Week of Sep 20 - 25 Lunch time running

There are a couple of us at work that get out at lunch and run. We are lucky enough to work for a company and for people who let us have a flexible schedule. We can come in a little early and stay a little late in exchange for a lunch time run. Here is a description of a noteworth (because it isn't the normal course) run from this week.

Wednesday, Sep 22nd
Evan and I went "on the trails" today. What that means is some high tension power line trails, mud, water, grassy fields and wide dirt paths near the office. We went "to see the osprey" - there's a nest on one of the power line towers. As it turns out, we didn't see them today (now I'm wondering when the last sight occurred). The course is a 6.5 mile loop.

We ran the course in the "reverse" direction today. We leave our building and head out as if we are on the beginning of all of our normal road courses. We run through a residential area and just after the half mile mark, we cross under Route 481, turn right and continue running past houses. Eventually we come to a busy 4 lane road and cross over it. Shortly after that intersection, we come the the power line trail, just before the entrance to a construction company. We turn to the right off of the road and onto the trail.

This is where we start running on crushed rock that has been recently put down on top of the dirt trail. In some locations, the rocks are a tad on the larger side, so it is a mental and physical challenge to run on them without turning an ankle. In other locations, some heavy equipment has compacted the rocks so it is a little easier to run on. Adding the crushed rocks might have been an improvement for the power company equipment but not for us runners. Today, towards the back end of the construction company property, some of their employees are practicing moving dirt around. Evan says that is not uncommon. When I first heard the heavy equipment, I thought it was on the trail but that turned out not to be the case. After we run next to the construction company's property for a short distance, we turn sharply to the left.

After the turn, this section is fairly level and straight, as you can imagine a power line trail would be. Evan was out here recently and saw some heavy equipment working. He thought they might have done something about a portion of the path where there is alot of the water. But, that wasn't the case and soon we get to the water. After thinking about it for a second, I decide that I'd go through the water and continue on with the course with Evan. He said that is what he'd do if I wasn't with him and that is what made me decide to do it. So, we wade into the muddy knee high water. Along with the water, there is heavy brush on both sides of most of the trail with some open areas off to the left and an Route 481 on the right. Between the trail and the expressway, there is heavy brush and/or reeds (in the swampy sections). The brush and reeds are taller than we are and being in this section makes it easy to imagine what it is like to be wading through water in the jungle holding our rifles above our heads. After approx 300 to 400 yards (Evan's estimate - he's much better than I am at estimating distances. He's an experienced trail runner, a prominent member of a local running club and the race director for a couple of races a year) we come out the other side of the water. As we clear the water and start to run again, we are under and slightly off to the side of the power lines and I can hear them hum. We pass the tower where the osprey's nest is, veer sharply to the right, hit a road at roughly the half way point and leave the crushed rock surfce behind (thankfully).

This road isn't as big as the four lane we crossed earlier (and will cross again later), but it is still very busy. It is a potentially dangerous section as cars and truck fly down the two lane road. Everyone's in a hurry. Gotta get out to lunch, run a few errands and get back to work. Oh yea, and drive like an Earnhardt along the way. Even though they are going fast, the vast majority of them give us wide clearance as we run along the shoulder. I do appreciate that. After a short distance on the road, during which we cross under 481, we turn to the right and enter a field. At this point, we are about a mile and a half from the end of the course, at our office building.

The field we are now in is behind a large church off to the left. We are on the far end of the field, next to 481. There are some ruts in this field as if a heavy truck (construction equipment?) has driven through it when it was very wet. The church is one of those newer church buildings with modern lines. It looks very expensive. I'm not in this area on Sundays, but I can easily imagine a parking lot full of new cars and SUV's belonging to a suburban, upper class congregation. The course goes through a small swampy area with shorter reeds and no dry path. Both feet end up getting into the mud. The course veers slightly to the left and finds itself running in the grass with 481 directly on the right and trees on the left. On some occassions, when we run along here with some of the women from work, vehicles will beep their horns at us. If someone is trying to carry on a conversation at this point, I have difficulty hearing them with the noise of the traffic moving along at 65 mph and faster. Also, along this section of the course, there are a couple of spots where there are dips in the path. They've been all muddy this summer and we have to hurdle them to cross over. Some are narrow enough to hop over. Some are too wide for me to clear and I land in the mud with one or the other foot.

There is a slight turn to the left as we move away from 481 for a short distance and then we turn back slightly to the right. At this point we are still running parrallel to 481 but at a slight distance away from it. Along this section, there is a little knoll that signals we have 1 mile left to run. Both sides of the trail are bordered by swampy areas and there are frogs, snakes, birds, geese, deer (I haven't seen deer here yet but some others have) and other smaller mammals. One other time, we came upon a flock of geese, with some young, who ran away from us while staying on the path. We were headed back toward a busy intersection on that day and worried we were going to force the geese into it. So, on that day, we stopped and let them continue around a bend where they "ducked" into the brush. On Wednesday, there were no wildlife sightings except for tons of grasshoppers. I'm not a city slicker, but I'm also not a granola guy, so the experience of having my legs constantly bombarded with jumping grasshoppers was initially a bit wierd. They "land" on your legs but quickly jump off, probably when they realize that isn't the best place for them to be.

We break out of the trail at a busy intersection for the entrance to our office park. There's a red light for traffic coming and going into the office park. This is the dangerous part of the run. Cars are flying in both directions. There are 4 lanes separated by a grass median. I'm really shocked by how fast the cars travel and by how many drivers push the limits of the yellow light, even to the point of running the red. Once we clear the intersection, it is a short sprint to our building.

We don't run this every day or even once a week but it is a nice change of pace to get off the roads that we normally run on. Some people will not join us on this course if they know there's water and mud involved. That's fine, some days I don't feel like dealing with that either. It was enjoyable this day.