small boxes. "Inside these boxes are two very special gifts that your mother said you were big enough to have." Theressa runs to the box hoping that inside each box is a silken fur. A silken fur is one of the rarest creature their is.
Yaya is sitting on the ground staring at her silken fur and theressa has climbed on top of her toy chest and is watching her silken fur get used to its new home. Yaya being young doesn't really know what to do so she keeps looking up at her big sister for clues. Silken furs are like a mix between a small monkey and a squirrel with near human like intelligence. They cannot talk but they can communicate through gestures. The uncles and the Queen leave the girls in their rooms as they watch them slowly fade away into a deep sleep as the silken furs nuzzle into the arms of each girl.
Yaya and theressa, hiding behind the kings robe, know that when the king gets mad somebody gets in trouble but not this time. The toad Queen escaped her fate for now. Unfortunately for Yaya she will return.
"Ready the chariot and get us out of the swamp ordered the king." Everyone moved as fast as possible. No one liked being around an angry king.
These swamps are barely under the Kings control their is a race of creatures that live in the swamp that used to rule the island. They have the upper body of a human but instead of legs that have long tails like a snake. They are more like Eels though as they are very fast in the water but clumsy on land. These creatures are the Skeel. Normally they are friendly but they are not unified in there beliefs so the king wants to leave as quickly as possible.
As they fly back over the mountains the king looks out towards the sea and thinks back to why he actually started covering his armor in mud. When the king was a young knight the king at that time sent his bravest knights to an nearby island that was used by pirates the kings ships. The ships landed deep on the edge of a thick forest the brave knights made way through the incredibly thick forest until they found where the pirates were hiding out.
The pirates saw the the knights coming forward and the took to hiding in the shadows to ambush the invaders. As brave as the knights were they were also very loud. They believed that they were the toughest, smartest, finest warriors ever so they feared nothing in front of them. The pirates, not wanting to fight let the knights pass by they then circled behind them and ran back to their own ships.
The knights kept moving forward not knowing that they passed right by the pirates. The island was not very big and after a couple of days they realized that no one was on the island. They didn't realize that the pirates escaped and were waiting for the knights to leave.The knights decided to leave but they left the king and one other knight behind to spy on the pirates when they return.As the knights ship leaves the king and his companion settle in they made a camp on the highest part of the hill so they can wait for the pirates to return. Later that night the pirate ship returns they quietly slip into and tie their boat off and return to their hideout. The knights saw the ship come in and they began searching out the pirates. Everytime the knights thought they saw one there was no one there. They ended up walking in circles all night the armor was weighing the knights down where they eventually had to rest and that is when they realized that they were surrounded.
Red eyes stared at the knights. The night turned quiet, the knights were encased in a bubble of silence. Swords made of a red metal, skin a smooth brown, hair red but covered in the same brown that covers their skin. The eyes, a deep red like a burning ember. No one who sees these eyes ever forgets them. This is tribe of very secretive people. They rarely speak to those outside of the tribe. South of Esser is a series of volcanic islands nick named the "Hot Rocks" by Essers knights the natives call them Kor-MooM in their language it means mad mother. These islands seem hostile at first but past the cliffs of volcanic rock and lava filled beaches is a rich, fertile land that the Kormo use to farm and raise livestock. They learned very quickly to not trust newcomers so using a natural sailing ability the Kormo decided that the best way to keep outsiders away was to create a aura of mystery and misery that no ship wants to deal with. Piracy done in a way that usually leaves the victimized ship burning on the beach is the main way that the Kormo keep intruders away.
Tonight though the Kormo and the two knights are stuck staring at each other. yes there are more pirates than knights but even the Kormo know how dangerous a knight from Esser is and the knights know how unpredictable the Kormo can be so everyone decides to sit still. Everyone except of one.
The Kormo do not have a king or Queen they have a series of Generals and Teachers. Every Teacher and General are promoted through a series of ceremonies after they have shown their value. Soomah is the daughter of a General and a Teacher. Soomah means heart of fire. Soomah walks towards the knights lifts up her sword and slices at the future kings neck. The other knight lunged at Soomah knocking the blade out of her hands and saving the future kings life. Both knights spring into battle. Knocking down some Kormo and stealing their weapons the knights attacks the Kormo holding onto to them so that they cannot sneak back into the shadows to attack. The fight was quick and brutal the king sustained serious wounds. His partner slumped over a boulder, his body is filled with spears and a short sword called the "sihtah" translated into poisonous sting. The Kormo who survived disappeared into the shadows. Soomah lays unconscious in front of the knight next to her were three dead Kormo how many disappeared the knight doesn't know.
