Running Mom's Motivation

So we have been living in Virginia for almost a month now. I am really enjoying it so far and David and the kids seem to be adjusting well also. Figuring out where to run has been a challenge. I don't exactly like running in the city. I used to live in a pretty good sized city I know...But my previous house was so convenient to so many places that didn't make you feel like you were running in a city. It was a great place to run. But I wanted to make this a positive post. I have been bound and determined that I will get my running groove back.

When I have been running I have mostly been going from the house we are renting. It isn't too bad, but there aren't many sidewalks in this city. It is a much smaller city than we used to live in, but right now, it still feel like I am in the city. I have been able to figure out some short 3 to 5 mile routes that seem to work for me. And I don't mind running the shorter distances in the city. I also live less than two miles from work, so one day I ran home for lunch, picked up the dog, and ran back to work. So the short runs aren't too bad. The problem is all I have been doing is short runs and my stamina is severely lacking.

Saturday I was able to finally check out the area I wanted to try to do some longer runs in. I went to the Petersburg National Battlefield. I slathered on DEET (more about that later) and took the dog and headed out. I was very excited, especially when the woman at the gate said "have a nice run." She obviously knew what I was there for based on the way I was dressed. I was hoping her greeting would mean there would be a nice place to run.

I started out on a trail near where I parked the car. It was nice and I got to see a few cannons from the Civil War. But in no time I was back where I started. It was only a half mile loop! So I started on it again thinking I would take one of the trails I had seen coming off from it. Pretty soon I was back at the beginning...another half mile loop. I was getting discouraged. I had wanted to run 8 miles, and there was no way I could make 16 laps here. I took another trail. About 3/4 of a mile in I was running out to the highway...not my idea of a scenic, relaxing run. I entered back into the park on the opposite side of the highway thinking maybe I missed something. Boy was I right.

Across a bridge from where I entered the park there was a 3.5 mile one way road. There were two lanes. One was for driving, the other was for biking, parking, or hiking. It was gorgeous! Most of the road is tree-lined, so there were only a few spots where the sun was really beating down on us. It was only after I started out on the road that I started seeing all the other runners. There were plenty, and now I could see why. Very rarely did I actually see a car. The other really nice thing was that there were miles of trails off the main road. Any time I got tired of pounding the pavement or the sun got a little hot on the road, I was welcome to head off road and explore the trails. I finished my 8 miler (my first in over a month) in a much better mood than I had started.

Now back to the DEET. There is just one little thing about Virginia that I am having a hard time adjusting to. TICKS! They are everywhere. David had one crawling across his hand in our dinging room one night and I have pulled one attached one off me. We have taken to doing tick checks and when in the battlefield DEET is definitely necessary. I enjoyed the battlefield so much that I took the family back today. When we did our tick check this afternoon we didn't find any on us or the kids. We did however pull thirteen (YES...13!) off from the dog. Luckily, thanks to Frontline, most of them were dead, and those that weren't hadn't started feeding yet. So if you ever come to Virginia, don't forget to pack your bug spray. We may not have enough to share.

Total Miles in 2008... 334

Posted in: on Monday, May 26, 2008 at at 8:21 PM