They say a church alive is worth the drive. (Yes, a church I once attended in North Carolina actually said that, even though no one drove more than 3 miles to get there.) Well, I'd say the same thing about running trails, but I'm not very good at rhyming. Yes, I drove -- again! -- to the High Bridge Trail in Farmville for today's run. It's "only" an hour and 15 minute commute, which is nothing compared to what y'all in LA have to put up with (and I don't mean Lower Alabama). Not sure why I like this trail so much. Maybe it's because I love history so much. After all, this is where Lee's army made one of its last stands against Grant in April of 1865.
Maybe it's because the bridge itself features such amazing views of the Commonwealth State.
Or maybe it's because it's on this very gravel trail that I ran two 21K half marathons and three 50K ultras.
For whatever reason, I started my run today at the River Road parking lot. See how fresh I am?
My goal was to go for 3 miles toward Rice Station and then turn around and run 3 miles back to the car. As you can see, no one in their right mind would even think of staying indoors on a January day where the temp was 73 degrees.
I'd like to blame thank my children, especially my daughter, for getting me into this mess. Without being fully aware of it at the time, when she snookered me into running a 5K with her, I immediately became more health conscious and thus decided I would try this running thing.
At the 3 mile turnaround marker, I stopped to wipe the sweat off my brow. Good runners always forget something on their runs, and today I really could have used my sweat band, as I was perspiring profusely. When I started my run back to the car, I think I got a second wind. I was completely out of excuses for not pushing myself -- good cardiovascular health is important for mountain climbing, right? -- so I put it into high gear. The fact that I ran so well today may come as a shock to my teammates on the U.S. Marathon Olympic Team, but it's true.
The only question left to decide is which (if any) races will I do this year on this, my most beloved trail in the great state of Virginia. Can these legs get me 32 miles again?
We'll see. I'm gonna play this one by ear, especially since I have so many other athletic goals for this year. The bottom line is that, although I may come across at times as a very self-disciplined and forward planning person, at my core I'm actually a very lazy, hang-loose, fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants Hawaiian beach bum.
I'll let you know when I know.