The knight, Soomah and the other injured Kormo were transported to a cave by another group of pirates that landed on the island to check on why they didn't meet up with Soomah's crew. "why didn't they just kill me" thought the knight. he looks around and sees Soomah resting. "I will kill her" he thinks to himself . "When the time is right I will kill her"
"No one is killing anyone here" The knight looks over at the voice who said that. "You knights of Esser are brave but I thought you were smarter than this." "Confused? That's understandable.Some of us from KorMoom have learned to read minds. But I can tell what you are thinking just by looking at you."
Out of the shadow stepped a man covered in a matte black substance, his red eyes stared right into the knights soul. A Teacher, a very important one by the way everyone is following his commands.
"Knight, you are quite a valuable treasure do you know that?""Soomah tried to kill you yet you lived, not many can say that knight of Esser." As the knight looked over at a still unconscious Soomah then back at the man speaking to him. "My king will not be pleased that you are holding me hostage." "You are not a hostage knight, you are injured. When you are ready you can go. We will give you a boat and some provisions. We are not savages, on the contrary we are more civilized than even the mighty land of Esser!"
Over times the knights wounds begin to heal and he begins to slowly interact with the Kormo. Soomah intrigues him. Her skin is stripped of the coating which he learns is a mixture of sediment form Kor-Moom that acts as a type of armor but works more on a psychological level. Her body has scars from past battles and her facial features give the impression that she is a scowling at you but when she smiles she face lightens up and her true beauty shines though.
The teacher who first spoke to the knight watched and knew that Soomah and the knight were getting close. The teacher knows that this will not end well. Soomah is his daughter all her life she has run from relationships. She is to wild and never be tamed. The knight doesn't know this yet but he will.
"Look Daddy", Theressa is grabbing at the Kings robes "In the sky, it looks like a ball of fire in the sky." The king and queen look over and in the distance they see a bright ball getting closer wih what looks like ribbons flowing back and forth above it.
"You there! Hello there." A booming voice comes from the ball and immediately everyone in the royal chariot knew who it was. Filp, and Fop, the girls uncles and world travelers. They have somehow, somewhere acquired a balloon that looks to be powered by DRAGONS! "Land that balloon!" screamed the royal guard. "Land it before we knock it out of the sky."
"Alright alright were landing." said Fop. "Hello Theressa, hello Yaya." "Hi Uncles" screamed Theressa, Yaya runs to the window and waives furiously to the balloon.
"Guards" said the queen "We are close to the castle. The girls uncles may follow us." "Yes your highness". As the royal chariot and balloon begin to land the King feels the scar from his fight with the Kor-Moom looks at his girls and walks into the castle.
"All bow for the King, all bow for King Orune." The Black Kings birth name is Arustif Orune. The Orune family has a long line of kings in their families history. In Esser a king rules then when his reign is over another king is chosen from the 8 ruling knights of Esser. The 8 knights are called the "points" because the kings crown has 8 points this symbolic reference means that the knights have loyalty to the crown and to Esser above all else. This process of rotating in new Kings has stopped all civil wars in Esser.
"Your majesty!" Filp and Fop call for the King. "Your royalness, most hononarble King." Usually the king enjoys the tales from Filp and Fop but the Toad Queens actions weighs heavy on his mind. What was her plans for the princesses he kept thinking. A quick look to the guards and the the uncles are pushed out the doors locked and the king finally gets some time to himself.
"Uncles!" yelled Theressa "tell me where you got the dragons!" There are no dragons in Esser they are found in the southern mountain range and the far far western regions that are also home to other creatures The huffump is a large, round, smelly, furry creature that hops when it wants to move.
" Technically they are not dragons they are a type of Lizard that glides more than flies. The balloon rises due to the cloud stones that are in it. As long as the lizards are fed some fish heads they will gladly power us where we need to go." "We have gifts for you both. Fop get the girls their gifts please." Fop comes back from the balloon with a stack of gifts starting with very big boxes to very, very small boxes. Toys, clothes, exotic candies littered the room and all that was left were two small boxes. "Inside these boxes are two very special gifts that your mother said you were big enough to have." Theressa runs to the box hoping that inside each box is a silken fur. A silken fur is one of the rarest creature their is.
