Chicks, Dicks, Soaking Kicks and Burnt Sticks

Hey y'all, I meant to holler at you yesterday but I wasn't home very much. I had a busy day that kept me on the porch and on the go most of the day. Before I get to that, I'll go back in time to Saturday.

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Chicks

Before you go getting your hopes up for your old pal Old Coot, the chicks I'm talking about are highschool chicks, not real chicks.

Sorry HECOW, this is a bit about running. I was supposed to take Friday and Saturday off to rest up for Sunday's trail race. Instead I went out and ran trails Friday, on what was supposed to be an easy 3 mile jaunt. Of course, that never happens and it turned into what I estimated was more like 7 miles. Oh well, I still had Saturday to rest.

Saturday morning I awoke at the crack of dawn (maybe before) to suit up and run with the cross country team from the local highschool. Two of the women I run with are the coach/assistant coach for the team and they always need adults to go with them on the runs. The team has over 40 kids of varying ability, and they need responsible people to accompany them so nobody gets lost or in trouble. Lacking responsible adults, I was asked to join. It was somewhere between 7 and 8 miles on a dirt road not far from my house, and it was their long, slow run. I figured I could squeeze a slow run in, just to keep the legs loose for Sunday.

That was dumb. I wouldn't say I wore myself out by any stretch, but my achilles tendon (which was sore) was bothering me at the end. I went home and massaged my calf to try and relieve some pressure and ended up with a wicked sore calf.

[Georgia Mass Choir]BACKFIRE![/Georgia Mass Choir] It did help the AT, but the calf was ruined and I could barely walk. I thought maybe I'd get out and stroll a bit to see if I could work it out.

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Dicks

Pittsfield is now the proud owner of a sporting goods store. A city of this size should not have gone so long with out a proper place to buy things like, oh, baseball gloves. I don't care about baseball, but the only place to get stuff like that has been Walfart or more recently Target. Now we have a Dick's! WHAT! Plus, it is actually in town, no more driving out to the mall to buy athletic equipment.

I took myself a drive over to Dick's and was pleasantly surprised by the way the store is organized. I'm not counting my chickens yet, as Pittsfield's ghettoness has its way of ruining even the best stores, but this one seems like it might just make it. I even treated myself to some running treats as my prize for shopping there. Ahh, treats!

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Soaking Kicks

Sunday I awoke with the sun again to head out to Monroe, MA for a trail race. It was cold as hell but was supposed to warm up. Saturday started the same way so I wasn't worried.

I walked over to a friend's house in the thickest fog ever. I thought his street was only a block or two away, so I hoofed it instead of driving. I made a quick stop at the ATM (not really on my way, but I was broke as a joke) then headed down Elm St towards his house. I passed one street, then two streets, then five. I started to get worried that maybe I didn't know where he lived when I finally found it. It turns out he lives a little more than a half mile from my street. In the foggy, 40 degree morning this wasn't the most pleasant walk I've done. I will say that the fog made everything look cool, but I would have rathered that it was warm.

After the guy and his daugher had breakfast, we loaded up the car and headed out. I figured it would warm up some on the way, but it did not. As race time approached I was starting to question my choice of apparel. I had on a long sleeve shirt, but my favorite shorts (so nice for summer running, but not warm in the autumn) and I was contemplating keeping the windbreaker.

Apparently other people had a similar problem, some were dressed in fleece, others in t-shirts, singlets and one guy even had no shirt. That's ballsy, I don't care how tough you are.

I won't bore you with the details of the entire race but they were not kidding about the walking. Apparently the fast people managed to run the whole way, but I could barely walk up one mile-long section. I was praying for a chance to run to give my legs a rest, as running does not prepare you to walk, it uses different muscles. After a ten minute walk we were past that steep ledge.

Once we finally made it to the top I was ready for a nice easy rolling downhill. There was no such thing. Instead, it was rocky, rooty (is that a word?) and covered in leaves. You were fighting gravity the entire time down with only a few exceptions.

There was a mud crossing where you sunk up to your ankles in thick, nasty stagnant mud followed by a stream crossing, where you were up to your ankles in frigid water. The water was refreshing until your feet went numb. Then of course, your shoes were heavy with water making it that much more difficult to run. We would cross two more streams then a river. By the end my poor feet were soggy and aching.

I finished at about 1:50, 10 minutes longer than I had hoped. Oh well. We had to leave shortly after I finished to get the guy's daughter to a birthday party, so I didn't get a chance to graze like I wanted and I didn't see where I placed in my age group. I don't think there were many people my age, so I might have done well. Keep your fingers crossed please.

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Toenail Update

I'm sure you have all been wondering about the toenail I jacked up a few months back. After repeatedly jamming it into the front of my shoe, it turned dark red, then purple, then black. It was very close to falling off, and yesterday pretty much got me there. Finally, no disgusting toe!

Wrong, now the one next to it is starting to go. The jamming slowly peels the nail back in a painful, non-bandaid like manner. There isn't any bleeding (thank God), but it still sucks. Like a hangnail, once it starts to lift up it gets caught on everything (like your sock) making even walking an unpleasant activity. Yup, this one sucks! You can rest easy knowing I'm not going to post any pictures.

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Burnt Sticks

Saturday night I built myself a little bonfire out in the backyard. I was hoping to get rid of a few piles of branches, old lumber and other assorted lawn detritus. I got that bad boar cooking, and got rid of a lot of stuff. There was the old fence that's now almost gone, a pile of junk lumber that's almost gone, and I even got into a pile of logs that have been sitting lifeless in the corner of the yard for a few years. I'm thinking if I can have a few more fires like that I'll be in business. Ahh, cleaning up the yard.

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Today's Plans

I took today off of work in celebration of Christopher Colombus's birth or death, or when he discovered America; whatever. Whatever the reason, all I know is that I'm not working. I'm heading up to help JC with some firewood, always a good task. Other than that I'm hoping to get some crap done around the house and then just generally relax. It's supposed to be close to 70 today so I hope to be outside as much as possible.

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I'll holler at y'all later.

Over and Out,
Old Coot