Miscellaneous ramblings (this edition's topic is "Weird things I saw on my runs"):
Monday: 0 run, 1 walk
Legs are very sore after yesterday's tri-state adventure. Neighborhood evening walk with Jana and Brady. Last night was the first time I slept through the night in months, so that's a big plus!
On the big negative side, Mark called me and said he's planning on taking Brady back to Florida at the conclusion of his RI summer trip. Nooooo! Apparently Mark is able to take classes remotely at Texas A&M, so is planning to return to FL, not TX, where the small TX apartment and long days didn't work out well for Brady. We (Matthew, Jana, me) are all loving having Brady here, and I like to think Brady is enjoying it here as well.
Tuesday: 0 run, 1 walk
Legs are still done. No run today again. Went for a walk in the evening at Avondale Preserve with Jana and Brady.
Wednesday: 8
AM: 5 mile swampy run with Brady at Woody Hill. Seth commented that he felt gross just reading my Strava description: "Wet, near 100% humidity, muddy, bugs galore, overgrowth." Yeah, it really was pretty gross out there. Not surprisingly, never saw another soul. 21 DFKs. Not a record, but a lot.
PM: 3 miles (5K). WTAC Fun Runs - Week #1! Originally scheduled to start June 5, we cancelled the first five weeks of the ten-week series due to COVID-19 restrictions, as during June, RI was in Phase II. Besides the limit being a paltry 15 for gathering, USATF will not allow any events while the local state is in Phase II.
This was not an easy feat to put on, and was really the culmination of the hard efforts of a number of individuals on the WTAC board of directors. On our first pass to get sanction/liability insurance from USATF for the July 5 start, I received an immediate e-mail from USATF giving me a heads up that this sanction request was not likely to pass at the USATF national level. It would have been so easy to give up then, as most local fun runs and events have. But we persevered, made a number of changes to conform to USATF and RI Department of Health requirements, wrote and submitted a very detailed safety plan, purchased no-contact thermometers, eliminated all paper by instituting online registration requirements with COVID-specific language and questions, setup USATF's required staggered waves with 10 maximum, and finally, less than 24 hours before the event, we received our sanction and certificate of liability insurance. Whew!
Despite all that, I would be less than candid if I said I weren't nervous going into the event itself. 75 people had registered, which is much more than I anticipated. Would neighbors come out and complain? Would runners give me or other volunteers a hard time about not wearing a mask for check-in (as we hear occasional complaints on the about people refusing to wear masks)? Would the police stop by (I printed out our sanction, insurance, and safety plan in case)? Would there be some picture on FB of runners not social distancing, and incur negative comments?
It all went quite well. The solitary person that showed up without having pre-registered was directed to register on his phone, and the lessons learned that we had were minor and very small in number. Sample unsolicited e-mail comments we received made it all worthwhile for me:
As for my own run, after brief remarks explaining the staggered start process with waves of maximum 10 runners going every 30 seconds, I reluctantly got in the first wave, as the 2nd wave was full, and the 1st wave still had several slots open. This put me DFL in my wave, but that's OK. Ran moderately hard at average 6:15 pace and a 20-flat finish. I kept Brandi LeClair and Dave Goodrich in my sights pretty much the whole run, but at no point in the humidity did I have a strong desire or energy level to try to chase either down.
Thursday: 10 run, 1 walk
6am beach run with Matthew and Brady. Brady did fantastic. Completely off-leash the whole time, other than running into the ocean to cool off, he stayed running by my side or Matthew's side the whole time, even when there were other dogs. This was at least my 3rd time running barefoot on the beach for 10 miles or more this summer, but for some reason my feet were really sore afterwards and I feared they would blister.
1 mile evening neighborhood walk with the fam.
Friday: 5
Groton Fun Run. Very small group, but just glad to see some runs coming back. Went for a short solo warm-up, before running the 3.5M route with Matt Sweeney. In fact, I didn't recognize him at all with the shaved head and beard, but he recognized me right away, and we had a good run catching up on mountain runs, trips, etc. Short solo cool-down before catching up with several WTAC Fun Run regulars, plus some CT folks I hadn't seen in a while, including Steve S, Bill Bentley, Sharon, etc.
