This past weekend, I returned from a quick trip to run with a few friends, and was greeted with a dead phone. I should have learned my lesson by now, but I realized at that moment that I hadn’t backed it up in a few weeks, and I sadly had lost quite a few photos. After my initial frustration, I mourned the loss but moved on. We catalog memories in a lot of different ways, and those photos were just one way that I had captured different moments. Luckily, this site is yet another way that I’m able to capture life, and it made me appreciate even more the power of journaling as a means of cataloging memories. I hope you have many different ways to capture those things that are important to you as well. Oh, and don’t forget to back up your phone!
Chasing42 Log: 20160616-20160622
Run: The time management transition continues, and I’d be lying if I said my sleep wasn’t suffering as a result. However, I’ve still been able to keep moving forward with my training and getting in my daily runs. I have two weeks of track workouts under my belt now, and am feeling really good about the time I’m spending racing around the 400m oval. This past weekend, I met a friend up in York, PA, and we ran the length of the 41-mile York Heritage Trail down to Cockeyville, MD in honor of his 41st birthday. We were awake at 3AM, and running by 3:45AM, which was painful at the time, but we were thankful for the cool temps during those early morning hours. The run itself was surprisingly easy and quite comfortable, and we had a blast! My legs felt fine on Sunday and I managed a nice recovery run along with all of the other chores on our weekend agenda. One of the other significant shifts has been my ability to make it to group runs on Monday nights, which means Monday is no longer a rest and recovery day for me. I’ve shifted my schedule such that Wednesday and Friday are more intentional rest days with lower and slower mileage, and it seems to be working out well.
Thought: As I was running at a local park on Wednesday, I found myself particularly annoyed with some of the folks sharing the paved loop with me. Now that summer is here and the weather is much nicer, it’s wonderful to see so many more people out and about, being active, and generally taking advantage of the weather. However, it would seem that some of the most basic rules of trail etiquette seem to go out the window rather quickly. This wouldn’t be the first time that I’ve found myself pondering the illogical nature of decisions that I would have thought would have been common-sense. I resisted the urge to “politely” ask people to consider their decisions, which was probably for the best since my comments may not have come out quite as nice as I would have liked. However, it reminded me that as runners, we can’t take some of these common-sense actions for granted and need to always assume people will behave irrationally. We need to be ready to react on paved residential trails in much the same way that we prepare to react on single-track in the middle of the wilderness. Dogs and strollers may replace snakes and tree roots as our most significant obstacles, but the need to respond accordingly is still there!
Oh, and in case you were wondering:
- Walking 3-wide with 4 dogs across the entire trail is never a smart move. I’m sure you have a lot of gossip to catch up on, but you still need to pay attention to yourself and your pets!
- Giving your dog 10 feet of leash to weave back and forth across the trail is going to get you in trouble. I’d prefer not to jump rope with your leash.
- I’m really happy to see you getting your young children outside and teaching them the value of exercising. However, please don’t let them run up ahead of you so far that you can’t alert them to others oncoming. They probably aren’t going to be paying attention, and I certainly don’t feel comfortable moving your child out-of-the-way so I don’t knock them down!
- Runners- please remember to run on the right and pass on the left, and to keep to your side otherwise. Folks of all paces are out there, and you don’t want them to run into you, or vice-versa.
- Everyone else- passing on the left is common. A biker or runner should shout “on your left” before coming up behind you. This means they will be passing you ON YOUR LEFT. This is not a request for you to move to the left, or for the two of you to part like the Red Sea so that I can run between you and hope I don’t trip over your stroller or startled dog. You might need to practice this reflex reaction at home, since it would seem that a significant number of people are confused by their left and right when confronted with the decision.
Just sayin’. I’ll keep #chasing42…on your left.