Roots

Ran a trail race, Chippewa Valley Firecracker, this past weekend. One of the first things I remembered about this type of race was to look out for roots because they are easy to trip over. Rocks, branches, streams, soft spots, hill sides and clumps are other dangers.

Do a trail race also brought me back a bit to my running "roots". My first organized running was the fall of 1984 when I went out for cross country as a freshman.

While I was a huge Green Bay Packer fan, I was small in size and my mother would not let me go out for football. I've never told her, but that actually was a relief because I probably would have gotten hurt worse than tripping over a root in the woods.

Most of my training is along roads and almost all the races I do are on roads, trails are more satisfying to run on, even at a slower pace.

This race was listed as a 5k but in the prerace announcements, the race director said the course was actually just under 6k, which is fine but I would have like to know how close, just to know what my actual speed was. My Nike SDM measured it at 3.5 miles but I am not confident the calibration translates to trail running--especially since I wore my spikes.

Also a note about my ancestral roots--my last remaining grandparent, my paternal grandfather, passed away this weekend. I am sad about it but not overwhelmed--feel a little guilty that it does not bother me more.