Daylight Savings Time: Surviving Decreased Mileage

I don't know how to do this. I do not know how to maintain my weekly mileage when it becomes dark the minute I arrive home from work. I miss the long after work runs, the release from stress that running outside brings. I do manage to hit the treadmill at 4:30 am, but for a short two mile run. I sweat for a few minutes, then race off to work. How do we make it through the winter, maintain fitness and sanity. Advice? I miss this stretch of road....

Easing into Autumn

 I run this beautiful route near my home, in the Berkshires a few times per week; it changes with the seasons. Now it is at its most gorgeous, as the foliage is beginning to peak, The other day, the light was perfect, sun peaking through the dense trees in one spot, and lighting up the colors on another section of the road. I just had to stop numerous times, to attempt and catch the beauty with my cell phone. These pictures do not do it justice however. I remember, when I am here, exactly why I love to run.

Josh Billings Runaground

I cannot believe I have never run this race. Five hundred teams participate in this bike / canoe / run triathalon. Our team, Berkshire South's Fantastic Four, had a blast and we are gearing up for next year! Twenty-seven mile bike ride, five mile canoe and six mile run, and we finished, all four of us! The motto of the Josh, "To finish is to win." Although the first place finishers completed the course in 2:18;04, and we toddled in at 3:44:13, finishing was winning. Next year...
For more information please visit the website: Josh Billings.

Running Downhill

Uphill takes forever and no matter which direction I run, there always seems to be more up hills than down. Why? I guess because we take longer to run uphill. Downhill I speed up and it is over quickly. Same with life, the harder hills seem to take forever, but once you crest you can cruise down. It all comes down to this: is it worth the climb? If you ski, you might say yes. When I am running full speed down a hill, the wind in my hair and a smile on my face, I say hell yes.

Spring...

Finally, Spring has arrived. It has been a very long winter here in the Berkshires, a long winter of running on pavement. But today I was finally able to get back to the Applachian Trail, it felt as if I was  home, running through the woods. I had to be more conscious of where I placed my feet, each step, as the roots seemed to grow over the winter. The clocked was stopped as I slowed just to listen to the silence, the squirrel who always sounds like a bear, the songbirds and an occasional breeze. This section of the trail is only a mile, but it is a beautiful mile. I find God when I slow down, when I listen, when I am aware of my breath. It was a very good run indeed.

The grass is greener

Seen on my run yesterday...a couple of escapees...

Suny Oneonta

Holy Hills Batman. That was a run. I set out the other morning, a windy cold Spring day in Oneonta, NY. I didn't have a map, I just ran, no set mileage in mind, just exploration. I ended up running 6.5 miles, but those miles were all hills. This is good for me, I need to challenge my body, I tend to avoid hills when I run at home. But this was an exploration run, I didn't know what I was getting myself into. When I returned I felt amazing, a wee bit sore, but amazing. I found a windy reservoir road that brushed against farmland and riverfront. I saw numerous woodchuck and red-tailed hawk. I didn't know what was around the corner, so I didn't have the option of psyching myself out. Mystery Runs, think I will try that more often.

Running for Meg

I ran five miles today, nothing out of the ordinary. But today I ran that five miles for Meg, a woman who was struck by a drunk driver on her morning run this past Monday. We runners have all had close calls, we have all jumped out of the way just in time to avoid the distracted driver barreling toward us. But this week we lost one of our own. I do not know Meg, but I know a little about her.

I am her: I am a mother, a daughter, a friend, and a runner. I know what it feels like at the end of a run, when all of my limbs are tingling. I know what it feels like to reach a goal, to shave a few minutes off a race time, or to meet a new mileage goal. I know what it feels like to have something to work toward. I know what it is like to stand at the start line with thousands of others, with one purpose, to run. I know what it is like to run through the finish, with bystanders and faster runners cheering me on. Today, I, along with a whole lot of other people ran for a woman we don't know, and will never meet. We ran because that is what we do when we are sad, when we are anxious or when we need to work through a problem. Runners run. We ran after the tragedy at the Boston Marathon. And we will run the next time we lose someone.

Today I also ran for those who have never experienced the silence of a country road after snow. I ran for those who don't pay attention, who have never noticed the bluebirds sitting atop swaying stalks of milkweed, or great blue heron waiting patiently for a fish. I ran for those who have never stretched out sore muscles, who have never felt truly alive as their bodies moved in time with breath down a back road. I ran for those who don't understand. 

Today I attempted to find compassion for those who value their destination or their text messages over my life. I tried to forgive those who find it amusing to scare me by swerving into my path or those who just don't care. I thought of Meg, and of Jim, and of all the others who have been killed or injured doing what they love to do, run. Today I am grateful, I am grateful to have been given the gift of this day, to run, without my headphones on the back roads of Berkshire County, with snow silently falling. I ran past rabbit tracks and a family of deer. I ran because that is what I do. My thoughts go out to family and friends of Meg today and it is an honor to be part of an amazing, supportive community.

Megsmiles Website