Last Friday I went to Deerfield Park to run the paved lap trail that is new. It's 1.5 miles so I was going to do just 2 laps and see how I felt. It was hot and muggy, so I thought maybe I'd try the trail in the woods instead. Greg and I used to mountain bike there, and I remember it being fun. I only spent a mile in the woods before I figured it wasn't a safe idea and was back out on the path to do a hot muggy loop. The trail in the woods is awesome though- very hilly and fun, always have to watch the ground. It took me back to the mountain biking days. I told Greg how fun it was and he said we'd both go in the spring. See, my goal is to be at a pace that Greg can run with by springtime. Still won't be his pace, but it won't be so painfully slow that he could WALK and keep up with me! :) At the end when I was walking to my car, I saw these HUGE bugs dead on the pavement.
By huge I mean at least 2 inches long. It was like a movie- they were huge and as I kept walking I saw more and more... Right about the time I thought I wouldn't want to meet one of those alive, I looked up and there were about 4 in the air. One flew at my head. I ran to the car and fumbled to unlock it so I could get in as the thing followed me. Turns out they are Cicada Killer Wasps, and supposedly are harmless to humans unless provoked (grabbed, stepped on etc) but I was too freaked out to find out.
I didn't run over the weekend, but we did some yard work. Last night I ran about 4 miles and felt pretty good. My GPS kept going in an out though, so I'm not sure what my pace was. I know that I felt really great the first 2 miles, then felt like it was difficult the second 2 to keep up the pace, but I did. I have found lately that I'm not liking out-and-backs. I have always preferred a loop and once I determined I could in fact do a loop of sorts from my house, now that's all I want to do. It's mental. This weekend I think I'll drive out to Miami Whitewater which has an 8 mile loop and do that. Though it is flat and I like to do the long runs on flat surfaces, I'm so tired of the bike trail. I'm also tired of not having a running partner. Maybe I should drag the chunky Dexter-dog outside once in a while!
2 comments:
Do you remember those big wasp looking things that seemed to show up out of nowhere but yet also seemed to be coming from the fireplace in Phillipsburg? The would just appear and fly towards the light of the back doors. This thing you have posted looks like them. They never bothered us and were very easy to kill. Should have used rubber bands to see if we could shoot them out of the air since they flew so badly.
By the way, knowing how you are with spiders and some other creatures, mom and I are actually laughing at the thought of the picture of you dodging the bugs while going to your car. Don't you have a the keyless entry for your car?
glad you are feeling stronger! wish I lived closer, I would run with ya!
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