Training Log Archive: kissy

A nice run at Jockey Hollow except that my right calf started cramping up around mile 3.

Rest day today. Well, rest day from training. Not from grocery shopping, laundry, bill paying, e-mail answering, etc. The price one pays for going away for the weekend.

Here are some pictures of the barberry eradication efforts at Jockey Hollow:

C • Barberry 5

On my way home today, I stopped at Gettysburg for a run. I had already decided that I wanted to run on trails today instead of the auto tour. And, when I got to Visitor's Center, I'm glad I had made that decision. It was packed with people! And the auto tour had many cars and busses on it.

I had planned to run 30 minutes, maybe 45. The first problem was that my Forerunner was dead. I had forgotten to shut it off after the Beer Chase. I looked at the park map, guesstimated that the loop trail was about 4 miles and thought that would be a good length.

I parked at a picnic area in the southern part of the park, near Warfield Ridge. (A picnic area that turned out to be...another pick up/hang out spot for gay guys! Why do I keep finding these spots??) Anyway, I ran the loop counter clockwise, so my first big landmarks were going over Big and Little Round Tops. It was pretty cool going over them on the "back side" versus the normal front that looks over Devil's Den. The trail continued north on Cemetary Ridge, and then headed west toward the Peach Orchard.

By now, I had ascertained that this was more of a horse trail than a running trail, as the trail up until now was pocked marked with areas of deep, deep muckety mud. At one point, my choice was to slip, slide, and slosh through the mud, or skirt around it through stinging nettles. I chose the mud. Despite the fact that I might offend some horse riders, I have to say that horses should be banned from mixed-use trails. There were prominent signs all along the trail that no bikes were allowed, but I would have welcomed bike tracks over the total devastation of the trail that these horses were causing. It was ridiculous.

Once I hit the Peach Orchard, though, it got better because the ground was firmer and out in the open. Eventually, I passed the group of horse riders, which made me very happy because the freshness of the horse poop as I got closer to the group got a little overwhelming.

I crossed over Emmitsburg Road and headed across the fields towards Warfield Ridge. At one point, I turned around to look at the High Water Mark and tried to imagine what all of those soldiers must have felt like as they tried to get across those fields. It was kind of creepy to know so many people had died right where I was running.

I got across the fields, looked at the map, and finally accepted the fact that this was indeed longer than 4 miles, and I had been running for quite a while longer than 45 minutes. Past the amphitheater (where there were water fountains!!), the observation tower, back on Confederate Ave., and back to the car...where there were more creepy guys hanging out. Jumped in the car and drove to a nearby restroom to change and clean off all of the mud from my legs.

When I got home, I roughly measured the course, and it looks to be about 6.5 miles. My time wasn't that bad considering how slow the first part was due to the chewed up trails.

The maddening event of the day happened first thing. I went out to my car, in my sister's driveway!!, this morning only to find someone had rifled through it in the night and had stolen my iPod. :-( Luckily, I didn't have anything else worth stealing. Stupid people.

C • oh no! 4

Event: QOC: Jug Bay
 

Today's event turned out to be a fee-free event, so I set up a US Team donation box at registration, thinking people were ready to pay, so maybe they'd make a donation. We raised $212 for the Team!!

C • Wow 2

Beer Chase in QOC land. I had come down for an orthodontist appointment on Monday, and was so happy to be able fit in the Beer Chase. This is always a very fun event, and this year was no exception. The only bad part was the weather. It was so hot and humid that I was a little conncerned on the first of the three loops. I stopped sweating for a while and felt a little light headed. I hosed down before heading out for the second loop, and that seemed to help. Even though I had thought that I would only run the first two loops, I ended up running all three. I ran a lot of the race with Sam and Don, but then managed to pull ahead on the third loop.

After the race, I hung around, visited with some QOC'ers and ate some food...including a BBQ'ed goose leg thanks to Dan Quinn...it wasn't too bad. It did not taste like chicken.

10.6 kms. from my Forerunner

Long - Splits