Yaya is sitting on the ground staring at her silken fur and theressa has climbed on top of her toy chest and is watching her silken fur get used to its new home. Yaya being young doesn't really know what to do so she keeps looking up at her big sister for clues. Silken furs are like a mix between a small monkey and a squirrel with near human like intelligence. They cannot talk but they can communicate through gestures. The uncles and the Queen leave the girls in their rooms as they watch them slowly fade away into a deep sleep as the silken furs nuzzle into the arms of each girl.
Todays run was not what I was looking for.
Today was supposed to be a nice run starting behind the Petrides complex, up the hill, over to High Rock and back. I started out okay but pretty soon my trousers started falling down. I had a small water bottle and my phone in each pocket and the miniscule weight of these objects kept yanking my my pants down. I was getting so annoyed that that I almost turned around. I instead held the bottle and phone in each hand and continued on. I make my way up the steepest part of the hill slowing down where the trails are thick with stone and roots no big deal it's where the trail was clear and relatively flat that I had my issues.
I kept gassing out. Every time i felt like things were feeling like normal I began to get a stitch or my right Achilles started letting me know it was not having any fun. I proceeded to run until I my form started to suffer then i would slow down a bit. This became a self fulfilling prophecy I would see a difficult section ip ahead and instead of charging up it I would feel the ache in my right foot or my arms would curl up again. For a long stretch just outside of the High Rock parking lot I said screw it and started walking. I walked around the ponds, looking at the emerging fall colors just taking advantage of the solitude.
Just before the last 1/4 mile out from High Rock I turned around. The Achilles was really screaming at me so I decided lets get back to the car, get the kids and move on. I slowly started back taking the yellow/blue trail back I followed yellow in because it's more direct but I took blue back because of the one down hill section that I knew led to a long winding up. Feeling better at this point as I made my way back up I felt redeemed. Looping back I only slowed down at the rootiest of sections or where the Achilles was on red alert.
Back at the car I shook my head at how difficult that was. Not all runs can be winners but even the worst runs can have benefits.
Let's see how tomorrow's run shakes out.
I kept gassing out. Every time i felt like things were feeling like normal I began to get a stitch or my right Achilles started letting me know it was not having any fun. I proceeded to run until I my form started to suffer then i would slow down a bit. This became a self fulfilling prophecy I would see a difficult section ip ahead and instead of charging up it I would feel the ache in my right foot or my arms would curl up again. For a long stretch just outside of the High Rock parking lot I said screw it and started walking. I walked around the ponds, looking at the emerging fall colors just taking advantage of the solitude.
Just before the last 1/4 mile out from High Rock I turned around. The Achilles was really screaming at me so I decided lets get back to the car, get the kids and move on. I slowly started back taking the yellow/blue trail back I followed yellow in because it's more direct but I took blue back because of the one down hill section that I knew led to a long winding up. Feeling better at this point as I made my way back up I felt redeemed. Looping back I only slowed down at the rootiest of sections or where the Achilles was on red alert.
Back at the car I shook my head at how difficult that was. Not all runs can be winners but even the worst runs can have benefits.
Let's see how tomorrow's run shakes out.
Sunday, October 14, 2012
It's not me it's you.
I became a little to dependent on you baby. Every time we were together I would keep checking on you, looking over to see if you were okay. I suddenly realized that I was spending to much time focusing on you and not on my own enjoyment. So...... after a few months apart I decided to make it permanent, were separating.
Darlin' or should I say Garmin were through. I stopped wearing you in August and yeah at first I was freaked out going out there all by myself but as time progressed I started to realize that every time I strapped you on I would get anxious that I wasn't keeping up, I wasn't going far enough. Instead of enjoying my runs I started stressing out, well i'm done. I have been on countless runs, a half marathon
a bunch of beach runs where the watch is forbidden any way so away you go into a drawer, sure I will grab you when I get to do some speed work again, that makes sense besides that get lost.
Saturday, October 13, 2012
There's a Yak in my car, oh wait that's me.
Good afternoon blog, or diary if you will. I saw the cutest boy today i think i want to marry him, after i become a successful marine biologist and cure whale cancer. I assume this is how every preteen girl writes in their blog/diary.
