Rich on Running: Making a splash at Lynn Woods

Puddles. Longer than Lake Champlain ? deeper than the Mariana Trench ? pools, no, make that yawning gulfs of water malevolently glaring at runners on the Lynn Woods trails.At least, that was how it seemed on Wednesday night.It’s challenging enough to run the Woods summer cross country races on a regular evening, with one or two hills to tackle. However, on Wednesday, Mother Nature added puddles to the mix.For much of the short (2.3-mile) course, I regarded these puddles as impassable bodies of water and consequently ran around them. This presented its own difficulties, namely which mud-soaked side section of the trail to choose. I recall two runners who took separate paths around a puddle, one to the left and one to the right, and debated which was the proper path. It evoked the dilemma of Robert Frost, who wrote about two roads that diverged, appropriately enough, “in the woods,” and how he ultimately took “the one less traveled by.” In these Woods, my preference was for “the road less likely to get you covered in water and mud.”Yet what is so intimidating about puddles? Birds bathe in them after it rains, flapping their wings and seemingly enjoying the experience. There are some runners who enjoy them, too, including my colleague Kait Taylor, who also ran the short race Wednesday. “I love splashing through puddles,” she said. “I think it’s a ball.”Because it was an out-and-back course, the same puddles that greeted us in the first half were waiting for us on the return trip. Once again, I veered off to the side, as if one splash into a puddle would somehow feel worse than any of the four separate rocks I almost slipped on at various points.Walden Pond was on my left and a helpful volunteer guided me toward the single-track trail leading to the finish line. Appropriately, one final puddle greeted me before I could cross.In the annals of history, it is often the direct approach that overcomes obstacles. Alexander the Great once faced the challenge of how to untie the Gordian knot, a knot far more intricately tied than any figure-eight. Alexander “untied” it by simply cutting it in half with his sword. Perhaps I subconsciously thought of this direct approach. Or perhaps I was just tired of dodging one more puddle.I splashed through this one, right up the middle, not caring about my feet getting soaked. Race director Bill Mullen asked me what it felt like. Well ? it felt clean, cool, refreshing and fun.I’m not saying that if I run another puddle-soaked course, I’ll dive into each one. But maybe I’ll go through the last one. It always helps to make a big splash at the finish line.Conlon changes courseOne Woods runner who has changed from the short to the long courses is Lynn Jets hockey coach Joe Conlon, who has run the Woods the past three or four years with his brother Mike and friend Ryan Ferguson.”Last summer, toward the end we started doing longs and tried to continue into this year, hopefully it will keep going,” he said.One aspect of the long courses he has found is that distance does not necessarily determine difficulty.”As far as layout, it really depends on hills,” he said. “I thought the first long of 4.6 miles in week 1 was much more difficult than the 5.7 gate to gate (in week 2).”Conlon neatly summed up his motivations for both hockey and running.”Only thing worse than losing a hockey game is losing to your brother, right?” he asked.Rich Tenorio can be reached at [email protected].