i am BACK! (training run ramble)

Farewell to the slug. Thanks for providing a virtual run, nina. Great to get to experience it
through your eyes and my legs don't feel tired at all! chris

nina stoessinger said:

Today I officially kissed Nina the Slug goodbye and welcomed Nina the Athlete back. Feels good. 🙂

I headed out in the early evening, when it was still light and warm out, with a gentle breeze that
cooled things down a bit. I was heading for a new running destination: the Horseshoe Lake. This
wonderfully tranquil little lake just outside the city used to be a mining pit of some sort and
was filled up with water when it was no longer needed. I eyed it on the map and it looked just
about the same distance as my usual longish run (which is 8mi).

The first 3 miles were uneventful, didn't feel very easy even though I just had 2 days of rest,
and weren't, er, scenic, leading through an industrialized part of town where I was the only
pedestrian anywhere around. To make things worse, I missed the first turn for the lake and went a
bit too far, but finally, after a bit of looking around in a quiet settlement of little suburban
houses, found this crunchy path that, as I figured, must lead to the lake. It wound on and on and
I was wondering if this run was gonna turn really good or if I was gonna miss this lake -

Then I crossed this tiny little hill and out of nowhere, there was the lake. Stretching out before
me, wide and blue and just gently rippled by the breeze. It was breathtaking. I stopped dead, and
must have made some sort of surprised little sound, as the youngsters sunbathing by the lake gave
me a surprised look 🙂

I set off to run around the lake on a very narrow dirt trail. Met a few dog-walkers, a few
cyclists and a few sunbathers, but most of the time, I was alone. The path wound up and down
little hills, disappeared, reappeared, diverged into even smaller trails, which reunited again.
But I was always running right next to the water, which shone so very blue, lit up by the slanting
sun. I was cruising. It was bliss.

After a couple of miles or so, the trail wound into a totally deserted little forest, got thinner
and thinner. I was just hoping it wouldn't disappear, and at that moment, a duck took off from
just a couple of feet ahead of me! A duck? I thought. Water? And indeed, the trail wound its way
into the swamp, a few steps were pretty soggy, I was running among the reeds and saw a stork lift
off into the air just ahead -

Then, back into the trees, running just a foot beside the water, which was crystal clear. It was
sooo tempting to stick my feet in, but they had no time, they were running.

After six miles, I took a gel and worried a little about the trail being much longer; my longest
distance in the past weeks had been 7.5! But after that gel, when I was cruising next to the water
again, I realized how GOOD it was to feel that strain in my legs, and started pushing a little,
gently. And that was the moment when that sentence popped into my mind: nina the slug has left my
body. This is the return of nina the athlete. I felt strong. Challenged. And up for it. And "ran -
alltheway - home" (isn't this in some modern poem?)

10 miles it was. And now I'm really worked. And it is still great to be a runner.

Thanks for reading.

nina

Bummer. I ran at lunch -- so I can't run again after reading your inspirational post.

Good on you. Glad you're back (tho you can never really leave).

I might poke along the river on my Friday run and see if I can't find some new trails myself.

Now, make sure you recover properly. :-)

Scott

nina stoessinger said:

<nice scenic run deleted> 10 miles it was. And now I'm really worked. And it is still great to be
a runner.

Thanks for reading.

nina

Quoted message said:

Today I officially kissed Nina the Slug goodby

Bummer! That slime coating was good lube for my eliptical trainer.

Bill R.

=============> - -- - (_!_)
OO

Nina,

way to go on the great long run. i, too, am reaching for longer runs again, after a hiatus from them
over winter. i envy you the new and beautiful scenery (and weather!) where you are. i still plug
away at the same old route... and deep down, i know i should change that route... maybe drive
somewhere and explore new terrain. and i'll have to remember to bring a gel along when i get to
doing over an hour again.

thanks for the inspiring report... and keep on running,

Cam

Sounds like a really good run.

Today was my return, as well. (Warning: random musings ahead.) I'd stopped running right around my
birthday at the end of January to spend more time working with the robotics team. The team ended up
being myself, my friend, and a frosh he knew. Spent about four weeks not running for that, and then
I was just feeling lazy for another four weeks. A week off for preparing and attending competition.
Another week off for logistics work and other stuff like that. That was a good experience, and I
think losing ten weeks of running was worth it, though I'm sure I'll pay for it soon.

Monday, I planned how we're going to build the marching band props for next year. (I don't march,
because a- it's a real band-nerd thing to do b-I'm running XC.) Tuesday, I played ultimate frisbee.
(We play twice a week, so I've been keeping somewhat active.)

So today, I finally found time for a real run. Did a four miler today in the neighborhoods
surrounding my school. We're in a historical district, and I swear these houses have all been around
since the sixties, at least. I had to run by myself, because the track team had a meet today. I was
hurting about a mile and a half into it, sadly enough, but pushing through that and getting to
halfway really put something back into me. I picked up the pace a bit for the return run, extending
it a bit by taking three extra turns through a neighborhood, rather than going straight. Finally,
down the last street... I picked it up, imagining the end of a crosscountry race. My friends yelling
at me, my coach yelling at me. I kicked it in, right up the steps and through the gate where the
distance track team was stretching.

It was a good run, though being too short for the fatigue. I've got a triathlon in just five weeks,
so I've really got to get going with training. The rubber-legs feeling I had while I sat and watched
the track team for half an hour was great. They ache a bit now, but I'm sure that with a night's
rest I'll be fine. Another run tomorrow, though it should be rather short.

With a bit of pain and suffering, I'll be a runner again soon. Such is the price of an offseason.

