Running Pays!

At least there's one advantage to being forced to run roads while the snow banks of winter are thawing! The photo above was from yesterday's outing and then today...more of the same...only to a lesser degree.

The bills were easy picking but the real haul was $25 worth of deposit cans that I've pulled in over the past week. Collecting the cans causes numerous interruptions in my flow as I've tried to improve on my running distances. However, the extra work in going in and out of ditches then carrying increasingly more additional weight seems to be giving me more of an overall workout.

8 miles yesterday for a 40 mile week then started this week out with 6.

Breaking Up Is Hard To Do

There's been some Canada Goose activity along the stream and river lately. I understand that the Canada Goose mates for life. But the river ice apparently feels no such allegiance and has been vigorously "breaking up" due to the melt and rain this week.

Obviously not a good time to think about getting out in a canoe. Ran in the cold rain yesterday but today was much nicer. Held back a bit with 5 miles each day.

Robins vs. Eagles

It was a windy and cold day. I chose to run the gravel opposite of the trails. Not bad footing but still packed snow and ice to worry about.

American Robins have been back in this area for several weeks now but for some reason they were grouped into flocks more than usual.

That is until I noticed them scatter for some reason and saw shadows above...three adult Bald Eagles were circling.

With help from what was a tailwind on my return, I clipped off a pretty good run and again saw a few Robin concentrations beneath specific trees beside the roads.

Put in another 6 but need to consider increasing the distance of my long runs if I want to attempt another ultra this year...late spring or early summer!

Regression Run

Sometimes in spring the weather has trouble making up it's mind. Today it regressed to winter and chose to snow all morning. I stayed off the trails and headed out to gravel.

6 miles

Ice Jam

The outdoor track season took off yesterday for NIACC and it was a cold one with an overnight drop in temps and a bitter wind all day. The teams did well despite the weather and had a few performances close to meeting outdoor national qualifying standards.

Pricillar John  in a relay with me cheering  trackside

JR and Sapolai in the 10K

Today when I ran on Lime Creek Trails, the cold resulted in icy footing and the river was refreezing after some break-up. Guess it's time to compare the status at the bend.  

March 23, 2014

January 5, 2014

June 13, 2013

April 16, 2013

6 miles total today.

Recce

Already tiring of the roads, I decided to head out on the trails of Lime Creek on a recce...as in the act of reconnoitering. Yeah, so maybe I am listening to too many podcasts from Great Britain. 

It was a beautiful sunny day and absolutely great for a recce! Left the camera home and simply enjoyed being out-of-doors. Guess I simply had a "Morning Yearning".

6 miles on the day.

Backroads

I believe there's something beautiful about the county-side in Iowa. It's just not always apparent at this time of year.

I'd much rather be finding my way back onto the wooded trails!

Perhaps more disturbing than picking up trash while in the woods, is the amount of trash that shows up beside the country roads. I have taken the distraction of collecting the recyclable cans and bottles as a challenge when I run. This time of year is particularly vulnerable as the debris is so visible during the melt. 

1st of three bags today even after three yesterday

What's of more concern than the presence of the cans, is that the predominance of beer cans and liquor bottles means there's a lot of vehicles on these roads with drivers that are likely drinking!

5 mile loop (now nick-named "the three bag loop").