The Walter Mitty of Trail Running

Ironic that Layne would recommend trail running to me today to help with my Ankle Flexibility

I have been exploring the office park and surrounding woods in an attempt to find some good "off road" running routes...

Today, with Layne's advice ringing in my ears I set out on a journey through the "woods" and through my own mind...

As I started... no HR monitor... no plan for how far or how fast... I pretended to be Joe B.... a guy who is fast and never trains with any sort of device... just running fast w/o any external feedback... even wished I'd left the iPod...

As I cross a Sluice - about 4 inches wide I envision that I am barreling through the woods at the Mt Penn Mudfest... I even look around for the Margaritas...

Later I'm running up a grassy bank... I picture myself as my British Friend Joel racing the a British Army flag guy up the hill.... I beat him... he yells at me and uses the word "bloody"... I smile even though I'm not sure if he is mad or inspired by me. I decide to go with inspired.

I come to a four wheeler trail... As I duck under some branches and hurdle some roots... I become Kurt from OK running on the single-track... knowing the mythical LMS had twisted her ankle and *only* managed 5th OA at some 50 miler in the Mid-West...

I come to a big pile of dirt where they have leveled a lot... it looks like a small sand dune... so I run around and over it a few times...pretending that I am Ian or Neill other friends of mine who competed in the Marathon De Sables... my shoes fill up with sand, my hands get dirty from grabbing handholds... and running uphill in loose sand is hard so I move on.

Later I'm running around another "lake" (manmade pond really)... and as I'm starting to get tired... I picture myself as Mr. Gatens... A Principal I know from Jersey running in that 50 miler later this summer... with nothing but a pocket full of Quench Gum (http://www.quenchgum.com/) and a hand drawn map on a sheet of wide ruled notebook paper.

I think I'll get a backpack... a tent and a sleeping bag... not to actually go camping... just for props to use for my off-road imagination.

Oh... and my ankles... floppy as Kermit the Frog this afternoon.