Category Archives: Running

Training/Photo Walk

On Saturday, I ran the first outside training run I’ve done in years. When I ran my route – the same route I used to run when I ran regularly – I noticed it with a different eye this time. A photographer’s eye.

It’s spring, and I’m seeing budding trees. But, now, instead of just seeing random green, I see the shapes. The lines. The shades of color. I think macro. I think filling the frame. I think angles, exposure, and shutter speed.

On Sunday, my training schedule said I had to walk for 40-60 minutes. I decided to walk the same route I ran on Saturday, but I decided to make it a photo walk, so I could actually take pictures of all the things I saw and thought, “Oh, I wish I had my camera for that!”

The first was a tree on my street that caught my attention. I loved the new leaves, unfolding from the buds.
Tree - close up

I took a few more shots of the same tree before moving on (click to view larger).
Tree - looking up Tree - reaching in

When I made my way to the start of the trail, I remembered I wanted a shot of the mini stop and street sign at the beginning (or end, depending on your POV) of the gravel path. I’ve always thought it was so cute.
Mini stop sign

I had an assignment for my photog class to take a photo of one object in two different ways. As I walked, I chose the power lines.
Power lines Power Up!
I also liked this perspective on the water tower.
Water tower

When I got to the neighborhood playground, I knew just the image I wanted to capture. The park district is in the middle of remodeling our playground. There’s a big mound of dirt and gravel that they’ve dug up, off to the side. For a while now, there have been a few tufts of daffodils blooming randomly on the otherwise barren and desolate mound. They were still there the day before, so I was excited to finally have my camera with me to capture the odd sight. Unfortunately, it seems someone came by and clipped most of them – probably to put in a vase.
Daffodils in dirt #1 Daffodils in dirt #2

I was quite amused to come across a kite eating tree.
A kite eating tree!
Poor kite!

Another, cute, little stop/street sign – and the trail continues….
The trail continues....

I didn’t keep following the trail. Instead, I turned back into the neighborhood, and found this beautiful magnolia tree.
Magnolia

Finally, as I came back to my street, I looked up and saw the sun trying to peek from behind the clouds, its rays faintly spreading out in all directions. I didn’t know how well my camera would capture it, but I gave it a try. I like it, and it became my Project 365 pic of the day.
123/365

You can see all of these (and more) images in larger sizes on my Flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lildebweb/

Share

Run, Forest, Run

I’m running again. Well, more like jogging.  Really, if we’re going to be honest, it’s a lope. Ok, a shuffle. Still, I’m moving. Besides the usual motivations, I saw something on Facebook this week that got me in the mood. Some second cousins are doing a 5K in honor of their father, who passed away from pancreatic cancer. I decided to join them. The event is called Dash for Detection and it’s philanthropic goal is to raise money to create an early detection test for pancreatic cancer. Can you believe there isn’t one? And by the time anyone gets diagnosed with this form of the Big C, the prognosis is almost always super grim. If you’d like to help, you can donate on my page: http://DashForDetection2011.kintera.org/debmoran.

But, back to the running thing. I saw this post on Facebook on Tuesday of this past week. I checked my trusty training guide (http://www.halhigdon.com/5K%20Training/5-Knovice.htm), and realized I would have to start with week 3 if I was to get to the end of the 8 week training regimen in time for the run. Oy. Luckily for me, the first day was a possible rest day, so I started with the 2 mile run on the treadmill that very day. It’s been a while, so I had to run/walk it. But, I did it. I think it took me almost an hour. I started thinking, “This is going to be a LOOOOOONG 5K.”

I continued through the week, slowly increasing my speed. REALLY slowly.  All the while, praying for good weekend weather so I could get outside for my “long” run on Saturday. That’s today. Upper 40s and sunny this morning. The only downside was a bit of wind. I took off around 10am, and, based on my treadmill work, I thought I’d be lucky to finish in under an hour.  Especially with the wind.  I did recall that it’s very different running on land vs. hamster wheel, but I forgot just how different. It’s sometimes tough to pace oneself on land. Obviously, the treadmill does the pacing for you. That in and of itself can be difficult. Running a consistent pace is not so easy, even on the perfectly flat “terrain” of the machine. But, outside, the variations in land lead to variations in pace that can actually help speed the overall pace. And, thus, I finished in 39:09. Now, those of you who run and are in better shape may think, “Really? What’s so exciting about that?” Well, for me, it’s the thrill of being under a 20 minute mile. Yep. You read that right. Everyone’s got to (re)start somewhere.

More on my observations in the next post.

Left. Right. Repeat.

 

Share