Saturday, March 7, 2009

Natural Gas

It's true. You never know what you'll get on a run. The weather may change from sunshine and warmth to wind and rain. That breakfast burrito you ate earlier in the day might come back to haunt your GI tract. Who knows??

Today was such a run. Erin (former marathon Team in Training team-mate) and I met at her house. She said there were some trails nearby that all connected and would take us out for at least ten miles. We started out just fine. About three miles in Erin realized we had missed a turn, so we back-tracked. Despite the "no trespassing" and "private property signs", we shimmied between the barbed wire on a fence and continued on a dirt road. I asked her if this was right, being private property and all. She said she thought, "yes." I noticed a sign signifying "Danger! Natural Gas Pipeline," and thought that we were probably not on an official trail head (we already had enough natural gas without the pipeline, by the way). We continued on. At about four miles, the trail ended. We scaled another fence, keeping our eyes on a school up ahead that we recognized. We dodged prairie dog holes and ended up scaling a few huge boulders to try jumping down to another trail. We crossed over some cow fields, leaping over big cow pies, and finally found ourselves on a recognizable road. Only one more barbed wire fence and we were home free. We were at the five mile point. We stopped for a Gu and water. Erin was apologizing. I didn't really care. It was a nice day and we were getting the miles in.

We headed back towards Erin's house and decided to do some hill training. We sprinted up a .5 mile hill, ran down, sprinted back up a bit faster, ran down. Our total mileage was 9.02 miles. Thanks Garmin.

I was glad I had the Garmin. There was no way to figure what the length of that route was without it.

I know I should eat some high carb thing after a run to replenish muscle groups, etc. Instead after these morning runs, I get a large coffee. Lots of cream. Bad, I know. Later for lunch I had steak and lentils, so that should make up for things (maybe?). I know you supposedly have a short window to give your body food to help you recover. I need to get better about that. This girl LOVES her coffee.

7 comments:

  1. I always get a Starbucks hot chocolate after a long run...I just can't resist. :)

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  2. Sounds like an adventurous run - you got the Garmin just in time!

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  3. Sounds like quite an obstacle course. Good thing you had the Garmin with you.

    Don't feel so guilty, I only drink coffee with half & half.

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  4. Sounds like an adventure...also, I'm pretty sure that coffee post-run helps you store glycogen. Of course, you have to also take in some carbohydrates. That's why I always, always put sugar in my coffee. ;)

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  5. Wow, sounds like quite the run! Sometimes the best adventures happen when you get lost and don't have a clue what you're doing. :)

    And AMEN to Garmins! Quite frankly, I think mine's become attached to my wrist.

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  6. Your blog cracks me up! So glad you're writing it. And glad you love your Garmin! One of these days when I get a job maybe I'll invest in one. :-)

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  7. Wow... never visited your blog before, but now I'm going to have to make a point... don't visit when I'm hungry. :)

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