For folks that either regularly follow me on Canapeel, or who have endured the cross-postings on either Facebook or Twitter, you’ve probably been wondering where all the race details have gone?  Well, they haven’t gone away, and proof of that is right here!  🙂

I’ve mentioned before that I’m taking on the inaugural St. Louis Triathlon in May.  It’s made up of a 750m swim (in Creve Coeur Lake), a 20km bike ride, and a 5km run.  The great thing about the ride and run is that they are gonna be on very flat courses.  Now, I know I have the run down — easy peasey.  I still don’t have a place to really practice the swim, but I found a place to practice my cycling.

I’ve been going down to Route 66 State Park on the weekends to ride.  The park is dead flat, and has some paved paths, as well as gravel trails.  It’s wonderful to ride on, and isn’t too terribly crowded.  I’ve been able to work on some speed there, and my goal is to start “practicing” both the ride and run very soon.

This park has a really ugly history.  There used to be a town here — Times Beach — which was a little community right on the Meramac River.  It was poisoned with dioxin in the 1970s, and was the largest civilian exposure to that chemical.  I was largely oblivious to the story of TImes Beach (since I grew up 500 miles from here, and was a child when this was happening), and reading the story now, it’s fascinating.

Nowadays, the area is safe to be in, and is a wonderful place to go ride and run.  It’s a great practice route for my upcoming triathlon, too!

So, that explains the apparent absence from my running exploits.  Last Friday, however, I returned to the roads, and got a simple walk under my feet.  With the sunset getting later and later, there’s finally enough time after work to get a run or walk in before dark.  It was chilly Friday night — about 40° — but with the sun shining as it set, it was warm enough to get some miles behind me.

I explored parts of our neighborhood that I’ve never been in — mostly cul de sacs — and racked up the distance pretty quickly, without exposing myself to traffic on the “big roads” around us.  A few kilometers into the course, I decided to walk to the neighborhood bike shop, Trailhead Bicycles, to get some cycling gloves.  I have some old  gloves from many years ago, but they’re heavy, and frankly have an awful stank that likely will never be removed.  So, I returned to the site of my Kona purchase, and found some terrific padded, lightweight gloves that I think’ll do the trick.

By the time I got close to home, the sun had set, and darkness was descending.  It was a great time of night to be out and about, and I get to put another medal on the shelf.  Woot!

This race benefitted Agent Outerwear’s Giving Event.

Race Course