Weekly Log 25-May to 31-May-2020: Living & Running in Crazy Times

Miscellaneous Ramblings:

• Blessing of the Fleet has now gone virtual.  Our RI Governor already announced no festivals all summer this year, so this accompanying race of 3,000 or so runners was doomed.  So now the question:  should I run the virtual race (anytime from July 25 - August 1) to continue my 17-year streak, or does it not matter?  I wish they had lowered the $40 price, but it could be because about 100 runners had already signed up, and besides, it all goes to charity.
• Boston Marathon cancelled for the first time in history.  Not a surprise at all, and I had already taken my refund option anyway.  Surprised that there is a virtual option.  Virtual marathon?  No, thanks.  I'll keep my eyes open for whether other and smaller marathons may be viable in the fall.
• Phase II of re-opening in RI starts tomorrow, June 1.  Hair salons, indoor dining, state beaches, and gyms will all reopen tomorrow, obviously with restrictions.  Assuming we don't have a relapse or increase in cases, it's a step in the right direction.
• On the other hand, the rioting across dozens of major US cities happening this weekend is just embarrassing and unacceptable.  The right to peacefully assemble is enshrined in our constitution and protesting racial injustices is understandable especially given recent injustices (George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, etc), but how does burning police cars or looting stores help advance the causes?  So glad I live in a small town usually free from violence.  One of many reasons I would never live in a big city.

Monday:   0
Memorial Day.  Planned day off from running, but a busy day outside getting stuff done.  Many Memorial Days we spent at a family picnic at my cousin's house in Norwich.  Obviously, that did not happen this year with COVID-19, so I simply texted her instead and said I was thinking of her.

I did not forget the true meaning of the holiday.  I put up our American flag on the front of the house, and we went up to visit my father's grave and planted a geranium in his remembrance.

My Dad is listed on the bottom row of engraving, right below my grandmother.
(They both died in the same sad year.)  I'm glad to see Brady taking an interest,
as I explained my father to him while he stoically read the engravings on the gravestone.

Just after we planted the geranium, a group of volunteers came by
and was putting out flags on the graves of veterans.  Actually, they
were putting out flags on the graves of Civil War veterans!
How cool is that!
But they explained there would be flags leftover and they would then
mark other veterans' graves.  Since both Dad and Grandpa
served in the US Army, they gave me a flag to "plant".

My Mom had been up earlier in the week, and planted a pink geranium
on the front side of the grave, where my great-grandparents are listed.
In fact, both sets of my great-grandparents on my Dad's side are buried in this
cemetery, and I also have two sets of great-great-grandparents that are buried here.

Came home, and then planted the garden!  I think last year was the only year as an adult on my own that I did not have a garden, as due to a nasty bout of PMR I just didn't have the mobility.  I've never had a big impressive vegetable garden like my father did, but just a few things to make it fun.  I always have tomatoes, as to me there is just no substitution for fresh tomatoes out of the garden.  Besides that, this year, we have cukes, pumpkins, squash, radishes, beets, and trying something new, pole beans.  Happy to be back out there in the garden.  Brady seemed content to play with a ball and lie in the grass while I worked.

Tuesday:  8
'Round the pond w/Matthew.  Ran about 6:50 pace and it felt comfortable.  Coolest part of the run was following a fox (literally a 4-legged red fox) running on Shore Road, before it turned off down someone's driveway.  Worst part of the run was a PM attack and barely making it to the breachway, only to find the state has removed all the porta-jons due to COVID-19!

Wednesday:  6
With Brady at Burlingame south.  Easy recovery pace for me; almost a walk for him.  He jumped into some deep mud on the Bog Bridge trail, so we went got back to the Watchaug Pond campground beach, I made sure he got in a good swim with repeated stick chasing.

Thursday:  8
Barn Island.  First time here since start of the pandemic.  A few people on the double-sections near the marsh, but otherwise not a soul to be seen on the single-track.  Some of the lesser-traveled single-track trails starting to get overgrown, as happens every summer.

Friday:  8
Foggy, damp afternoon road run with Matthew on a local loop out there Avondale and Watch Hill.

