Weekly Log 21-Sep to 27-Sep-2020: A Down Week

Miscellaneous ramblings:

• Race after race is falling by the wayside due to COVID.  Last week Avondale 5K was cancelled, this week RISP (it went virtual, but kind of the same thing).
• DD has come out with cereal!  I enjoy cereal nearly every morning, and I like a good mocha latte, but the two don't mix in my book.  Stick to your knitting.

• First time ever using a professional aerator on our lawn.  Jana said it looks like we have poop all over our lawn:

Yeah, I guess it does kind of look like goose poop!

• Nature's camouflage is just awesome!  Look closely:

Monday:  0 run, 2 walk

Typical Monday off from running.  Post-work walk with Jana and Brady in Champlin Glacier Preserve.  Final evening of summer.  Started at dusk; finished in pitch dark.

Tuesday:  2 walk, 5 run

AM:  Trail maintenance as part of CCC crew.  First time at Flora Whitely Preserve in quite a long time.

AM:  Since that finished up a little early, stopped at Bradford Preserve on the way back and ran the Pumpkins 8K course.  That was in great shape.

Wednesday:  0

Took the day off from work, and had grand visions of accomplishing so much, including an afternoon MLR.  Yeah, didn't happen that way, and the day got away from me.  On the plus side, I did aerate the lawn, uninstall our broken dishwasher and install the new one, and overseed part of the lawn.

Thursday:  10

Barefoot beach run with Brady.  Low tide, temps in 50s, sunny, very few rocks, no seaweed, the tourists are gone.  What's not to love?!

Friday:  6

After work solo run in Misquamicut.  Warm and muggy.  Was impressed by two acts of kindness by random drivers: 1) stopped waiting to cross abnormally busy Winnapaug Ave with a long line of cars when one stopped him and all the cars behind him to let me cross, and 2) on Crandall Ave, a woman with plenty of room to turn in her driveway before my approach chose to stop instead and wait for me to pass.  I had the right of way in neither case.  Restored a little of my faith in humanity.

Saturday:  7

"Group" run:  Tommy, Riley, Brady, me.  First run with T5K in quite some time; it was good to get together.  Mix of dirt roads and easy single-track at Burlingame campground area and Kettle Pond trails, followed by a dip in Watchaug Pond.  Water getting noticeably colder.  I still have a few dips left in me this year, but between the colder water and colder air temps once you get out, they are winding down.  :(

Sunday:  10

Fun run with Brady in Yawgoog and up and around Greens Falls Pond in nearby CT.  Brady looked like he was done on the last couple of miles.  I think it was due to the heat and humidity, as despite being the last week of September, it was about 70 degrees and 98% humidity.

I'm assuming this was left over by some trail 
maintenance.  If so, clever use of cut down down trees.
(At the intersection of yellow and green trails
on west side of Yawgoog Pond)

This guy was out for a stroll on the trail, 
and retracted his head instead the shell just before the
thing with the black paws at top of photo came jumping over him.

I probably should've carried water for him today,
but fortunately on this route we passed by many bodies of water
for him to stop and get a drink.
(At Green Falls Pond, just above dam)

Ran into Eric Winn and his dog early in the run.  Eric was running the technical trails barefoot!  The ultramarathoner and many-time Ironman is planning to be at Run for the Pumpkins trail race next Saturday.

Looking like fall out there today,
but feeling more like summer
(On west edge of Green Falls Pond)

Lots and lots of geese out for a swim in Yawgoog Pond,
at Three Point waterfront

Weekly mileage:  38 run, 4 walk

Weekly synopsis:  For a non-race week, I'm disappointed in myself with the mileage.  Yes, I had a busy week between work, Land Trust meetings, and a bunch of stuff going on at the house, but where there's a will, there's a way.  I see people out running at 4:30 and 5am (well, on Strava, of course, I'm not awake then), so if they can get it done, I can do.  I have planned races the next three consecutive weekends, so I've got to put in the time weekday mornings and get out there.

Weekly highlight:  For company, the run with T5K.  Just a really good catch-up after a long time.  For trail fun, the Yawgoog/Green Falls run with Brady.

Weekly lowlight:  My laziness couched as being too busy.  

Stavros Beach Run 2020

Westerly, RI

Tuesday, September 8, 2020

Setting up pre-race on the beach.
It looks like it's going to be a great night!

The Charlie Stavros Memorial on the Beach Run is one of my favorite races all year.  Why is that?

