When someone mentions Michael Myers to me I think of a knife wielding psycho in a hockey mask that terrorizes kids that dare to "go all the way" in suburban America. So an invitation to go running in the woods with Michael Myers doesn't seem very appealing. To those (significantly) younger than me the mention of Michael Myers probably conjures up the image of a "oh so friggin' zany" Canadian comedian who was the genius behind Austin Powers. Now an invitation to go trail running in the woods with this Michael Myers I'd galdly accept - if only so I could beat him to death with a log and leave him buried in a shallow unmarked grave! O.K. so I'm not a big Austin Powers fan.
Which one would you go running with?
Either way, this past week I have actually gone trail running with Michael Myers - and it's O.K. no-one died and there is no new unmarked graves in Patapsco State Park. Michael happens (rather surprizingly) to be the name of daughter #1's new boyfriend, and spring break saw them visiting from college. Well with Michael being a runner it seemed like the only thing to do. So Saturday afternoon saw Michael, Sean and "Yours Truly" hitting the trails from Landing Road. Took Cascade to the first water, then left branch up the hill to the old rail way ties. Then straight over the top and down to the waterfall, back onto cascade and the usual route anticlockwise. Sean and I am used to this now (just as well with Hat only a week away) but it's a shock to Michael's system - he admits half way round that he has only ever run on a tread mill before! Well, I'll give him one thing, he's got courage! Actually he holds up really well and probably enjoys himself - though later in the evening he does disappear off to bed very early.
Highlight of the run is overtaking a group of bikers up the steepest section of trail. First to surcumb doesn't even look up from his bars, next couple are more vocal "well now I'm embarassed" was the comment - he was even more pissed when he realized I was wearing my Shenandoah M100 T-shirt, "Oh God he did the SM100 as well". Of course what they didn't realize was that it is so much easier and quicker to run up a steep hill than it will ever be to bike up it!! Having done both (and having had my ass kicked by runners several times when I've been biking) I am fully aware of this - but it is knowledge I decide not to pass on on this occasion.
At the big crossroads (at the Rockburn Branch junction) we give Michael the option of long or short route home - the guy has done magnificent for his first trail run, but is clearly all in. And he has the self awareness to know this so opts for short run. So we take Morning Choice past the derelict houses, where we pass the same group of bikers again - O.K. no excuse thsi time cos we are on the flat! Back at the car in exactly an hour and cold beers all round. Felt good.
Then all goes to HELL!
Monday feeling good I hit "Boot Camp" with MLW - a gym run class mixing running, sprinting and exercizes outdoors. With the leg better and Hat Run ahead I am feeling invincible and attack exercises and sprints with inadvisable vigor. Felt good at the time but ever since my bloody hamstrings are as tight as a sharks a## at 50 fathoms! Then to cap it all off Tuesday and illness hits - starts about 4pm with nausea and headache - by the time I get home I am one unhappy puppy. I feel like a beer keg - I contain nothing solid and everytime anything exits my body it does so under high pressure - bloody charming. Tuesday night is sleepless and alternatingly freezing cold or roasting hot depending on how my body feels at that moment. Wednesday is a day in bed. Thursday and I have to just grin and bare it - got to get mind and body back together for Hat. Thursday lunch and I do my final run 6 easy miles (nice and hilly), stomach not a major issue but tight hamstrings are a bit of a worry.
Just got to relax, carbo-load, hydrate and see what Saturday brings - 31 miles of fun!!
Catch you all after the Hat - assuming I survive.
Dogzbollux
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