Saturday:  14
Narragansett Trail, from Green Falls to Lantern Hill, except that there were two sections of road detours.  The first (formerly through Groton Sportsmen Club, but no longer allowed by them) we were aware of and the re-route was on quiet roads, save for a very short section on Route 49.  The second shows on CT Blue Blaze interactive method as open, but that's not true, and unfortunately  it cost us more than a mile on very busy Route 2.

So how about the rest of the run?  A lot of fun!   And can you believe for a run that long (~11 miles on trails), we never saw another human being!  I was a sweaty mess from the get go, in the warm and humid weather, so I was glad I opted for a lightweight singlet and packed a towel and change of shirts.  The first mile was quite technical, and actually several miles were techy, with a fair amount of climbs as well.

Terribly blurry pic, but you can get the sense
that the trail was technical.
(Matthew and Brady rounding the jutting rock ahead, at High Ledges.)

In my only fall of the day, I just slid right off the trail and rolled over into
mud.

King of the Mountain

Nice partial views beyond

Unintended psychedelic view of the tree canopy overhead

Wyassup Lake. Brady was quite hot, so I walked with him
into the water.

When I felt how warm the water was, I decided to go full in
myself and dove underwater, socks, shoes, running clothes and all.
I had to zoom in on this pic to see what the red thing in front of Brady was!

Continuing the run, and crossing Route 2, we ran through this overgrown field until ...

... we came to this.  To be fair, it turns out I completely missed an
earlier "Trail Closed" sign.
---
On the other hand, 2017 was three years ago!  So how about an
update?

Sunday:  8
Recovery at Ninigret Park.  Being such a nice day, I figured (correctly) there were be quite a few people in the federal wildlife section, which does not allow dogs, so we left Brady behind.  He did not seem pleased.  Only slightly better to commit one cardinal sin (no running allowed either) instead of two (running and dogs)?  As it turns out, there were four other scofflaw runners out there today, all on the Charlietown "Trail".  One of them was wearing a mask while running.  Whatever works, but that seems awkward.

Legs tight the first couple of miles or so, but even after that I felt like I was dragging a bit from yesterday's 14-mile trail adventure.  Fortunately, this was an easy paced run.

Weekly mileage:  53

Weekly synopsis:  Another good 50+ mileage week, with a good mix of roads, trails, and a weekend adventure point-to-point trail run.

Weekly highlight:  The adventure of the week, Narragansett Trail from Green Falls to Lantern Hill (mostly).  I had never been on the section between Wyassup Lake and Route 2.  Overall, technical, challenging, and fun!

Weekly lowlight:  Just the nasty stuff our country is going through at the present.  May better days lie ahead.

Weekly Log 18-May to 24-May-2020: More Trail Adventures, as Restrictions Ease

Monday:  0
Planned day off.

Tuesday:  10
'Round the pond solo run.  Gusts up to 25mph, and wind oddly out of the east.  Took note of this and planned my route to come back on Atlantic Ave (along the ocean) with the wind.  Ran 6:30s fairly effortlessly on the way back, thanks to that tailwind.

Wednesday:  8
Morning run from South Woody Hill, with Matthew and Brady.  All trails, with only one other human/canine pair sighting.  Otherwise deserted.  Unintentionally slow pace.

Thursday:  4
Afternoon post-work run with Brady.  A mix of roads and trails.  Slow and weak.

Friday:  8
Morning run at Grills Hopkinton and Westerly with Matthew and Brady.  The whole time out there we only saw one group of people, with their dog.  The first two miles I felt tight and out of breath.  After a brief stop, it got much better.

Saturday:  12
Nehantic Trail point-to-point.  Drove out of RI for the first time since the pandemic forced restrictions two months ago.  Dropped one car at the northern terminus at Hopeville Pond State Park in Griswold.  Point-to-point runs require a little bit extra time and logistics planning, but you can cover more area and are a lot of fun.

Started from the southern terminus, which is at the northern end of Green Falls Pond.  The only problem with this is that it's a good 2-3 drive on dirt roads.  The roads are in good shape, but it's a long way in and slow at about 20mph max.

The first 1/4 mile or so was uphill and fairly technical.  However, the entire rest of the trail was not technical at all.  The Nehantic Trail is one of the CT Blue Blazed trails.  Two problems with markings I found were 1) there were long stretches with no confidence blazings, and 2) the Pachaug Trail, which intersected several times, was also marked in blue blazes!

