30 Minutes: Scotland Heights

Another beautiful day. I ran after work today, racing to get home before it started getting dark. The sun is sets noticeably earlier these days and dusk was settling in on my way back. This is a standard out-and-back for shorter runs, which is nice because I can gauge my progress by how far I make it out and matching the distance on the way back. The goal is always to have even splits. I made it much further out than I normally do, making for a tough pace on the way back. I felt great when I walked back into house.

30 Minutes: Yatton Rd.

It was a beautiful morning. I ran out to the pastoral Yatton Road, which forms a semi-circle off of New Cut Road. You see new homes, old homes, farms, and the dwellings of millionaries--Beverly Hills meets Green Acres all in one half-hour run.

30 Minutes: Villages of Round Hill

My dog looked way too excited when she smelled my running shoes coming down the stairs. I simply had to take her a long. She definitely pushed the pace a little too fast on me, but I reined her in towards the end.

30 Minutes: Around Town

A short half-hour run around town today. The weather was nice and overcast, nice and cool. Enjoyed having my dog along this time. She charged right up the hill in the new housing development.

MapMyRun

I’ve been meaning to get a post out here for some time about this great mapping tool for running routes. Kevin, from MapMyRun, referred me to their site. It’s a great (and free) way to share your running routes with other runners. You can also use it to track all kinds of training data that are beyond my general uses. I plotted a few of my regular routes here. The site is in the beginning stages and can use all the feedback to get, but they’ve made a really solid start. One thing I learned that the calculated mileage is an approximation--largely because you plot a series of straight lines that cut the curves in roads a little short--so a 5.7 mile run becomes a 5.5 mile run. You can also quickly calculate out-and-backs.

30 Minutes: Villages of Round Hill

Ahh... 30 minutes on the dreaded "fitness path" in the neighboring development. I took the dog with me and she, of course, loved it.

Today's Inspiration

running home, originally uploaded by thebigdurian.

I pulled this photo from a Flickr running group. The biggest lesson to learn is that the best exercise is play.

30 Minutes: Villages of Round Hill

I woke up this morning feeling positively rotten. At first, I thought that I somehow caught what my wife had yesterday (it kept her in bed all day). So I stayed home from work. After getting in a couple hours of work, I decided that a run would either make me feel a whole lot better or a whole lot worse. Fortunately, it was the former. I've also had a pretty productive work day since.

30 Minutes: Around Town

Another run in the another new development. Things are changing fast around here. These runs give me mixed feelings. I need to head out somewhere more isolated ... SOON.

30 Minutes: Around Town

Just a short 30 minute run around a new housing development setting up shop on Round Hill's outskirts. Most of the roads are still dirt, which have become dusty with the recent lack of rainfall. Good thing shoes don't have lungs.

Cross Training: Old Bike

Not long ago I appropriated an old stationary bike from my in-laws yard sae (for free). I figured the old bikes do it just as well as the new ones, just without all the bells and whistles. I tried it out for the first time tonight and it worked out real swell, except I was really saddle sore when I hopped off--and that was just 30 minutes.

Today's Inspiration

I spent four hours today mowing the lawn. Now I have some time to catch up on offloading pictures and videos from the camera. Here is a video of my dog--an inspirational short documentary on running (3.1 MB).

6.7 Miles: Bell Road Loop + 2 Mile Walk

I simply can't express how beautiful the weather was today without quoting history's greatest poets, so I will spare you. Suffice it to say, days like today are rare, indeed. I started the day with a few hours of yard saling with my wife and her mother (no big scores today). I came home, watched Chariots of Fire (a great inspirational running movie, then I laced up and went out the door.

My goal was simple: a slow but steady pace to ensure I enjoyed myself.
My route was a little new: the Bell Road loop with a two-mile walking interlude on Cherry Grove road, a place I've never run, walked, or driven before. The walk was another way to extend my time outside.

While the run was fantastic, the walk was even better. Cherry Grove has some clearings that provide gorgeous views of the Blue Ridge Mountains. It's also a quiet road, perhaps because it's private and not publicly maintained.

30 Minutes: Villages of Round Hill

I did a simple half-hour out-and-back from doorstep, through town, and up the "fitness path" in the Villages of Round Hill. My legs felt a little sluggish until I had about 10 minutes left to go.