13.1 mile run to Valhalla again

I love saying “I ran to Valhalla”. I did it again. And again, no, I am not crazy, I mean the town here in New York, not the grand hall in Asgard in Norse mythology where warriors go after dying in battle.

I managed to run 13.1 miles to Valhalla yesterday, 19 days after running the marathon, and 3 days after donating a pint of blood. This is my first almost long run after donating. Mostly due to the blood donation, it took me 2 hours and 18 minutes to complete this run, much slower than usual. I’m far from anemic, but I could feel an obvious difference, especially when running up hills. I felt weaker than I usually do while running this distance, and also had this weird, hard to describe feeling much of the way. My speed suffered as a result, and I dropped the balls more than usual.

I am currently eating a lot of iron rich foods to replenish my lost red blood cells. Within a week, or 2 weeks the most, I should be back to normal(I think it is safe to say I am fully recovered from the marathon, this isn’t an issue for me anymore). Still, it feels great knowing that my blood was used to help some sick people.

Joggling to Valhalla

The red line going north was my 13.1 mile run

Yes, it is true, I joggled to Valhalla. I don’t mean the place Norse heroes go after they die heroically in battle. I’m still alive and juggling, and joggling certainly isn’t heroic. And I’m not of Scandinavian or Germanic ancestry.

At 13.1 miles(21 km), this run wasn’t remarkable by any means, but it is the farthest distance I’ve run that that didn’t involve a return trip since I got a ride in Valhalla(no, not by a Valkyrie). It took me 2 hours and 13 minutes to complete this yesterday, and the temperature was just below 80. I took one water break during the run and juggled 99% of the way up to the Kensico Dam in Valhalla.

A very weird thing happened to me near the end of my run in Valhalla. I was running through this wooded area when all of a sudden I spotted a mysterious wolf-like creature just off the trail looking at me in the distance. I thought to myself “there are no wolves in New York”, but as I got closer it became apparent that this was a coyote.

It did nothing except stare at me and I just ran right by it without incident. Since it was kind of small, I wasn’t scared of it. Then a strange thought occurred to me: I’m in Valhalla, and I saw a wolf-like creature for the first time in my entire life in the wild – It’s FENRIS WOLF!

Fenris Wolf by Dorothy Hardy

Fenris Wolf, the monstrous wolf that lives in Valhalla according to Norse mythology. It is such a coincidence since I use “Fenris” as a username in another forum. Granted, this was almost certainly a coyote, but coyotes are so close to wolves that they can interbreed. Too bad I didn’t take a picture.

This was a very strange encounter. I’m not superstitious or anything, I don’t believe in Norse or Germanic mythology(I do use the names of their gods for the days of the week, but so does almost everyone), but if I had a coyote encounter in any other town of Westchester county, it wouldn’t have been as interesting.

This makes me wonder: If I were to run with a woman named “Athena”, would this increase my odds of seeing owls(owls were frequently used as symbol for Athena) on my runs in wooded areas? I don’t think so, but it is interesting to contemplate.

Great, now I can’t get Richard Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries” out of my head.

What is the weirdest thing that happened to you on one of your runs?