Moody Weather

Ever been on a run and audibly cursed the weather?  I have, several times.  It's almost always the wind that personifies nature enough to evoke bursts of angry words from my otherwise clinched jaw.

Yesterday took the cake.  Got started at 8am to near 70 degree temps and sunshine.  20 minutes later a wave of icy wind crashed into me and remained at full 25mph force for the remaining 1:15 of my run.  The temp went from 70 to 40 in a matter of 30 seconds.  I went from sweating heavily to freezing in a matter of three minutes.  By the end of the run I couldn't feel my arms from the elbows down.  They looked like a marble statue's arms, solid, deep red, and detached of feeling from my body.  Glad I got out for the run instead of waiting because the day just got progressively worse until it was snowing and 30 degrees.  Crazy.

I took the opportunity to take my "new" mtn bike over to drop off at ubikes for various work (rebuild forks, adjust brakes, repack bottom bracket, adjust derailleur, and some other crap to make it perfect).  Jeff (mtnrunner2) told me about a poor tree at the outside apex of a switchback descent that has been stripped of all lower limbs and bark from overly ambitious bikers going into the corner a little too hot.  So, with that thought in my mind all morning, I dug out my helmet this weekend too.  On the road I've been "old school" since the mid 80s and refuse to wear a helmet on the road unless riding with a group.  Of course, I wear a helmet on the trails.  Something about flying ten feet in the air on a rocky trail at 25mph makes me think bad things could come when the rubber isn't the first thing to hit.

A guy in my mountain bike riding club in NC (Trailblazers) died in late summer 2006.  He was riding fast on trails behind his new wife and didn't hear her yell back to be careful of a drop off.  He hit it too fast and landed head first, breaking his neck and killing him instantly.  That was just about when I started thinking of getting into trail running.  At my running speed, the worse I could do to myself is get my palms dirty after tripping.  So, here I am again missing the speed of mtn biking.  There's so much precision and handling skills to hone that it's a constant learning experience.  I know how to run now and, though it's far from boring, it's predictable.  Nothing much to work on in terms of skill or fitness.  I just sort of have to accept where I am with running and enjoy it, which I do.  I'm looking forward to having the two worlds mesh again.

(September 2006) So far behind everyone, I have the trail to myself!