It's hard to believe that my little running life has reached its sweet 16. 16 years ago this morning I laced on an old pair of running shoes left over from my college days and drug my 200lb+ butt out the door to go for a run. Well that was the idea anyway. In reality it was a run walk affair. I'd run 30 seconds and walk 2-3 minutes. It wasn't pretty or even that much fun. Those 30 seconds seemed to drag on forever, whereas the 2-3 minute walk breaks felt no longer than 30 seconds. If I'd had one of the fancy watches I'd soon buy to support my running addiction, I'd have sworn I was running the reverse that I'd intended. But no, I was that out of shape. My lungs were on fire, my legs jello. How I convinced myself to try that again, I don't know. But I did. One year later, I'd managed to run a full year, something I hadn't accomplished even during my "true" athletic career in high school. I was ecstatic. Driving to work that morning I after my historic run, I heard on the news the first reports of the Oklahoma bombing. My elation was short-lived as the world learned more and more of that terrible act. To say that afterwards I decided to continue running in their honor would be a lie, but the thought of all those lives lost do cross my mind during my runs in April or really anytime I think about how long I've been running.
So this journey has brought me from 220 lbs (110kg) to 150lbs (68kg) and currently back at 176lbs (80kgs). The blubber is currently winning having snuck up behind me...i.e. Love handles. The battle continues...
---- Envoyé avec BlackBerry® d'Orange ----
Monday, April 19, 2010
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Regional #7 Paimpont le tombeau de Merlin Circuit B
3>4 thought I had a good route planned here. Maybe cutting through the forest would have been faster, but I decided to stay on the trails. Got into the circle, but no flag…I was looking at the top of the hill instead of the circle below….duh.
2>3 Route choice was less than optimal here. I saw the cliffs, and wasn't sure of the penatrability of the reen between them. So opted to go to the south
4>5 was OK, a bit too far south
5>6 I headed up the wrong reentrant
1>2 I came out of this one totally wrong. Bad map orientation. I realized I was wrong when I could see the parking area in front of me.
6>7>8>9The next 3 controls are where Iost a lot of time. I was confused by the streams. I thought 7 was supposed to be on the other side. I found 8…which should have made it easy to find 7, but instead I kept insisting it was on the other side of the creek…no. I finally found it. Got to 8 quickly, then came out of 8 totally wrong. Should have gone back to correct, but tried to correct from where I thought I was. Finally relocated by going to the road and coming back.
s>1 Stupid detour to look at control. I thought it didn't look like what I was looking for,but then I thought if it was, I'd have to come back…just not confident enough in my map reading.
9>10 wasn't too bad, a little slow going through the green.
10>11 Started out to try to cut through, but decided the green was too thick, so went back to follow the trails. Which didn't have a good catching feature, so went to the intersection and then back. At this point, I found myself running the same legs with a young girl wearing a grey vest…herewith called Grey Vest. Occasionally we'd take a different route, but usually ended up at the controls together. Sometimes is was just easier to follow…or at least be aware of her position to verify my choice.
11>12 went well, except I headed to 20 afterwards, until the Grey Vest asked me which one I was looking for.
12>13 Under the bridge, we had several people looking for the same one by now. Made it pretty easy to locate.
13>14 Also Good
14>15. Drawn off by somebody elselookingin the same area,
15>16OK too.
16>17Bad reading from the attackpoint. I managed to find it first out of the 4 or 5 of us in the area.
17>18 planned on running until I hit the trail. Aimed off to the east, but too much.
18>19 under the bridge again. Pretty clean.
19>20 A long one, and route choice a bit better. I took off on my own cutting across to the road, then took the second trail west, which looked safer to the intersection. Attackpoint of a rock and pretty much due south. Nailed it. The Grey Vest took the first trail to the west…and though we hit the intersection almost together, she hadn't found it after I had already had time to screw up and head west leavng the control and correct.
20>21. Straighforward, but I was tired
21>finish half assed sprint.
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