Pineland fun house

Ian and I planned on a 'long' run for Friday.  I was not real sure what his idea of a long run was these days as he's captain 100.  Was he thinking 12, 20, 30?  I didn't really care so much as I was ready to run with a TM again after having a real mellow September.

Turns out Ian was thinking 30 would be nice but we both decided 20 would be sufficient for his training and for where I was with my fitness.  We headed out with Nathan packs, shorts and short-sleeved shirts in the wind and rain.  I think we both may have become a bit chilled during the run which affected our performance.  We decided to hit the trails in random directions from the way we usually run, and find anything that could keep us excited and bring a freshness to the sometimes daunting land of the pines.

We had a diverse run, hitting trails backwards to how the TM's usually run them.  Finding some single-track kept us enthused, and even headed directly up hill at the campus loop bisecting all the trails, then bombing back down.  This actually may have done us in.  Afterward we were both sucking wind and the thick air was taking it's toll.  At a few points in the run the leaves underfoot seemed transcendental, and gave us a strange sense of vertigo.  We'd come around a corner, or head up a hill and suddenly the brown mud would be replaced with bright red splotches of Autumn leaves.  It felt a bit like being at a circus fun house.

It was real good to catch up with Ian and hear first-hand his 100 mile report from Virgil Crest.  We talked about more group organization for 2012, and goals for ourselves and possibly helping TM's out in their own planning.  We also brainstormed on a number of winter running subjects including ingenious ways at keeping hydration bladders from freezing.  (I think I've got it.)

We ended a bit earlier than we thought, judging our run by perceived effort instead of mileage numbers.  Heading directly up the hill on the road from behind the barns was supposed to be the quick easy way back to the truck, but it proved a tough never-ending hill climb in the cool rain.

efficiency:  Too little hydration today, and a bit more food would have kept me going stronger.  The seasonal transitions always take a bit of getting used to.

distance:  17.1
duration:  2:50:00