The temp was 64° with near 100% humidity.  Soaked pretty quickly.  Fortunately I planned ahead with bringing both a short-sleeve tech shirt and a lightweight singlet.  Guess which one I wore?

Stopped at rivers and streams to let Brady cool off and get a drink

For the first six miles, we didn't see a single human or canine!  Even at that, in the course of a half-mile near Mt Misery, we saw two people, one dog, and then again, never saw a soul for the final five miles.  No social distancing issues today!

Much of the trail looked like this:
Single-track, pine-needle surface on trail, through pine forests.
---
This is definitely one of my favorite trail terrains.

We paused a couple of times at intersections and also on the one section of road (with no blazes at all!), but managed to stay on the trail except on a dirt road section about 8 miles in, when we missed a left hand turn.  Afterwards, back home, Matthew found the approximate area where missed the left turn, but in looking through others' past Strava runs, including Muddy Puddin', it seems others missed the turn as well.

From the Mt Misery overlook.

Sunday:  8
Ninigret Park re-opened yesterday!  The adjacent federal wildlife preserve never closed, but unfortunately, unlike the section across Route 1 adjacent to Burlingame, this federal section doesn't allow dogs or "jogging".

Mix of grass fields and asphalt.  Very easy high 7s pace felt good.  Post-run treat was a visit to The Bakery, also a recent reopening after being shuttered due to COVID-19.  Blueberry scone warmed up, with an iced coffee.  Good stuff!

Weekly mileage:  51

Weekly synopsis:  Hit my mileage target.  Good week overall, with a nice mix of roads, trails, and grass fields.

Weekly highlight:  The Nehantic Trail point-to-point run.  Sure, we got off course and had to study phone location and maps to get corrected, but that was a minor inconvenience in the scheme of things.  To run 12 miles of point-to-point trails, with 11 of them devoid of humans, many in pine-tree forests, and most of it on fun single-track, that's a great day in my book!

Weekly lowlight:  Two of my least favorite things in life surfaced this week:  humidity and mosquitoes.

Weekly Log 11-May to 17-May-2020: Happiness is a New Wheelbarrow

Monday:  0
Planned rest day.

Tuesday:  13
AM:  [5 miles] Roads and fields at an easy pace with Brady.

PM:  [8 miles]  Wahaneeta and South Woody with Matthew & Brady.  First time ever that I've seen the parking lot at Wahaneeta full.  Pretty much the same at the DEM parking lot in South Woody off Fallon Trail.  It was pretty clear that taking a route of lesser-traveled trails would be in order, and that worked out quite well, as we barely saw anyone at all.  Pushed the last two miles or so.

Wednesday:  0
Unplanned.  The day just got away from me with a busy, hectic work day.

Thursday:  8
Fun early morning run at Tillinghast Preserve, West Greenwich.  I couldn't keep up with Matthew or Brady, but fortunately for me Matthew tired a bit in the last few miles.  Started from the Hazard Road - Shepards trailhead.  Absolutely no one else in the parking lot; saw only a couple of fisherman at the pond.  Definitely one of my favorite trail systems.

Friday:  4
Late afternoon run with Brady.  Sunny and 70° may sound nice, but not for running and especially in mid May when the body is far from acclimatized.  Kept it very slow and short given how uncomfortable I felt, nevermind Brady.  If there was one silver lining, it was that we're into singlet season.

Saturday:  15
Epic 2+ hour tri-state trail run.  It actually took us over an hour to go to another place inside RI (Burrillville)!  (Excepting Block Island, of course, there are likely few places in RI that take more than an hour from anywhere.) 

I had no idea how the crowds would be on a warm day in an area that I'm not familiar with.  While we saw 20+ people there, they were mostly spread out over our run.  On the North South Trail, this was tight single-track, so near impossible to perform social distancing with the very few that we encountered, but once we gave a verbal heads-up that we were coming up on people, they were always really good of stepping off to the side of the trail.  Almost no one wore a mask, and indeed our RI Governor said we do not need to wear a mask when running outdoors.  One seemingly odd situation was when running the Southern New England Trunkline Trail, a wide dirt road, three people walking towards us all had face masks on, went to the far edge of the dirt road more than 10' away from us, stopped, turned away from us and hunched over towards the ground.  No criticism, as whatever works for people, but it was an odd scene.

