Last evening run by the lake till the Spring

Tonight was probably my last run on a weekday evening on the technical trails around Jordan Lake until the clocks change in the spring. It was getting pretty dark by the time I had finished this evening, I took the above picture at sunset with my phone (hence the crapiness of the photo).

I'll miss the place, the pups and I ran there just about every evening after work when I was in town, I got pretty good at trail running there, and learnt a lot about running on root/rock strewn trails.

Sumer is icumen in

Sumer is icumen in is "middle English" for .. "Summer is a-coming in", originally written around 1260, and the manuscript is regarded as one of the oldest pieces of music written. It was written at Reading Abbey, which is my home town, and is commemorated with a plaque on one of the few remaining walls of the Abbey (which was destroyed by Henry VIII).




Why am I writing this? Well, I thought of "Sumer icumen in" when I was out on the trails today - because summer has arrived with a bang, both Saturday and Sunday got to about 90, and the humidity is seems to be getting up there. I had better get used to it, because it is only going to get worse.


So today's run was a walk/run/walk/run affair, the pace was very comfortable. It is the furthest I have run since Umstead, and I'm thinking that it is probably time to start ramping up the miles again.


Garmin Data

Time: 1:40:05
Distance: 8.17 Miles
Pace: 12:17 Min/mile

Today's tune - another blast from the past. It came on early in the run, and it's a great running song, and given the weather, it is appropriate for "tune of the day"

A cheap vacation

It's looking very likely that Jess and I will be heading to Laramie WY for the 24 Hours of Laramie. The start of the race is at the Pole Creek Campground. We will be camping the night before the race (presumably Jess will be 'camping' while I am running, so we thought that we should check out our tent - it's been a few years since we have been camping. It all looks in good condition.

The ultimate proof will be however when the pups and I (maybe Jess), will camp out in the back yard tonight. :)

Summer has arrived with a bang, it's in the 90's today, so a perfect day for a trail run right? I met up with Connie and Allan from Raleigh Trail Runners, and we went for about 6 miles around Jordan Lake. We mixed up the wide trails and the single track trails.

Here's an excellent tune to run to - Atomic by Blondie - and I just think the live version is fantastic. This particular song always brings back memories of my first half marathon - I was listening to it for the last half mile, and it was playing when I crossed the finish line.

Simple things

I like it when a plan comes together. Today's simple thing that made me happy was the lawntractor starting [almost] first time after the winter [almost] totally exposed to the elements. Which meant I got [most of] the grass cut for the first time this season. I'm thinking of strapping my garmin on next time I cut the grass to find out how much of a workout I am missing out on by not using my push mower (which also started first time).

Anyway, to today's run. I decided to run half of the half for the Duke Half - that is the first lap of the half marathon of the Duke Liver half-iron man triathlon - which is held in September on my favourite trails around Jordan Lake. I treated it as an easy run, with plenty of walking, jogging and what I think is called "the ultra-shuffle" (it is I suppose a kind of run, but using minimal effort - short strides and the feet barely leave the ground). This combination seemed to serve me well at Umstead.

On the whole, I felt pretty good, although towards the end I did notice a slight twinge in my ankle from where I rolled it last weekend

Garmin Data:

Time: 1:20:37
Distance: 6.56 miles
Pace: 12:17 min/mile

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I have a fairly long playlist on my music player, called "Running Tunes", which I use [oddly enough] when I am running. It's a fairly mixed bag of tunes, some old, some obscure, some "how-in-the-hell-can-anyone-run-to-that-crap". If a particular song, seems to give me a lift on a run, I'm going to try to find it on YouTube and post it here.

Today's song is Heartbeat, by The Psychedelic Furs. Check out Richard Butler's hair! I'm glad mine was already falling out by the mid 80's, otherwise, I am fairly sure that there would be some fairly embarassing "Jimbo-mullet-pictures" floating around.

Enjoy it.

Running with company

Today was the first time I have ran with a group of people. It was very enjoyable, the company was great, and our hostess, Connie, opened up her house to a group of wet, cold and hungry runners which was very much appreciated. At a guess there were probably between 10 and 12 other runners.

I ran 6.9 miles on the wider trails with Tracy and it worked out well because her pace and her desire to walk up the steeper hills matched mine.

The weather was barely above freezing towards the end of the run, and the rain was really coming down, probably the most miserable conditions I have run in to be honest - and there is no way I would have ran today if it wasn't for the group run.

All in all, it was a very pleasant experience, and I will look forward to attending other runs, particularly if they are around Jordan Lake

Another perfect day by Jordan Lake

So, my phone does not have the best camera in the world, but I kinda like this shot I took about 9 miles into my run today. This is the view about 1.5 miles down the Road to Nowhere. Pretty spectacular isn't it?

So, today 12 miles at a steady 11 min/mile. Boat ramp -> A-Camp -> Loop Trail -> B-Camp -> Road to Nowhere -> Back to boat ramp. Nothing really dramatic to report, except that it was yet another fantastic day for running. Probably 70F or a shade higher. It did bring a lot of people out, I saw at least 8 people, no dogs (suprising) and one horse.

So that makes 26.5 miles for the weekend - a record I think. Previous best being 26.2, except that was done on a single day.

Perfect day for running

The weather was perfect - mid 60's, sunny, a light breeze. There were no niggly little injuries. So the pups and I headed to the lake - it was a great day for running.

We started off in the parking lot by the boat ramp, up toward the campsites, left towards 'B' campsite, left down the 'road to nowhere' all the way to Pea Ridge - U-turn back up the road to nowhere. Once we got to the flood plain, we headed towards Jordan Dam, over the dam, and around the loop that goes by the park HQ.

One thing I did notice, there appears to be a new trail area by the park HQ - at least I haven't seen this particular trailhead before. The sign said "Poe Ridge Trail" I think, and the map on the sign said it is a 4.25 mi loop trail. Definitely needs further 'exploration'.

Anyway, then headed back over the dam, once across, we turned left down toward the lake, and then carried on around the flood plain back to the road to nowhere. That little detour probably added about 3 miles. Plenty of opportunity to test out the Drymax socks, as the flood plain was littered with ankle deep ruts filled with water. The socks worked - my feet felt dry within a few minutes.

Once we were done with the road to nowhere, we went up the hill to Camp B and back. The Garmin said 10 miles exactly when we headed into the loop trail. Round the loop, then down to Camp A. When we finished in Camp A, it was back to the parking lot. With a couple of zig-zags in the lot, total mileage for the day was 14.5. The beauty of it was that I paced myself slow enough that I could have done more if it hadn't been close to park closing time. I felt incredibly good, and the pups have a nice healthy tired look.

I have to add that the pizza washed down with a Carolina Pale Ale later was just as satifying as the 14.5 miles.