Any fudge, I am recuperating from a glorious 16.5ish mile trail run that happened this morning. Thats right while you were sleeping off a bender of wine coolers and Zima we were out there early doing the thing baby! We started out under the cover of darkness like a band of 4 outlaws fleeing some one horse town in the old west. We stormed through the trails of the Greenbelt eventually meeting more of our gang at the secret spot we rest, have a shot of whisky and a piece of hardtac and set out. A mighty gang of 10 cruising through the trails like some distorted centipede. I kept hoping that whatever creature used to shoot at the centipede in the old arcade game wasn't around to start picking us off. Thankfully we were from that 8bit assassin today.
We do a terrific loop incorporating a lot of the hillier sections and wind up back where we started to drop off our reinforcements. After saying our goodbye's ( I shed a tear) the original 4 horseman of siXac pressed on heading back where we started. Today's run is the start for us to prepare for the S.I. Trail Festival happening Dec. 8th. Most of us are running in the 25K race. Some, I call them show offs are running the 50K. All of us are who ran today got a beautiful day. Perfect weather will near perfect trails. They're trails they shouldn't be perfect then they would be a groomed path which isn't the same.
As we waited to cross the last stretch of road I stood there watching car after car head to the mall to stock up on Halloween lights, or Thanksgiving Day Horns of Plenty? Who knows, all i know is that a lot of cars were headed that way. Maybe Costco had a sale on a 20lb. bag of Reese's p.b. cups? If so I'm outta here. I love reese's p.b. cups.
Final stretch, My legs are feeling heavy and stiff. This is a sign of fatigue which in a long run like this means that I accomplished mt goal of running hard and far so that i push my lactic threshold level. That heavy feeling is from Lactic Acid which isn't the cause of your legs feeling like concrete it's more of a by product of you running so far that your leg muscles are kaput. Think of Lactic Acid like this, You know when you see two guys are fighting and there is a group of onlookers watching. After the fight the guy who lost and i still sitting on the ground is your legs. the guy who won is the road or trails in my case. Lactic Acid is the group of idiots who are hanging around consoling the loser. See they weren't actually fighting but they are still part of the event and just like a crowd slowly starts to get bored and leave so does the Lactic Acid. An hour or so after you run its gone.
This is rambly ramble of a blog, The old chimney where local satanist sacrifice chickens while playing Judas Priest on an old 8track is the marker for 1 mile to go. I was glad to see this chimney, my legs were cooked at this point. Pete and I left the girls because one of them tweeked there ankle so they decided to cruise on in. A wise strategy when you have a bum hoof. We on the other hand were feeling tired but still good. I really liked how I was able to push through the exhausted feeling and for the last half mile we picked it up so that by the end we were doing a nice sprint to the finish. Usain Bolt watch your back jack!
Run's over, I say g'bye and warble my way to the car. I am stiffening up and not in the i just saw a picture of Susan St. James wearing a spandex pair of slacks from 1979 kind of way. Sitting in my truck I see the left over p.b. and jelly I was eating on my way to the park. I scoffed that down fast, it was delicious. As I begin to drive back home I realize that smell, a lot. It's pretty gross actually. I need to either shower more than once a week or sweat less when I run. Either way I was grody (there's a word from the way back machine.) I said to myself that I smell like a Yak and I couldn't disagree with what I said. My face was caked with salt so much so that if one of the deer that crossed my path today would have stopped they could have used me for a salt lick. My legs started to feel like someone shoved metal rods in them. When I got out of the car I had to walk to the house in this weird side shuffle kinda thing but i knew that i was minutes from a hot shower and a delicious breakfast.
HAHAHAHAHAHA yeah, no. We didn't have enough eggs so i had to slide my shoes back on and schlep up to the deli to grab a dozen.
With the eggs delivered I got that shower i so deserved shoved delicious eggs, potatoes etc. into my face and now i am here with you regaling you with this morning's adventure. Next up, how long can i sit on this couch ohhhhhhhh it's going to be exciting.
Thanks for reading sports fans until next time. next topic will be how after careful consideration i am getting a divorce (Cue excited music).
