GET OUTSIDE! (please)

See that picture over there? Yea. I need to attend a workshop on taking self portraits with my {droid}. I stink at it....and no, i don't have gas (at least not in this picture).

I took myself out for another trail run on wednesday while my wife and youngest son were gone to watch our middle son and his Freshman football team whoop a$$ on a team that beat them earlier in the season. I missed the game, but was very happy to hear the results and the highlights as acted out by Bryce in the living room. Good times!

Wednesday was streakday #11 for me. A new record. Such a great feeling to get a run in every day. Pretty much my only criteria was that the run needed to be a minimum of 2 miles. Some days were exactly that, but mostly because of time constraints, and not energy or fitness levels. I do, though, need to get more GenUCan. Could always use more of that, so if you are looking for stocking stuffers, etc....hint hint........I like Lemonade, Chocolate (who wouldn't?), and the blueberry...

Anyway, I ran on a trail system in Lebanon, NH. Pretty darned hilly (1328ft elevation gain over the 10k loop), but I really like it out there. It is one of the first systems that I ran on when I started back on this running thing. The 'out' loop runs along the ridgeline, and the original plan was to run the same trails on the way back, but due to some concerns about the darkness on the trail (no light with me!), I chose the 'lower' trail that stayed just downhill from the ridgeline. I'd never been on that particular trail, and found that i really liked it! At one point I ran pretty much straight into a bog (luckily, I didn't fall and die, because that sort of thing actually happens....here). As I tried to scramble out along a rock, it turned out to be a FAKE ROCK (piles of leaves), and my feet got muddy anyway. Normally I wouldn't care a bit, but I had to go get some items at the grocery store on the way home.....as it was, my lower legs were splattered with trail mud and sticks, so that was cool. oh, and I had TWO hitchhikers. yep, TICKS. thankfully I felt them before they started digging into my flesh.

Here's the trail, about 1.5 miles from the car, on my way back. I must say that I really enjoy running in areas like this, and wish that I could make a living at it, because I would love that. Just sayin'....if someone wants to pay me to just run around the woods every day, testing things, writing about them, etc...well, pop a note in the comment section! HAHAHAHA...yea, well, i know that isn't going to happen, so i'll stick with my day job! In the mean time I'll keep going back out into the woods as often as I can, huffing and puffing like a mad man, trying to outpace myself.

I've thought of some pretty cool things for 2012 on my recent runs, but need to run them by my training/events manager (Love you +1) before I go public with them. You know how it is....

I leave you with a thought:

Do what you like to do, as often as you can do it, because there WILL come a day when you can't. For me, that day will suck, so I am going to try to do the little things more often. (Heads up.....)

Be Well,

Gene