Mish Mash & This’n’That

This post will be another mish mash of this'n'that....so bear with me :)

I have to do a post recapping the Meredith Hagan Inspiration Run but I want to do it justice, so I'll hang on to that until later in the week. I just want to say this was an amazing event for a great cause and it was wonderful to be part of it. I'll leave you with a post race photo with the medal, for now.

Friday night I went for a walk with my friend Guenther. It is great to catch up with him because he is so inspirational and has worked so hard to get where he is and he never gives up.

We started out just walking and talking along the Radial Trail and then I saw a path going up the escarpment and thought it would be an interesting hike. Well...I was right, but not in the way I expected! The path up was very difficult, steep and very rocky with lots of tree roots and tree branches overhanging the path. The roots and branches did help with balance and pulling up the route though!  We were looking forward to getting to the top of the path for the view and also to find an alternate  easier path back down. Guenther was a few feet ahead of me and reached  the top first. I asked him what he could see and he said, "Wait til you get up here". I thought it must be an amazing view down the mountain/escarpment.

When I finally reached the top, there was no view down because we were not high enough above the treeline and basically could only see the path and woods we had just come up.  Ahead of me, at the top of the path....was a fence. A fence that extended as far as I could see on either side along the the ridge.  Determined that we were not going back down because it was so steep and rocky, we started along a worn path along the fence, it was very narrow, with only about 4-6 inches for our feet before dropping off steeply down the escarpment. Although I am not afraid of heights, I don't like the sensation of the ground slipping beneath my feet! 

About 10 feet along the fence, a dog came from the property on the other side of the fence and started growling and barking at us and sticking his nose through the fence to reach us.
I was terrified! Guenther said to keep walking and ignore it. It was hard to ignore snapping, growling jaws coming at me through the fence when I only had 4 - 6 inches of safe ground under my feet. 

Eventually, a woman yelled out at us that we had to go back the way we came that the path we were on went nowhere. So we had to turn around and go back - with the dog following us. I was truly terrified to the point I froze a few times and could not take a step.  Guenther asked the woman to call the dog back - we weren't trying to get on her property and we were not even touching the fence - but she didn't.  Guenther kept telling me that the dog could smell my fear and I kept saying "Because I'm scared!".  Haha...ok it wasn't funny at the time....it was really awful.

Since we knew we couldn't continue along the fence because of the dog, we had to go back down the path. Going down was much harder and for about half of it, I was crab walking with my arms behind me and sort of scooching down the trail to avoid slipping. Several times the ground gave out and I slipped a few feet but caught myself on a branch or tree root. Guenther managed to stay on two feet but did slip a few times as well. Once we got back to the main radial trail we walked about another 2k before heading back to the car - total was 5.25k. The  hike up the path and back down were the hardest part of the workout though.

Yesterday was the Meredith Hagan Run,  along a trail at Mountsberg Conservation Area, also challenging.

Today, I ran a new-to-me route with my running clinic group. I really, really liked this route and although it had two long, gradual hills - it felt easier than yesterday's trail run. I had a good pace today too and felt strong.

No shin splints for two weeks!!!!! I do have an appointment later t his week to see about orthotics that  I am going to keep, but I am feeling good that I've had no problems for the last two weeks.

I did have a small stone in my shoe during the run yesterday which left me with a blister behind my big toe, but it didn't bother me while running today so I'm hoping it's not going to slow me down for tomorrow's run.

Food has been excellent for the last two weeks. I've only had one serving of some kind of starchy carb for three days out of seven - and all the other carbs were low glycemic vegetables and fruit.  Fruit and vegetables do not set off the carb triggers for me the way rice/pasta/bread does and keeping to one serving, every other day, doesn't either.  Weirdly, I've not had much appetite since about Tuesday. I think it's because of the crazy heat wave we had all week and I've been drinking so much water.  More seasonal temperatures are expected this week so I  am sure my appetite will resume its normal  programming!

My running/walking total kilometers for June so far, is the most I have ever done in one month!  It is mostly running, but there are a few longer walks that I used my Nike+ for that are included in the totals. I'll post the total at the end of June.

Lots to do tonight before I go to bed - so "Goodnight y'all!".