In the morning, I went with Fiona to adjust the mile markers in the River City Run course (www.rivercityrun.com). We had adjusted the finish so that it was off the main road at point mallard. It caused a near accident last year once the Radio Controlled Airplane show started at the ice rink.
We had a good time prying up the old mileage spike, rolling off 259', and driving and painting a new spike. Mile 5 is back in point mallard along the golf course. Its over a half mile back there off of point mallard dr. On the way back, Fiona started getting tired. She had long since given up on carrying anything for me so I was lugging the hammer, nails, washers, clip board, spray paint, and mileage rollers. This was fine and not my point. She stopped to rest and I decided to go to the bathroom in the woods. I walked towards the river and got maybe 6 feet into the leaf covered woods. Completely out of sight. I started to unzip to do by business when I heard some water spraying on the leaves right behind me. I looked over my shoulder and didn't see anything. It sounded just like the sound I was going to make while urinating. I started in and had decided that there must be some sump that was pumping water back in the woods. I kept hearing it but I went on with my business. Once was finished, I turned around at saw a black snake staring at me with not more than a foot from my sandalled feet. Its tail was shaking away which was what was causing my imaginary "water falling on leaves" sound. I freaked!! I slowly backed up and it did the same. I left the woods and took deep breaths as I got back to Fiona. I'd estimate the snake was 3-4 ft long. I couldn't tell if it actually had a rattle (don't think so). I was too flustered to notice if it had the patterns of a cottonmouth. It was a very dark colored snake. Its amazing how non-agressive it was. I jaunted in and stood within 1 foot of it and all it did was try to warn me and act defensive. If it had wanted to dig into my calf, it would have had easy pickin's. Nice snake I guess.
Now for my afternoon run, I test drove a new figure 8 interval loop. It has two blocks on either end - one a 0.67mile (1080 high def meters) and the other 0.81 miles (1300 meters). Each is rolling. Its designed for a active recovery with a 0.52 stretch in between each loop. It worked well. I did two cycles with a ~2 mile WU/CD on either side. Paces were 6:35,6:46,6:29,6:29. Active recoveries were done between 8-9 min/mile. When I started out, my plan was to do the intervals at goal marathon pace (7:28). That didn't work out. Did cool down by out and backs on Brookside and Horsetree. Horsetree is one of the prettiest streets in Decatur and has a nice little hill too.
Kayano 13's - 211 miles I switch in early April to a new pair. | 