Monday: 0
Tuesday: 5
Grills Preserve at lunch. Cool and light rain. Lollipop from Hopkinton side, blue trail on Westerly side. Had shunned this place for a while when the forestry clearing was going on, but trails are in awesome shape.
Wednesday: 12
Four mini-runs, all on trails and all in different spots:
Thursday: 6
Beach run with Paul. A mix of business for 1/2 hour, followed by a nice run out to the Old Town Beach. Checked out the pavilion at Town Beach. It all looks ready for Sunday's Clamdigger, and just like the Town Rec Director told me, the Water Department had just turned on the water for us.
Ran the beach back as far as Pleasant View Inn before hitting roads back to my house. Nice mid-day run in warm temps (low 50s).
Friday: 0
Between putting together Clamdigger pre-reg entries for our timing company and a colleague's retirement party, no running for me today. (See, I always have excuses.)
I asked the retiree what's next for him, and he said travel. I pushed the envelope further to ask for details, and he said something like, "Well, Jeff, this probably isn't what most people would like, but I have always wanted to go to Iceland."! I think I drooled over myself as I asked him if I could come along and gave some of the highlights of our 2016 family trip to Iceland.
During his brief retirement speech, the one point that intrigued me was when he said over the years when various people asked what his job was, he always said, "Well, I'm a photographer, but I work at the bank to put food on the table." Well said! Here's to Norm's happy retirement, as I start to look down the years towards my own.
Saturday: 12
Burlingame. Longest run in a month, and I felt it. CCW from the campground around Watchaug Pond, with detours onto Kimball trails and Sammy C's to get more mileage. Warm 61 degrees which I haven't acclimated to, but I'll take it the dreary weather we've been having and will be getting more of with rain and temps in the 30s.
Trails were fun and in great shape, but I was really running out of gas and feeling weak in the last two miles. Attribute this to I just don't have much stamina, and need to build it back up again (by doing runs like this).
For most of this run, I saw no one, but I did have three interesting encounters:
Sunday: 3
Clamdigger 5K in cold, windy weather. Write-up to follow.
Weekly mileage: 38
Weekly synopsis: Mileage is trending in the right direction!
Weekly highlight: In a weird soft of way, the combination of runs in 4 places on Wednesday. Another highlight was all of a sudden after a 2-year hiatus, I am able to wirelessly upload from my Fenix 2 to my phone again!
Tuesday: 5
Grills Preserve at lunch. Cool and light rain. Lollipop from Hopkinton side, blue trail on Westerly side. Had shunned this place for a while when the forestry clearing was going on, but trails are in awesome shape.
Wednesday: 12
Four mini-runs, all on trails and all in different spots:
- Adams Farm, Walpole, MA: 3 miles. Twisty and fun single-track, but stopped when I thought I was running out of time before a work meeting.
- Needham Town Forest, Needham, MA: 3 miles. As I got closer to work (Wellesley), it looks like I just had time to eke out a few more miles. Trails well marked, but that doesn't stop me for getting totally disoriented every time I run in here. Took a digger and went down on both knees again, but fortunately this time it was on dirt instead of rock.
- Big River Management Area, West Greenwich, RI: 4 miles. Felt good on Lego out, then had some weird cramps, so just ran New London Turnpike (closed dirt road) back to car.
- Wahaneeta Preserve, Westerly, RI: 2 miles. Legs really creaky by this run. In some ways, running these mini-runs separately feels harder than running a single 12-miler, as the body rests and has to get going again.
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| I like these color-coded trail markers. |
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| A lot of rocky single-track at the Needham Town Forest. |
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| How many trail systems have a miniature train system in the middle of the woods?! |
Thursday: 6
Beach run with Paul. A mix of business for 1/2 hour, followed by a nice run out to the Old Town Beach. Checked out the pavilion at Town Beach. It all looks ready for Sunday's Clamdigger, and just like the Town Rec Director told me, the Water Department had just turned on the water for us.
Ran the beach back as far as Pleasant View Inn before hitting roads back to my house. Nice mid-day run in warm temps (low 50s).
Friday: 0
Between putting together Clamdigger pre-reg entries for our timing company and a colleague's retirement party, no running for me today. (See, I always have excuses.)
I asked the retiree what's next for him, and he said travel. I pushed the envelope further to ask for details, and he said something like, "Well, Jeff, this probably isn't what most people would like, but I have always wanted to go to Iceland."! I think I drooled over myself as I asked him if I could come along and gave some of the highlights of our 2016 family trip to Iceland.
During his brief retirement speech, the one point that intrigued me was when he said over the years when various people asked what his job was, he always said, "Well, I'm a photographer, but I work at the bank to put food on the table." Well said! Here's to Norm's happy retirement, as I start to look down the years towards my own.
Saturday: 12
Burlingame. Longest run in a month, and I felt it. CCW from the campground around Watchaug Pond, with detours onto Kimball trails and Sammy C's to get more mileage. Warm 61 degrees which I haven't acclimated to, but I'll take it the dreary weather we've been having and will be getting more of with rain and temps in the 30s.
Trails were fun and in great shape, but I was really running out of gas and feeling weak in the last two miles. Attribute this to I just don't have much stamina, and need to build it back up again (by doing runs like this).
For most of this run, I saw no one, but I did have three interesting encounters:
- On Sanctuary Road, a young woman was tugging on the leash trying to get her white Boxer to get moving. The Boxer reminded me of Gus. Not knowing Gus' personality, I felt like this guy was telling his owner, "I'll let you know when we're going to get going again, lady, but for right now we're staying put. Capeesh?"
- On Vin Gormley trail near the covered bridge, as I passed a couple of mountain bikers on the long section of bog bridges, one of them chuckled as he said, "That's the first time I've been passed by a runner while I'm biking!". Did wonders for my psyche, but I told him, I'm sure you'll pass me back shortly (they didn't).
- On VG just before turning right onto NST and the set of 19 bog-bridges, I heard "Jeff Walker!" and saw fellow trail runner and relatively new WTAC member Peter DiLullo also out for a solo trail run. Nice to see him!
Clamdigger 5K in cold, windy weather. Write-up to follow.
Weekly mileage: 38
Weekly synopsis: Mileage is trending in the right direction!
Weekly highlight: In a weird soft of way, the combination of runs in 4 places on Wednesday. Another highlight was all of a sudden after a 2-year hiatus, I am able to wirelessly upload from my Fenix 2 to my phone again!
Ha! That is totally Gus (and Gizmo, and well all of the crew) they made the decisions, I was only there so they didn't get put in doggy jail for being unsupervised on their adventures! They never could understand why they couldn't just go out and explore on their own.
ReplyDeleteRetirement, ahhhh... hopefully soon!! We aren't getting any younger and nows the time to enjoy life, while we have patience, money, and health! Cheers!