Sunday, February 19, 2012

Tampa To Tulsa

Off of Rainy Day Music, the title song is one of all time favorites. Not too sure why. Maybe just the simplistic idea of the song.
I'm a bit bummed out because the Jayhawks played last night at the State Theater and I missed them. Maybe, just maybe I will see them in the future if at all possible. So, this is the last of my Jayhawk song/blog titles for the week. For some of you, I hope I gave you some new music to add to your library.

For the weekends running I managed to get out both days and continue to be baffled by the hamstring issue i'm dealing with. Lot's of What the !?? throughout the weekend.

Saturday I hit the trails of Hartley and I was just going to do the main trail and exit on the other side and run some Woodland area roads before making my way back home. Well, instead I managed to stay on all trails and do a short loop past the gasline and return home. I felt really good and only had a hint of tightness in the ham. I DID realize though I couldn't have strided out and ran fast as I felt my limit with the shorter trail strides I use.

Total: 44:18  5.3 miles  trails

Today I decided to venture out and hit some new terrain. I really wanted to run a new section of SHT and I decided, on what I will call the Fox Farm Road Section. I really didn't know what to expect from my hammy so I kept my options "open". I started out by running the trail east (up the trail) and soon found a few reasons to turn back for the truck.

 There are very few times in my past when I felt unsafe while running. For some reason I never feel like I am vulnerable as a runner. That may be a bad thing, but I chalk it up to being very "comfortable" while I run and if harm finds my way while I am on a run than I guess it was my number and I get to depart this world while doing the one activity I love the most out of life. I mean, I have run in inner cities while attending work conferences and never really feel threatened. Maybe because I usually run at 0600 and there is little harm awake at that hour. But the feeling I had today out on the SHT was completely unexpected and I was taken back a bit by it. I was running under complete sunny skies and still air. As I was out only 10 or so minutes from the lot I began seeing small tracks on the trail, as there was fresh snow from a day or two ago and not a single walker had made their way up the trail in that particular direction.  Soon after seeing what I would expect to be coyote tracks, they stopped, and soon a much larger track appeared and I soon knew what I was involved with. Soon one track led to two, and three, and four...you get the idea. I was following fairly fresh Wolf tracks and I expected to see a pair of eyes staring at me on my next climb. The feeling of "being watched" never left me but soon I was very comfortable with actually seeing a Wolf. I had a camera and was ready to take my best shot of the bugger if he/she would show up. The trail soon began to offer a bit too much snow, I know really, but I just couldn't settle in any rhythm and I was forced to make my turn back to the lot. I was 27:00 out from the lot and after dashing back through the wolf pack I was soon at the truck and making my way down the trail in a westerly direction. This section was packed from a lot of walkers and I was able to maintain good form and run a decent section. I soon had to call it quits as the hamstring was calling my name and I didn't want to go into a full spasm. The run ended up being fairly successful from a hamstring point and really eye-opening in regards to Wolf and how close they are to us! Wow!

Total: 1:15:00  ~8 miles trails

Weeks Total: 37 miles
Years Total: 319.6 miles

Pics of the day:



  Trailhead FF Road

 Trail flooded by stream

 Wolf track compared to my hand. drrrr. right?
 Trail going east (up)
 Trail westerly (down)
More proof the wolves are here. Hairy poop!

1 comment:

wildknits said...

Very cool sighting!! I always consider it an honor to share the trail with these critters.