Signed up for the Belleville 10K (last year's pic in header above) back in December. I've run it every year since the inaugural year, which meant the only time I've run this race (and Ryan Park in general) has been when the trails were snow-covered. My favorite edition and one of my most memorable races ever was running in deep snow two years ago with my heart rate spiking and finishing 3rd overall behind Chris Garvin and Bob Jackman.
Fast forward to the beginning of this week, and I just wasn't that excited about it. Something seemed to be missing. Ah, snow of course! It'll be tight between kids' activities, but I'll probably still try to make it. Fast forward again to Friday. A snowstorm seemed to appear on the weather forecast out of nowhere and left us with a 7" cover of heavy snow. PSYCHED! A snowy sufferfest is looming, and I am just so excited like a school boy!
Late afternoon, Tommy texted me to say the race is postponed. NOOOOO! Say it isn't so! This must just be a cruel hoax, but a text from Jonny confirms it as well. I go into miserable and grumpy old man mode for the whole evening. I know RD Mike Galoob puts so much effort into these races and would hold if he could find a way to, and he's probably disappointed to cancel it as well. The 27th (tentative makeup date) is too far away to know if I can make it. Let's just hope there's a lot of snow then.
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My 2016 Events page is up, thanks to prodding from Tommy!
Monday: 0
Tuesday: 14
Finally accepted an early-morning workout run from Tommy, Shara, and Mike B. Met up at WHS at 5:05am for a 6.5 mile workout. 6x400s were pretty inconsistent (75, 74, 73 ,78 ,76, 77, 79, 70), folled by 4x200s working on form (41, 35, 35, 34). Followed this up with 7.5 miles solo through the North End and downtown.
Wednesday: 11
AM: 6 miles, Adams Farm, Walpole. Had only been here once before and got pretty lost. I remembered it got really sketchy if you got past the powerlines, so I made sure not to cross them and this worked much better this time. A lot of twisty single-track mostly likely planned out by mountain bikers.
PM: 5 miles, F Gilbert Hills, Foxborough. Rainy but fun run with a fair amount of climbing.
Thursday: 2
With a snowstorm imminent, finished up the marking of the WHS XC course.
Friday: 6
Ran in the falling snow with Matthew, as school cancelled today. Beautiful out there. The side streets were great, but the main streets were slushy. Got doused with slush by a passing truck at the end of the run.
Saturday: 19
Was originally planning to run Belleville Saturday, and a 18-mile long run Sunday, but with Belleville cancelled, jumped in on a run with Shara, Tom, and Mike. Beautiful winter snow scenes during our run. Even Mike "I Hate Winter" Boumenot was saying how the snow was pretty on the trees and ponds. From Tom's house out to Watch Hill was fine, but the return especially on Atlantic Avenue was very icy. Slipping a lot, I was really tiring on the last 3 to 4 miles, but glad I got it done. Tom's second longest run ever, and he was looking really strong out there as I was just fading. Hope to have my pep back for another 18-miler next weekend.
Sunday: 10
Parked at WTAC sponsor Dave's Coffee. Matthew and I then ran a counter-clockwise (the British term anti-clockwise sounds more intuitive) through the hills of Charlestown, up Klondike and back Route 216, with a spur through Burlingame Campground. Burlingame was beautiful in the snow and a great place to run with the gates closed meaning roads closed to any traffic. Stopped in to have a coffee at Dave's. Asked for him; he wasn't there, but Matthew was wearing the 2015 Rhody shirt bearing the Dave's logo and the guy working the counter said he had run that edition as well. Cool.
Weekly totals:
Run: 62!
Weekly synopsis:
Will try to add this section going forward, with positive reinforcement from Beth. This was another solid week, continuing to gradually increase the miles. This was both my longest run (18) and highest mileage week (62) of the new year. My legs are sore. No injuries; just sore, which sounds about right for the increase this week. At this point, I'm at M-13 (Marathon Day minus 13 weeks). The plan for next week calls for me to run 18 again, but this time with much of the run at MP, before a recovery week the following week. Very appreciative to Shara and Tommy for allowing me to jump into their long run this week and help me in the process reach my goals.
