Monday: 0 run, 2 walk
Post-dinner walk at Barlow Preserve with Jana and Brady.
Tuesday: 10
Grills with Matthew and Brady. Likely my last run in Grills until the fall. Just terribly overgrown, especially in the clear-cut section on Westerly side, and infested with deerflies. Waded in the nice cool Pawcatuck River at finish (Hopkinton trailhead).
Wednesday: 10
AM: 5 miles easy at Avondale with Matthew and Brady.
PM: 5 miles at Fun Run. Warm-up with Keith, and then a hard Fun Run effort. 19:01 sounds pretty slow, but I ran quite long at 3.27 going respectfully COVID-wide around the walkers and runners I passed. Average 5:49/mile pace, with Mile 2 split being about 30 seconds slower than Miles 1 and 3, as usual.
Thursday: 5
Very slow road/trail local recovery with Brady in the evening. Mastuxet Greenway and Champlin preserves.
Friday: 5
Matthew was going to Burlingame early evening to run 11. That was more than I was looking for, with a looming mountain run the next day, so Brady and I joined him for the first three, before heading back. Post-run dip in Watchaug Pond, we had the place to ourselves. The first few times I went in the water with him, I would get pretty scratched up, as he would try to climb on me and seemed a bit nervous, but now he seems very comfortable, will swim right next to me, and if I can stand he seems to trust me completely to hold him in the water and give me him a break.
Saturday: 12
Belknap Range, southern NH. In fact, I had never heard of the Belknap Range, but Matthew was headed there and it seems like it would be fun for me to tag along. Got up just after 4am, and left the house by 4:30am. We knew it was going to be a hot day, so better to get a reasonably early start.
Left the bikes, my bike shoes, and ice water at Mount Major parking lot, and then drove to Gunstock to park and start our eastward run. Well, in full transparency, actually two miles into our drive to Gunstock, I alerted Matthew that we needed to go back because some idiot still had his bikes shoes in the car and didn't leave them with the bikes. Matthew grumbled less than he probably should have, and in another 10 minutes to so, we were finally on our way to Gunstock.
Here's a pictorial essay of the day:
The cruelty of finishing the trail is that being a point-to-point, we weren't really done at all. 8 miles biking up long hills in open sun with temps in the low 90s was not fun at all.
Sunday: 5
Woke up to another birthday. The years keep coming. The Stones sang "What a drag it is getting old", but it beats the alternative, right? And as much as I like The Who, I definitely CANNOT agree with their lyrics "Hope I die before I get old".
After running the Taconic run two weeks ago, I couldn't run for two days. Didn't know what to expect after yesterday's run (albeit shorter and less total elevation), so I went to Ninigret for an easy grass recovery run. From the moment I woke up, Brady followed me everywhere I went. I really think that after I was gone without him all day yesterday, he was trying to avoid that I slip out without him today. I was happy to take him, and brought an extra thermos of ice water, as it was getting warmer and was very humid.
Just as I was starting my run, I heard my name called and looked over. It's Tommy 5K! And Shara and the girls. Ran a very short distance with Tommy, and chatted a bit with the family, before heading off on our own. Very humid out there today. We stuck to grass today and a pretty slow pace (just over 8 minutes). After three miles, we returned to the car, and Brady drank a whole bowl of water. OK, make sure to keep him hydrated. Took off the shoes and ran two miles barefoot on the grass. Easy pace again, but by now, I was drenched in sweat from head to toe. Brady drained the rest of the water from the 1st thermos, so I'm glad I brought a second. It seems Brady just wouldn't stop panting, so I took him to Watchaug Pond and we went for a good soak and swim. That did the trick. I didn't mind it one bit either!
Weekly mileage: 47 run, 3 walk, 8 ride
Weekly synopsis: Just shy of my 50 mile weekly run goal, but good enough.
Weekly highlight: The NH mountain run for sure. Runnable throughout, and I fared decently.
Weekly lowlight: The Grills overgrowth run. Just left me feeling gross and very itchy with those weird weed/plant growths scratching up my legs.
Post-dinner walk at Barlow Preserve with Jana and Brady.
Tuesday: 10
Grills with Matthew and Brady. Likely my last run in Grills until the fall. Just terribly overgrown, especially in the clear-cut section on Westerly side, and infested with deerflies. Waded in the nice cool Pawcatuck River at finish (Hopkinton trailhead).
Wednesday: 10
AM: 5 miles easy at Avondale with Matthew and Brady.
PM: 5 miles at Fun Run. Warm-up with Keith, and then a hard Fun Run effort. 19:01 sounds pretty slow, but I ran quite long at 3.27 going respectfully COVID-wide around the walkers and runners I passed. Average 5:49/mile pace, with Mile 2 split being about 30 seconds slower than Miles 1 and 3, as usual.
Thursday: 5
Very slow road/trail local recovery with Brady in the evening. Mastuxet Greenway and Champlin preserves.
