Monday: 500 yards swim, 5 miles run
Started off the day and week with a tinge of depression. Vacation is over, back to 5-day work weeks (I know, get out the violin), and neither of the boys will likely be home again until their school year ends.
Noon: Need to return to making my own plans. Returned to swimming for the first time in over a month, and paid for it with tired arms and a creaky weak upper body. Need to incorporate more frequently.
Late afternoon: After work, went to Wahaneeta and ran all Wahaneeta trails. 5 miles is the max to squeeze in here.
Tuesday: 0
And today's moron award goes to ...
... me, of course. After work, went to Bradford Preserve to run, only to find a good 30+ cars there. What is going on? Seemed like some type of big biker group or Badger practice. No thanks. Of course, they have every right to be there, but I'd prefer to avoid the crowds, so headed to Grills. Only one other car there. Great. Started to get changed from work clothes to running clothes, only to find I did not bring running shorts. What a moron! I am such a scatterbrain sometimes. Most articles of running gear I can do without for a short run, but no running shorts pretty much shuts down running. By the time I got home, I lost too much time and totally lost my motivation.
Wednesday: 5
Final day of winter. Got up super early, as I was taking a train from Westerly at 5:58am to Boston for meetings. Reminds me of my Fidelity days. Got a coffee at the Bess Eaton drive-through before boarding the train, and the young guy (20s?) taking my order said, "I like your car. You gotta have the manual.". Wow, very surprised. Of course, I agree, but as with snow lovers, I am in the minority of people that not only know how, but actually like to drive manual transmission.
Got home at 7pm to an empty house. Might as well go for a run and de-stress. Got my headlamp and ran from home to Champlin Preserve trails. Did not bring my phone/camera, but the orange "super worm moon" was really cool! To add to it, a single coyote was howling. It all seemed more like Halloween to me than full moon, but pretty cool!
Thursday: 0
Lazy slouch. Alarm went off at 6:15am; shut it down. I'll run at lunch; nope, have a WLT meeting. I'll run in afternoon; nope, team meeting went late. Time to shut this nonsense down and run before work; if I happen to have opportunity at lunch or after work, fine for a double.
Friday: 11
Set my alarm for 6:15 to break this lazy habit and get out for a morning run. 38 degrees and a downpour! Ugh. Can't win.
Noon: 6 miles downtown and North End. I got lucky that today was light on meetings.
Post-work: 5 miles from Grills Hopkinton. Wet right at Chase Hill Road trailhead, but then not too bad. Stayed away from trails on Westerly side that I figured would be wet (orange near Big Rock, and yellow along the Pawcatuck River). Unfortunately, today was Mean Dog Day. Most of my run I never saw a soul, but on the main dirt road a dog saw me on a single-track and ran hard and fast at me. Stopped two feet away from me and just looked me in the eye while growling at me. Had to wait for the owner to come. Not pleasant.
Saturday: 14
Pleasantly surprised to wake up to snow on the ground! Albeit only an inch at most, but with this most disappointing of winters with a dearth of snow, I'll take it. Ran a CW loop at Yawgoog starting from North Road trailhead. Photographic essay:
Sunday: 11
Mostly solo run along the shore. About three miles early on with the Run While You Can crew (Jeff V, Jim, Eric D, Kevin M), from Avondale down to Watch Hill Lighthouse. Solo on the beach back to Misquamicut and home. Felt good.
Weekly Mileage: 47 miles run, 1/4 mile swim
Weekly Synopsis: 47 miles isn't terrible, but also not what I was looking for. It's easy to blame it on life, work, etc., but the reality is I just need to get more disciplined. The weather is getting warmer, sunrise getting earlier, and I should be able to get this done.
Weekly Highlight: Hands down, the snowy Saturday trail run. Challenging and fun.
Weekly Lowlight: My laziness.
Started off the day and week with a tinge of depression. Vacation is over, back to 5-day work weeks (I know, get out the violin), and neither of the boys will likely be home again until their school year ends.
Noon: Need to return to making my own plans. Returned to swimming for the first time in over a month, and paid for it with tired arms and a creaky weak upper body. Need to incorporate more frequently.
Late afternoon: After work, went to Wahaneeta and ran all Wahaneeta trails. 5 miles is the max to squeeze in here.
Tuesday: 0
And today's moron award goes to ...
... me, of course. After work, went to Bradford Preserve to run, only to find a good 30+ cars there. What is going on? Seemed like some type of big biker group or Badger practice. No thanks. Of course, they have every right to be there, but I'd prefer to avoid the crowds, so headed to Grills. Only one other car there. Great. Started to get changed from work clothes to running clothes, only to find I did not bring running shorts. What a moron! I am such a scatterbrain sometimes. Most articles of running gear I can do without for a short run, but no running shorts pretty much shuts down running. By the time I got home, I lost too much time and totally lost my motivation.
