This morning the air was crisp and fresh as I headed to the Stroud Preserve. This is one of my favorite places to run. They have some small hills, woods, fields and a nice pond to run around. It was a little on the cold side today and I have to admit I wasn't really in the mood to run... I'm not sure why. After I went up the first hill I came across a guy walking his dog (Welsh Corgi). I was running towards them and this little dog started running towards me. The next thing I know it jumps up (the little bugger jumped almost as high as my head) and started snapping at me. On the second jump he got a hold of my running shirt (Columbia GRT) and put a big hole in the side. Sooo frustrating! The guy was nice enough and offered to buy me a new shirt. Not the one I am wearing but a Columbia fleece. I haven't decided to take him up on it. If it's not the same shirt or something comparable then I don't really want it so why have him go through the trouble to get me something I probably won't use?
After that I fell into my normal rhythm. I was still feeling kind of crappy but maintaining a 9 or 10 minute pace. At the beginning of mile 2 I ran through about 200 yards of mud. Now the trail itself was muddy in places but this is the kind of mud where you sink to your ankles. It was a little cold but I didn't think too much about it. I figured the Vibrams could handle it and kept right on running. It wasn't until mile four or five when they started to dry out that the problem occurred. The muddy water seeped into the shoes and the water got out but it left quite a bit of dirt behind. The toe pockets of the shoe started feeling tighter and some of the dirt got pushed in front of my toes which made things slightly uncomfortable. I debated taking them off and rinsing the shoes in the stream and then continuing on however, my mind got the better of me and I cut the run in half... ending with only a six mile run instead of the 12 mile run. The worst part is that I was sooo motivated last night. I was thinking that I might do 18 miles today. Oh well, I'm not going to worry too much about it. I haven't really run for the last week and a half so I suppose I shouldn't just jump back in to my long runs. I actually have my runs scheduled from now until June 12th. I just need to sit with my wife and put them on her calendar.
