Let me start off by saying today went MUCH better than yesterday-I think partly because I didn’t eat a huge lunch before going, but also because my mindset was much better today (i’m pretty productive at work, etc. and just having an all-around decent day.) Today was a 4-miler, and I chose a pretty tough course to take. It’s funny, I always say, oh today i’ll do an easy, flat run. But I really find them boring and way more difficult to do. I guess the up and down of difficult terrain keeps my interest up. Or maybe I’m just a sadist who likes to torture the hell out of myself. Either way, I get the job done. 
Anyway, here’s my route in orange. 
This is a good route for me to take at work, because it doesn’t require me to drive anywhere to get on a trail, though I do have to run for about 2miles before I get to the trail. Running the Wildwood trail to Lower Macleay trail is also a good way to get me to run fast, mostly because it’s totally creepy down in the Canyon where these two trails are. It’s like, Blair Witch creepy. It even has a “Witch House:”
It’s actually not a witch house at all, but rather an old restroom from the 30’s that was damaged by a storm in the 1960’s. However, I did hear a tale about how some guy murdered his girlfriend here way back when, and now her ghost haunts the place. That’s probably b.s., but it’s enough of a freaky story to make me not want to stick around the area for long. So I always run really fast through this part. Oh yea, another creepy part? There’s a human size cage made out of vines sitting on a rock right by this building. Totally freaky!
Anyway, today was good. Great weather for running-low 60s, overcast, a bit of a breeze, and best of all, NO RAIN! My legs were pretty achey up until about mile 2, but then they loosened up. It was actually all uphil till about mile 2, anyway, so rather than get frustrated with myself, I just slowed my pace down to something that was manageable even with the aches. It was nice to take it a bit slower. I found myself noticing the wildlife a bit more. Birds everywhere, and even a baby field mouse scurried across my path. The only sad thing was that there was a teeny tiny dead bird in the middle of the trail-it was so cute and small, so I couldn’t help but sigh running by it. Poor little guy.
Approaching the turn off to the Wildwood Trail, I was able to increase my pace a bit more, and then once on it, I was taking the descent pretty fast. The rocks were somewhat wet, but not too slick, so that was good. It felt nice at the bottom of the canyon running along the creek-much more motivational than sucking in exhaust fumes from cars! I passed a couple getting engagement pictures taken and smiled to myself, and then made my way by a big group of kids who must have been part of a summer camp or something. Anyway, totally forgot I was wearing my Celtics shirt until the kids started yelling, “Go Celtics!” “No way! Lakers are gonna win!” I wanted to turn around and say something about how the Lakers can go to hell, but I remembered that they frown upon talking like that to 8 year olds. So, I kept on running.
I was happily suprised that towards the end of the Lower Macleay trail there was no one standing on the banks of the creek smoking weed. I swear, almost every time I run there I always smell someone smoking dope, and then sure enough, they are standing right by the river, in plain sight, smoking. Like they totally don’t care that everyone knows it’s them getting blazed. Ah well, to each his/her own, right? I’m just glad I didn’t have to smell it today.
Took the stairs up to Thurman St. after exiting the park. I took one more last uphill at Thurman and 29th Ave. I wasn’t going to do it but I figured I’d give myself one more push before I ran the rest downhill. It was good-I felt exhilirated and it sort of made up for my slower pace at the beginning of the run. The rest was pretty easy. Just sort of coasted back down to my starting point.
One note about my diet. I’m thinking I need to ease up on the almond consumption. They are a great snack, but I’m noticing that they give me stomach cramps, which is totally not helpful on a run. I’m going to cut back on them and see if I notice a difference.
Oh yea, and I know this week I said I was going to get back into it with the weights, but I’ve decided to wait till next week. Seeing as how I sort of goto ut of my routine, I wanted to get back into the running part first and make sure I wasn’t going to slack anymore in that dept. So next week I’ll lift at least 3 times. That should make my husband happy-I think he’s sick of going to the gym alone.
OK That’s all for now. I’ll be checking in tomorrow after my 8 mile run. Wish me luck!