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| 2014 run (3rd place finish): In my element |
Fast forward to the beginning of this week, and I just wasn't that excited about it. Something seemed to be missing. Ah, snow of course! It'll be tight between kids' activities, but I'll probably still try to make it. Fast forward again to Friday. A snowstorm seemed to appear on the weather forecast out of nowhere and left us with a 7" cover of heavy snow. PSYCHED! A snowy sufferfest is looming, and I am just so excited like a school boy!
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| The excited school boy in me, psyched for a snowy sufferfest |
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| The grumpy old man in me, after my "candy" (snowy sufferfest) has been cruelly taken away |
My 2016 Events page is up, thanks to prodding from Tommy!
Monday: 0
Tuesday: 14
Finally accepted an early-morning workout run from Tommy, Shara, and Mike B. Met up at WHS at 5:05am for a 6.5 mile workout. 6x400s were pretty inconsistent (75, 74, 73 ,78 ,76, 77, 79, 70), folled by 4x200s working on form (41, 35, 35, 34). Followed this up with 7.5 miles solo through the North End and downtown.
Wednesday: 11
AM: 6 miles, Adams Farm, Walpole. Had only been here once before and got pretty lost. I remembered it got really sketchy if you got past the powerlines, so I made sure not to cross them and this worked much better this time. A lot of twisty single-track mostly likely planned out by mountain bikers.
PM: 5 miles, F Gilbert Hills, Foxborough. Rainy but fun run with a fair amount of climbing.
Thursday: 2
With a snowstorm imminent, finished up the marking of the WHS XC course.
 |
| Marking course for clearing, leaving the field to enter the woods |
Friday: 6
Ran in the falling snow with Matthew, as school cancelled today. Beautiful out there. The side streets were great, but the main streets were slushy. Got doused with slush by a passing truck at the end of the run.
 |
| One of many beautiful snow scenes |
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| 7" of heavy wet snow |
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| Right in our own yard |
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| Golf course off Yosemite Valley Road |
Saturday: 19
Was originally planning to run Belleville Saturday, and a 18-mile long run Sunday, but with Belleville cancelled, jumped in on a run with Shara, Tom, and Mike. Beautiful winter snow scenes during our run. Even Mike "I Hate Winter" Boumenot was saying how the snow was pretty on the trees and ponds. From Tom's house out to Watch Hill was fine, but the return especially on Atlantic Avenue was very icy. Slipping a lot, I was really tiring on the last 3 to 4 miles, but glad I got it done. Tom's second longest run ever, and he was looking really strong out there as I was just fading. Hope to have my pep back for another 18-miler next weekend.
Sunday: 10
Parked at WTAC sponsor Dave's Coffee. Matthew and I then ran a counter-clockwise (the British term anti-clockwise sounds more intuitive) through the hills of Charlestown, up Klondike and back Route 216, with a spur through Burlingame Campground. Burlingame was beautiful in the snow and a great place to run with the gates closed meaning roads closed to any traffic. Stopped in to have a coffee at Dave's. Asked for him; he wasn't there, but Matthew was wearing the 2015 Rhody shirt bearing the Dave's logo and the guy working the counter said he had run that edition as well. Cool.
Weekly totals:
Run: 62!
Weekly synopsis:
Will try to add this section going forward, with positive reinforcement from Beth. This was another solid week, continuing to gradually increase the miles. This was both my longest run (18) and highest mileage week (62) of the new year. My legs are sore. No injuries; just sore, which sounds about right for the increase this week. At this point, I'm at M-13 (Marathon Day minus 13 weeks). The plan for next week calls for me to run 18 again, but this time with much of the run at MP, before a recovery week the following week. Very appreciative to Shara and Tommy for allowing me to jump into their long run this week and help me in the process reach my goals.
Awwww I had no idea my opinon had such impact, nice and a little scary all at the same time.
ReplyDeleteClock-stupid is what one of my uncles says and I always found the term charmingly sarcastic and sometimes a head scratcher for people.
Great week Jeff! Glad you joined in on the fun in my hood in the early a.m. I doubt anyone will ever see me peek my nose out the front door before daylight! HA HA