Any fudge, I am recuperating from a glorious 16.5ish mile trail run that happened this morning. Thats right while you were sleeping off a bender of wine coolers and Zima we were out there early doing the thing baby! We started out under the cover of darkness like a band of 4 outlaws fleeing some one horse town in the old west. We stormed through the trails of the Greenbelt eventually meeting more of our gang at the secret spot we rest, have a shot of whisky and a piece of hardtac and set out. A mighty gang of 10 cruising through the trails like some distorted centipede. I kept hoping that whatever creature used to shoot at the centipede in the old arcade game wasn't around to start picking us off. Thankfully we were from that 8bit assassin today.
We do a terrific loop incorporating a lot of the hillier sections and wind up back where we started to drop off our reinforcements. After saying our goodbye's ( I shed a tear) the original 4 horseman of siXac pressed on heading back where we started. Today's run is the start for us to prepare for the S.I. Trail Festival happening Dec. 8th. Most of us are running in the 25K race. Some, I call them show offs are running the 50K. All of us are who ran today got a beautiful day. Perfect weather will near perfect trails. They're trails they shouldn't be perfect then they would be a groomed path which isn't the same.
As we waited to cross the last stretch of road I stood there watching car after car head to the mall to stock up on Halloween lights, or Thanksgiving Day Horns of Plenty? Who knows, all i know is that a lot of cars were headed that way. Maybe Costco had a sale on a 20lb. bag of Reese's p.b. cups? If so I'm outta here. I love reese's p.b. cups.
Final stretch, My legs are feeling heavy and stiff. This is a sign of fatigue which in a long run like this means that I accomplished mt goal of running hard and far so that i push my lactic threshold level. That heavy feeling is from Lactic Acid which isn't the cause of your legs feeling like concrete it's more of a by product of you running so far that your leg muscles are kaput. Think of Lactic Acid like this, You know when you see two guys are fighting and there is a group of onlookers watching. After the fight the guy who lost and i still sitting on the ground is your legs. the guy who won is the road or trails in my case. Lactic Acid is the group of idiots who are hanging around consoling the loser. See they weren't actually fighting but they are still part of the event and just like a crowd slowly starts to get bored and leave so does the Lactic Acid. An hour or so after you run its gone.
This is rambly ramble of a blog, The old chimney where local satanist sacrifice chickens while playing Judas Priest on an old 8track is the marker for 1 mile to go. I was glad to see this chimney, my legs were cooked at this point. Pete and I left the girls because one of them tweeked there ankle so they decided to cruise on in. A wise strategy when you have a bum hoof. We on the other hand were feeling tired but still good. I really liked how I was able to push through the exhausted feeling and for the last half mile we picked it up so that by the end we were doing a nice sprint to the finish. Usain Bolt watch your back jack!
Run's over, I say g'bye and warble my way to the car. I am stiffening up and not in the i just saw a picture of Susan St. James wearing a spandex pair of slacks from 1979 kind of way. Sitting in my truck I see the left over p.b. and jelly I was eating on my way to the park. I scoffed that down fast, it was delicious. As I begin to drive back home I realize that smell, a lot. It's pretty gross actually. I need to either shower more than once a week or sweat less when I run. Either way I was grody (there's a word from the way back machine.) I said to myself that I smell like a Yak and I couldn't disagree with what I said. My face was caked with salt so much so that if one of the deer that crossed my path today would have stopped they could have used me for a salt lick. My legs started to feel like someone shoved metal rods in them. When I got out of the car I had to walk to the house in this weird side shuffle kinda thing but i knew that i was minutes from a hot shower and a delicious breakfast.
HAHAHAHAHAHA yeah, no. We didn't have enough eggs so i had to slide my shoes back on and schlep up to the deli to grab a dozen.
With the eggs delivered I got that shower i so deserved shoved delicious eggs, potatoes etc. into my face and now i am here with you regaling you with this morning's adventure. Next up, how long can i sit on this couch ohhhhhhhh it's going to be exciting.
Thanks for reading sports fans until next time. next topic will be how after careful consideration i am getting a divorce (Cue excited music).
Friday, October 12, 2012
Fartlek, the word never gets old
Today's run is perfectly described as a fartlek run. What is a fartlek run you ask, fartlek simply means that while you are running you randomly vary your speed and intensity and that is what I did today.
I started off at the Willowbrook Carousel and headed up towards Hyerdal Hill.As I began my run I realized pretty quickly that the foliage that were choking out the trails over the summer are receding nicely and the areas that have a history of being muddy are bone dry. The best news is that the nasty biting flies are gone. These buggers were so bad that we were avoiding a good half mile of trails over the summer.
