the Way of the Turtle

LEGS OF CONCRETE
6 Mile Run at Thacher Park
Saturday, December 16, 2006

Some runs are just great - you fly along like you're barely touching the ground and feel like you could run all afternoon. Some runs are good - those can be anything from just getting out on a nice day to hammering out the miles at a challenging pace and ending the run tired and sore but feeling good about it. And then there are the runs that are tough - not necessarily because the distance or the course is anything all that bad, but because the whole time you feel like your legs are filled with concrete and your lungs are going to crawl out of your chest and throttle you.

Guess which one today was?

I had planned to do a loop through the Hop Field/Paint Mine areas of Thacher and then head up to Roemer's High Point - after that it was up in the air (I would either retrace my steps from Roemer's or continue on the Long Path to the first road and then take the roads back to the car.) Parked up on Beaver Dam Road and packed my headlamp in case I got back after dark.

Things just never clicked on this run. Despite the fact that I've been taking it fairly easy, my legs had no juice for running the hills, and the run never really reached a point where I felt warmed up and running well. I took a different path halfway up Paint Mine Road and ended up following a dirt road out of the park and ran the last mile or so on the local paved roads. Given how I was feeling, combined with occasional pain in my right leg when I did uphills and downhills, I decided to skip Roemer's and make this a short run.

Guess I'll try taking it easy for a week or so - flatter terrain, shorter runs, etc. - and see if my legs recover. Or maybe I was just having a bad day. Have to wait and see.

JMH