the Way of the Turtle

SHORT SLEEVES IN FEBRUARY???
8 mile trail run in the Albany Pine Bush Preserve
Friday, February 3, 2006

When I left the house to go help with the Friday night karate class, it was 58 degrees outside. After class I headed over to the Madison Ave Ext section of the Pine Bush and set out on a medium length run (90 - 120 minutes... admittedly, running that in the woods at 8:30 PM on a Friday night is a little unusual. OK, maybe not that unusual for me.)Half an hour into the run I was cooking, so - off came the fleece top and I ran the remaining 75 minutes in my short sleeve shirt. And I wasn't chilly until I stopped. Absolutely wacky.Running trails at night has been one of the fun things I've done this winter. It's usually very peaceful (except when I start imagining that a sasquatch is going to come crashing out of the bushes and attack me... sigh) and sometimes very pretty (I've run a couple of times under the full moon when I almost didn't need my headlamp... talk about magical...) Tonight seemed noisier than usual - lots of traffic and aircraft sounds - but it was still a good run, and a real treat to be out in my shirt sleeves running. There were a few icy patches, but my Yaktrax worked great, and the rest of the trails there are soft enough that I could keep them on my shoes the whole time. (I recommend Yaktrax wholeheartedly if you're going to be running on icy surfaces! I use the Yaktrax Pro, which has an extra strap to keep the unit more secure. They're GREAT!)And now I think it's time to collapse into bed...

JMH

P.S. I am convinced that I am the cause of this insanely warm winter we've had... after all, I bought a pair of brand new snowshoes back in December (and bought Ann a pair for Christmas.) All I know is - the longer races in late February and early March are going to be mighty tough if I don't get a chance to practice snowshoe running between now and then...