Next weekend is the Pineland Farms Trail Challenge. (Why do they have to call it a “challenge”?) So today I wanted to get in a decent run. I didn’t want to push my legs to the point of injury, but I also wanted a really good workout. It’s the perfect set-up for the Ridge Road Joggle.
The most exciting part of today’s joggle came at the half mile mark. The first half mile is straight up hill, and usually I am very happy to get that part over with. But today, just as I was cresting the hill, a pickup truck came barrelling toward me. My first instinct was to dash to the side of the road. But as I did that, my second instinct reminded me not to drop my bean bag. The result reminded me of a Wile E. Coyote cartoon: Me running off in one direction, then one arm reaching out to grab the bean bag that was still in mid-air. Miraculously, I kept in rhythm and didn’t drop.
Unfortunately, that seemed like the only time I didn’t drop. It was a rough joggling day, and I had a bad case of the drops. The wind was a little gusty from the west. And the pollen itched my nose the whole run. I have to say, I am getting pretty good at scratching my nose while joggling.
Other than throwing a little wild, today was a near perfect day. The sky was dark blue: not a cloud in site, and low humidity. The trees were bright green, providing a nice canopy of shade for the weary joggler. And at about the one-mile mark, a deer wandered out in front of me. He stopped for a few seconds, looked at me, and slowly wandered away.
It was a great day to be out on Ridge Road, but it was also the emptiest I have ever seen it. In fact, I started to wonder if it was really a weekday, and I was supposed to be at work. I only saw 3 people and 2 cars the whole run. But this weekend is graduation at the University. I guess everyone is busy doing other things.
In all, I have to say this was probably the best joggle I’ve had on Ridge Road. At the end of my 8 miles, I still had plenty of energy, and nothing hurt. I still can’t say I’m completely back in shape, and ready to run a hilly 25K. But I am cautiously optimistic. These last 2 weekends have gone about as well as I could have hoped for.
