First Tracks on the Trail

In a winter that seems to only bring snow and ice on days I need a long run, I managed to get in first tracks on the rail trail today. It was a blast to have the trail almost to myself. At one point a fox wandered back and forth across the trail for a while, always managing to stay ahead of me and keep an eye on my progress. Came up on a few other foxes in other spots, and managed to stop and commune with a doe for a while.

Running through a winter wonderland on days like this certainly makes it worth the extra layers and extra effort.

Book and Booze Recommendation

Jack Daniels, meet Jack Daniels.

Coaching Certification

After years of giving out free BS running advice, I figured it was time for that to be certified bull. So I attended the two-day coaching certification course at the Road Runners Club of America headquarters building near Washington DC. It was a fantastic two days. A lot of people just assume running is simple, as I always have, and we all know generally what to do. But this course covered a lot of the 'why' and 'how' questions; why and how does the body respond to certain external forces? How do our aerobic and anaerobic systems respond to different inputs? Why is the two-hour threshold so critical in training?

As it was linked with the RRCA's annual meeting, the course was taught by all four of the usual RRCA coach trainers. So our class was the benefit of a lot of varying experiences and anecdotes from folks with medical backgrounds, college coaching backgrounds, and athlete backgrounds.

I've always tried to use my knowledge and experience to help others, and this is just another step in being able to give back to the running community.