• Tied with The Blessing of the Fleet, I have a streak of 18 straight years of racing this, and look forward to extending this streak every summer.
• As 1st time runner Keith McAteer described in his Strava post, it's a "cool unique event".  How many true on the beach races are there?
• Running barefoot on the beach through the ocean waves is really fun.  (I am cognizant that a number of other runners would not concur with me on this point, but it's a blast for me.)
• We are blessed to have a beautiful town beach and pavilion at our disposal for the evening.
• While I never knew Charlie (died in a 1-mile race in Westerly in 1993), I have gotten to know the Stavros family, especially his brother John and sister-in-law Jeanne, and this is a blessing to me as they are very kind people who support the race and truly love to see the runners come out each year.
• This is one of the few races that immediately after finishing, you can jump into the ocean to cool off.

Of course, 2020 is not a normal year with the coronavirus pandemic and it was far from certain that we would even be able to hold the event.  As with our limited and reduced Fun Runs and Bottone Mile this summer, we had a number of planning sessions, rewrote Safety Plans to include various COVID safety measures, and came down to the wire just a few days before the event before we got full approvals and secured liability insurance.

Not everything that has come out of the coronavirus pandemic has been bad.  What blasphemy, you say?  The pandemic and need to minimize touching and exchanging of items has been a positive disruptor for increasing technology adoption at events.  This year we had no day of paper registration, as we switched everything to electronic, and did away with the paper index cards handed out at the finish line and turned in sweat covered for us to tabulate.  This is a model (no paper registration forms, no cash handling) that we will follow at least for the rest of this year and will consider for future years.

An unintended by-product of the pandemic was 
creating bibs for our beach run.  I doubt we will
ever go back to index cards and corresponding
manual data entry after this.

As in past years, we selected the date of the Stavros Beach Race in November of the preceding year, and typically select the first weekday after Labor Day that the low tide is approximately 6pm.  The town requests to run the event after the beach has closed for the season, which is usually Labor Day.  But again, this isn't a normal year, and unbeknownst to us, due to coronavirus the beach was still open this year after Labor Day.  What does coronavirus have to do with the beach closing being extended?  Because school openings in RI were delayed because of the pandemic and there was a desire to keep safer outdoor spaces open.  So we scrambled with the town to look at alternate dates, but with the next low-tide weekday not coming up until late September, the town just asked us to make a few minor changes, mostly with holding our registration and COVID screening at a town lot across the street, and we were allowed to keep our original date.

Westerly Sun pic, with my better half

The race:  So, against that long backdrop, here are my observations on the race itself.  At 6:00pm sharp, ten of us toed the line for what would be the first of six socially distanced waves.  In the first wave, eight were between ages 11 and 26, one in his 40s (Eric Ciocca) and myself.  The odds were not stacked well for me in such a short race.  Oftentimes in this race, 10-20 high schoolers will throw caution to the wind and fly out ahead of me in a near-sprint.  However, with high school teams not yet practicing due to COVID delays, there were but a few high schoolers taking part in this year's race and they were the more serious ones that had run our summer events and seemed better disciplined at pacing.

1st wave, officially "Wave 0" takes off from their individual
socially distanced cones, while the next wave behind them
waits to move into same cones and take off 30 seconds later.
---
The oldest (and apparently) slowest guy in the wave is in far right.

Wait!  Why did you guys all take off on me?

When the dust, or rather sand, settled, a pretty tight pack of five had formed and led the race out to the turn-around at Weekapaug Breachway.  I followed in 6th place, and ran a 5:58 first mile, but never got dropped too far behind, and in fact was surprised that I was at most ten seconds behind at the turn-around.

Eric (far back right) and me (back left) bringing up the back
of the pack of this wave.  It looks like only 1 of the 10 of us
is wearing shoes.  Fortunately for him, the penalty tonight won't be
too great running up and around breaking waves as the surf is very calm.

While I've never been an OAB fan, after the cone turnaround, it is kind of fun to see the runners coming at you and in a perverse way knowing they have further to run at this point.  With COVID staggered starts, they were spread out more than usual, and never got in my way.  I ran right at the water's edge and other than maybe one place near Seaside, the sand was pretty hard and easy to run on.  

With about a mile to go, I surprisingly caught up to the lead pack, despite my 2nd mile having slowed to a 6:13.  In fact, Keith's second mile was a pedestrian 6:21, so I asked "What are you guys doing?  Walking out here?".  While the initial response is not printable, Keith later told me he was looking for the slowest time he could win in.  Well, I wasn't letting him getting off that easy, so I picked up the pace ever slow slightly.  Tanner dropped off hard, and the others (Keith, Dave Goodrich, Alex Olendorf, Nick C) all stayed together with me.  This was going to be an ugly finish, as I'm now running against a group where each is half my age, and the old man doesn't have a kick.  

