the Way of the Turtle

RUNNING TO CLASS
8.6 Mile Run from Albany to Colonie
Thursday, April 12, 2007

Since the weather was going to be lousy, I knew riding to class was out, so I originally planned to take two CDTA buses from a stop near where I live over to Colonie Center, and then either walk or run up Central Ave to the karate school (a distance of about 2 1/4 miles... barely enough to get warmed up running, and not much of a walk, these days.) As I was walking home through the snowstorm after work, I decided to skip the bus and run the whole distance (somewhere between 8 and 9 miles, depending on what route I took.) Admittedly, part of that decision was helped by Master Hillicoss offering to give me a ride home after class, rather than my having to take a bus and then walk about a mile from the bus stop.

So I rushed around, figured out how to pack some clothes for after class, geared up, and headed out into the now-rainy afternoon (throughout the day the weather had been alternating between rain,, snow, and sleet.)

The first part of the run was along the sidewalks down Western Avenue... bleah. Maybe it wouldn't be that bad in the sunshine, but running down the sidewalk with cars zipping by on the road on a cold, rainy day just kind of sucks. As I approached the University of Albany campus, I realized I could save myself some running by cutting through campus between Western and Fuller... it was also a bit nicer to run the sidewalk on campus (less traffic.) As I made my way over to Fuller, I decided to head into the Rensellaer Lake section and get away from cars and pavement for bit - an excellent decision, since the traffic along Fuller was downright scary (people blasting along at 50 mph in a 40 mph zone.)

There was something very appropriate about running through that section of the Pine Bush, since almost exactly two years ago I kicked off my current racing "career" by running the 3rd Dodge the Deer 5K Trail Race, put on by the Albany Running Exchange. (They've since moved the race to Schodack Island State Park down near Castleton, due to issues with use of the Pine Bush trails.) It was great fun running those trails again and wonderful to be out in the woods, on soft surfaces, away from traffic and people! The inch of snow made things a little bit slippery - my road shoes aren't as aggressively lugged as my trail shoes - but that was a minor problem, and being out on trails again more than made up for it.

Came out on Rapp Road and decided to continue on trails, rather than taking the roads to Central Ave and running up the sidewalks. Cut through the Fox Run trailer park and made my way into the Karner Barrens section of the Pine Bush. A bit hillier than Rensellaer Lake, which along with the snow and having run 5-6 miles already made things a bit tougher, but no big deal. I definitely have to get out on trails this weekend!

Came out by the Pine Bush Information Center (the old SEFCU building) and ran down 155 to Kohl's Plaza and the karate school. Traffic was fairly heavy but the shoulder's were nice and wide, so it wasn't too difficult. Had an interesting moment running underneath a power line with a transforming/insulator that was crackling and throwing off some major blue speaks, but finished the run without mishap, refueled, changed clothes, and jumped into teaching class with Master Hillicoss.

Ended up being a bit sore, especially my right hip and quad... probably in part due to the challenge of running in an inch of snow with less-than-ideal shoes, plus my not running enough over the last couple of weeks, and maybe some remnants of the very challenging Northern Nipmuck 16 mile race this past weekend. Still, I'm glad I did it... despite the aches and pains, it was great to get some time in on trails, and it was good to be out running for more than a quick few miles.

My long run for this weekend is still on (though it may be another wet one)... but I don't think I'll run over to Colonie Center to meet my ride to Utica tomorrow night...

JMH