post the twenty-fourth, 2013

there are of course many ways to go about taking a run, but route types can be normalised down to a few: the point to point, the out and back, the loop, the lollypop, the wandering aimlessly around. taking a point to point run requires logistical planning unless you want to leave point A and take up residence at point B, so it's a bit rare. wandering aimlessly around is difficult to quantify, so again, rare. the other three are probably equally common.

today's running assignment was 15 miles, with the only instruction being, don't go too fast. i'm not sure coach understands what a complete slacker i am... at least, i feel like going too slow is something i struggle more with than going too fast. anyway, 15 miles, don't go too fast. got it.

now, to choose: the out and back, the loop, the lollypop.

the out and back is straightforward - you simple go straight, forward, and then you turn around and go back to the start. in this case, 7.5 miles out, 7.5 miles back. or, really, i'd do 7.75 miles out then back to 15, leaving a half mile to walk before i get back to the starting point. the problem with an out and back is that it's difficult to improvise. i mean, they're great for sort of mindless jogging, but if you want to venture off the path, whatever you do going forward, you're going to have to do that coming back. like, if you go down a side road for a half mile and back to the main, you've added a mile. when you get to 7.5, it's not "really" 7.5 unless you plan to take that same little detour on the way back. see? the value of the out and back is that you don't have to do a lot of pre-planning. just take off, go half your distance, turn around, wah-lah.

the loop is pretty self-explanatory, too. you start at A, run a route and end up back at A with the miles completed. the loop takes pre-planning. if you want to put in 15 miles, you have to have a 15-mile loop planned out. (i think you can get this without my going into advanced cartography.) you can't really improvise on the loop, either, because you are only going to add to the overall mileage. loops do have the advantage of varied scenery -- you won't pass the same placed twice, like you do on the out and back.

the lollypop is a bit of both. you jog to the start of the loop, go around the lollyloop, and then back down the lollypop stick and you're done. the loop would generally be the set piece, and if you wanted to add mileage, you'd do it on the lollystick portion or else you'd run the loop more than once. it's like, you jog to the park, loop the park, and then back home, something like that.

what to choose?

i considered going to the greenway for an out and back, but that just didn't appeal today. i felt like leaving my back door and ending up at my front door without using a car. pedding it, as it were. i've got this out and back that's 10 miles, and i thought i'd go to the 5 mile point (hereafter: X), cross the highway and go another 2.5 (or... 2.75) and then just turn around and head back.

oooooor, if i could get to X with 14, then i could take the shortcut home.

interesting...

so i took off knowing i needed 14 at point X and i started racking up the miles. i turned in side streets and cul-de-sacs here and there, just exploring, but the big payoff came when i got to the T-turn. it's like, road-A Ts into road B. to get to X, you take a right on B, and i was like, heeeeeeey, what if i take a LEFT on B? what about that?

i've made that left before, so i knew what i was getting into -- 4 miles, if i remembered correctly. as i topped the first hill, there was directly in my path a large black bird pecking at a small furry bloody thing. yikes! that bird looked like he would fight me for the squirrel, and since i didn't want the squirrel, i crossed to the other side. lah, lah, lah, soon i came to one of those little subdivisions that's all on one road, you know? this one's under construction and i'd been on the road before, so i knew it was .7 round trip. i could use that .7 so in i went. there were some kids playing basketball in drive of one of the finished houses, and there was a crew laying a foundation on another lot. jog jog, down the road and back.

now, i'm back on B, still headed away from X. i get to the end of B that's farthest from X and it Ts into yet another road, and there's a pickup coming down the road, but it's about .25 away, so i dash across the road and touch the road sign on the other side and dash back as the truck passes, because life's too short not to play in traffic.

so now i am headed back down B towards X and i am approaching that subdivision again, from the other side. i consider getting another .7 down that road, then i consider the basketballers and foundation layers will think i am nuts, then i consider they won't even notice, then i consider that .7 is just too good to pass up, so i take it. (i do think everyone noticed. it's a subdivision with like 2 occupied houses on a back country road, so how many joggers do they get? and good on 'em. they SHOULD notice. after all, i am wearing my sexy jogging pants.)

and, again i am on B headed to X, and i get back to where the big black bird was dining on fresh squirrel, and now there are TWO birds, and they're spreading their wings and posing and doing all this posturing around that damn squirrel to where you'd'a thought they killed that thing themselves. i stuck to my side of the road and they left me alone.

that was the last interesting thing. (well, besides the one section of roadside ditch covered up with busch cans. were they thrown from a car or did someone sit there by the roadside and drink them all?) but really, nothing eventful until i got to X. i hadn't been looking at my watch. i knew there was no way i'd have too many miles at X. i mean, if i managed to rack up 14, that would be a miracle. i got to X and peeked.... 9.87! not too shabby. i only need 4 more and i can take the shortcut home!

cross the highway, circle the hospital, down to the high school. i took a gamble on a quick loop: across the freeway bridge, down the big hill and back up the other side (if you see what i mean), around the goosepond, and i am back at X with (not shitting you) 13.94. how much closer to perfect would you want to be?

from there it's 1.5 miles home, so i take off, run 1 mile, and BOOM! 15 BABY!

i walked the rest of the way, sort of feeling like a big black bird with a squirrel.

(if you see what i mean.)