We're seeing some separation in the pack of 6 of us now:

1. Keith (shirtless)
2. Jake (blue shirt)
3. Alex (yellow)
4. Me (green singlet)
5. Dave (green singlet, light blue shorts)
6. Nick

I'm guessing that with less than 1/2 mile to go, Jake Serra, who had been running negative splits, put an end to this nonsense.  He came out of nowhere and passed Keith, which spurred Keith to retake the lead.  Alex and I chased after, while Dave and Nick dropped back a bit.  I sprinted with all I had, and ended up 1 second behind Jake in 3rd place, just nudging Alex into 4th also by 1 second.

Keith leaves nothing to chance, and finally
is really pulling away now

I'm trying to stay relevant as battling for 3rd and 4th place

Just edging into 3rd before the finish.  Questions:

1. Doesn't it look like the two youngsters are out for a jog while the old man sprints?
2. Am I elbowing my competitor that I just nudged past?

Final results:  18:16 (average pace 6:05), 3rd out of 56 finishers.  Full results here.

Caught my breath a little before shedding my singlet and jumping into the refreshing ocean.  Touched based with my Mom, who had come to watch two of her sons, a daughter-in-law and a granddaughter race, talked with a few others, cooled down with Keith and came back to help the awesome WTAC volunteer crew break down the race setup and clean up.  Even with the COVID restrictions, it was a great night, and made all worthwhile by those that came up to me and/or e-mailed me post-race to thank me and the WTAC for hosting the event.

Post-race and post-dip catch-up with family:
my Mom in white shirt behind me,
my niece Ellie in in pink life preserver (her older
sister ran in race), my brother Kurt in blue

And the sun sets (literally and figuratively) on another great
Stavros Beach Run.  Truly one of my favorite evenings the entire
year.

Post-race outdoor dinner on the patio at Pizza Place,
before returning home to post results.  Nice finish to the evening.

Weekly Log 14-Sep to 20-Sep-2020: Newton?

Monday:  0.5 mile swim

Watchaug Pond at lunchtime.  Felt good out there!  I don't know how much longer I can keep this up as the weather gets cooler, but I hope a little longer.

After work, went to pick up my car from the Audi dealer in New London.  Finally!  It had been over three weeks now, as I had to await a part from Germany.  I forgot how much fun my car is to drive, and how fast it is as I pulled onto I-95 and was very quickly up to 80mph before backing off.

Tuesday:  3 run, 3 walk

AM:  Poor planning on my part.  Slept in on a short window already.  Nice cooler 47° run with Brady from Fallon Trail.

AM:  Followed up the short run with CCC trail maintenance work at Grills.  I had abandoned running in there in the July timeframe after a run with Matthew and Brady where we all got cut up on severe overgrowth on the white trail along edge of clear-cutting.  That's exactly the area that I led a crew of four today in clearing.

Wednesday:  7

I was meeting up with the town engineer and other leaders of the upcoming paved walking path at Bradford Preserve at 7:30am, so got there early with Brady to go for a run in the woods.  Fun run on dry trails.  The only person we encountered saw us before we saw him: a bow hunter.  Yup, like it or not, it's hunting season again.  I had safety orange on, but I need to remember to bring some for Brady as well.

It turns out construction of the Bradford Preserve paved walking path won't start until after the Run for the Pumpkins race on October 3, but we'll need to make some minor course adjustments next year and possibly this year for the three scheduled high school XC meets.

Thursday:  10

Goddard Park, Warwick, with a small section of roads into North Kingstown.  Two miles of "trails" in Goddard Park, and then the rest roads.  Was happy to run sub-7 on road portions without much exertion.

Temps in the mid 70s and I was pretty sweaty and gross.
Usually in such a situation before any work event, I'd find the
closest Y to shower and change, but with our Y membership lapsed 
during COVID, this salt water cove would have to do for
clean-up today.

I hadn't run here in some time, and it was a nice change.  I coordinated this with the first in-person work meeting since COVID.  Six of us met at a nice waterside restaurant in East Greenwich (BLU On The Water) for drinks, appetizers, some work discussion, but a lot of social catch-up.  I'm not one that misses going into the office for social interaction, but I do have to say that I really enjoyed catching up with my team.  My boss attended as well, so that should help when I submit the bill on my expense report!

