23 May 2009

Specificity Schmecificity

Not long ago I had written about how I wanted my upcoming weeks of training to focus on fast road miles in preparation for Grandma's. Forget that approach.
I have ZERO interest in fast road miles. I have very little interest in slow road miles. I don't even like walking road miles yards at the moment. I'm hooked on the trails, folks.
So that's how I spent this weekend. Saturday's run was a 5 miler on trails with Ellie, followed by 7 miles on the Ice Age Trail, followed by about 4-5 more miles on roads. I had intended for that road portion to be about 12 miles, with my final destination being my home. I made it about 5 miles before I called for a ride. It. Was. Boring. I was hot and tired from the trail, and simply had very little ambition to continue. Saturday's Run available here.
Today, after 3 hours of landscaping around the office, I made it out to the Greenbush Single Track for some speed work. I ran a combination of the 3 loops that was likely about 7 miles a couple of times and LOVED IT!
The highlight of the run was stirring up an owl. Every time I see one, I'm amazed at how large they are, the small confines they'll fly through, and how quiet they are. They're amazing. I'm not sure I've ever seen this type of owl before (not even sure that's what it was, but the huge black eyes were pretty creepy), but he wasn't real worried about me. After landing in a tree about 50 feet from me, he spent only 30 seconds looking at me before returning his gaze to the forest floor. I could have stood there all day and watched. Can you find him? Sorry for the terrible film quality...it's from my phone. I'm pretty sure the only thing that would take a worse photo worse piece of 'technology' is Glaven's camerahome internet connection and 39 gig memory.

10 comments:

Glaven Q. Heisenberg said...

I have a new camera (because we got it for free), Landscape Boy, and have had it for some time now and if you haven't noticed the higher quality (and greater quantity) of pix on my blog then maybe the flying animal you should be spending more quality time with is the bat, seeing as you're about as blind as one. But not a vampire bat because you already know all there is to know about sucking.

And you misspelled "Schmecificity"!

Marcy said...

OK G, 3:46am?!? (and yes I'm aware that Dr Nic is in a different TZ but STILL)

Are you leaving road racing fo evah, now?

Glaven Q. Heisenberg said...

Ooo, Teh Marcy's all jealous that I read Dr. Nic before I read her!

Honeymoon's over, Dr. Nic.

Plus here I am below her yet again with another good vantage point for @$$-gazing and - ho-hum - sorry, Teh Marcy, this happens so often now it's getting boring.

Can't you get a new @$$ tattoo? I'm tired of readind the old one that sez "This End Up."

O, wait - it actually says "Up this end".

That's different.

And HAWT!1!

Ace said...

trail running ftw! fewer semi trucks to run you over as well...

Nitmos said...

Is this like one of those photo tricks where you have to unfocus your eyes for the owl to become visible? I was never good at those. I always just saw Tootie from the Facts of Life.

Carolina John said...

i love hitting the trails too nic. nice job. owls are cool.

SteveQ said...

Is "Landscaping around the office" code for shaving your ...?

C said...

I don't like most birds since they love to use me for target practice when evacuating their bowels, but I love owls. They're just so graceful. A quality I lack severely so I'm always in awe of it elsewhere.

And yes, I even spotted him in your photo. Take that, Nitmos! ;)

Glaven Q. Heisenberg said...

1. Teh 'Bride's latest comment on my blog concludes thusly: "ps - stop being mean to dr super runner!"

Which leads me to ask ... Teh B. ... Teh Marcy ... how come you always gotta get GIRLS to fight your fights for you?

2. LMAO at SteveQ's comment!

Bill Carter said...

Hi Nic

I have to admit that I have been WAY (insert teenage girl voice) to jealous since Marcy singled you out for Hunkdom. But I do believe I have finally gotten over it thanks to the mention of
"landscaping" and the discussion of owls which I think are exceptionally cool. BTW, I have seen very poor photography in the past on other blogs (mostly my own), but that pseudo picture of the owl might win some sort of reward.

Of course, I am sure Marcy thinks it is "top notch".