Day Three - Still Alive, But Wet

Day three. Sunday. I did the bike course twice for a total of 20 kilometers. Then I ran the lake four times, about six and a half K. The transition from bike to running wasn't as bad today. I didn't fall down. Didn't have to do baby steps for as far.

I may actually live through this thing.

There was a light rain for most of the bike route. After my first lap around the lake, it started to rain harder. But that was OK. I love running in the rain. And I love running around Killarney Lake.

It's not a big lake, about one and a half kilometer circumference, peanut shaped, but it's surrounded by evergreens and it looks almost wilderness-like. There's large sandy beach with two life guard towers. In the summer they rope off an area for public swimming, although you can still swim anywhere in the lake. Last fall, they built a big lodge close enough to the lake that you can see its big blue roof through the trees.

Things change.

There's a trail around the lake. It starts at the beach and within seconds you're away from everything and into the woods. At the far end of the lake, the trail goes up a hill. At the top of the hill you can look down on the lake. I took my daughter for a walk once when the lake was covered with fog. The view from the top of the hill was like looking down on the outskirts of some magical place from childhood stories.

On the other side of the hill, the woods stretch for miles to the north, but right at the base of north side of the hill there's a stream with a series of small waterfalls. I could hear the sound of the water rushing and splashing as I ran by them today. We have lots of water in the woods this spring.

The trail slants down gradually just past the falls. On both sides huges cedars keep the path in semi-shadow. But they don't stop the rain from soaking me. But, like I said, I was OK with that. I could still see the lake through the trees. The pattern of rain on the water was beautiful.

The trail goes up and down like a roller coaster till it reaches the lodge, then it turns to the right past a frog pond and onto a wooden bridge. Then it veers back to the beach front.

This is where I run in the spring and the fall, and I usually run around the lake six times, the number of times for the triathlon.

Maybe I will live through this.

But if I don't, I can't think of a more wondrous place to go down in a blaze of heavy breathing and high tech running shorts.