Friday:  9 run, 1 walk

Grills Hopkinton and Westerly full perimeter run with Brady.  Finally, most of the summer overgrowth and all of the summer bugs are gone.  Enjoyable to get back out there.

Evening walk around the neighborhood.

Saturday:  5

Easy mix of grass fields and bike path at Ninigret, with Brady.  He wanted to go in to Li'l Nini Pond when he finished, so I went in with him for a short swim.  A girl of about 3 years old also followed us to go in, which I was nervous about, but her Dad was right there and fine with it.  She really like Brady.  Her father asked me if my next dog would be named "Newton".  Not being a football aficionado, I struggled for a moment and then a light bulb went on.

I don't get it.  Why would I name my dog after
one of my favorite snacks?

Or after a scientist, even an impressive and influential one?

Oh.  Duh.  This is the "Newton" he was referring to.
I did tell him our dog is named "Brady".

Sunday:  10

Trails to a Cure!  Separate write-up forthcoming.

Weekly mileage:  43 run, 4 walk

Weekly synopsis:  Totally fine with lesser mileage; expected that with race coming up.  In fact, I am loving racing now that it's starting to come back.  So I've run my three September races, and while a colleague already suggested a race for me next weekend, no, it's time for a little break, well just for one weekend.  Now looking ahead to October !

Weekly highlight:  Oh, too much of a softball.  The Trails to a Cure race, for sure.

Weekly lowlight:  Not getting my act together on Tuesday.

New Hampshire 10 Miler

Manchester, NH

Saturday, August 29, 2020

"Real" race in the COVID era:  Due to COVID-19, so many races in 2020 have either been canceled outright or gone virtual.  I've supported two virtual races this year (Stand Up For Animals 5K, and Blessing of the Fleet 10-Miler), and while I feel good about having "donated" to these two non-profit foundations, the format is not my favorite and hard to race solo.  (To be fair, I had the benefit of Matthew pacing me in both).  

Thankfully this race decided to have an in-person event.  When you peruse their race website and/or watch their COVID safety race preparation for the race, you gain the sense that this organization (Millennium Running) really knows what they're doing.  I feel the WTAC has the COVID safety race features down pat, and I'm hoping that will accelerate approvals for our planned fall races, but Millenium Racing (host of NH 10-Miler) brings it to another level.

As we were staying up in NH already, Jana and I visited the Millenium Running store in Bedford, NH the day before to pick up my shirt and bib, and then drove to the race start at Massabesic Lake.  This not only saved time on race morning, but gave us the chance to talk with some of the race crew.  We then drove the race course to get an advance feel for it.

Nice looking AND informative bib:
I'm starting in Group #1, sequence #37 (line up on cone #37 in staging area)

Race morning panic:  Race morning the plan was to get up at 5:15am, leave the campsite at 5:30am, and drive the 33 minute trip to race start, thus giving about an hour before my official individualized race start time of 7:06AM, leaving time for warm-up, plus the required staging in corrals.  (There were a total of about 750 runners registered, each with a personalized seeded start time, in 10 second intervals.)  Alas, the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.  I just happened to wake up and checked my phone curious as to how much longer until 5:15am.  GULP!  It's 5:43am!  Semi panicked, I woke Jana up and told her we were 1/2 hour late already.  She puts up with my nonsense and got up right away without complaint.  Fortunately, I had laid out my running clothes, with bib attached to my singlet, and a dry set of clothes and shoes the night before.  In less than 10 minutes, we were both up, dressed, used the facilities, and got ourselves and Brady in the car to go.  As I drove and Jana plugged the race start location into Google Maps, my panic melted away when she told me ETA 6:23am (again, against a 7:06 start time).  

Warm up and race prep:  On the ride over, I remarked how fortunately it wasn't raining yet, and I didn't mind if it rained after the race start, but not while I was sitting around pre-race.  Jana said don't jinx it, and sure enough I did!  By the time we arrived, it was raining, and as I went out for my warm up, it was now raining fairly hard and steadily.  I came back and sat in the car for a while, before heading to the race start and ducking under the cover of some trees waiting for the Group 1 staging.

Rainy line-up for Group 1 staging

Facial coverings are required in the staging area,
but not once you move to "On Deck" and then start

At my assigned cone (middle of pic).  The rain let up for a little while just before start.

And I'm off ...
Cool overhead signage, and neat to get free
pics as well!

