Thursday morning was slightly better than the ones before just because of the fog and clouds. The humidity was still there. Rick was heading out "early" (I think he ran by 9am). I was thinking about going with him, but there were a few jobs I wanted to get done. He got in a drippy three and I still wasn't ready to go out.
Of course, by the time I was ready, the sun was out and it was hot. At least a breeze had picked up. I was staying in the fields, 3 miles in my Inov8s and 2.6 in my VFFs. If I needed to give this run a title it would be Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. There were stretches where I hated the run and couldn't believe how bad the conditions were and stretches where it was pretty OK. Basically, a head wind felt good. Any time I wasn't directly into the wind was pretty miserable.
Yesterday I headed to Bradbury to help Snowman mark a chunk of the Scuffle course. Ian was there. He'd run the course (at least Fox East, the trail that was under "repair") and told us what was going on there and gave us the marking flags. He also warned us the deer flies were at their worst. Having been there Wednesday, I knew. I came armed (sleeved?) with a long sleeve shirt because they'd already bitten the backs of my arms all up. I was going to put it over my short sleeved shirt till Ian and Ryan laughed at me enough to realized I would melt if I did that.
Ian headed to work; Ryan and I headed out with the flags. It's amazing how heavy they are; I don't even like to carry a water bottle while running. Ryan's trail marking philosophy is something like, not too many flags, but don't be mean either. I think no one will get lost on our portion...and it's their fault if they do! We also made sure the course went through what will be the big puddles if we get the forecasted rain. If not, we'll at least run through some mud : )
It wasn't long into our run (we did run between all flag placements) before I regretted my shirt choice. The damned flies bit through the shirt anyway. Ryan was dripping wet before the first mile. I took to calling him, Youk. Near the end of our task, between the humidity and the swarming deer flies, Ryan lost his grip on sanity and broke into a loud love song for the flying menace. It didn't have the wittiest of lyrics, but it was something! Seems like it should have been a miserable task, but we had fun!
Took us 1:28:26 to cover 5.3 miles. Mostly our pace was 10 min/mile when we weren't flagging.
This deer fly season has without a doubt been the worst one in a long while. Hopefully with dozens and dozens of runners going tomorrow, the winged bastards will be dispersed a bit. I won't be envying the front runner who will no doubt get the flies the worst.
ReplyDeleteIt seems like running on the roads might be indicated in fly season. Does it make a difference?
ReplyDeleteI imagine the front runner having the advantage of surprise but by the time the last person is going through every fly in the state should be aware of the feast to be had. Inform us on how it plays out.
You should run in Colorado: no deer flies, no Lyme disease, no humidity, no mosquitos if you're moving, no mud puddles, and some serious elevation.
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