Trying Not To Get My Butt Kicked

   Last night, someone on social media threatened to come to my front door and kick my butt if I didn't get off it and go for a run and so, today, I did just that!
  I decided that I would just do a nice, easy run and maybe tack on an extra kilometer while I was at it. Currently, my "training" regimen involves nothing much more than getting out there and running the same 5K course over and over, with the occasional hill repeat session thrown in. This meant that today I would be doing a whole 6K! Woo hoo!

   The plan was fairly straightforward---I would run 3K in one direction and then turn around and run back. I left open the option of stopping after 5K but knew that I really didn't want to do that. I headed off in the opposite direction of what I usually do (so daring) and this meant that, thankfully, I was running more or less downhill for the first couple of kilometers. I got to the halfway mark feeling pretty comfortable, had a quick swig from the water bottle and then headed back. I hit the 5K mark with no real desire to stop and so kept on running. At this point, my slowly evolving plan now included a walk through Warbler Woods and perhaps some hill repeats therein. I estimated that running that final kilometer would have me reach the woods at the end of it and this was the way it more or less worked out. The final half a kilometer was a killer though and I knew there would be no running of the hills in Warbler.

For your perusal,  what  Warbler
Woods is all about.

I think coyotes come, hoping
to feed on old people....

   As it was, walking the hills in Warbler almost did me in. There is a series of about six hills, all of which seem to go straight up and twisting at the same time, not to mention the rocks and root systems along the way. Being a Saturday, I ran into a couple of other sets of walkers who all agreed that we were in the middle of a true cardio experience. About two thirds of the way through, things seem to level off a little and become a little more like a "walk in the woods". I couldn't help but think that there should be warning signs at either end of the forest just to warn people what they're up against. Especially old people. Like me.

Did I mention the treacherous root systems?

   Once out of the woods, it was another almost kilometer to get me back home where lunch and re-hydration awaited. My plan (why do I make plans?) is to gradually up the mileage on the weekends and try to get in a couple of shorter runs throughout the week.

Same spot, today.

My wife and I took this pic back
in the Spring.....

   So you know how some people have a running playlist of tunes, helping them kill time and/or motivate themselves on long runs? Well, today I had a blogging playlist---songs I listened to while coming up with this gem of a blog post. It will definitely "date" me but here it is anyway!

Cat Stevens-18th Avenue
Cat Stevens-Monad's Anthem
Paul Simon-Duncan
Richard Harris-MacArthur Park
Moody Blues-Thursday Afternoon
John Williams-Jurassic Park
Simon and Garfunkel-The Boxer
Miklos Rosza-King of Kings
Paul Stookey-There Is Love
Leonard Cohen-Show Me The Place
Tori Amos-Crucify
Nena-99 Red Balloons
Richard Shindell-Transit
Gary Jules-Mad World
Damion Rice-Moody Monday
Chumbawumba-Tubthumping
Tove Lo-Habits (Stay High)
Melanie-Stoneground Words

   Did I mention it might date me??