Saturday: 8
Carter Preserve. Started too late (after 9am), and it was already hot and sticky. My first two miles were the slowest as I had a hard time getting started and was having a little trouble breathing, while sweat was just literally running down my face. Just gross.
I figured Matthew and I would end up running separately, but I gradually got a little bit acclimated. The breathing was still tough for me for miles 3 and 4, but I was able to pick it up just a little bit. By the time we turned and headed back for 4 net downhill (barely) miles, my breathing had returned to some state of normalcy so that I able to speak coherently again. We stopped every 2-3 miles ostensibly to give water to Brady out of my CamelBak, and he finished every bowl of cold water we gave him (I packed his portable collapsible bowl), but honestly I appreciated the breaks as well.
Matthew said the swimming area at the Pawcatuck River was gross, but I had already made up my mind sight unseen that I was going in to cool off, and I had a funny feeling my furry friend would as well. That's exactly the way it went down! Nice preserve in gross humid conditions. One bonus was that I found the blueberry bushes that Muddy had referenced, and noshed on fresh blueberries.
Sunday: 16
Groton, CT, with Matthew. One big benefit to local runs like this is you get home with still half the day left. This was a loop mixed run through Groton Long Point before running in most of the Groton Cross-Town preserves. Felt fine; went for a short swim at Esker Point Beach at finish.
Weekly mileage: 48 run, 3 walk
Weekly synopsis: 2 miles short of my weekly goal of 50 is just fine with me.
Weekly highlight: Getting back to Fun Runs! Both at our own WTAC runs, as well as Groton Fun Runs.
Weekly lowlight: Gross conditions at Woody Hill combined with deerfly overrun. I have those deerfly patches on order, and will try them out, but otherwise, constantly swatting at deerflies and coming home with multiple itchy bites is just not fun.
- A deer and her fawn swimming across a cove (at start of Groton Fun Run at Bluff Point). Mayne not so much weird as cool.
- A non-4WD sedan in the beach at Westerly Town Beach. Yes, I meant "in", not "on", as that car was in the sand up to its chassis and not going anywhere until towed out. The woman stepped out of her car as we ran by it on our beach run (it was not there when we ran by it the first time). What the hell was she thinking? Reminds me of the following:
 |
| Remember this scene from Vacation, after Chevy Chase crashes through a barrier on a clearly marked closed road? |
Legs are very sore after yesterday's tri-state adventure. Neighborhood evening walk with Jana and Brady. Last night was the first time I slept through the night in months, so that's a big plus!
On the big negative side, Mark called me and said he's planning on taking Brady back to Florida at the conclusion of his RI summer trip. Nooooo! Apparently Mark is able to take classes remotely at Texas A&M, so is planning to return to FL, not TX, where the small TX apartment and long days didn't work out well for Brady. We (Matthew, Jana, me) are all loving having Brady here, and I like to think Brady is enjoying it here as well.
Tuesday: 0 run, 1 walk
Legs are still done. No run today again. Went for a walk in the evening at Avondale Preserve with Jana and Brady.
 |
| Chasing rabbits on the grass paths at Avondale. |
Wednesday: 8
AM: 5 mile swampy run with Brady at Woody Hill. Seth commented that he felt gross just reading my Strava description: "Wet, near 100% humidity, muddy, bugs galore, overgrowth." Yeah, it really was pretty gross out there. Not surprisingly, never saw another soul. 21 DFKs. Not a record, but a lot.
PM: 3 miles (5K). WTAC Fun Runs - Week #1! Originally scheduled to start June 5, we cancelled the first five weeks of the ten-week series due to COVID-19 restrictions, as during June, RI was in Phase II. Besides the limit being a paltry 15 for gathering, USATF will not allow any events while the local state is in Phase II.
This was not an easy feat to put on, and was really the culmination of the hard efforts of a number of individuals on the WTAC board of directors. On our first pass to get sanction/liability insurance from USATF for the July 5 start, I received an immediate e-mail from USATF giving me a heads up that this sanction request was not likely to pass at the USATF national level. It would have been so easy to give up then, as most local fun runs and events have. But we persevered, made a number of changes to conform to USATF and RI Department of Health requirements, wrote and submitted a very detailed safety plan, purchased no-contact thermometers, eliminated all paper by instituting online registration requirements with COVID-specific language and questions, setup USATF's required staggered waves with 10 maximum, and finally, less than 24 hours before the event, we received our sanction and certificate of liability insurance. Whew!
