There is no denying anymore. Fall has arrived. I love the color everywhere and the cooler temperatures, but the getting-dark-early part of it, I wouldn't miss. And when day light saving time ends this Sunday, it's going to be even worse.
So tonight was kind of my last chance run after work while it's still light outside and then someone switched off the light.... FAST! ;-)
I got out of work on time, but by the time I finally started running at Furman, it was once again 6.30PM. I was wearing my safety vest, but left the headlamp in the car, since I thought I should be able to get 4 to 5 miles in before it's really dark. Besides, I planned to head out to the Swamp Rabbit Trail first as long as I still have daylight and finish up the run on the campus, where there is light everywhere.
From the parking lot at the McAllister Auditorium, I headed out to the dirt trail next to the soccer fields and dorms and from there on the Rabbit Trail towards Travelers Rest. My turnaround point was the BP gas station at mile 2.2. I headed back towards Furman and once again got into trouble with my stomach. At mile 2.7 I started walking and I thought I will have to walk back to the car. After maybe ten minutes I felt better and started running again.... Two motivations here: 1) this stomach stuff just starts to annoy me and I want to beat it, 2) all of a sudden, it got dark fast, especially on the trail, where there are no lights and a lot of trees around that take away the moonlight on top of it. Funny enough, once I started to run again, I felt fine. I turned back on the Furman Campus close to bell tower, took the little dirt bridge over the lake and then made a straight shot back to the car. Once the Garmin beeped for 4 miles, I hit the stop button and walked for another five minutes.
Well, I guess this is it with evening daylight runs for the rest of the year. But fortunately, the campus is well lit and as long as it doesn't rain, this is going to be my training stomping ground over the dark season! :-)
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