Start and finish of our run.  Pretty sure this was my first time ever here.

Early on, on the North-South Trail.
Water AND sticks, what fun!

Fun single-track along Wallum Lake

NST in RI was very well marked with usual blue blazes,
plus these sequential markers.

RI/MA state line.
End of the North South Trail (78 miles, from the Atlantic Ocean)
Start of the Mid State Trail (92 miles, from RI to NH)

The first few miles of the Mid State Trail were
quite wet in spots.  I didn't mind the water, but the trail
terrain here was rocky double-track, not my favorite.

Plenty of cooling off spots, especially important for Brady in the
70° heat.  This is 10 miles in now, as we're getting ready to leave MA into CT,
via the Southern New England Trunkline Trail.

Soaking my feet in a nice cool stream, with Brady balancing on a tree

Tri-state marker:  Conn / RI
1883!  Wow!
There was a 200' tough climb to get up
here, and at 11 miles in, plus the heat,
it just completely wore me out.
I needed a long break to get my
breathing back under control.

Other side of marker:  Mass / Conn

Sunday:  5
Since I dragged my favorite beast to get prodded and poked with a rabies shot in the morning, the least I could do was bring him out to enjoy the trails on a beautiful day.  Easy recovery run at Burlingame, with plenty of stops to wade in streams and ponds and chase sticks.

Weekly mileage:  45

Weekly synopsis:  Pretty good week.  Mostly trails.  Felt good.

Weekly highlight:  The tri-state run.  Tiring for sure, but fun exploration of a new area.

Weekly lowlight:  Two zeros.

I had been avoiding retiring the old steel wheelbarrow for years.  It was decrepit,
rusting out, and the tire needed to be inflated every 10 minutes or so, but the old workhorse
got it done and I continued to pinch pennies.
---
This past week I got out the wheelbarrow after sitting all winter, loaded in the tools to get started on
hedge trimming, edging, bed mulching, etc., and it just plain gave out and literally collapsed.
Got out my mask, headed to Ace Hardware, and got a bigger, sturdier wheelbarrow.
I didn't even have to pump up the tire!  Sometimes, especially now, you have
to look for the simple positives in life.  Happy New Wheelbarrow!

Stand Up for Animals Virtual 5K Race

Westerly, RI
Thursday, May 7, 2020

My first ever virtual race.  To be quite honest, I've been rather ambivalent and even a tad skeptical of virtual races.  How does these work?  Are they even legit?  Not sure I would ever have done one in "normal" times, but since COVID-19 grinded races to a halt in early March, they're the only game in town (or even in the whole nation).  Couple that with a corporate e-mail from HR promoting this event and asking us to consider giving back to the community, and my tune is changing.  Finally, I got a personal chat message from a colleague about it.  Alright, alright, I'm in already!

Signed up back on April 23, and sent in my $25, which I was very happy to do, as it benefits Stand Up for Animals here in Westerly.  So now what?  Well, you pick the 5K course, and any date/time/location between May 7 and May 10, run it, time it with an app or GPS watch, and send in proof and a picture.  So far, so good.

"Race" day:  This was a family event, as I had three partners in crime:

1. The pacer:  Matthew
2. The photographer:  Jana
3. The race partner:  Brady (I signed up for the "with pet" option)

Planned out my route, largely modeled after a time trial run Jonny Eckel had done a few weeks back.  As Jonny pointed out, it's flat (fast) and if there is any breeze at all there, it's typically a tailwind.

Here's Jonny's recent route.  As 3.1 miles is pretty much the entire length of Atlantic Avenue,
I modified only slightly to pull the start back on to nearby Maplewood Avenue so I could finish
without running up on the bridge.

Departed the house at lunch time with Matthew and Brady.  Tried to give Jana approximate times to meet us at the Town Beach and finish at Weekapaug Breachway.  The 1.7 mile run would be a perfect distance for a warm-up, plus give time for Brady to get out a poop out of the way and not have to stop mid-race for a bio break.  (Yes, we cleaned up and disposed of properly.)

Race start and Mile 1:  Stopped and re-grouped at corner of Maplewood and Dogwood.  The stated and mutually agreed upon goal is to run 5:50 miles.  Weirdest race start ever.  There is of course no gun, no marked starting line, no race officials, and no spectators.  I simply count down, "On Your Mark, Set, Go", and we're off ...

