Day Eighty Five - Senic Seneca Lake
Back on the road for another Saturday long run this week. We were in Geneva again, my girlfriend's hometown, for the last stop on the "Everyone Gets Married Tour 2006." Six weddings in 7 months, four since August 18. Insanity. The last time we were in Geneva it was Labor Day and I was struggling to get 6 and a half miles done. This time I was scheduled to run 16 - 18...but I knew that was a long shot with the wedding coming up later in the night.
I started out around 9:30 or so - an hour later than I had anticipated, but no major worries there. It was chilly out, but I knew I'd be sweating before too long so I didn't let the cold bother me. I started off with a mile downhill, which is the way every run should start, I've decided. At the bottom was Seneca Lake. If you remember my last post about running in Geneva (it's OK if you don't, I barely do) I was dropped off down at the lake and told that the path along it was 2.5 miles each way. So this time I added a mile by running there instead of getting a ride. I also had the benefit of not running in a downpour this time, although I will say that the wind coming off of the water made me very thankful that it wasn't quite as cold as it could have been because I can see that being a VERY uncomfortable run were it 10 degrees cooler.
I headed down the path towards the North end of the lake and felt great. I thought I might be pushing it a little bit with my pace and that I'd run out of gas, but then I thought, "better to realize that on a training day than on race day" and decided to keep it up. The last time I ran this course I lost the trail about half a mile before it ended and was really unhappy with myself so this time I kept my eyes peeled (when I wasn't dodging goose shit that is). The same as last time, the thing just ends at this beach. I ran on around a shelter and through what appeared to be a parking lot and found a completely different road, which ended about a quarter mile or so later. I guess that's the trail, but no way is it my fault for losing it last time. I don't want to be a jerk, because it is a beautiful run, but my God the trail is poorly marked. There are some scattered distance markers along the way, but some hooligans have removed the actual numbers from them, so on the rare occassion that you do see one, it's pretty much useless.
The run back to the start of the trail was tougher as I was running into the wind. Might not sound so bad, but it was pretty strong wind. You're just gonna have to take my word for it. About 3/4 of the way back I actually ran into Dan, my girlfriend's roommate's boyfriend, who was in town for the same wedding and off for a run himself. We ran back to his hotel together, I stopped for some water and to say hello to some other friends who were all meeting for breakfast and headed back up the hill towards my girlfriend's house. I passed her street and continued on another loop for an additional couple of miles. Got back in time to help finish raking the front lawn (although the rest of the fam did the lion's share while I was running - which is just good planning) and shower before heading off to the wedding, which was a blast. Congratulations Bo and Melissa - we had a blast and the band was tops. Kids - if you're getting married - go with the live band. It's really really awesome.
I am VERY behind in sending out thanks to people for donating (I'm up to damn near $2600.00 after my second fundraising letter today!!!), so here's the latest list of generous people who rock my socks:
Robbie (I might have mentioned her before, but screw it, she gets a second shout because we've never even met!), Mr. and Mrs. B., Casey, Chen, Erin from work, Katrina from work, Jason @ mobscene, D-Dorian-Dot-Dorothy, Ali from work, Bridget from Training Wheels: The Show, Damien and Wanda (special thanks to Rocco too!), Chris from UMass, SB and Bob, Enid, Necola from work, the aforementioned Dan (spit on it) and Yuki, who kindly offered me her sports bra to help with my nipple chaffing.
The world is full of great people. Lucky me.
DAY 85
TODAY'S MILEAGE: 8.75
TOTAL MILEAGE: 175.93
I started out around 9:30 or so - an hour later than I had anticipated, but no major worries there. It was chilly out, but I knew I'd be sweating before too long so I didn't let the cold bother me. I started off with a mile downhill, which is the way every run should start, I've decided. At the bottom was Seneca Lake. If you remember my last post about running in Geneva (it's OK if you don't, I barely do) I was dropped off down at the lake and told that the path along it was 2.5 miles each way. So this time I added a mile by running there instead of getting a ride. I also had the benefit of not running in a downpour this time, although I will say that the wind coming off of the water made me very thankful that it wasn't quite as cold as it could have been because I can see that being a VERY uncomfortable run were it 10 degrees cooler.
I headed down the path towards the North end of the lake and felt great. I thought I might be pushing it a little bit with my pace and that I'd run out of gas, but then I thought, "better to realize that on a training day than on race day" and decided to keep it up. The last time I ran this course I lost the trail about half a mile before it ended and was really unhappy with myself so this time I kept my eyes peeled (when I wasn't dodging goose shit that is). The same as last time, the thing just ends at this beach. I ran on around a shelter and through what appeared to be a parking lot and found a completely different road, which ended about a quarter mile or so later. I guess that's the trail, but no way is it my fault for losing it last time. I don't want to be a jerk, because it is a beautiful run, but my God the trail is poorly marked. There are some scattered distance markers along the way, but some hooligans have removed the actual numbers from them, so on the rare occassion that you do see one, it's pretty much useless.
The run back to the start of the trail was tougher as I was running into the wind. Might not sound so bad, but it was pretty strong wind. You're just gonna have to take my word for it. About 3/4 of the way back I actually ran into Dan, my girlfriend's roommate's boyfriend, who was in town for the same wedding and off for a run himself. We ran back to his hotel together, I stopped for some water and to say hello to some other friends who were all meeting for breakfast and headed back up the hill towards my girlfriend's house. I passed her street and continued on another loop for an additional couple of miles. Got back in time to help finish raking the front lawn (although the rest of the fam did the lion's share while I was running - which is just good planning) and shower before heading off to the wedding, which was a blast. Congratulations Bo and Melissa - we had a blast and the band was tops. Kids - if you're getting married - go with the live band. It's really really awesome.
I am VERY behind in sending out thanks to people for donating (I'm up to damn near $2600.00 after my second fundraising letter today!!!), so here's the latest list of generous people who rock my socks:
Robbie (I might have mentioned her before, but screw it, she gets a second shout because we've never even met!), Mr. and Mrs. B., Casey, Chen, Erin from work, Katrina from work, Jason @ mobscene, D-Dorian-Dot-Dorothy, Ali from work, Bridget from Training Wheels: The Show, Damien and Wanda (special thanks to Rocco too!), Chris from UMass, SB and Bob, Enid, Necola from work, the aforementioned Dan (spit on it) and Yuki, who kindly offered me her sports bra to help with my nipple chaffing.
The world is full of great people. Lucky me.
DAY 85
TODAY'S MILEAGE: 8.75
TOTAL MILEAGE: 175.93
posted by Demps at 2:29 PM
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