Long on Lester, August 2025 Edition

It's quite probable that two of the most common words in the post titles are "Lester" and "long." It therefore makes sense that they would be used together for many a post. This is one of them.

It's Friday, and my friends and I had decided that today would be the day of a long run for this weekend. Works for me. Oh, it may be tough to run 18 miles after sitting in the car for six hours (driving home from Chicago), but it may work out. Or, it may not.

After ingesting plenty of caffeine, I am able to keep up with the early (5:00 AM) group. A few folks join and leave, but the pace actually gets even faster as the run goes on. My Clif Bloks and hydration drink appear to help, but it's mostly the good company that makes the run successful. 

Yes, successful. We complete the run in less than three hours, although there were a few stops. I'm always happy when I am able to keep up with everyone, and today, I can.

I'm NOT shuffling. And don't call me Shirley.

Surely you're shuffling, Dan tells himself. His retort is, of course, I'm NOT shuffling. And don't call me Shirley. It's a lie. Shuffling is as shuffling does.

Today's Good Friday Lester Rail Trail run had begun fairly well. Dan had been joined by around ten of his best friends, several of whom had run with him for twelve miles. Too bad Dan still had six more to go. On some occasions, Dan manages to continue running well even after everyone else leaves. Today is not one of those days. 

Dan's pace becomes slower and slower. By mile 15, he's barely moving forward. He takes a gel in hopes that it will help him get through the final three miles. Three ain't so bad, right? Anyone can do three. And the gel ought to help. Or will it?

~ Brief Interlude: My First Time ~

Remember your first time? Of course, you do; everyone does. Mine occurred in the early 1990s. The occasion was the Detroit Free Press Marathon. It was late in the race, and I needed a pick-me-up, something to see myself through to the finish. Lo and behold, some volunteer hands me a gel packet. It was probably Gu, since there weren't so many different brands at the time. I wasn't sure what to do with it, but I soon figured out that you tear off the top and shoot the stuff down your throat, followed by some water. And guess what? It worked! My pace improved enough for me to finish strong and have myself a pretty good race.

~ End Interlude ~

But would a gel work its magic when Dan is this far gone? There have been times when it didn't. As the shuffling gets progressively worse, Dan begins to understand that today, nothing at all is going to work. 

He does manage to get eighteen miles in, but only twelve of them were decent. Not a very good Good Friday run. 

Looking for loping long on Lester

Hello Lester, my old friend. I've come to run on you again. Because a vision softly creeping. Left its seeds while I was sleeping. And the vision that was planted in my brain. Still remains. Within the mound of limestone. 

It's still very dark, but I find Michelle Wolff wandering on Lester Rail Trail. She is looking for Andy and muttering that he must have gotten lost. That's a tough task on LRT, which is only three miles in each direction. We run together for a while, then I take off a little faster.

But not too fast. In fact, I go so slow at this early hour that I begin to doubt my ability to do a long run today. As anyone who knows me will tell you, a long run is 18 or more miles. 17.9 - not a long run. 18.0 - long run. My hope is that Shannon Barnes will help me get up to that mileage.

Shannon shows up at 6:00, and I only have five of the planned six in by that point. We put in eight solid miles together, but then I'm alone again. I still have five to go, and this is the point in the run when I often start slogging.

But today, I don't. I actually speed up a bit, and make it (barely) to the 18-mile mark. It turned out to be a decent long run. Two weeks till Akron, and one week since Erie. Giddyup.

Done, Done, or, Longing for Lester

We now have to park for our Lester Rail Trail runs at the corner of Fenn and Route 57. It seems that certain members of our clan were busted for parking at the York Township Municipality Lot too early in the morning. So I announced that today's run would begin and end at the new location with loops at 5, 6, and 7 AM. Those times are kind of typical for me and for me and for everyone else. 

The final 6 miles are often, although not always, pretty lonely for me. Most of my friends, it seems, work for a living and these runs are often on weekdays (today's run was on a Friday). They usually need to be done and on their way home by 7 or earlier. That loneliness often, but not always, translates to a poor finish to my long run.

Today was slightly different. Although I'd planned to be there for each start time, and although I did want to get 18 miles in, I decided to begin super-duper early (4:15) with Michelle and Andy Wolff, and thus have only about 2 miles left when everyone else finished at 7:00 AM. Surely, 2 miles alone wouldn't be so bad.

