Brick with berries

BIKE 2:22 and 40.4 miles
RUN 17:? and 2 miles

I had a few options for rides today. Coulda rode NT, could rode (ridden?) with RM around SoCity, but in the end came back to my original plan of taking Frea out to the MCTs. Admittedly a social ride with others would have been better, but this allowed me to stick to my schedule, adjust to my strengths and weaknesses, and just have some alone time. Not that I need alone time! But this is where I wanted to be.

Another beautiful day, light winds out of the west. I rode from C-ville west to the Schoolhouse, then back. There were berries along the first mile of trail, I could hear them popping under the tires. My plan was for 2 hours and I was surprised to see that the first out and back took just over 1 hour for 18.3 miles I didn't know how long it would take, normally I park at Schoolhouse and ride east, so this was a new measure. First lap felt great, got to thinking I'd ride to 40 miles instead of stopping at 2 hours.

Lazily I went out and back again on the same route, instead of heading the other direction. I dunno why I do this. Why do out n back repeats seem more appealing to me sometimes? Or maybe I just wanted that faster tailwind for the last segment, instead of a headwind?

In the 2nd out I started to feel how much I miss the bike. I felt strong, faster, steady. The front wheel seemed slick under me sometimes, not sure if that's just a feeling or a weak shoulder thing? And speaking of the shoulder, it started to ache around 1:45, aching up on top where top of shoulder meets the neck. Must have been some compensation from those muscles.

The 2nd inbound was great. Enjoyed the tailwind and feeling of flying again on Frea. To hit the goal of 40 miles I rode past the parking lot for a short out n back. When I got back to the truck, I realized the little bits of black I thought were bugs turned out to be bits of  berries! They smeared purple! So I decided on my run to go berry hunting.

Don't think I've mentioned this much here yet -- that mulberry trees are dropping berries all over for the past few weeks. In runs around the neighborhood I've mapped out the good ones and when I see a smear of purple under a tree I'll stop to pick a handful. I do this on dog walks too, poor Sugar just has to deal. My hands turn purple, my lips prolly do too, but oh so good! Same on the run today. Didn't mind if my hands were messed up, didn't mind if my pace was blown by stopping. So yummy!

So yummy in fact that I filled the rear left pocket of my Club jersey with berries for after I'm done. When I started running again I could feel a wet spot on my back. Sure enough, purple stains were coming through the jersey. I finished my run holding the pocket as best I could to keep them from jostling and smashing more. LOL!!