It's always something when you run with Peter Nelson. Even though Ironman training has subsided and I'm in a 'do whatever' phase, Peter and I still get together once a week for a run. Usually, it's a torture session for me. You see, Peter, he's fast. And me, well, not so fast. Usually I'm complaining about something on our runs. My 'insert body part here' hurts or the weather 'insert expletive word here'! You get the picture.
We originally were going to run on Wednesday evening, but Peter is heading to Montana on Thursday for a wedding and had some errands to take care of on Wednesday. Like the good running buddy and friend that I am, I rearranged my life to accommodate Peter and moved the run to this evening. With all my complaining on our runs lately, I owed Peter one.
We decided to meet at 630pm, which meant our entire run would be in the dark. We also opted to run from Peter's house to the arb, through the arb and back. This meant we'd be running in the dark, creepy arb - complete with tall, scary trees and all sorts of random creatures. Sounds like fun to me. Let's do it!
We set out from Peter's house heading up Mineral Point road towards campus. Right away, we were greeted by a nice long hill. Nothing like a hill early on to upset your rhythm. My legs felt great, but I just couldn't get my lungs to catch up. About 1.5 miles later we entered the arb. The arb is covered in trees and has an abundance of wildlife. I've never run through it in the dark before. This would be an interesting experience.
You might be thinking - running in the dark? Are they crazy, stupid or both? I'll let you have 'crazy', but stupid, not quite. We were using the buddy system for safety, as well as sporting a head lamp and a crazy red blinking light with reflective clothing. I would NEVER run through the arb at night without a running buddy. I'd be spooked and have nightmares for months.
Running in the dark is a unique experience. Your eyes are constantly adjusting to the changes in light and any small movement in the surrounding area seems to catch your eye. Immediately upon entering the arb, I picked out a person walking a few hundred feet ahead of us. It looked as though that individual were walking a dog as well. As Peter and I passed this person, we realized there was no dog. I had just hallucinated an animal. No doubt this would be an interesting run.
There were a remarkable amount of cars driving through the arb at that time of night. I'm not sure where people were going or coming from or why they were back there. I mean, it's dark. You can't see anything. It's not a through street and there's no place to stop off for an ice cream or gas. Peter and I were both a bit surprised at this.
We also saw a few bikers along the way. So far though, no animals and only one other runner (in full reflective gear). We were about to get out from under the tree cover when I noticed some movement a few hundred feet ahead of us on the other side of the road. I knew something was running, but I couldn't tell what it was until it was about 50 feet away. It was another runner, dressed in black, with no reflective gear and an ipod. I think it startled Peter a bit...
I think we were both secretly happy we hadn't run into a deer, a turkey or a car full of teenagers. Smooth sailing so far. We got out of the arb and headed through Vilas park. We made the turn behind Edgewood and were very happy to see that they had just repaved this section of the arb. It's a known to be a pretty rough section of the route where you really have to watch your step. Fortunately, we didn't have to worry too much about our footing. What we did have to worry about was the two bright, beady eyes staring at us about 50 feet ahead. Do we stop? Do we go? And what is it? Even though we were both thinking these things, neither of us spoke up. We just kept running, hoping whatever it was wouldn't go for our ankles as we passed.
Raccoon! He (or she) saw us and bolted for a tree. Peter and I talked about wondering how the raccoon would react to us. Peter said 'I don't have to be faster than the raccoon. I just have to be faster than you.'. Remind me not to run in bear country with Peter.
We finally turned past Edgewood and hooked left onto Monroe Street. We were able to turn off our lights as this area was well lit. Our run had been fast so far. I'm not sure if it was the darkness that heightened our senses and made us run faster or we just felt good. Either way, we had been hauling butt for a good 7-8 miles at that point. I slowed it down and it felt good. A nice 2 mile cool down back to Peter's....
That's how it went in our heads anyways. We still had to climb Glenway. Glenway is quite possibly the longest, stupid hill in Madison. It's steep at first, but then levels off to a more gradual grade. On the way up the hill, we saw two wolves and a man wearing a Badger jacket. Ok, so they weren't wolves (siberian huskies), but it makes the story more fun, doesn't it?
We made it up the hill, I took a quick breather and we continued going uphill on Mineral Point. This is where we started talking food. We were both hungry and dreaming of dinner. You'll do anything to entertain yourself when things are hurting and you are tired. We crested the hill, flew down the other side of it and reached Mecca...or Peter's house. Again, Mecca sounded more exotic and increased your enjoyment of this recap, I'm sure.
Some stretching, a few glasses of water and recapping the run for Kathryn and I was out the door, surviving yet another epic run with Peter.
So maybe we didn't see Lions, Tigers and Bears (as the post title may suggest)....but I hallucinated a dog, we played chicken with at least 10 cars and a raccoon, Peter lost his wallet twice, we stealthily ran past a couple of wolves and dodged a few crab apples in the homestretch. At the end of it all, we lived to tell the tale. And, we were fast.
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