 |
| "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.) |
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. |
No comments:
Post a Comment