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by bardo šŸ
2021-01-10
running guy

Single Track Somebody

Single Track Somebody
2021-01-10
running guy

Sunday Runday.

Still locked into my solo routine from an abundance of pandemic lockdown caution, I veered from my planned course yesterday. I left the house thinking of a simple suburban streets run, my typical get-er-done route. Instead, I turned ninety-degrees at the trail access, and trotted into the river valley to tackle a stretch of weaving single track.

I lamented last Sunday at the frustration of solo training. Friends who I usually spend multiple hours with every week, exploring local wilderness and who would have followed me (or vice versa) into a sketchy, frosty route through the wooded miles, are also sticking closer to home and training alone.

Yet I had some company on my single track trek.

A pair of fatbikers appeared and then followed a few dozen meters behind me at and into the trailhead.

The choppy snow was grippy enough for my modest pace, up and down and weaving through the forested valley terrain. We call this type running rollercoasters because its never flat, never straight, and never for the feint-of-heart. My pace always reflects on conditions and how I’m feeling.

But for a pair of fatbikes, I guess, it meant ride just slightly faster than a slow guy in sneakers. They paced me and crept closer and closer up behind, calling out some hellos and convo about the conditions, until about halfway along the kilometer-long route I felt it wise to pull left and let them pass.

Then I kept pace with them for the last three hundred meters, give or take, until we dodged back into the nearby neighbourhood.

In short, training alone is lonely, but temporary training friends are never in short supply if you know where to look.

pandemic fallout running solo running trail running winter sunday runday

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about

It’s about more than just food.

It’s about a mindset and a perspective on living a full, active and interesting life.

The Cast Iron Guy blog heated up in January 2021 as a journal of uncomplicated things, life lived, and a mindset that reflects the philosophical practicality of well-seasoned cast iron frying pan: enduring, simple, down-to-earth & extremely useful.

I write regularly from here in the Canadian Prairies about things that interest me, including the artistic inspiration I get outdoors, travel, gear, growing and cooking food, fire craft, suburban and nature trails, running, and (of course) the clever and curious ways I find to use my many pieces of cast iron cookware.

On This Day

  • Moka Express
    2023-01-10
  • Single Track Somebody
    2021-01-10

tagged

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