Well I didn’t get carried off by the blackflies hatching down-back, but on our long walk with Bennie this morning he wouldn’t go any further with all the blackflies threatening to carry him off into the woods to have their way with him.

They threatened the same with me, but the small horde that was attacking me didn’t have enough lifting power to get me off the ground. Fortunately, my imagination is more vivid than the reality, but the blackflies have definitely hatched in the area and are on a mission to make man and beast miserable, while they can.

After yesterday’s longer run, I was planning on doing 4.0 or so at a slower pace. Which to me means running down back, since I automatically have to go slower down there just because of the rocks and ruts on the dirt road. Although this morning I wasn’t looking forward to running the blackfly gauntlet again.

• Everything went pretty much according to plan:
• 1.0 – 9:22 / Slow and steady to start off and gradually picked it up a little as I went along.
• 2.0 – 9:11 / This is about where I wanted to be for an easy run at this point. Although I did have to jump into the trees for a timeout, which made the run a lot more enjoyable after that.
• 3.0 – 9:31 / This mile did disappoint me a little, but this section of the course the blackflies were ganging up on me and distracting me away from focusing on moving. If someone had a video of me in a couple of places they would have wondered who the wild man was waving his arms.
• 4.0 – 9:49 / Coming back up Stevens Hill slowed me down a lot, but I managed to pick up my feet a little and decided to do one more mile. I knew that last two had been pretty slow and I felt like I needed to stretch the legs a little.
• 5.0 – 8:50 / Nothing all that spectacular, but exactly what I wanted to do. Stretch the stride a little, make the cadence go up a couple of notches and remind myself that the old boy still has a little life left in him. 🙂

Distance: 5.02

Time: 46:55

Pace: 9:20

Shoes: ASICS GlideRide

The GlideRides never felt quite comfortable until I got back on the tar and picked up the pace a little more. I don’t know what it is about running on the dirt down back, but when I run in the GlideRides on the dirt road I don’t feel like the shoes are working with me. I can’t explain it, but I can feel it. Makes perfect sense to me. However, once I get back on tar, they feel great. Oh well, they are still great shoes, but not the best choice for me on a dirt road.

Overall a good recovery run from yesterday’s longer run.

Now enjoy the blackfly hordes for another week or two and then the mosquito squadrons attack, with horse and moose flies as the heavy attack specialists. Gonna be a tough year for bugs it seems or is that for a crazy runner who will be seen wearing hoodies and face masks while running, not so much due to COVID-19, but more because of being bugged-out.