For some reason I blast out of the "starting gate" like a rookie.  My Strava post later shows I ran the first 1/10 mile between 4:50 and 5:20.  What gives?  I could try to blame it on not having a similar competitor that I would usually hunker down with, but clearly I own this blunder.  Fortunately, Matthew is more savvy to this error than me, and urges me to slow down.

We settle back closer to the intended 5:50 pace.  I rely on Matthew's pacing and resist the urge (mostly) to keep looking at my watch, since I've set the pace to show as average pace for each mile, and I know that's not reliable now due to my errant burst at the start.  As we come up on the sometimes busy intersection of Atlantic and Winnapaug, I have this unfounded fear of having to slow for cross-traffic, as I recall a few years back when I was pushing a Strava bike segment and got yelled at by a cop for barely stopping there, and only because he yelled at me.  There is no one there today!  We finish Mile 1 in a salvaged 5:46.

Mile 2:  Almost always my slowest mile in a 5K.  While today will be no exception, I am able to keep a fairly consistent pace through here, again with thanks to Matthew.  At about Mile 1.5, we see Jana at the Westerly Town Beach, with the only downside being that when Brady hears and sees her as we go by, I feel a hard pull backwards as Brady is trying to be nice and thinks it would be a good idea to drag the two of us back to see her and say hi.  After recovering, getting Brady marching in a forward direction again, and placing my arm back in my shoulder socket where it belongs, we continue along.  I'm happy to see a Mile 2 split of 5:52.

Two of us ran around the puddle,
while as you can see above only one of us smartly ran the tangents.
Something about the shortest distance between two points?  Or just an affinity for water?
(All pics courtesy of Jana)

Halfway done!

Am I leaning forward?  Brady's form looks better than mine.

Mile 3:  One mile to go, but I'm panting loudly now.  Matthew has gone a good five yards ahead
of me, and yells that I better catch up with him if I still want to keep to 5:50 average pace.  I want to yell something negative back to him, but of course he's being helpful and encouraging, and I can't speak coherently anymore anyways.  So I push harder to get closer, even if not even with him.

And then it happens:  Brady's leash gets tangled up and wrapped around his front legs.  I have to slow way down to free his legs.  It probably only costs me a few seconds, but then it happens a second time.  It probably is my fault with my form and attention failing.

Just about to finish up ...

... sprinting to finish (while Matthew jogs).

3rd mile split 5:52.

Final results:  18:10.  5:50 pace

Stopped at 3.11 on my watch,
as shown on Garmin Connect

So why does it truncate to 3.10 when uploaded to Strava?
Yes, a tad petty, but more of a curiosity.  

At any rate, I am thrilled to have success:  Target goal 5:50, actual pace 5:50.  Check!

With today's race partner at race finish (Weekapaug Breachway)
It was a fun effort, a family event, I hit my goal, and the proceeds benefited a local animal shelter.
That's a successful effort in my book!

Weekly Log 4-May to 10-May-2020

"Borrowed" this off of Kelley's Pace website, where I am sure it was borrowed from somewhere else.
I really like both this mantra and beach running scene.
(Well, except for the earbuds; she should be listening to and enjoying her environment.)

Monday:  5
Normally my scheduled rest day, but since I had to bring in my car for service locally, I figured I'd drop it off and then run home, adding a couple of miles to make 5.  Surprisingly Matthew was in for getting up early and actually planned it out.

Roads with trails in Moore Woods and Mastuxet.  Only my second time in Moore Woods, as the first time I left promptly when getting the evil eye from a lady, which I attributed to my violation of the "No Jogging" rule.

Tuesday:  9
Noontime run in Bradford Preserve and Woody Hill.  BP can get busy late afternoons, but at this time of day it was only a town worker mowing the field and an older couple, the latter of which I was only happy to point them in the direction of the trailhead they were looking for.

First time running on the relatively new "Little Sister" trail.  I don't know the etymology of that trail name, but it would seem better served as "Twisted Sister" to me.  'Nuff said.  Finished up the last few miles on classic trails.  "Only" 61°, but seemed very warm to me.

