Gang Aft Agley

The famous line from Burns's poem certainly applied this weekend, when we had planned to run 12 miles.  First, it rained.  But a more serious obstacle for me was a 48-hour stomach virus that laid me so low I could not leave the house for two full days, finally beginning to recover on Sunday (enough for two easy miles down the road).  Imodium became a new and very valuable friend.  And I learned again the ingredients of the B.R.A.T. diet.  Who knows how we contract these bacterial infections?  A careless hand on the drinking fountain or the door at the public restrooms?  I am religious about using hand sanitizer after handling money.  Perhaps I overuse it, as MaryAnn suggested.  In any case, it cause us to miss dinner with friends on Saturday night, an evening with the Literacy Council on Sunday, and my final long run two weeks from the half marathon.

On top of that, it has been raining nearly every day, and neither of us is eager to run in the soaking character-building rains of the past.  But runners must learn to be flexible, and today the weather cleared for a brief two hours in the morning, enough for me to be able to complete 10 relatively good miles, although I have to admit I was pretty soaked when I returned home from the intermittent drizzle that would tease me, almost clearing entirely, then returning with renewed energy (usually where there was no shelter).  In the afternoon, another window of opportunity suddenly materialized as the radar showed clear skies and a chance of rain of 0% all afternoon (it was 50% as early as this morning, which is why I chose to take the chance and run then).  So as I write this afternoon, Martha is out completing her final long run, and in much better conditions than I had.

So perhaps after all we will have no "grief an' pain," or sodden shoes, at the end of day.

. . . Mousie, thou art no thy-lane,

In proving foresight may be vain:

The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men

          Gang aft agley,

An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,

          For promis’d joy!

Goal Pace

Today I had some help from Art and Vicki as I ran what the little training plan I have devised called me to do:  run six miles at goal pace.  Martha had done the same yesterday, and both days delivered a perfect day for fast running - cool, clear, and slightly overcast.  Art (as expected) pushed the pace, but we averaged 9:54.  Since I was planning on 10:00, this was a confidence-builder.

Art commented that this type of run would be difficult all alone, and while acknowledging his help, I said it was also important to be able to run long tempo miles, or long-run miles, all alone, because essentially that is what you are doing in a race even though you have other runners around you.  Still, it is nice to have friends to help pace me, and I remember all the many friends who have done this in the past, as well as the times I have helped them in turn.

Cades Cove

Conditions were as fine in Cades Cove this year as I ever remember.  Temperatures were in the low 50s, climbing a bit by the end of the 10.3-mile run around the loop road which has become a tradition for some of us each September.  The Park Service closes the road to traffic until 10:00 a.m. during the summer, and so the morning is filled with drifting fog rising above the fields, and with runners, walkers, and cyclists, instead of bumper-to-bumper cars. 

 this year we spotted several deer, including two young fawns still nursing, many wild turkeys, and a yearling bear in a tree above us.  What a great place to run with friends each year, remembering one of the main reasons we enjoy this activity so much:  simply being out of doors in beautiful places like this, enjoying God's creation, and giving thanks for our own health and fitness.