Despite all that, I would be less than candid if I said I weren't nervous going into the event itself. 75 people had registered, which is much more than I anticipated. Would neighbors come out and complain? Would runners give me or other volunteers a hard time about not wearing a mask for check-in (as we hear occasional complaints on the about people refusing to wear masks)? Would the police stop by (I printed out our sanction, insurance, and safety plan in case)? Would there be some picture on FB of runners not social distancing, and incur negative comments?
It all went quite well. The solitary person that showed up without having pre-registered was directed to register on his phone, and the lessons learned that we had were minor and very small in number. Sample unsolicited e-mail comments we received made it all worthwhile for me:
- "Thank you for putting on this race!"
- "Thank you again Jeff for being able to put these Runs on!!"
- "We had a blast at yesterday's race. I'm glad it worked out well, and we are looking forward to next week's race!"
- "Hi WTAC, Thanks so much for doing all it takes to have fun runs in this crazy Covidtime!! I know it is not easy and I appreciate all the effort."
- And my personal favorite: "every aspect went very well"
As for my own run, after brief remarks explaining the staggered start process with waves of maximum 10 runners going every 30 seconds, I reluctantly got in the first wave, as the 2nd wave was full, and the 1st wave still had several slots open. This put me DFL in my wave, but that's OK. Ran moderately hard at average 6:15 pace and a 20-flat finish. I kept Brandi LeClair and Dave Goodrich in my sights pretty much the whole run, but at no point in the humidity did I have a strong desire or energy level to try to chase either down.
 |
| Crowded 2019 start for comparison. |
 |
Taking off with separation, and the next wave behind me
staggered by a 30 second delay.
|
6am beach run with Matthew and Brady. Brady did fantastic. Completely off-leash the whole time, other than running into the ocean to cool off, he stayed running by my side or Matthew's side the whole time, even when there were other dogs. This was at least my 3rd time running barefoot on the beach for 10 miles or more this summer, but for some reason my feet were really sore afterwards and I feared they would blister.
1 mile evening neighborhood walk with the fam.
Friday: 5
Groton Fun Run. Very small group, but just glad to see some runs coming back. Went for a short solo warm-up, before running the 3.5M route with Matt Sweeney. In fact, I didn't recognize him at all with the shaved head and beard, but he recognized me right away, and we had a good run catching up on mountain runs, trips, etc. Short solo cool-down before catching up with several WTAC Fun Run regulars, plus some CT folks I hadn't seen in a while, including Steve S, Bill Bentley, Sharon, etc.
Saturday: 8
Carter Preserve. Started too late (after 9am), and it was already hot and sticky. My first two miles were the slowest as I had a hard time getting started and was having a little trouble breathing, while sweat was just literally running down my face. Just gross.
I figured Matthew and I would end up running separately, but I gradually got a little bit acclimated. The breathing was still tough for me for miles 3 and 4, but I was able to pick it up just a little bit. By the time we turned and headed back for 4 net downhill (barely) miles, my breathing had returned to some state of normalcy so that I able to speak coherently again. We stopped every 2-3 miles ostensibly to give water to Brady out of my CamelBak, and he finished every bowl of cold water we gave him (I packed his portable collapsible bowl), but honestly I appreciated the breaks as well.
 |
| Traipsing through one of the coolest parts of Carter - a pine forest! |
 |
| At a water break. I guess Brady just felt more comfortable to take a break and lie down on top of the boulder. |
Sunday: 16
Groton, CT, with Matthew. One big benefit to local runs like this is you get home with still half the day left. This was a loop mixed run through Groton Long Point before running in most of the Groton Cross-Town preserves. Felt fine; went for a short swim at Esker Point Beach at finish.
Weekly mileage: 48 run, 3 walk
Weekly synopsis: 2 miles short of my weekly goal of 50 is just fine with me.
Weekly highlight: Getting back to Fun Runs! Both at our own WTAC runs, as well as Groton Fun Runs.
Weekly lowlight: Gross conditions at Woody Hill combined with deerfly overrun. I have those deerfly patches on order, and will try them out, but otherwise, constantly swatting at deerflies and coming home with multiple itchy bites is just not fun.
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