Look at you with your mind spinning.

Week 15 Total: 28 miles
Training To Date: 400 miles

Let the tapering begin!

Distance: 16 miles

Route: To Cleveland Lakefront Natural Preserve and back.

Today was supposed to be 20 mile run #3. And in spite of my state of exhaustion this morning, I set out in the attempt to complete that goal. However, instead I chose to have an ADVENTURE!

Band-aids: check
Lip balm: check
Bottle: check
Body glide: check

Over spring break the kids attended camp at Shaker Lakes. Picking them up one afternoon I saw a map for Dike 14. It appeared to be this mushroom-shaped land area, jutting into Lake Erie, which begins where MLK Blvd. ends.

I run that way, when MLK ends I cut west and run along the lake. But what was this? The docent was only to happy to tell me all about Dike 14. For twenty years it was a landfill, dredged sediment from the Cuyahoga and the harbor were dumped there. Closed and left on its own since 1999, it has since "naturalized" and is now the Cleveland Lakefront Natural Preserve.

This morning I went to there.

The city from there.

The paths are rough but soft, so new they are not present on the satellite maps, sprinkled with wood shavings. I had to keep an eye out for small trees which had been cut close to the path, but still high enough to twist an ankle. Where the grasses grow high, I almost ran directly into a deer.  It is a lovely retreat.

Temperature: 49º  

Climate: cool and overcast, sightly chilly.

Weight: 166.5 lbs.

Pre-Snack: chewy granola bar
Road-Snack: GU x2 (Island Nectar & Chocolate Outrage)

Hydration? yes
Stretches? yes

However. There was a moment of great difficulty on my return trek, at the foot of University Circle. I used the port-a-john at the tennis courts, and had the Chocolate Outrage (not bad, actually) but I was feeling very weak, tired, cold, and a by now a bit depressed. I had my cellphone in my hand, to call my wife to come get me. I walked up the hill past the VA Hospital, ready to pack it in.

I put the phone in my pocket. I got to the top of the hill. I drained my water bottle. And I continued to run. I jumped to the Devo track, bore down, and ran. By the time the song was over, I was fine. Better than fine. The GU was kicking in. I was going to get home on my own two feet.

Podrunner Playlist:
Trailblazer (160 bpm)
Mirror in the Bathroom - The Beat (171 bpm)
Thrive (163 bpm)
Girl U Want - Devo (173 bpm)
Stentorian (165 bpm)