Joggling Ridge Road

One of my goals for the year is to joggle Ridge Road.   And by this, I mean both directions.  Ridge Road is an absolutely beautiful run (I rave about it periodically on this site), but it is quite tough.  Even though it is only 4 miles (one-way), it can be an excruciating workout. 

My goal for today was to joggle Ridge Road one way, then run back.  It was an ambitious goal, as just running this out-and-back is usually a good workout.  And I have never joggled outside for more than about a half mile.  But I thought this would be a good (ambitious) goal for today, and a very good start to hitting my overall goal of joggling out-and-back.

I got to the north end of Ridge Road at exactly 10AM.  There were 2 cars parked on the side of the road, but no one in sight.  I laced up my shoes, grabbed my bean bags, and immediately set up the big hill.  The big hill is a tough way to start off any southbound run on Ridge Road.  There is no warm-up, no easy start.  It is trial-by-fire, a grueling half mile that goes straight up.  What a way to start off my first official outdoor joggling experience. 

It felt weird at first to be joggling and actually moving forward.  And for that first uphill half mile, it was a free-for-all.  Throw, catch, step, release, step.  It was chaos.  It couldn’t have been more than 2 minutes into my run that I heard something snarling right off the road.  I stopped, and looking into the bushes.  I didn’t see anything.  On further inspection, it turned out to be a horse just beyond the trees making a very unhorselike noise.  There was a lady sitting in her car at the end of her driveway as I joggled past.  It was sensory overload for me.  I couldn’t lean forward and trudge up the hill like I usually do.  I had to stand perpendicular.  Catch, release, step, catch, release, step.

I was extremely relieved to get to the top of the hill.  Running hills has never been my strong point, and I realized this was exaggerated while joggling.  But with the really bad part over with, I was able to settle down into a rhythm.  The hills were still relentless, but at least they were shorter, and not continually up.  I passed my first runner coming the other direction about 1.5 miles in.  “Wow,” he said.  “and I thought just running was hard.  That takes talent!”  “Thanks,” I said, and right on queue had a drop. 

One thing I learned on my joggle was how to look cool when dropping.  (And believe me, I dropped quite often)  I would roll my eyes, and round off into a slow jog, like a baseball player who was just thrown out at first.  Ridge Road was especially muddy, which made dropping quite unpleasant.  It also made the bean bags quite slippery.  It wasn’t long until my hands (and much of my clothes) were covered in dirt.  I also noticed how mental it all is.  I tended to drop when passing someone, or when thinking “Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve dropped”.  I guess it’s a mental game.

I passed a couple walking their dog at about the 2 mile mark.  “Wow,” the woman said.  “Running while juggling.  You are talented!”  I was happy.  I had passed 2 people, and both called me talented.  I passed a couple more runners.  They both looked like serious runners.  One of them looked like he was too important to acknowledge anyone else.  The other simply nodded to me.  I was happy that I didn’t drop in front of them.

The wind was contantly in my face, making my eyes water, making it very hard to see.  I was a little tired of the constant focus, both on the ground and on where I was throwing.  I was thinking about really how much harder joggling is than simply running.  It seems like every time I do it, I get a whole new respect for those who joggle marathons and other long races.  It is really quite hard.  It felt to me like when I first started running.  When it was a huge deal to run 3 miles.  I thought about how far I’d come in running.  Would I have to go through all that again with joggling?

I was pretty exhausted already by the 3 mile mark.  But that’s when I spotted my wife running from the other direction to meet me.  She had just gotten off work.   She was a good sport about running with me while I joggled.  She took it slow with me (“a good warm-up” she said), and claimed not to be embarrassed by my weird hobby.  We talked for the last mile, helped relax me and take my mind of being tired.

We eventually got to her car on the south end of Ridge Road.  I drank a bunch of her water and left my bean bags in her car.  I was pretty tired.  Now all that was left was a regular run back to my car.  It was a slow, tough run, especially up the hills.  It reminded me one more reason why I am so into the treadmill lately:  no big hills, no wind.

On the way back, I passed a few of those who I passed on the way out.  “Wow,” said the dog-walker.  “You took some juggling balls and turned them into a woman.  You are magic!”  And another runner who we passed near the turn-around told us to have a nice afternoon.  It made me think about how normally none of us would have spoken to each other.  And it was nice that they said something on my way out, when I was joggling, but when on the way back, when I was just running, they still said something.  My wife says that joggling is a good icebreaker.  I have to agree.

So, I did my 8 mile Ridge Road run, joggling half of it.  I am pretty happy with that.  I was ttired at the end, and it’ll take a bit more effort to complete my goal of juggling the full out-and-back.  But I’m sure I can do it.  The big victory for me was probably the social aspect - just getting out there and doing it.