overtaking haynes

Decided to run this trail i always see crossing the road. It is called the Saugatuck Trail and i've run parts of it in h.s. I found out online before i went that it was 6.9 miles each way which seemed plenty as i'm still unfortunately a weakling and unable to remove the virus from me despite 8 days of onslaught. No more sore throat but TONS of nose running. Didn't feel too bad otherwise and after 4 full days of not exercising it was just time. 

 I started the run somewhere towards the end but not at the end and the first mile was spectacular. The terrain was hilly and the trail well maintained with nice rock formations. This was by far my favorite part of the run. I soon came to a sign that warned to stay off the trail from February through June because of Goshawks who live there and will attack you. Seems pretty crazy but me and some friends have had prior run ins with owls. I came across 2 large groups of people which seemed odd. One group had 8 people in it with 5 dogs which were friendly and then another group had 4 men in it. They were talking about politics and heard the name obama. At 5.3 miles I came to the end of the trail and decided to run to the very edge of the reservoir just for a sense of completion and added another .3 miles to the turnaround.

 The run back was uneventful and not that pleasant, but also not unpleasant. Kind of rocky but not too bad, some ups and downs but nothing too memorable. Several road crossings. I got back to my car at 2hrs and 8 min and proceeded to the other end of the trail. This part was cool and rose onto a pretty impressive ravine. At this point my fingers were hurting badly because i couldn't find my normal running gloves. Got back to the car in 2hrs 38 min after starting.

 think i'm still dehydrated/sick and have an annoying headache. we'll see if i run tomorrow morning or not. I should probably just be realistic and not try to wake up so early in the cold and just be happy running 5-6 miles in the morning and sucking up 3-4 miles on the treadmill when i get back from work. i'm sick of this virus though!


 

Felt sick this morning. Very congested and had a sore throat again. Felt better towards the end of the day. I planned on going on the treadmill tonight but literally after 12 seconds i said no way and went outside. It was quite warm out. Probably around 45F. I did a bunch of out and backs down dead end roads. Got 3.5 miles on dirt roads. Saw 4 sets of animal eyes. 2 of them scared me cause i thought they were probably raccoon and were really close to me. The headlamp makes the eyes look intimidating. Turned back there...and then i saw another pair of animal eyes and i saw them run off the road to see the white tail of the skunk. I was a little worried they might spray me. Every once in a while the ghost of my breath would startle me if the headlamp light hit it just right. I really enjoy running at night. My dad drove and found me at mile 8.5 of my run telling me how stupid i was for not wearing reflective gear. i'm not concerned because i can always see and hear the cars coming and go on the opposite side of the road. I also run on non thru roads and saw maybe 10 cars in the 1:27 of my run. 

1hr 6 mins 3.3 miles on dirt. ran part of it with my brother which was slow. now a veteran night runner, i got a reflective thingy and found my much improved headlamp. i can actually see the animal now and not just the eyes. to my surprise i saw two sets of eyes tonight and they were both of a single cat. it's weird but i think i might prefer night running to the day. 

another night run...no eyes tonight. 2.2 miles on dirt

2hr 12 min trail run. Wanted to do an out and back of this relatively new local trail. It was extremely awesome. The big legs are still having a hard time adjusting to the new load of higher mileage not seen since 3 weeks before the oct marathon. I'll get there i think. I'm feeling 95% now, just a few sniffles left but that could just be me in the winter. Definitely a new favorite trail. I still am amazed at how isolated you can feel in a place so populated. There was a 2 mile stretch of trail which i saw not any hint of a single house...saw only a few people out there today on the trail which makes it even more appealing. i did see a cute running girl very early on the trail running the other direction. she had a shirt that said x country on it which made her cool. 

1hr 29 min trail run. just finished before it was pitch black. 

2hr 9 min trail run at aspetuck. half the park feels like you're running on a stegasaurus. The rest is pretty awesome though. always super slow going. wanted for the run to be over the last couple miles but it wouldn't end.