Running in the fall

There's something special about running during autumn. At least for me there is. I love the colours, the temperatures, the smells, everything about fall. We don't get the bright reds of the maple trees, but we do get an amazing variety of yellows, russets, light oranges, and golds from the changing leaves. I love running through the wooded areas, and I guess I have to included our neighbourhood as a wooded area, since there are lots of trees. For a city plopped and sprawling across the bald prairie, there are a lot of trees.

I ran in shorts and tech shirt (the SUAR one, if you were wondering) today, and it was perfect, maybe 10 C (50 F), light wind, mostly sunny. I wish all my runs could be at that temperature. Cool enough to go hard and not get heat stroke, while warm enough to not have to worry about what to wear.

Today's run was a little quickie, a kiss and promise run. We have friends coming over (someone from my blogroll, quick, guess who it is) and we'll go out for dinner. Plus there is an appliance repair guy supposed to be over, and they are running well late now.

When I got the scale last week they also included a pedometer. Now, I don't have much faith in these things, but I tucked it in my back pocket during my run to see what the number after was. So, after a 7.75 K run, in 50:20, nice and relaxed, the pedometer said 5840 steps. or 116 steps per minute. That is one weird number, and I don't understand how it got that, or what it means. I know I run pretty reliably 85 to 90 steps per minute. There were no breaks, and I ran pretty steady, even for me. I reset it just before the run, and looked at it as soon as I finished. I'll maybe try a couple more times to see if it does any better. Perhaps I'll tuck it in a waistband, or in my hat or something. Though they did say it was meant for walking, and didn't work for jogging. But I'm running. I hope.

The run felt really good, my feet were light and happy. Mainly I was trying to keep my feet light, and my steps quick, and it mostly worked out that way. Breathing was regular and I could have chatted with a running buddy.

I went down through Fish Creek and saw a small herd of deer a few feet from the path. The people walking and riding by didn't seem to bother them at all. They were browsing through the old farm that used to have the horses that did the Christmas sleigh rides. They moved the horses out before the floods a few years ago, and they've never returned. I liked saying hello to them as I ran. I sometimes wonder where they got to.

My floating elephant theory is a big hit with some of my team mates. We have found it a very useful technique for dealing with one of the issues facing us.