Pine Lane to Boston Store

This morning I ran 8 miles starting from Pine Lane and running the Buckeye Trail to Boston Store. I was able to wear shorts and a t-shirt and brought my Camelback along. On the way back, this one kid passed me with about 1.5 miles to Pine Lane. He was moving really fast even on the uphills. I decided to hang with him as long as I could. When I got back, I told him thanks for pulling me along and found out his name was Jake Draa. He won the YUT-C 50K this year and goes to Kent State. We talked about marathons and ultras for awhile before taking off.

Long Night Run

Tonight I went to Happy Days at 7 PM to get in 2 3.5 mile Boston Run loops in before our Tuesday night trail run at 8:15. I felt great during both these loops. On the second loop, I saw 6 eyes in the woods shining brightly from my headlamp. I stood there for a second seeing what they would do then moved on.

Kellie, Jason and Jen showed up for the group run. We ran the same thing we did last week on the ledges and then to Kendall Lake. The ledges trail is pretty technical at night, but no one fell this time! I ended up getting 14 miles in for the night and my legs felt great!

Tuesday Night Trail Run

Kyle Bowman, Kellie Truesdell, Brian Musick, Jason McMains, Dan Bellinger and me (left to right)

Tonight I met my brother, Kellie Truesdell, Jason McMains, Dan Bellinger, and Kyle Bowman at the Happy Days parking lot for a night run at 8:15. I showed up at 7:30 and ran a loop of the Boston Run Trail. Once everyone else got there we ran on the ledges trail to Kendall Hills and back for 7 miles.

Afterward, Brian and I sat outside and relaxed since the temperature was pretty warm. The sky had a few thin clouds but the stars were mostly out and very visible. A cool thing happened as we sat out there. We were talking about our grandfather who passed away over a year ago and wishing he could send us a sign. One other time when we talked about this, I saw a huge streak in the sky bigger than a shooting star like a meteor. Well tonight, Brian joked about a plane flying high and I started to say "That shooting star is moving slowly." But before I could finish we both saw a shooting star streak across the sky just underneath the plane.

Easy Like Sunday Morning

This morning at 10 o'clock I went for a 5 mile run at Portage Lakes State Park. We've had awesome weather this weekend for November! This morning it was about 60 degrees and clear blue skies. I started on Shoreline Trail for 3.25 miles and then ran 1.75 more for 5 miles

Towpath Run

Today after work, I drove over to Boston Store to do a run on the Towpath. I usually hate running on the Towpath, but just wanted to get in the miles at a quick pace. I ran to Mile 22 and back for about 5 miles.

West Branch Witch Hunt

Tonight I met Todd "Not Tom" Hanks and Tim "Cousin of Slim" Knapp at West Branch State Park at 7:30 for a night run. This has become a tradition to run at West Branch Halloween weekend ever since the witch encounter with my brother two years ago.

It was dark out when we started, but the sky was clear and the moon provided alot of light. The temperature felt great for late October in the upper 60s. I was also glad the rain held off.

We headed out on Snowmobile Rd and turned left onto the lake trail. We ran an out-and-back to Porter Rd and got in about 7 miles. We talked about a little bit of everything so the run went by fast. I found out Todd registered for Boston next Spring after qualifying with a 3:18 at the Towpath Marathon. Should be cool to see a familiar face there since he will probably be lined up close by me at the start.

Happy Days to Kendall Lake

Tonight I met my friend Marc at the Happy Days parking lot at 4:30. We went to Kendall Lake, ran a short loop and ran back to our cars for about 6 miles. We were both a bit disappointed at how quickly the leaves changed and fell. There were alot of leaves on the trail which made for some tricky running by the ledges. Afterward we enjoyed some Cincinnati Chili and coney dogs at Skyline Chili on Steel Corners Rd. Mmmmmmm!!