Things didn't go quite as planned. Other friends (Shannon Barnes, Chadwick and Ella Sunday, and Julie Boggs) showed up at 5 as planned. As we began talking, I learned that Julie had been planning on doing all three loops - the ones I had promised to be there for. Now, I couldn't let Julie run those last miles alone, so even though I had nearly 4 in to begin with, I agreed to accompany her for the 7 AM loop in its entirety. This would put me at close to 22 miles, which is 10-20 percent longer than my usual long runs. But if I say there will be a 7AM loop, dad-burn it if there won't.

Those final miles were indeed slower for me, but the good news is that they got done. Or, as I used to say as a Project Manager, they were 'done, done.'

The 19th

June 19th, otherwise known as Juneteenth, was a week ago. The new National Holiday commemorates the end of slavery in the United States. There is also an online news organization called, the 19th. This blog post is about none of that. It's about Dan's 19th mile (out of 19 miles) today.

Dan's long runs haven't been so hot lately. Wait. Let's rephrase that. Dan's long runs have been too hot (although not very good) lately. The same goes for most of his recent running. The heat and humility sure do take a toll. (For a slightly more complete list, there's heat, humidity, hills, heavy legs, humility, hubris, and so on...) Yet, today's run hasn't been all that terrible.

He called out some friends, since companionship is never a bad thing, and they responded. He also got lucky with some slightly cooler weather. And he hadn't been on Lester Rail Trail, his old long-run stomping ground for a while. Put all that together, and you have the ingredients for a decent Day. And so it was, at least until now.

Miles 16-18 had been alone since all the peeps had to leave. They have real lives, you see. These are usually the tough miles, where a run becomes a slog. Today, however, Dan had managed to keep going at his decent just-under-ten=minute-per-mile-pace. But could he do it for one more?

Dan can call it quits at 18 and legally (by his own standards) still consider this a long run. Today, however, he is indeed going the extra mile. Literally. Lo and behold, even that one is somewhat decent. Should he go even one more? Call it an even, nice-round-number twenty-miler?

Nah.

You have to

The way I remember it, in the movie, No Country for Old Men, the bad guy, played by Javier Bardem, tells his victims that he will flip a coin. "Call it right, you get to live, call it wrong, you don't." One guy replies the way I think I would have: "I don't want to play." But Bardem tells him (in his deep bad-guy voice), "You have to."

I'm not sure that's entirely correct, but I like to think that it is. But sometimes that "You have to" phrase can be applied to running. I don't mean that in the way you might think. You may think I'm thinking of, "You have to run." Nope. (Well, okay, you do have to run. But that's not what I'm sayin'.) Here, I mean you have to prepare. Remember the Juma Ikangaa quote: "The will to win means nothing without the will to prepare." (I've just decided to write an entire blog post about that.) But today, I want to talk about how unprepared I was for the run.

You have to prepare for your training runs. That means the usual stuff, like eating right, getting enough sleep, and not doing too many hard running days without rest. It's even more important to prepare for the long variety of training runs. Double down on everything I just said if you have a long run on the morrow. 

This week, I didn't do that. I procrastinated because of a myriad of options and because I try to work around the weather forecast to get the best running done on the best weather days. The thing is, said forecast kept changing. When I awoke Friday morning, I'd been planning to run on Lester, but not especially long. Long runs could be done either Saturday on the Towpath, or Sunday at Hinckley. But the forecast now said Friday morning is okay, Saturday will see cold rain. 

That's when I called the audible; the long run would be today! The preparation, oh the preparation. Take a quick snort of beet juice powder mixed in V8 (Yeah, I'm back to experimenting with that). Get extra caffeine inside me as quickly as possible. Even mix some pumpkin in the coffee. And pack extra stuff I'll need during the run: extra water, gels, etc.

How did it go? It wasn't pretty, but I got eighteen miles done. So it wasn't awful, either. Last week's run went better, but for today, I'll take it. 

I have to. 

Best since August

Keen readers of this blog will have noticed more than one lament about how out of shape this runner has become since he ran his August marathon. Danny Boy is happy to report that he is now on the upswing. Upswings beat downswings every darn time. Today, he ran his first legitimate long run since that race. We say legitimate because he did run an illegitimate, wimpy, eighteen-miler on the dreadmill last week.

By contrast, today's run, done with friends on the Lester Rail Trail, was for real. Yes, it was eighteen good miles. And at a fairly steady pace. It sure felt good.

One additional thought: you have to take these things seriously. It's simply not practical to try to do a long run without adequate preparation and concentration. Today, he had it.

Long Likely Lester Longing

Okay, I'll admit that this post's subject don't make much sense, but I'll try to explain. I hadn't run on the Lester Rail Trail for a few weeks, and I was longing to do so. And today's run was to be a long one. At least, it had seemed likely that I'd get the desired mileage. Capisce? Okay, forget it. I'll just move on to tell the story.

