Running without Motivational Drill Sergeants

Today I ran two of the three loops at Beaver Lake Trail on post. The "trail" is a mostly paved path (there are a few dirt roads) through the woods and loops around a lake. It has been rainy and humid lately in Southern Alabama but the rain had just stopped, so the start of my run was slightly cool. I felt really good the first loop (2.3 miles) with rolling hills and stopped to walk here and there as needed. The second loop (1.1 mile) was mostly uphill (counter-clockwise) and I sputtered out pretty good on each hill. I almost never look at the time anymore so I can't tell you how "fast" I ran it.

(Begin rant) On runnersworld.com I started using their training log again and wanted to use their public trail finder where other runners post trails. I've always found their Web site to be sub-parr. From a usability stand point and also, their servers just seem to be always overloaded. I remember this from years ago trying to use the same service. Every time I try to look at public running routes or make my own, it times out and I get errors on the page. Each time, I still look at my own connection thinking, maybe it's me, but it's not. It's not my browser and not my computer, it's runners world who for a big operation, still can't create a professional Web site. argh. (End rant)

Anyway, I've seen runners weave out of the woods on post but it's kinda complicated finding places to run (besides the street) because a lot of dirt roads/paths are for Authorized Personnel or are training grounds for soliders. Once I was running on a dirt road off the usual trail and out of no where (mostly because I had headphones on) a HUGE troop of soldiers, carrying guns, appeared out of the woods and headed for me. The first thing I thought was "they look scary" the second thing was "dang, they have guns" the third was wondering how long they've been in the woods and lastly was, "this is going to be akward running by them (same path) while they are training." They were probably Warrant Officer Candidates and I was wondering if drill sargents yell at civillians too. In my head it's going something like this: (with the huge hat of Gunnery Sergeant Hartman hitting my head), "WHAT ARE YOU DOING NUMBSKULL RUNNER. DON'T YOU KNOW THESE ARE MY F'ING WOODS? CAN'T YOU READ SIGNS?! GET OUT OF HERE BEFORE YOU START LOOKING LIKE THE ENEMY!"

Whew! See? Scary. Especially the playout in my head. lol.

But, hopefully if I can get the RW appplication to work so I can figure out some new running locations. I think there is also a run finder on USATF and the Rails to Trails program site (none in my area though). Something to look forward to!