Race start:  Immediately after the national anthem, the race went off like clockwork.  Actually, it was clockwork!  Every 10 seconds, one runner moved to the "On Deck" position and removed his mask, while the runner ahead of him had his (or her, not being sexist, but using the male pronoun form I learned from high school when sex not specified) name called out and started his race.  I looked around and saw Dave Dunham two positions (i.e., 20 seconds) behind me, but recognized no one else.

After a half mile running along the shore of Massabesic Lake, it was time for the first hill, with a 100' climb.  This was neither the steepest hill, nor the most elevation gain, but Mile 1 is the only mile which is completely uphill (i.e., no downhill respite).  It showed with a 6:41 mile.  Ouch.  The next two runners were well ahead of me, and runners behind me were nipping at my heels.

The early and hilly miles:  There were three major hill climbs (100' in Mile 1, 120' in Mile 3, 170' in Mile 4) and the pattern of me relative to competitors was the same in every instance:  On the ascents, I could hear at least one and sometimes two runners come right up to me and then on subsequent descents I would pull away.  

At the top of the long and steeper hill in Mile 4 (my slowest mile in 6:44), the runner that was right on me went to my right and pulled even with me.  I didn't look over but from the breathing, I was certain the runner was female and not male.  Good.  It was most likely the very fit looking female that started 10 seconds behind me, and it was NOT Dave Dunham.

She remained with me right through the cone turnaround at Mile 5.  I don't like these at all.  I'm not efficient at them as I make wider turns than other runners, and I inevitably slow down.  The only silver lining is I could now see where Dave Dunham is, and DARN, he is not far behind me at all.  If I am to get the age group win, I not only have to finish ahead of him, but I have to finish more than 20 seconds ahead of him.  Ugh.

The back half:  The rest of the race is mostly downhill, and it is on two fairly steep downhills that I pass two runners.  I go by each fairly quickly easily.  My Mile 6 split is 6:10, and Mile 7 is 5:55.  I'm wearing road flats (NB 1500 v6) and as the roads are now soaked, some places with running streams, and downhill, I'm a little concerned on whether it could get slippery, but I had no issue at all.  The final two road miles are rolling and go by quickly (Mile 8 6:41 and Mile 9 6:02) before turning off asphalt onto the final mile on a near manicured flat rail trail.  In addition to the race going on, despite the rain, there are a few walkers and casual bikers on the rail trail.  One gets a little too close to me for comfort, and then pulls over and waves me on.  In retrospect, I feel I could and should have pushed myself harder here.  I cross the finish line, and then try to count how many seconds before Dave Dunham crosses the line.  I'm pretty sure he beat me.  He comes right over to me, gives me a fist bump, and we both compare the times on our watches.  Yes, he beat me - turns out by just 4 seconds, and he is very humble and congratulatory, saying it wasn't fair for him to finish behind me and still win and says I had a really good kick.  It's all good and I'm just happy to be out here racing again in a "real" race!

About 7 miles in.  Roads pretty wet, as you can see.

Finishing up.  Absolutely drenched,
with shorts and singlet clinging to my body.

Final result:  1:03:30.  33rd overall out of 571.  2nd in age group of 33.  Full results here.

Hung around for a very short time before getting cold.  Then went to car to change into dry clothes, get a hot coffee from a nearby DD and come back to watch my brother and niece finish.  Despite the rain, I had a really fun time out here today!  Kudos to Millennium Running for putting on such a well run event.

With Brady, Lucy, and Kurt at the finish, 
in the rain
(Photo by Jana)

Not that I need any more medals,
but this was kind of neat

App that Jana was tracking us on

Gave splits at quite a few locations

Pretty hilly for a 10-mile road race

Nice to get this e-mail!

Post-race pack-up.  Ugh.  
We had great weather most of the trip, but packed up the 
partially underwater tent the best we could in the pouring rain.
Again, Jana was a really good sport.  The next day in RI the
sun came out, and the water just ran out of the tent as we set it
up in the backyard to dry.

Weekly Log 7-Sep to 13-Sep: Short Trip up North

Monday:  4

Normally I take Mondays off from running, but between having the day off (Labor Day) and wanting to get in some light running ahead of tomorrow's race (Stavros Beach Race), went for a short and easy run at Ninigret with Brady.  The place was hopping!  Fairly warm, so went for a jump off the dock and swim at Watchaug Pond.

Tuesday:  5

Stavros Beach Race.  Write-up forthcoming.

