At Odds With Nature

Nothing went as planned yesterday. I wanted run the reverse hypo half marathon with the West Striders, but decided against it once I realized that I would be lucky to finish in one piece. I don’t mind pushing the limits of my body, but I haven’t run that distance since last August, and the thought of bonking in the freezing cold (-27 with wind chill) didn’t seem too appealing.

Instead, I decided to run at the Irving Nature Park, a little peninsula that's home to hundreds of bird species and other forms of wildlife. I thought it was a good idea because a)it’s only a few kilometers from my house and b)the road is measured, with markers every half kilometer. I knew how fast I wanted to run, so if I was moving too slow (or quick) after the first 500 meters I could simply make adjustment. No problem, right?

Wrong. The park hasn’t been plowed since lord knows when, so the ground was covered in hard, uneven snow. Some spots were relatively runner friendly, but other areas were twisted ankles waiting to happen. I didn’t want to scrap my run, though, so I ran past the gate and hoped for the best.

My best wasn’t too great. I passed the 1K mark about a minute slower than planned, and it took a concerted effort to pick up the pace. Not that it mattered; half of my energy was spent looking for places to run without falling. By 3K I decided that running safe was smarter than running my pace, so I dropped back the effort and finished about 4 minutes off pace. I’ll get a better measurement of my fitness next week.

You might not hear about it right away, though. I have two presentations and an essay due this week, which doesn’t leave much time for personal writing. If you hear from me, I am either procrastinating or figuring out a way to combine melodic contour and running. My vote is on the former.