Wednesday:  7
Grills Preserve, Westerly.  Somewhat cool 51° and drizzly rain.  As opposed to drizzly what?  Anyway, ran easy pace in here on mostly flat trails, given that tomorrow I'm racing.

Thursday:  5
Stand Up for Animals Virtual 5K.  Separate write-up to be posted shortly.

Friday:  3
Today's run did not work out so well, but that's OK.  It's getting really old to me to hear from friends and relatives asking if I'm "working" from home, wink, wink.  I still have the same project deadlines, the same reports and presentations I have to prepare and deliver, and the same team I have to manage.  Anyways, after a day chock full of meetings and presentations from 9-5, I was losing interest in running by the time I headed out about 5:30pm.

We were hoping Ninigret Park would be re-opened in alignment with most of the state parks that are re-opening tomorrow morning.  No dice.  Went to Ninigret Wildlife Refuge instead, but with people there and clear "No Dogs" and "No Running" signs, opted to leave Brady in the car for a bit and run a short distance, hoping people would be gone when I got back.  Matthew ended up running on his own, and when I came back to the car and opened the door, Brady was very anxious and crying for a while until he calmed down.  OK, I wasn't really into today's run anyway, so I ended up taking him just to the part of the refuge just on the other side of Route 1 where running and dogs are allowed.  Went for a super short run with him and then went back to pick up Matthew.

Saturday:  8
Baker Pines.  Parked in the ugly construction site at Exit 4, and from there the rest of the run was pristine.  On North-South Trail, encountered only other couple.  They said they were hiking "only" as far as Carolina Management Area!  Ran NST as far as Arcadia Road, and then for the first time ever, I ran the yellow loop around Browning Mill Pond.  Neat trails, reminding me a bit of the trail around White Lake at White Lake State Park in NH.  Only problem was that was where the people were.  Once we circumnavigated the pond, we never saw anyone else for the remainder of the time.  Fun trails.

Sunday:  14
Medium long run with Matthew (no Brady today as long run entirely on asphalt).  Point-to-point from Kingston train station to Point Judith lighthouse.  The Amtrak train station lot was eerily empty as I had never seen before, but that has to do with almost no one traveling during these COVID-19 days.

This was truly a tale of two runs:

South County Bike Path:  seven miles, mostly wooded and thus protected from the wind, and not in the direction of the wind anyway.  I wouldn't say the bike path was crowded, but there sure were plenty of people out there biking, running, and dog-walking, and at times we had to run off the path in order to maintain safe social distancing.  Was pleasantly surprised to see Katie Garvin out on the bike path.  I saw a wisp of reddish hair from the back, and actually thought, "Could this be Katie?", but with a facemask I could not really tell and thought the odds against it.  Average 6:54 pace on the bike path.

Coastal ocean roads:  seven miles, into a very strong headwind at times.  There were points along the ocean where it felt like the headwind was stopping us.  Mile 12 was a struggle at 8:35 pace where the effort was more like a 6:35.  Average 7:28 pace on the blustery roads.  Very sore later that day.  Definite Monday complete rest day.

Beautiful finish:
Looking at Point Judith Lighthouse, from Camp Cronin Fishing Area

Weekly mileage:  51

Weekly synopsis:  No complaints.  About evenly split between roads and trails.  Feel healthy and no running issues.

Weekly highlight:  The SUFA virtual race on Thursday.  Something completely different, and neat to have the whole family (minus my oldest displaced in Florida) involved.

Weekly lowlight:  While I'm glad I got in Sunday's point-to-point run, that second half into strong headwinds was both grueling and draining.

Books:  Stealing a page from BLS' blog, although I was never as avid a reader as she, I have made a recent habit of reading a little bit each night before bed.  Recent highlights:

Recently returned to me from Shara, I had plans to read a chapter a day
(each mile of the marathon has its own chapter) culminating in race day.
This goes on the shelf for a while.  If I were to run the new September 14 Boston date, I would have to
starting training (again) right about now.  I am pessimistic that such a massive gathering will happen at all,
and don't want to get stuck (again) in an abort training stance.
---
Thus I recently pulled the trigger and withdrew and should be getting my $205 entry fee back soon.

I really enjoyed this read.  Retelling of the classic 1982 race, sprinkled with excerpts of their respective lives
before and after the marathon.  Neither ever ran the same again after '82 Boston, but I didn't know the details
until now.

