the Way of the Turtle

4.5 Mile Run in the Albany Pine Bush
Thursday, November 1, 2007

After a grey, chilly morning and early afternoon I was delighted to see sunshine as I left work - I had anticipated possibly running in the rain! As I drove home, I toyed with a number of places to run; for a variety of reasons I was able to leave early today, which opened up more options than usual.

Unfortunately, fate intervened and I ended up spending 50-60 minutes going to the DMV to renew my registration, which I had thought expired around the end of November but instead I discovered it was due to expire tomorrow. So it goes... at least I had time to take care of that and still get in a short run before class.

In the end I settled on the Columbia Circle section of the Pine Bush, leaving out the major hills... I figured there wouldn't be too many other folks on the trails, and the trails there aren't too bad if you stay away from the hilly section. It was a nice day for a run... chilly at first, but later I warmed up and was pretty comfortable.

One of my favorite sections to run there is the loop through the Kaikout Kill Barrens. As I ran through the woods with the leaves crunching underfoot, I was reminded of my first real trail runs in actual trail shoes, back in 1997, also in the fall... running up the hills of Mt Washington State Forest in Massachusetts, with the leaves and partially frozen ground crunching underfoot. Running in the fall often takes me back to those first trail runs... I also found myself thinking of how lucky I was to be out in some lovely autumn woods, doing something I enjoy.

Only had time for a short run, but perhaps that's just as well, since I have Charlie's Old Goat 10 Mile Trail Run on Saturday morning, which sounds like it could be run over some grueling terrain.

After the run I headed to class and bounced around with the kids... a fun time teaching, but I ended up with a nasty cramp in my sore hip, which is now giving me a lot of grief. As I said earlier... so it goes.

JMH