Weather - 8 degrees, clear. Because there was no wind 8 degrees seemed warm in comparison to yesterday. I know I'm getting tough when 8 degrees seems easy to work out in. Since it will be warming up for the rest of the week, I decided to run short today, and do some strength exercises along the way. The final mile was high intensity, it felt good to run fast and get the heart rate into the red zone. My knee did not bother me on the run, and although it is still a bit sore, I think it is nothing serious.
When I was in my early 20's I used to run at a local forest preserve. I had never heard of ultra marathons, and was not aware that people were capable of running longer than 26 miles (these were pre-internet days). But when I was out running the trails, an idea kept nagging at my heart. It seemed that if a person was capable of working 8-12 hours in a warehouse or factory day after day, why could not a person be capable of running for the same amount of time? It seemed like a sensible idea, but because I knew of nobody who did this, I thought perhaps that it was not possible. But if it was, I believed it would be a great thing to run from sun up to sun down. I remember trying my best to do this during the long summer days of 1988/89, but I always stopped running by late morning. I would get some lunch, return to the forest, do some strength exercises, then run up and down the large hill for a couple of hours as the sun set. Although I never achieved my goal, being outdoors all day exercising was a great way to spend a weekend. Today I signed up for the McNaughton Park 50 mile Trail Race on April 11, 2009. It is only 2 weeks after the Clinton Lake 30 mile race, but McNaughton is close to home (2 hours away by car), and a few local runners do both of these races. I am guessing that it will take me 10-12 hours to complete the race, which is pretty close to running from sun up to sun down. 20 years after setting the goal, I just may achieve it in 2009. I can't wait for the fun to begin! #402
Digital picture made a few days ago : 
Night Alley
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