Wednesday:  6

Burlingame morning run with Brady on Sammy C's, Vin Gormley, and North Camp trails.  At the beach at North Camp, Brady was whining for us to go in the water, so I made sure to take him to the boat launch to swim when done.  Unfortunately, there were four people sitting on the dock blocking it from us using it:  two-rednecks with FL plates, and two old ladies sitting in chairs with their tiny dog that kept snarling at Brady.  They were all very unfriendly and borderline rude.  There was no one at the beach, so we walked down that way and went in.

Thursday:  3

At The Basin (or just across from it), with Brady

That water is frigid!  Apparently not to Brady, as he went right in.

Moose Brook State Park, Gorham, NH.  Arrived late afternoon.  After setting up the tent, only had a very short window to get out and explore.  What a shame I didn't have more time, as there were a lot of neat trails here.

Neat trails and bridge at Moose Brook State Park

Friday:  6 run, 1 hike

Presidential Rail Trail, Gorham, NH.  First three with Jana and Brady, out-and-back on a trail that seemingly is mostly used ATV riders.  I have to change my negative stereotype, as all were friendly and waved, not like the few bad apples I've encountered around here.

Final three with Brady on mountain bike trails and a short section of the Presidential Rail Trail that was closed to ATV and any motorized vehicles.  There are so many trails around here!

Post-lunch went for a short hike to Diana's Baths.  Very popular place and seemed quite touristy, but I was looking for something short and easy given my impending mountain race tomorrow.

Saturday:  15

Ridge to River half marathon.  Separate write-up forthcoming.

Sunday:  6

Burlingame campground recovery run with Brady.  Went to jump in the pond afterward, and just before we did, as Brady was whining and ready to jump off the dock, a guy smoking walked onto the dock and blocked it from us.  Not intentionally, and I asked him politely if we could move so we could run and jump off the dock, and he did.  It's already mid-September; hope we can keep the post-run swims going for a while longer.

Pic above on "Christmas Light Run", Dec 20, 2016
(l-r:  Jeff Vuono, Crutch, Tommy 5K, Mikey B, me, Puddin')
---
Some sad news on my tree in background:
I bought this tree about 15 years ago from Home Depot and
brought in home in a 5-gallon bucket.  Every Christmas season I relished setting it
ablaze with warm white bulbs, even when it grew to about 35'.
---
Unfortunately, over the past few years, most of the branches on the lower
half of the tree were dead or dying, and it was time to say good-bye.

And this is all that's left now.  Sigh.
Maybe I should leave the trunk up as is,
paint it some garish neon color, and bring the
neighborhood down?

Weekly mileage:  44

Weekly synopsis:  I knew this week would be a lower mileage week with two races, and I'm completely fine with that.  44 out of 50 isn't bad.  A two-day workweek and two races - I'll take it!

Weekly highlight:  Definitely the Ridge to River half marathon mountain race!  Challenging and fun.

Weekly lowlight:  Not getting more exploring done in NH, southern rednecks at Watchaug Pond, and the loss of the big spruce tree in the front yard.

Weekly Log 31-Aug to 6-Sep-2020: Into September

Miscellaneous ramblings:

• Replaced our disparate patchwork of dated routers and extenders.  Bought a new wi-fi mesh system, which actually costs less than the sum of the former components, and works much better!  Focused on the top two rated, Google Nest and Amazon eero, and after much research, went with the latter.  My frequent and inconsistent very slow connections seem to be a thing of the past.  
• This seems to be the week that so many of our necessities are broken.  Not that they all started this week, but it's come to a head with 1) dishwasher broken and slated for replacement, 2) my car is having electronic issues and is at the dealer and will likely be there for three weeks while awaiting a part from Germany since manufacturing was shut down during COVID, 3) our riding lawn mower won't start and has been in the shop for three weeks, and 4) our front faucet is broken and it's beyond me to replace as it attaches by soldering.

Monday:  0

The bad news is vacation is over and I'm back to work.
The good news is I wear shorts and a t-shirt to work,
and this is my office!  (until it gets too sunny for my computer monitors,
then I go to our indoor home office)
---
Everyone has different feelings on returning to physical workplaces,
but personally I'm hoping never to go back
to the office.  At minimum, I'm not going back until sometime in 2021,
and even then likely never five days per week again in my life.

Tuesday:  8

Matthew is back in NH now, so I've got to figure my own running with no input or joint runs.  I ask Brady where he wants to run, but he says he'd prefer trails and some water stops and/or swims, but in general he's just happy to get out for a run.

