Racing the falling dusk...

Today I had every intention of running in the morning...before spending the day in appointments at Johns Hopkins for the diva.  Out the door by 6:45am and I could have clocked 10 miles.  That would have helped big time in pushing toward my mini-goal for the week.  Alas, the diva was awake and the spouse wasn't, so no morning run for me.

Instead, I wasn't able to lace up my shoes until about 3:30pm, hitting the B&A Trail by about 3:45pm.  Is it just me or is night coming earlier and earlier?  Yeah, the sun was already well below the trees at 3:45, so I knew I needed to run like the dickens just to clock sevenish miles before 4:45pm (or roughly when it becomes too dark to be out on a trail alone). 

So I did just that...took off at a high speed (high at least for a training run...initially I was hitting 8:10 miles or so) heading north on the trail from the Arnold Station shopping center, determined to go out 3.5 miles and get back before the witching hour.  It was a lonely night on the trail, compared to normal.  Few bikers and even fewer runners taking advantage of the opportunity to get in some exercise just before night.

I'm glad everything felt good and that I had just charged my ipod.  A run with no distraction and something nagging would have made for super boredom....except running past the horse farms.  Those always provide a needed distraction and I still love watching horses do just about anything.

Just as I was coming to the 3.5 mile mark up in Severna Park, I passed a boy pushing his girlfriend on a skateboard and thought to myself, girlfriend, motor yourself.  But I'm too polite to make such comments.

The 3.5 miles back was a bit slower (and I started feeling the hard push on the way out) but was still as strong as the opening miles.  When I returned to my starting point I still had a bit of light left in the air, so grabbed an extra mile before calling it quits and heading to McDonald's for an ice cream cone (I deserved that, right?).

So it wasn't 10 miles, but it wasn't the effort of a slacker either.  With the schedule this week it's going to be tough to hit my mini-goal (hitting 1000 a month early), but I'll find a way to do it, come hell or high water.  Happy trails!!!

Stats -
Miles:  8.12
Time:   1:09:09 (average pace of 8:30 per mile)
Location:  B&A Trail north from Arnold Station
Feeling:  physically good, mentally wish I could have logged 10 miles today