Anytoots I felt great today, I knew todays run would be a smidge over 5 miles and toorrows run will be about 15 miles so I really didn't want to blow out my stems today BUT along this section of the white trail there are really nice stretches of clean, flat path so I just started opening it up for 50 yards, 100 yards whatever felt good or until I hit a bunch of roots then I would gear it back and cruise on.
Another reason why I was playing it cool like the Fonz today is my right Achilles. After I ran the VIA half a month ago I was feeling some pain on the outside of my right Achilles. A simple overuse issue so I have been cautious with my runs for the past two weeks. During a run if I feel the pain returning I slow down until I am pain fee then I press on. Today that worked perfectly, I picked a clear spot and picked up the pace and by the time the trail got technical again my Achilles was letting me know that is was ready for a break.
Tomorrow's run will be interesting, it will be the first of a series of long runs to prepare for the Dec. 8th Trail Festival. i will be running the 25K distance looking to come in under 2:30, I really want to come in closer to 2:20 but I will leave a little wiggle room because who knows how the trails will be that day. Muddy, snowy, frozen over we shall see.
I started off at the Willowbrook Carousel and headed up towards Hyerdal Hill.As I began my run I realized pretty quickly that the foliage that were choking out the trails over the summer are receding nicely and the areas that have a history of being muddy are bone dry. The best news is that the nasty biting flies are gone. These buggers were so bad that we were avoiding a good half mile of trails over the summer.
Anytoots I felt great today, I knew todays run would be a smidge over 5 miles and toorrows run will be about 15 miles so I really didn't want to blow out my stems today BUT along this section of the white trail there are really nice stretches of clean, flat path so I just started opening it up for 50 yards, 100 yards whatever felt good or until I hit a bunch of roots then I would gear it back and cruise on.
Another reason why I was playing it cool like the Fonz today is my right Achilles. After I ran the VIA half a month ago I was feeling some pain on the outside of my right Achilles. A simple overuse issue so I have been cautious with my runs for the past two weeks. During a run if I feel the pain returning I slow down until I am pain fee then I press on. Today that worked perfectly, I picked a clear spot and picked up the pace and by the time the trail got technical again my Achilles was letting me know that is was ready for a break.
Tomorrow's run will be interesting, it will be the first of a series of long runs to prepare for the Dec. 8th Trail Festival. i will be running the 25K distance looking to come in under 2:30, I really want to come in closer to 2:20 but I will leave a little wiggle room because who knows how the trails will be that day. Muddy, snowy, frozen over we shall see.
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
thoughts on the silent princess
I haven't been writing notes about the littlest princess but that doesn't mean I haven't been thinking about it.
Her world is in my head i can see it all. How everyone looks, the castle where they live, the island they rule and most everyone that lives on it.
I also have extended characters in mind. Her uncles, the magicians that are called to help her, her sister and how much the silent princess and the entire kingdom looks up to her, Her parents their back story and how much they care for and worry bout their daughters.
This is a world I created to help document Lucia's progress. In real life she is stubbornly not talking. She communicates by pointing, gestures, any way possible but speaking. It's more frustrating than anything else for everyone Lucia included.
The world they live in will be a mix of Dr. Seuss and Conan the Barbarian, the Arnold version. I mean that its a magical, wacky, world but there are some treacherous characters that This family will have to deal with. There wont be a James Earl Jones Character that turns into a giant snake but there will be giant snakes, maybe James Earl Jones will appear who knows.
Her world is in my head i can see it all. How everyone looks, the castle where they live, the island they rule and most everyone that lives on it.
I also have extended characters in mind. Her uncles, the magicians that are called to help her, her sister and how much the silent princess and the entire kingdom looks up to her, Her parents their back story and how much they care for and worry bout their daughters.
This is a world I created to help document Lucia's progress. In real life she is stubbornly not talking. She communicates by pointing, gestures, any way possible but speaking. It's more frustrating than anything else for everyone Lucia included.
The world they live in will be a mix of Dr. Seuss and Conan the Barbarian, the Arnold version. I mean that its a magical, wacky, world but there are some treacherous characters that This family will have to deal with. There wont be a James Earl Jones Character that turns into a giant snake but there will be giant snakes, maybe James Earl Jones will appear who knows.
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