OK, how about Wahaneeta / Woody Hill?  Haven't run there in a while.  Weekday morning, 7:30am, in September - do I even need to bring a leash?  We're not going near any roads, Brady doesn't bother anyone; to the contrary, he generally tries to avoid other humans and dogs.  Leash left in the car.  Ran for 8+ miles and never saw another soul, so that worked fine.  Cooler temps in the 60s meant both of us were more comfortable.  

Ran a small part of the WHS XC course (from the upper field down).  Fed and Company have been ripping out roots and it was a nice dirt trail.  This is going to be fun and fast at both Pumpkins and WHS XC meets!

Wednesday:  9

Late afternoon solo run on wet roads.  The earlier drizzle had largely abated, and it was 67 degrees as I went for a run 'round the pond.  Sounded like a comfortable temp, but at 93% humidity, I was soaked pretty quickly.  Threw in two hard miles mid-run:  5:57 and 5:47.  I was pretty pleased, as my second mile in the same workout is almost always slower.

Thursday:  6

With Brady at Burlingame, from Kettle Pond.  In hindsight, today was not a good day to run trails.  Everything was wet from the daylong rain, the mosquitos were prolific, and there were spider webs galore.  Jumped into the pond at the boat launch.  There wasn't a single person there or on the beach.

Friday:  6

Solo hot afternoon run on local roads.  Serves me right for not running in the morning when it was cooler.

Saturday:  12

Arcadia with Brady.  Temps in the high 60s with lower humidity was a welcome change.  Knowing there would be flowing rivers every 2-4 miles, I opted not to carry a hydration pack for Brady's sake this time.  Saw a number of hikers, dogs (all friendly), and several bikers and horses, but they were mostly all near popular intersections, and I had long sections of trail like Escoheag and Breakheart where we saw no one for miles at a stretch.  

At the Frosty Hollow swimming hole near end of run, Brady went right in, while my feet turned numb in the cold water and I "had" to get out to let my feet warm up.  After that, went in full bore and went underwater, but it was a very quick in and out.  Meanwhile, while I was putting my socks and shoes back on, Brady lay down completely in the flowing frigid river.  I guess it felt good to him in his fur coat.  Speaking of feeling good, unlike previous runs here this summer when I was ready to be done, I felt great the whole time!

Sunday:  16

13 miles road, 3 miles beach.  Nice cool start of 59°, but deceptively humid.  Seven miles solo on roads, before five with the Run While You Can crew, and finished up barefoot on the beach.  Slight heel discomfort for some reason; maybe because I was wearing lightweight running shoes (890 v7, 7.2 ounces) and those are now past 300 miles?  With a mile to go to get home, jumped in the ocean to cool off and it felt heavenly.  Lingered there for quite a while diving in and out of the waves.

Weekly mileage:  58

Weekly synopsis:  Highest single run mileage (16) since early July, and highest weekly mileage since April, so that's all good.  Pretty evenly split between 3 road runs, 3 trails runs, and a part of a run on the beach.  I'm also really happy that I got in some semblance of speed work, and finally a long run.  I want to build a little more endurance.  I have two races next week, so I imagine the mileage may dip a bit.  Besides having two races next week, I also have a two-day workweek!  Bring it on.

Weekly highlight:  The Arcadia run on Saturday.  Good stuff!

Weekly lowlight:  It's a stretch, but I'd say the heel discomfort on and after today's (Sunday's) run.  I'm likely going to go back to trails tomorrow, heavier shoes, and hopefully this will go away.

Weekly Log 24-Aug to 30-Aug-2020: Vacation!

Monday:  0

I should've taken the day off from work.  As mentioned above, I have plenty of time remaining, but instead I spent the day finishing up a whole bunch of work tasks and packing, and had little time remaining for any exercise.

Tuesday:  5
Camden, ME.  Late afternoon run with Matthew from Camden Hills State Park, where we'll be staying for next few days.  We arrived about 3pm and the first thing the ranger did was look at our plates and say, "Oh, you're from RI.  We'll need a lot of paperwork from you.".  Since when did being from RI become a bad thing, and by many COVID measures we have lower rates than Maine.  Anyway, we had our paperwork downloaded from the Maine state website, filled out, and accompanied with our negative COVID test results documents.  Good to go.

We had to set up camp quickly because a thunderstorm was impending.  Sure enough, it was raining as we were putting the finishing touches on the tent and we just got inside as it started pouring.  When the right lightened, Matthew and I went for a 5-miler, mostly hilly roads, with a steep trail climb up Mount Battie in the middle (in my road flats!)  The road down from Mt Battie to the campground was an absolute blast!  It sounds pompous to say "I didn't even know there was a Strava segment there", but I really didn't.  

