Days 1446 and 1447 -- Jogger's Progress

	Trip	YTD	Sep
Distance	9093.9	1080.9	111.8
Time	63 days, 6 hrs, 21 min	8 days, 3 hrs, 49 mins	20:31
Days	1447	181	19
States	34	11	2

I got in a good five miler on Tuesday. But Wednesday, I didn't feel like running, so I didn't. Today, I didn't feel like running, either, but I made myself go out and get in 4.5 miles. I got out and realized that I didn't have my watch. I would have had to go back in and tiptoe through the bedroom, hoping not to wake up Mrs. J. So I opted for an untimed run.

Today is the end of the month, because I'm taking tomorrow off. On Saturday, I'm going to the Kickapoo Reserve Dam Challenge Triathlon, where I will kayak 7 miles, bike 14 miles, and run 3 miles. I'm pretty nervous about it. I have barely kayaked at all in my whole life. I haven't gotten much biking in this summer. Even my running has been rough for the last week or so. So mere survival will be the main goal. If I don't make that one, this will be my last post.

Day 1445 -- Institute

I was afraid that Institute, WV, might be one of those places that's hard to find a picture of.  You know, I'd get pictures of the Art Institute in Morgantown and the National Institute for Toothpick Science in Wheeling.  But no, this is a ball field in Institute, with the towers of a chemical plant in the distance.  I'm sure I'd be happy to have my kids playing there.

I knew from the get-go that today's run was going to be rough.  It was my fifth running day in a row, and my legs were tired from the beginning.  I plodded out almost nine miles, and that was that.  Tomorrow is definitely going to be a day off.

Days 1443 and 1444 - Charleston

Long time readers may recognize Frank, the Photoshop-impaired person who has visited all 50 state capitols.  I'm not sure when the last time we crossed paths was.  It has been a while, anyway.

I did my Thursday 5K on Friday, this week.  After unexpectedly taking Tuesday off, I was behind a day.  This morning, I did a very easy four miles.  I'm a bit run down, but I think I'll still go for a medium-long run tomorrow.  We'll see.

Day 1442 -- Yeager Airport

Just east of Charleston, I'm running somewhere near Chuck Yeager Airport. 

Day 1441 -- Big Chimney

I am not on US 119 in Big Chimney.  I'm on I-79 north of Big Chimney.  But here's this picture from the Millennium Highway Roadtrips Project, and it's as good as any, I guess.

I hadn't planned to take two more days off, but I did.  Monday was an easy day to take off, after the long run Sunday.  But Tuesday, I just couldn't struggle out of bed in the morning.  I did seven this morning, and that will have to do.

Day 1440 -- Blue Creek

Yow!  I'd better get moving.  This tank, from the Army National Guard base in Blue Creek, WV, looks like it means business.  Thanks to the folks at TripAdvisor.com.

I wasn't sure if I was going to make a long run, today.  There was a chance of rain, and I wasn't sure how strong my legs were going to be.  But the rain held off, and I got a strong 16 miler in.  It was a fine run, but I'm kind of tired tonight.

DAy 1439 -- More Big Otter

 OK, I'm a bit off course.  I'm in Big Otter, West Virginia, but this particular big otter is in Fergus Falls, Minnesota.  I didn't run close enough to it when I ran through Minnesota, which is a shame.  I've actually seen this big otter in real life.  And, of course, I always love a chance to link to The World's Largest Collection of the World's Smallest Versions of the World's Largest Things.  They provided the picture above.  The picture below, which is a better view, is from EB-5 Magazine.

I ran an easy three this morning.  It was a little warmer than yesterday, but I didn't have much ooomph.  That's OK.  Doesn't matter.  Had a run.  That's what counts.

Days 1436 and 1437 -- Big Otter

From Panoramio, the very exit I ran past yesterday.

Day 1436 was Monday.  I ran a very easy two miles, just to not take the day off.  Day 1437 was yesterday.  I did a hard five and a half over hills.  That made my fifth day in a row, so I took today off. 

Days 1434 and 1435 -- Strange Creek

I don't think this swinging bridge looks very safe to run on.  I think I'd better take it easy. The bridge is on Flikr, posted there by R Tom Sizemore III.

We continue to have beautiful running weather.  It's been cool and dry.  I ran an easy four yesterday, and 10 more this morning.  I ran the same five mile loop twice, and deliberately tried to run the second loop faster than the first.  I felt pretty good about that.  It's not my forte.  I tend to slow down as I go along.  But today I managed to pick it up nicely during the second lap.

Day 1433 -- Gassaway

The town of Gassaway, WV, is named after "former United States Senator and one time vice-presidential candidate, Henry Gassaway Davis", according to the Town of Gassaway web site. Why they couldn'thave named it "Davis", or even "Henry", I don't know.  Oh, well, I guess it's a cool name.

I finally took that day off yesterday.  It was another cool and dry morning, but I was just worn out.  Today was another cool and dry morning, so I ran my "Thursday 5K".  It went fine. 

Days 1431 and 1432 -- Flatwoods

Here's a little known fact: Its the law in Braxton County, Flatwoods, West Virginia that you must provide proper first aid to all aliens at the scene of an accident. This is according to Thermopylaehillbilly. And they wouldn't lie about something like that.

I had a great run yesterday.  I ran about 7.5 miles at a decent pace.  It felt really, really good.  It was a great way to start off the first day of classes.

So, after running 25 miles the first three days of the week, I could definitely have taken today off.  I didn't for three reasons.  (1) I'm still feeling guilty about skipping the first three days of the month.  If I had skipped today, I would have been back down to less than 50% of the days in September.  (2)  Today was the second day of classes, and my first day meeting my MWF classes.  I didn't want to face them without my daily exercise.  (3)  We are in the middle of a spell of wonderful weather.  It's been about 10 degrees Celsius in the morning, and dry.  We don't have that many perfect running days here in Wisconsin.  I didn't want to miss one.

Day 1430 -- Napier

I googled all around this part of West Virginia, without finding any really good pictures. So finally, I settled on this one, because (a) it was kind of a funky thing to even have a picture of, especially for a real estate site. I mean, seriously, how did they think this photo was going to help them sell anything. Also, (b) it was clearly the most difficult picture to paste myself into.

Tomorrow is the first day of classes, so my main goal this morning was to get up and run. I haven't gotten up early for several days, and I definitely want to do so tomorrow. So today was practice. I admit that I was still sore from yesterday's run, but that's OK. I didn't go real far or real fast.

Day 1429 -- Burnsville

Actually, I'm closer to Gem, West Virginia, than to Burnsville. However, a Google search for "Gem West Virginia" turns up a whole lot of stuff that isn't the town, which is so small it's listed in the West Virginia Home Town Locator as a "Populated Place". What is the population? I don't know. I can't find it.

So, Burnsville it is, although I'm a little past it. This sign is from the Byrne Family Reunion page.

I set my alarm for Thursday morning, but I wasn't sure if I was going to run or not. It turns out that I was up in the night with a migraine, so I had no trouble turning off the alarm. Then I planned to run on Friday, but that night, we had little alarum straight out of a Thurber short story (which I am not going to blog about) so I slept in again. Saturday morning, we had thunderstorms. Every time I thought they had blown over, there would be another little rumble. In the end, they never got that close to Joggerville, but how was I to know?

So, I had three days off, for the first time in I don't know how long. This morning, I made up for it with a long run, which turned out to be exactly 13.1 miles. Another Pikermi, this one slightly slower than the Madison Mini Marathon.