Wednesday: 5
Final day of winter. Got up super early, as I was taking a train from Westerly at 5:58am to Boston for meetings. Reminds me of my Fidelity days. Got a coffee at the Bess Eaton drive-through before boarding the train, and the young guy (20s?) taking my order said, "I like your car. You gotta have the manual.". Wow, very surprised. Of course, I agree, but as with snow lovers, I am in the minority of people that not only know how, but actually like to drive manual transmission.
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| Meetings ended early at 4pm, leaving me with an hour before my train. Opted to walk around familiar haunts where I used to work. A city-slicker I will never be, but visiting them (especially if not driving into the city myself) is interesting. |
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| Comfy ride home on Amtrak from Boston to Westerly, with plenty of room to stretch out. As I've mentioned before, I do miss the culture, diversity, and experiences I got working in the city (and around the world), that you just can't get in rural, white Westerly where people work in the same job for the same company for 35+ years. It's just the stress, long hours, and blur between work and personal life that I don't miss. |
Thursday: 0
Lazy slouch. Alarm went off at 6:15am; shut it down. I'll run at lunch; nope, have a WLT meeting. I'll run in afternoon; nope, team meeting went late. Time to shut this nonsense down and run before work; if I happen to have opportunity at lunch or after work, fine for a double.
Friday: 11
Set my alarm for 6:15 to break this lazy habit and get out for a morning run. 38 degrees and a downpour! Ugh. Can't win.
Noon: 6 miles downtown and North End. I got lucky that today was light on meetings.
Post-work: 5 miles from Grills Hopkinton. Wet right at Chase Hill Road trailhead, but then not too bad. Stayed away from trails on Westerly side that I figured would be wet (orange near Big Rock, and yellow along the Pawcatuck River). Unfortunately, today was Mean Dog Day. Most of my run I never saw a soul, but on the main dirt road a dog saw me on a single-track and ran hard and fast at me. Stopped two feet away from me and just looked me in the eye while growling at me. Had to wait for the owner to come. Not pleasant.
Saturday: 14
Pleasantly surprised to wake up to snow on the ground! Albeit only an inch at most, but with this most disappointing of winters with a dearth of snow, I'll take it. Ran a CW loop at Yawgoog starting from North Road trailhead. Photographic essay:
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| Started out with a mile of paved road, which was horribly windy and icy, but once I reached dirt roads like this (North Road), it was delightful. |
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| Muddy once told me that you can tell if it's below freezing by looking at leaves of mountain laurel, as they will curl up below freezing. (It was 31F at the start of my run.) |
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| I sure hope this bridge isn't slick. (It wasn't at all; ran right across it.) |
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| There were definitely a few places today that were a leap of faith jumping across. |
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| Near Hidden Lake. Beautiful! |
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| I love these markers denoting the state boundaries. (The other side is labeled "RI".) |
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| Just a happy boy today out in the spring snow. |
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| Most trails were fine today, but the Freeman Trail was just a flooded mess. Much of that, IMHO, is because the trail was designed so poorly and is just straight without turns for runoff. |
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| Stunning snow-covered bushes and trees. (Orange trail at Camp Yawgoog, near Three Point mess hall.) |
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| Narragansett Trail. Definitely a little slower going today, but what's the rush? |
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| Will there be a day when I can no longer run through boulder fields and uphills like this? That will be a sad day. |
Sunday: 11
Mostly solo run along the shore. About three miles early on with the Run While You Can crew (Jeff V, Jim, Eric D, Kevin M), from Avondale down to Watch Hill Lighthouse. Solo on the beach back to Misquamicut and home. Felt good.
Weekly Mileage: 47 miles run, 1/4 mile swim
Weekly Synopsis: 47 miles isn't terrible, but also not what I was looking for. It's easy to blame it on life, work, etc., but the reality is I just need to get more disciplined. The weather is getting warmer, sunrise getting earlier, and I should be able to get this done.
Weekly Highlight: Hands down, the snowy Saturday trail run. Challenging and fun.
Weekly Lowlight: My laziness.
Funny about the manual. I've been driving a manual for the last 7 years, and I'm so tired of it. It's the worst with all of the travelling I do. I absolutely LOVE having a manual in the snow, though. But it's time to give my tired post-race legs a break and go back to a manual. That being said, I'm actually keeping my Kia Soul so John will have a car in 3 years, but more importantly, so he'll have a manual!! Haha
ReplyDeleteOops. I meant go back to an automatic.
DeleteNot much fun in stop and go traffic, but otherwise I love it. Of course, every car I've ever had has been a manual, so I'm pretty stuck in my ways. Good for you for passing the manual on to John; my son Mark has my old Volvo wagon (manual) and has really gotten good at driving it.
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