I don't take many CRs these days,
so I was real happy with this one.  I know CRs can be meaningless,
but let me have my moment, OK?  And I certainly can't run
a 5:02 pace for 1.2 miles on flat ground!
I'd like to go back at some point and really try on this segment.

Wednesday:  9 run, 2 hike

Run #1:  5 hilly miles with Matthew and Brady from campground.  Matthew had planned out an 8-mile trail run to Maiden's Cliff, but along the way we missed a turn and ended pretty far off track, so we just improvised from there, and planned to run late afternoon to tack on.

Taking a short break at Ocean Lookout,

Camden Harbor in background 

Walking around downtown Camden after breakfast, I noticed
this plaque on a memorial.  Take a look at the last line "The Great Rebellion".
Have you ever heard that term?  I haven't, and if the dates weren't mentioned,
I'd have no idea they were referring to what we today call the "Civil War".
You're never too old to learn something new!

Hike:  Since we never made it out to Maiden's Cliff and the ascent from Rt 52 is fairly steep, we opted to hike that instead.  With Jana, Matthew, and Brady.  Legs are getting tired.

From Maiden's Cliff, looking out over Lake Megunticook
The cross honors the memory of Elenora French, who fell to her
death from this location in 1864.

Run #2:  4 miles at Ragged Mountain Preserve at Camden Snow Bowl.  As a kid, my family (my parents and brothers) and my uncle's family would summer here for one week each year, and camp right at the ski area.  There was never a campground here, but a relative of my uncle owned the ski area at that time and permitted it.  I have some great memories here from 40-50 years ago with my cousins, and also the place has changed quite a bit in half a century, and my father and my uncle are no longer with us, it was still a trip down memory lane for me.

Trails were on Ragged Mountain (10 o'clock in pic above)

The biggest change to me was all the mountain bike trails that had been added.  All the switchbacks made the climbing less steep, but nonetheless, we were still climbing a mountain and I was getting really fatigued quickly.  We neared but did not reach the top of the mountain (Ragged) and then started our twisty descent down.  That was really fun!  By the time we reached the bottom, the legs were dead.

Campfire the last night in Maine

Thursday:  0

Spent the day traveling to NH and getting Matthew situated in his new apartment in Dover, NH.  Bittersweet.

Friday:  7 run, 2 hike

Brady and I ran in the morning at Bear Brook State Park.  Very extensive trail system.  This would be a great place for a long trail run.  

Beaver Pond.  Any chance for water, he went in.

Some intersections were incredibly well marked with
either snowmobile signs and maps ...

... or traditional wooden signs with mileage distances.
And neat trail names!

Unfortunately other intersections were not marked at all, so I'm glad I took a picture of the trail map the ranger gave me, and sometimes had to line up compass and Google maps location with the map and make best guesses.

There were some climbs, but less than the Camden ascents.
Nice vista!

Post-run, I have to give a shout-out to Tucker's in Hooksett, NH,
as this breakfast was just awesome.  The coffee mug color indicated which
coffee you were drinking (in my case, green = dark roast), so the staff
knew which to refill without asking.  Ingenious!

Late afternoon hike, 2.5 miles around Beaver Pond, with Jana and Brady.

Water break on Beaver Pond hike

Saturday:  11

NH 10-miler.  Race report coming very soon separately.

Sunday:  8

Back in RI.  Vacation is over.  :(  CCW traverse of the Vin Gormley trail at Burlingame, followed by a jump in the pond.  On the positive side, the deerflies are finally gone for good this season.

Nice finish in Watchaug Pond

Weekly mileage:  41 run, 5 hike

Weekly synopsis:  While less than my target 50 miles, factoring in the elevation, it was a pretty good week.  This was my first week-long vacation (or four days, but close enough) this year due to COVID closing down so much earlier in the year, and it felt really good to get away from it all for a while.  One silver lining to not having taken much vacation time this year is the unusual situation of going into September with still having more than 4 weeks vacation remaining!  My employer has a "use it or lose it" policy.  Guess which side of that equation I'll be taking?!

Weekly highlight:  The NH 10-Miler was a lot of fun, even in the rain, but I would still say the full day in Camden with two mountain runs, a mountain hike, and closing out the day with a campfire.

Weekly lowlight:  End of vacation, and back to empty-nesters.