Thursday, May 24, 2012

Merciless

After Monday's run where the wild things were, there was the slightest hope that the gargantuan horseflies might have had their fill of swarming my dome. Not so. In fact, they were all over my car upon arriving at the parking lot for the Ledges and Pine Grove trails.

Looking out the windshield, a megafly was humping the hot hood of my Hyundai. You menace! There would be no respite from the aerial attacks today.

Learning to run while swatting at bugs is a good way to work on body control, balance, agility, and eccentricity. When twisting your body in the follow-through of a haymaker punch, it's essential to lift your knees and keep your feet pointed forward, or you could risk tripping and falling and then being dragged away and eaten by elephantine ants.

Such exercises are also useful in repelling hikers and other trail runners. One look at your peculiar behavior, and they will know to steer clear.

Next time it may be wise to bring some Vitamin B.

This three-miler was my 12th consecutive trail run, and we're approaching official marathon training time. These two circumstances caused me to forget my entomological harassment for a moment and consider the prospects of running all my training miles on trails.

Between the Buckeye and all the shorter hiking trails in my backyard, there are plenty of options for distance, and the hills provide the added benefit of strength and hidden speed training. The only drawback I can see is my ignorance as to how fast I would be on flatter terrain. It would be tough to gauge my progress on a goal finish time.

At the very least, I may seek to complete all my long runs on the trails and then run shorter distances at a fast pace on pavement. Of course, it's still early yet, and my mood might change.

1 comment:

B. Jarosz said...

Haven't you heard of DEET?

I was harassed by horse flies while hiking with my parents on Monday... but they wouldn't bite through the film of chemical goo I was wearing. They annoyed me terribly, but got no blood!!!