--Vincent

Quoted message said:

Bummer. I ran at lunch -- so I can't run again after reading your inspirational post.

Good on you. Glad you're back (tho you can never really leave).

I might poke along the river on my Friday run and see if I can't find some new trails myself.

Now, make sure you recover properly. :-)

Scott

How long you going to pretend to be a scot? Or to be learning the pipes? You're a phony.

Bill R.

=============> - -- - (_!_)
OO

Quoted message said:

Today I officially kissed Nina the Slug goodbye and welcomed Nina the Athlete back. Feels good. 🙂

Woo hoo! Congrats! Hugs! <dancing around>

Nina's back Nina's back Nina's back Yahoo ...

--
Brian P. Baresch Fort Worth, Texas, USA Professional editing and proofreading

If you're going through hell, keep going. --Winston Churchill

Let's go for a run.

Bill-always hard-Rodgers said:

How long you going to pretend to be a scot? Or to be learning the pipes? You're a phony.

Bill R.

=============> - -- - (_!_)
OO

Vincent Chan said:

Sounds like a really good run.

Today was my return, as well. (Warning: random musings ahead.) I'd stopped running right around
my birthday at the end of January to spend more time working with the robotics team. The team
ended up being myself, my friend, and a frosh he knew. Spent about four weeks not running for
that, and then I was just feeling lazy for another four weeks. A week off for preparing and
attending competition. Another week off for logistics work and other stuff like that. That was a
good experience, and I think losing ten weeks of running was worth it, though I'm sure I'll pay
for it soon.

Monday, I planned how we're going to build the marching band props for next year. (I don't march,
because a- it's a real band-nerd thing to do b-I'm running XC.) Tuesday, I played ultimate
frisbee. (We play twice a week, so I've been keeping somewhat active.)

So today, I finally found time for a real run. Did a four miler today in the neighborhoods
surrounding my school. We're in a historical district, and I swear these houses have all been
around since the sixties, at least. I had

I haven't thought of houses that are only 40+years old as Historical. or did you mean 1860's ??? 8^)

Quoted message said:

to run by myself, because the track team had a meet today. I was hurting about a mile and a half
into it, sadly enough, but pushing through that and getting to halfway really put something back
into me. I picked up the pace a bit for the return run, extending it a bit by taking three extra
turns through a neighborhood, rather than going straight. Finally, down the last street... I
picked it up, imagining the end of a crosscountry race. My friends yelling at me, my coach yelling
at me. I kicked it in, right up the steps and through the gate where the distance track team was
stretching.

It was a good run, though being too short for the fatigue. I've got a triathlon in just five
weeks, so I've really got to get going with training.

Seems a close date. Don't hurt yourself getting ready.

Quoted message said:

The rubber-legs feeling I had while I sat and watched the track team for half an hour was great.
They ache a bit now, but I'm sure that with a night's rest I'll be fine. Another run tomorrow,
though it should be rather short.

With a bit of pain and suffering, I'll be a runner again soon. Such is the price of an offseason.

--Vincent

Thanks Vincent for the sharing and the bit of amusement.

--
Ed Prochak running faqs.orgrunning faqOpen ↗ netiquette psg.comemily.htmlOpen ↗
--
"Two roads diverged in a wood and I I took the one less travelled by and that has made all the
difference." robert frost

Quoted message said:

Woo hoo! Congrats! Hugs! <dancing around>

PUT YOUR PANTS ON PERVERT!

Bill R.

=============> - -- - (_!_)
OO

Quoted message said:

Leave it to you Ed to reply to a [censored]. Were about to nuke the slanty eyed little geeks, and your
helping them get fit so they fight us if they

survive

Quoted message said:

the inital blast.

Odd, I thought we were dealing with the North Koreans at the moment?

And, either way, I won't have to survive any blast. I'm just as much an American, if not more, as
any Yank on this ng.

Bill, I didn't expect anything this ignorant from you... You're getting better at this
trolling stuff.

--Vincent

Quoted message said:

I haven't thought of houses that are only 40+years old as Historical. or did you mean
1860's ??? 8^)

Well, the "historic" district incorporates just a bit of the city. The buildings aren't that old; my
school's only been around for eighty-some years. A lot of it has been modernized. It's just we call
any streets that were AROUND then historic.

Quoted message said:

Seems a close date. Don't hurt yourself getting ready.

I'm sure that within a week I'll be back in relatively good shape. Besides, I'll deal with just
being really slow, since I don't usually medal anyway.

--Vincent

Duns Scotus said:

Bummer. I ran at lunch -- so I can't run again after reading your inspirational post.

*g* save & reread. 🙂

Quoted message said:

Now, make sure you recover properly. :-)

i did! next run's tomorrow. i'm very much looking forward to it.

thanks to everyone who replied, i'm always jazzed when somebody actually reads my ramblings 😄

nina

Cam Wilson said:

way to go on the great long run. i, too, am reaching for longer runs again, after a hiatus from
them over winter.

great! It's amazing to watch one's endurance grow back, ain't it? 🙂

Quoted message said:

i envy you the new and beautiful scenery (and weather!) where you are. i still plug away at the
same old route... and deep down, i know i should change that route... maybe drive somewhere and
explore new terrain.

I'd absolutely recommend that. It makes such an amazing difference. I love that "exploration" factor
involved in long new routes... also one major cool thing about races.

Speaking of which, I might do a 10.7 k a week from tomorrow. It's over an hour away by train,
though. Hmmm.

By the way, the weather's now ugly again. I wanted to do a bike tour with some friends today, but we
ended up staying inside and decorating easter eggs, heh.

cheers, nina