It's my last, or possibly next-to-last long run before the Tallahassee Marathon. I arrive a bit before five, enough for an initial mile. I needed to do that because I seem to require more and more time and miles to wake up lately. The first mile is always the slowest, so I may as well get it done early. At 5, Michelle Wolff shows up, and she and I run the initial six-mile double out-and-back loop. It's cold (around 30F) but not windy. We hardly notice, since we're talking and sharing stories.

At 6, Sarah Joan and Harold Dravenstott show up to join the fray. We do another six (all while talking and telling more stories) before it's time for everyone to leave. Everyone except me, that is.

Now, at about 7:30 and about thirteen-plus miles in, I'm on my own. After a slowish start, I decide that it would be better all around if I can run faster for these final six, rather than slower. That's a big IF, of course. But somehow, I do manage to pick it up a little. The last two miles are my best. That's a good sign.

Storm's a-comin'

 

Description

...WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 1 AM FRIDAY TO 10 AM EST SATURDAY... ...WIND CHILL WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 4 AM FRIDAY TO 10 AM EST SATURDAY... WHAT...Multi-hazard winter storm with a combination of strong winds, very cold temperatures, snow, and blowing snow expected. Total snow accumulations of 2 to 4 inches. Winds gusting as high as 60 mph. Dangerously cold wind chills expected. Wind chills as low as 30 below zero. WHERE...Portions of north central and northeast Ohio and northwest Pennsylvania. WHEN...For the Winter Storm Warning, from 1 AM Friday to 10 AM EST Saturday. For the Wind Chill Warning, from 4 AM Friday to 10 AM EST Saturday. IMPACTS...Plan on slippery road conditions. Widespread blowing snow could significantly reduce visibility and potentially cause hazardous travel. The hazardous conditions could impact the morning and evening commute. Very strong winds could cause extensive damage to trees, power lines, and blowing snow. The cold wind chills could cause frostbite on exposed skin in as little as 30 minutes.

We've been hearing about this oncoming storm for a week, but now it's just about to arrive. What's a runner to do? Get his/her miles in while we can. And that was the plan for today.

Actually, the planning began last night. Realizing that Friday through Sunday are not going to be good for running, I decided that Thursday would be my day to get a long one in. A couple of my friends would already be running on the Lester Rail Trail; all I needed to do was arrive earlier to get enough extra miles in to call it "long." (That's by my definition - 18 or more miles = a long run. It would be no more than that this time around, but hopefully, no less either.) So I contacted Andy Wolff to see if he'd like to be my early companion.

Andy and I ran one six-mile loop from 4:30 to 5:30. It went pretty well. At that point, Andy had to head off to work, but Chadwick Sunday and his dog, Ella showed up for my second six. That was nice as well; I hardly noticed the miles going by. But now that it was 6:30, Chadwick (and Ella) had to leave for work as well. Of course, that's when Michelle Wolff showed up to accompany yours truly for his final six.

Yours truly was beginning to get a little tuckered out, but Michelle was okay with that, having just completed a strenuous strength workout.

We finished up around 7:30, just as it was beginning to get light. We beat the approaching bad weather by twelve hours or so. And I got my long run in.

I may not be my usual speedy self today

Excuses don't age well. They're best when fresh. Thus, when I say, "I may not be my usual speedy self today" (followed by my myriad of reasons why) at the start of the run, it's much better than trying to express those excuses afterward.

Today, at the start of our long run on the Lester Rail Trail, I say, "I may not be my usual speedy self today," and I get the usual moans and eye rolls. (Not that I can see their eyes rolling in the early morning darkness, but I can feel it happening.) "But lookyahere," I say, "Besides the ridiculous cold and the stupid early hour, and the fact that my muscles are still sore from last week's Loop the Lake run, my feet are absolutely killing me." "Yadda, yadda, yadda," they say. Or at least think. (It doesn't matter which; I can hear it either way.)

About that my feet are killing me thing: it's mostly toelio (an impacted big toenail that's turning black). Of course, it began at Loop the Lake. But instead of improving over the last week, it's gotten worse. That big toe is now extremely sore. I'm trying to treat it by soaking it in hot water and applying antibiotic cream. We'll see where all this takes me.

Running wise, my toe did manage to take me through today's 18 miles. Now it's time to soak it some more.