Friday: 5
Matthew was going to Burlingame early evening to run 11. That was more than I was looking for, with a looming mountain run the next day, so Brady and I joined him for the first three, before heading back. Post-run dip in Watchaug Pond, we had the place to ourselves. The first few times I went in the water with him, I would get pretty scratched up, as he would try to climb on me and seemed a bit nervous, but now he seems very comfortable, will swim right next to me, and if I can stand he seems to trust me completely to hold him in the water and give me him a break.
Saturday: 12
Belknap Range, southern NH. In fact, I had never heard of the Belknap Range, but Matthew was headed there and it seems like it would be fun for me to tag along. Got up just after 4am, and left the house by 4:30am. We knew it was going to be a hot day, so better to get a reasonably early start.
 |
| While the trail colors changed many times, we were following the Belknap Range Trail, which I highlighted above. |
Left the bikes, my bike shoes, and ice water at Mount Major parking lot, and then drove to Gunstock to park and start our eastward run. Well, in full transparency, actually two miles into our drive to Gunstock, I alerted Matthew that we needed to go back because some idiot still had his bikes shoes in the car and didn't leave them with the bikes. Matthew grumbled less than he probably should have, and in another 10 minutes to so, we were finally on our way to Gunstock.
Here's a pictorial essay of the day:
 |
| Start of our run today: the base of Gunstock Mountain Ski Area |
 |
| After a steep service road climb (steepest sustained climb at average 16% grade), we arrived at Mt Rowe, 1,680', the first of 8 peaks today. You can see our starting point in the middle left of this pic. |
 |
| I just love pine needle laden trails like this. Very soft and runnable. |
 |
| Gunstock Mountain summit, 2,244' |
 |
| Noshing on blueberries on Belknap Mountain |
 |
| View from Belknap Summit tower, 2,382' |
 |
| Views and cairns along the way |
 |
| The descent from Belknap Mountain was quite technical and involved a lot of rock-hopping |
 |
| Frog at Round Pond! |
 |
| Round Pond, almost halfway in. |
 |
| The next three mountains had decent climbs, but not very impressive for views. Near Mt Klem summit, 2,001' |
 |
| The sign says it all at this summit |
 |
| Mount Anna Summit, with the "BRT" (Belknap Range Trail) insignia |
 |
| Blueberries galore at Mount Straightback. I must've stopped here for 10 minutes. |
 |
| I'm getting hot and tired now, at the penultimate summit of the day. Looks like our final summit, Mt Major, is 1.1 miles away. |
 |
| Fun running from cairn to cairn on rocks here. |
 |
| What?! Mt Major can't be another 4 miles, can it? Did I get off trail? No, pretty sure, the decimal point is gone, and it's really 0.4 miles. |
 |
| This looks rough. But I remind myself that I run everything thus far, and soldier on through this difficult section of tangled roots uphill. |
 |
| Mt Major! Final summit. 1,786'. Not the highest summit, but rewarded with the best mountain views of the day. |
 |
| What was fun was a refreshing dip and short swim in Lake Winnipesaukee. |
Sunday: 5
Woke up to another birthday. The years keep coming. The Stones sang "What a drag it is getting old", but it beats the alternative, right? And as much as I like The Who, I definitely CANNOT agree with their lyrics "Hope I die before I get old".
After running the Taconic run two weeks ago, I couldn't run for two days. Didn't know what to expect after yesterday's run (albeit shorter and less total elevation), so I went to Ninigret for an easy grass recovery run. From the moment I woke up, Brady followed me everywhere I went. I really think that after I was gone without him all day yesterday, he was trying to avoid that I slip out without him today. I was happy to take him, and brought an extra thermos of ice water, as it was getting warmer and was very humid.
Just as I was starting my run, I heard my name called and looked over. It's Tommy 5K! And Shara and the girls. Ran a very short distance with Tommy, and chatted a bit with the family, before heading off on our own. Very humid out there today. We stuck to grass today and a pretty slow pace (just over 8 minutes). After three miles, we returned to the car, and Brady drank a whole bowl of water. OK, make sure to keep him hydrated. Took off the shoes and ran two miles barefoot on the grass. Easy pace again, but by now, I was drenched in sweat from head to toe. Brady drained the rest of the water from the 1st thermos, so I'm glad I brought a second. It seems Brady just wouldn't stop panting, so I took him to Watchaug Pond and we went for a good soak and swim. That did the trick. I didn't mind it one bit either!
Weekly mileage: 47 run, 3 walk, 8 ride
Weekly synopsis: Just shy of my 50 mile weekly run goal, but good enough.
Weekly highlight: The NH mountain run for sure. Runnable throughout, and I fared decently.
Weekly lowlight: The Grills overgrowth run. Just left me feeling gross and very itchy with those weird weed/plant growths scratching up my legs.
No comments:
Post a Comment