A little bit better

A nicer morning today, temp in the high 50s and the rain stopped before I got up. It's very dark out now, a result of my not running in the city any more, I guess. I haven't been using my light, but I have been using a reflective vest--according to the manufacturer, it reflects 150x the light that a road sign does.

I passed a small herd of deer this morning while I was running past Temple B'rith Kodesh. The other day, I literally almost ran into a deer, probably from the same herd. The road I was on has a hedge that comes down to about 5 feet from the curb. I ran up onto the sidewalk to make the turn onto the busier road, and the deer was at the edge of the sidewalk, browsing on the hedge. It was dark enough that I didn't see the deer until I was about 4 feet away. It heard me coming at about the same time and leapt off into the yard, startling the other 4 deer in the yard.

Today, the deer just watched me from about 30 feet away, turning their heads slowly to follow me as I went past, and returning to their feeding as soon as I was gone.

Starting to get cold

Cold and rainy today.

The surgery went well, my wife is home and recovering. I spent the weekend doing whatever she needed me to do, but I did get out for a few miles on Sunday. Today I'm home--it's a little slow at work these days, and she has an appointment to take out the surgical drain today, so I took the day off. I got out for a few again today, and it's around 45° and rainy. It's actually pretty nice running at 10:30 am; there's almost no traffic and very few pedestrians, including other runners, out there.

I'm now heading into my winter training phase--putting in the distance and preparing for the spring.

Rainy morning

I was out at the usual hour this morning, a little bit before 5am, running a long loop. When I got to 3 miles, a point which was a minimum of 2 miles from home, the lightning started. Since my run was in flat, open former farmland, with almost no shelter (I guess could have hid under a bridge), I decided to head for home immediately, giving me a total run this morning of 5 miles. I'm thinking I'll get out again later today. Oh, we may get snow tonight or tomorrow. That'll be fun.

Early morning

It took me a few minutes to get going this morning--I had trouble finding a key and my light's batteries chose this morning to give out. I hadn't realized that they were so low. I got out on Friday with the local group at Fleet Feet for the 5.3 mile Happy Hour run--an easy, relaxing run at a "conversational" pace to end the week. I live about five minutes (running) from the store, so I have a warmup and cooldown built into the day.

I'll have to miss the run this Friday, because my wife is going in for gallbladder surgery this Friday. I'll be spending the day with her and with the kids, I think.

I'm back

I decided to run from home again, even though I have about a month left on my gym membership. It's actually more difficult to get out and run from the gym, when you factor in commute time (I ride the bus). The bus leaves at 5:45 am (I get up between 4:45 and 5:00 for my morning runs), it takes about 15 minutes to get downtown--I've already lost an hour before I even get to the gym.

It was dark this morning at 4:55 when I stepped out the door. Dark enough that I had my strobe light for the first time since winter. That was one advantage at the gym--the routes I ran were well-lit and I could see well even at 6am. The temperature was pleasant this morning, around 50°F. I passed about 10 people out running, mostly in pairs except one person who was running with a dog.