The What's the Point Award

It's the early 1990s, and home computing is still somewhat new. Newer still are "windows" with a small 'w', part of a 'Graphical User Interface.' At an Apple user conference, one guy proudly displays his ability to get a screen saver to run within a window. Previously, screen savers would only exist on entire screens. The other conferees subsequently give this person a "What's the Point Award." This takes the form of a six-pack of Caffeine-free Diet Mountain Dew.

During a break between today's six-mile loops on the Lester Rail Trail, my friends see me drinking a Mountain Dew, one that is caffeinated and sugared. They are surprised that I would consume such a disgusting thing. I explain that I don't usually partake; the last time I had one was at the 1996 Towpath Marathon. I don't think they believe me.

I also explain that the only reason I have this one was that it came free with last night's Little Caesars dinner that we shared with the grandkids.

The 1996 Towpath Marathon occurred after that Apple user conference. It is one that I remember well. I drank two 16-ounce high-test Mountain Dews before the race. It was a beautiful fall day, and I ran well. It was the last of seven times that I broke three hours. I'm not sure how much credit I should give to the soda, but it sure didn't hurt. Regardless of its value as a running hack, I hate the stuff; it truly is disgusting. I really believe that I haven't had one during these past 26 years.

Once again, however, I can say that it does not hurt my shot at getting in a decent long run today. With the help of my friends, I get three plus loops done, for twenty miles. It's not super fast, but it's at least decent, and I will take it.

Now, I'll have to recover in time for tomorrow's hilly Hinckley run. I'll do it without Dew.

Can You Keep Up?

 

It was a simple question: "Are you able to keep up with them?" Debbie asked it after I talked about my plans to run with my friends again the following morning. "Oh yeah," I answer. "Usually. Well, mostly. Well, sometimes. Okay, Occasionally," I qualify. But then came today's run itself.

I'm on the Lester Rail Trail for the first time in a while. And it'll be a while before I'm here again. Michelle and Andy Wolff and I had run one six-mile loop, and now Harold Dravenstott has joined us for a second one. Although we'd started in the dark, it's clear, yet very cold, and the sun is just beginning to rise. I reflect on the fact that I love running here.

Unfortunately, after a couple more miles, I am also beginning to reflect on the current problem at hand: I'm getting tired. Michelle and I fall back a little, but my ability to maintain even this slower pace is failing. Eventually, I have had enough. I announce that I'm turning around and heading back to the parking area.

Thus, I have to say that this was one of the days when I could not keep up. I suppose I should add yet another qualification to the answer to Debbie's question: "Only when there's a blue moon."

At least I got 11 in today. And I'm still recovering from last weekend's BM. And I ran for three consecutive days prior to today. And I still need to get myself into decent shape. And...

Fragrant

Fragrant. That's the word to describe today's run. No, not me. I'm talking about the wildflowers along Lester Rail Trail, lending their scents to any runners who happen by.

~

As it happens, there are some runners on LRT today. They appear to be Harold Dravenstott, Andy Wolff, Michelle Wolff, and Dan Horvath. The sun comes and goes, as clouds move in and out. There's some misty rain, and then other bright times. Harold has to leave, and then later on the Wolffs do as well. Dan is all alone.

This is almost like old times, thinks Dan. He used to do extra miles - more than anyone else, and he's doing so now, he thinks. But then reality occurs. His Achilles tendon makes itself known with the beginnings of what Dan knows will lead to the usual big-time pain. And the other reality is that this run will only be, at most, twelve miles, as opposed to one of Dan's long runs of 18-20. He hasn't done anything like that in months and months. But he's reasonably happy with today's twelve. Even that is the most in several months. 

As he's finishing up. the pain is coming on strong. And it does indeed assert itself even more on the ride home.

Dan tries to think about the fragrant flowers instead.

Run 1 of Year 2

After one year of running every day, you would think I would have learnt a thing or two. Especially when things went downhill so much towards the end of that year. But no, here I am, running again, without a day off.

Even though it's cold, it doesn't feel as frigid as yesterday. Today, I'm running on the Lester Rail Trail with Andy and Michelle Wolff, and Harold Dravenstott. Our blistering-fast early pace has slowed just a little. After some back and forth (the entire trail is only three miles long), we drop Harold off and go on for more. About 12 down, 4 to go, think I. Perhaps I will be able to do it if we run slow enough. I thought I'd heard Michelle say that she and Andy were going for 16. It turns out that she said 14. That's a huge difference. HUGE.

We complete the final few, and I feel pretty good. Pretty good like I just ran a good strong long run good, not pretty good like I only ran a few steps good. I may need to begin calling 14 miles the new 18 miles, so it can be considered a long run.

