Beginning to run

I got home a wee bit early this afternoon, but had to make a trip BACK to Claremore to get a tool I left at a job. I am fortunate that someone did not adopt is, as it was in plain sight on the side of a commercial building, but I guess no one walked or drove by it. The proprietors found it after I called and were holding it for me at the front desk. Great news, but it meant another 70 mile round trip. I was reading email and considering getting a run in at Claremore Lake, when I was cold-nosed by Jake. 


Jake has been feeling neglected lately. He has not been able to go on our race weekends even though we camped. I have ran almost zero since Arkansas Traveller, and he just lays around the house and mopes. He must have sensed that I was thinking about going. 35 road miles later, I retrieved my drill, and then drove to the city lake.

 
Beyond ecstatic, Jake had more horsepower than a team of horses, and was hyped up like a kid OD'd on Halloween candy. I was thinking that an out-and-back on the trailz there was about 3 miles, and with the remaining daylight, that would be about right. The downside to the run was that all of the paths are concrete sidewalks. For such a beautiful lake, the actual bike paths are a little boring.

Running along the west side of the lake, the view eastward was stunning. This looks like a sunset picture, but it is not. I was more intent on having a steady run than taking pictures, but I stopped a couple of times for a quick photo. We ran to the far north end of the park, and noticed a yellow iron gate closing off a dirt road that went around a quarter mile further and of course I climbed right over it. The road was quite overgrown in places, but we still ran on.

On the other side of a barbed wire fence, we had runners keeping up with us step for step. We stopped, they stopped. We ran, they ran.

After crossing back over the iron gate, I noticed thousands of mini-burrs on my socks, shoe laces, and hairy legs. At the first big rock I could sit on, I stopped to pick them off. On November 1st, I discovered THREE TICKS. One had already bit, and drew blood when I pulled him off. Where there's ticks, there are probably chiggers. ARGH!!!

Jake got in several quality clear water swims, and now smells like a wet dog. DOH!

Take away a couple of brief picture stops, and we ran a pretty good time. I did stop RunKeeper when I picked off burrs and ticks. I have ate enough mini-Twix bars to offset the 591 calories burned.

And now I am out of Jake's doghouse--so to speak.