Won this book as my age group prize at the last race I ran before COVID-19.
Just starting to read it now.  Slow start.

Weekly Log 27-Apr to 3-May-2020: Snakes Alive

By popular request (does one request make it popular?), here is my 20+ second video with my faithful companion.  The genesis is that each of us was asked to complete as a fun work assignment to illustrate our goals and social distancing during COVID-19.  Most employees' videos that I've seen so far are filmed indoors, a few are outdoors and creative such as shooting basketball hoops or teaching a child to ride a bike for the first time.  Of course, mine is running outdoors:

(April 25, Hidden Lake)



Monday:  0 run, 1 walk
Normal rest from running Monday.  And what a good day to take off.  After work, Brady took me took me out for a fast-paced walk around the neighborhood, as it was 41° and raining.

It's really good to see the RI Governor release a gradual easing of restrictions, with Phase I starting on May 9.
If we get to Phase III in June, with gatherings allowed up to 50 people, can we have capped fun runs with staggered
starts and whatever other needed restrictions?  Let's hope!

Tuesday:  8
Local roads and preserves with Matthew and Brady.  Nice, easy pace, before an unusually stressful work day getting pulled in different directions.

Wednesday:  8
Woody Hill trails in the morning with Matthew and Brady.  Absolutely no one there, which was just awesome.

Thursday:  9
Late afternoon from Chariho, south to Carter Preserve, a loop in Carter, and then back.  Sloshing stomach issues the latter half of the run.  Mornings are better to run, but with the pouring rain this morning (and forecast again tomorrow), opted to run in better weather.

Thus endeth the month of April.  227 miles run.  An interesting factoid is that this was the coldest April in RI in 45 years!

Friday:  5
May Day.  Pouring rain in the morning, followed by meetings almost straight through the day, from 8:30am to 5:00pm.  Getting such a late start for our run (at 5:30pm), we opted to cut the distance down and just run local roads.  First mile felt heavy and terrible, and then somehow the rest of the miles felt smooth and I ran an average 6:52 pace.

Saturday:  8
Easy run in Big River with Matthew and Brady.  Hadn't been here in a while.  As usual, ran the first few miles knowing exactly where I was and then took a wrong turn somewhere when trying to find the Foster's Folly trail, and was completely lost.  Fortunately this time I at least had a correct idea of the direction I needed to run in to get back on track.

There are some really fun trails in here through pine forests.  It was quite warm.  In fact, it was in the upper 60s when we finished.  I was glad we found two clean-looking streams, which Brady promptly jumped right into to cool off and get a drink.

Wow, this guy (or gal) is gorgeous!
Spied him right in front of my tractor while mowing.
Quickly shut the engine, and checked that I hadn't hit him
(fortunately, I hadn't).
----
(I think I previously mentioned the trauma I suffered when I cut up a snake
in a lawn mower decades ago while mowing the lawn at my parents' house.
That and the time I ran over a bunny made me feel just terrible.  I could never, ever
be a hunter.)

I'm always happy to find snakes.
So I promptly brought him to see Jana,
who for some reason was not nearly as happy.

Brady on the other hand was cautious, but very intrigued. 

I only wish Brady could tell me what he was thinking.
We texted these pics to Mark, who asked, "Did he eat the snake"?
No!

Sunday:  8
Trail run with the usual COVID-19 household trio, from Kettle Pond Visitors Center, as Burlingame State Park parking areas still closed, at least for one more week.  Slow getting started in the first mile, then felt pretty good.  Trails pretty much deserted.

Weekly mileage:  46

Weekly synopsis:  Another good week.  I have to remind myself to add occasional workouts, as someday, hopefully this summer, we'll actually have races.

Weekly highlight:  Despite getting lost [again], I would say the Big River trail run.  Really neat trails through pine forests.

Weekly lowlight:  Continued cancellation of races, especially ones I'm signed up for.  This week it was the Beach to Beacon 10K, which sold out in mere minutes, but I got in.  While I'm not at all surprised to see this cancelled, as it has over 6,000 participants, it's still disappointing.  If there is a silver lining, it's that not only are the entry fees being refunded, but participants will have guaranteed entry for 2021.