Comfort Zone

Just after sunrise on the LRT

For the first time in nearly two months, I drove somewhere to run. Now I'm here on the Lester Rail Trail, and I don't know what to do.

It's not that it's not nice. The sun is rising, the birds are singing, and the temperature is relatively mild. I just forgot how to run. I guess it's due to all that time on the mill. And the hood; whatever miles I've run outside, have been close to home, and most of those have been in my immediate neighborhood. How can I possibly run on this strange but interesting trail?

Oh, I know. I put one foot in front of the other and I go. It's not so bad.

But it's not what you'd call good either. Since I did 18 on the mill yesterday, not to mention 20 a few days prior to that, I hadn't been expecting much. Of course, I am not getting much.

I suppose that's okay. Now that I have re-learnt how to drive here to run, I will probably improve. Probably. I may even get to the track tomorrow.

But for now, it's interesting to just be outside that neighborhood-and-treadmill comfort zone.

Day 44: You can observe a lot, just by watching

At 5:00 AM, I'm off and running on the Lester Rail Trail. I am having thoughts of doing a long run of eighteen or more miles today, even though I've already logged one long run earlier this week.

I'm tired, and I start slowly. At about four miles, I spot a woodpecker on the ground in front of me. When it sees me, it flies up into a nearby tree, but it occurs to me that this may be the closest I've come to a live woodpecker in the wild. A few miles later, I encounter a wild turkey hen with four tiny chicks in tow. Again, it may the closest I've come to creatures like this in the wild as well. Yogi Berra's line,  you can observe a lot, just by watching, comes to mind.

As cool as the wildlife is, and as pretty as the morning sunrise is, I am not having a good day, running wise. I simply cannot get moving at a decent pace. Instead, I only get more and more tired, and this causes me to run slower and slower. It's probably just the overall GVRAT mileage catching up with me. I suppose I was about due for a real stinker - one that I wasn't expecting. Well, I got it.

I terminated the run at eleven miles. Tomorrow's another day.

Day 26: In days of old

In days of old

When knights were bold

And toilets weren’t invented

They left their load

In the middle of the road

And walked away contented

A “friend” was running on the Lester Rail Trail in the early morning darkness, where he had unpleasant encounters with several large piles. Either large dogs or small-brained humans (or some combination) must have been responsible. Irresponsible would probably be a better word.

“What’s all this talk about endangered feces?” ~ Emily Litella

Ten miles on LRT today. I was originally thinking of doing more, but that didn't happen.

Day 2: Due for a Stinker?

The birds are singing. The stars are bright, but the predawn light is already forcing them to begin to wink out. I'm on the Lester Rail Trail, one of my favorite locations for long runs. I've posted many a story about these runs; here's one from fifteen years ago called, I Squashed a Yellow-jacket in my Singlet Today.

Lester Rail Trail (from the Medina County Parks website)

I am pretty sure I won't have time to run 24 miles today. It will probably be closer to the lower end of my long-run threshold of 18 miles. Even so, I'll have to maintain a half-way decent pace throughout, especially considering the several pit-stops that I'm necessarily making. How am I doing? Best not to know, so don't look at the watch. Don't look at the watch. Don't look at the watch. Oooops... I look at my watch. Aargh! - my pace is too darn slow.

It's getting lighter, and now I'm at mile five of the first six-mile out and back loop. I am still going so slow that I'm beginning to think this run may wind up being a complete stinker. I may not even make it to eighteen. Then I look behind me, and the sunrise is spectacular. There are reds, oranges, yellows, blues, and purples, and everything in between. The sight inspires me. But will said inspiration be enough to get me moving?

At the ten-mile mark in the second circuit, I guess I am finally running at the expected pace. Maybe I will make it to eighteen after all.

With only a couple miles to go, I am heading back to the car. I'm moving at my best pace yet. This is surprising, given that poor start. I am thinking about how I miss my running friends. I thought it possible that I may even see Michelle and Andy Wolff, or perhaps some of the others. But no, they must be socially distancing someplace else today. I do see a few other folks walking and running. Ahead of me, I see a guy with silver hair and green shorts. Could it be Tom Bieniosek? Thinking about it, I determine that it couldn't be anyone else.

I catch up and talk briefly with Tom, staying, of course, at the social distance of the width of the trail. I hadn't seen Tom for quite a while. He seems fine.

I move on and finish up. I wind up with nineteen and a quarter miles today. I'll walk for a few more later on.

This is day two of The Great Virtual Race Across Tennessee 1000K. I'll try to continue to do these daily posts about my experiences.

General Info about The Great Virtual Race Across Tennessee 1000K
Info about my own participation in GVRAT