It's really fall

There really is no better time of the year to run than fall in the midwest.  And the best time of the fall to run is probably right now.  In case there is any doubt, we confirmed that this weekend.

My  friends and I haven't been to Barrington to run for a few months.  Because of injuries and inconvenience, I have mostly stuck to the Prarie Path for my long runs.  Certainly, the Prarie Path is beautiful in the fall.  But in my experience, nothing compares to Barrington to take in the change of seasons while running a challenging, hilly, loop.

I have to admit, that I neglected to bring a camera along on the run.  We were kicking ourselves, because we saw some of the most amazing colors as the leaves were nearly at their peak of change before they fall to the ground.  It was beautiful enough to help you forget how hard you were working to run up the hills.  To give you a poor idea of what I'm talking about I took a couple pictures of the trees changing in our neighborhood.  The colors are pretty amazing here as well.

The temperature is also just about ideal right now for running.  It looks like the summer heat is finally gone for good.  Unfortunately, it's a week or so too late for everyone who ran the Chicago marathon.  But if you are done with that, it's a good time to enjoy some of the run fall races.

There are lots of those runs coming up as we start to enter the holiday running season.  One of the first was this weekend in Lincoln Park.  Fleet Feet puts on the Pumpkins in the Park 5k every year.  It's probably not a race where you will aim to run a p.r..  But it is a good opportunity to dress up in costume, and bring the kids out for the kids run or the costume contest.

They had perfect weather for the run this year as well.  I was recovering from my morning run in Barrington, but my wife took these pictures of the run.

Meantime, I am finally enjoying the week or two before the marathon that everyone running Chicago already went through a couple weeks ago.  I am trying to get some good, challenging runs in, but am keeping the distances shorter.  I'm trying to get as much rest as possible, and visualize a successful race. 

I've been through this more than a few times, and I'm still not sure about the best way to taper before the race.  There are a couple schools of thought, and I'm trying to take the middle road.  I will probably write a few thoughts about that in another entry. 

Until then, enjoy the fall and I'll see you on the roads....