Weekly Log 14-Dec to 20-Dec-2020: Snow!

Miscellaneous ramblings:

• Breaking up is hard to do:  Got notified that three long term relationships are ending.  1) My primary care of physician of 25+ years is retiring, 2) SNERRO (WTAC timing company) is scaling way back in 2021 and will not be timing any of our races going forward, and 3) imATHLETE (WTAC registration company) has been bought out by enMotion and is gradually moving over to their platform, with less functionality and potentially more cost.
• The State of RI is getting much, much better at COVID testing.  I got tested again this week, for the same reason as the previous test (travel to Maine, which requires a negative test or quarantine).  This time instead of having to travel to Providence and pick from limited slots five days out, there were plenty of slots available in nearby South Kingstown.  Also, instead of waiting two days for results and having to go to a 3rd party site, I got a text in twelve hours with a link to my results.
• Interesting to see the technology advances at ski resorts.  I had no idea that the traditional paper lift ticket is soon to be a thing of the past.  At Sunday River, we purchased online, received a reloadable credit-card size card with an RFID chip, and when we approached the lift loading area, automated scanners read your card wherever you stashed it in your clothing pockets, and then automatically opened the gates for you.

Monday:  3

Super short local run in a tight window between work meetings.  Trying to finish up a bunch of tasks and meetings before taking tomorrow off.  With my final work day for the rest of the year on Wednesday, I don't have rescheduling or deferment options at this point.

Maybe just as well that this run was so short.  It was 37° and raining.  Yuck.

Tuesday:  2 walk, 10 run

AM:  Westerly Land Trust CCC ("Coffee and Clearing Crew") weekly fun.  Coffee for the first hour, and work for the second.  I usually go for any assignments out on the trails, because that's how I roll, but others prefer painting, building bridges, stone walls, outhouses, etc.  My assignment today, along with a crew of five, was carrying a chainsaw for 2 miles walking through Riverwood Preserve and taking out five small blowdowns.

Mid-day:  Bradford Preserve / Woody Hill / Wahaneeta with Brady and Matthew.  They met me after my CCC work was done, and we ran a lot of the usual trails.  Great weather, with temps in upper 30s and sunny.  Ran into Jeff Huckle near the Woody Hill Marsh.  I think that's the first time I've seen him in about a year.

Wednesday:  8

Final work day of the year!!!  Anticipating a busy work day, I got out there for a 'round the pond run at 6:50am.  To be fair, with the thermometer reading the coldest this season at 18°, I might have bagged the run altogether if it weren't for Matthew planning to run with me.  How JV and T5K get out there day after day solo before 5am is a loss to me, but kudos to them.

Had it been in the low 20s, I most likely would have gotten out there in shorts, but alas this was my first tights day of the season.  Stayed reasonably warm throughout the run, as I had on a quarter-zip, warm hat, and gloves.  Sunny and comfortable at a short stop at the Westerly Town Beach.

Thursday:  5

We got about 8" of heavy, wet snow.  After shoveling most of the driveway and walks, it was off for a run in the snow.  The roads were tough with snowplows out and a nasty wind exceeding 30mph.  The trails were tough going but really comfortable out there.

After last year's pathetic winter, this is clearly the most snow
Brady has ever seen.  (In Champlin Glacier Preserve)

Friday:  5

Local road run with Brady.  A bit too much slush and ice, but we got it done.  I don't know why we over-salt roads so much in RI.  I'd much prefer a snow hardpack on roads, much as you often see on Canadian back roads.  In places there were big clumps of salt, so I followed vet recommendations and made sure to wash Brady's paws at the end of the run.

Drove up to Maine in the afternoon.

Saturday:  5 run, 22 ski

AM:  5° run at Sunday River, Maine.  Roads were a mix of clear and snowpack.  Tights for sure at this temp, and put a pair of thin running pants over them.  Stayed warm.

AM-PM:  Skiing with my oldest son Mark and his friend.  Good to spend some time with Mark, especially as he has made known his plans to live in Florida permanently.  :)  Anyway, my days of ski jumping are over (think dislocated shoulders from previous jumps and subsequent crashes), but otherwise I kept up with the young guns pretty well.  As with trail running, the more technical the ski trail (like moguls), the better I could keep up or even stay ahead of them.  18 runs, 22 miles, maximum 48 mph.

Cold, but sunny day, with beautiful views
of the nearby mountains.

Not recognizable in this photo all bundled up
and with the obligatory mask, but here is my Floridian son Mark.

Sunday:  16

AM:  12 mile road run in Newry, Maine.  Most of the roads were very quiet, and at last four of the miles were on plowed dirt roads with a thin covering of snow.  The snow covered roads were the best.  It's amazing how some of the roads that I was on, although dead ending, went on for another 10 miles or so.  After a while on the dirt roads, I ran past the last electricity pole, so I'm guessing no more houses in the miles to come, but a sign indicated some wilderness camps.  I wish I had gotten going earlier, as I was really enjoying this run and could have run a few more, but I was running up against a condo check-out time of 10:30am.

Along my run, looking back at Sunday River ski resort.

Very happy to see this sign!

Ah!  Bliss.  Loved running on this hardpack surface.
Grippy in the cold; not slippery at all.

Neat covered bridge along the way, 
crossing THE Sunday River.  I learned it was used
for automobile traffic until the 1950s.

Inside same covered bridge, fortunately open
for pedestrian traffic.  Aren't those wooden trusses
amazing?

128 years old!
(Just like me.)

Noon:  4 mile snowshoe run at Carter's XC.  I was considering both XC skiing and snowshoeing, but when I got there and they explained they weren't renting out their equipment due to thin snow cover, it made the choice easy for me, as I don't own XC skis, but I do own snowshoes.  Some trails had a good 4" plus of solid snow, where other sections had a lot of bare spots.  Would have been much nicer with a foot of snow, but I made the best of it and ran the entire 4 miles, even the uphills.  

Shortly after starting off, two dogs ran with me and kept bringing me sticks to throw.  One dog stayed with me the entire way, and another found more interesting company (two women XC skiing with a black lab), and then he ditched me.  I surmised and confirmed that the dog that stayed with me belonged to the owners of the XC area, and learned the second one belonged to an adjacent farm.

A mountain cabin about 1.5 mile hike uphill from the start.
I walked inside and looked around.  It had a stove and 5 beds, presumably which could
be rented.  The dog that stayed with me the whole time is at 9 o'clock.

And here's the fickle dog that tired of my company :(
Weird that we have more snow in southern RI than in ME

Weekly mileage:  53 run, 22 ski, 2 walk

Weekly synopsis:  Hit my mileage goal.  Got to Maine for a couple of days of downtime.  Sizeable snowstorm in RI.  Finished working for the year.  What's not to love about this week?

Weekly highlight:  Sunday River 12 mile run.  Really neat to run on snow-covered roads through a very rural area.

Weekly lowlight:  Nothing at all.  Just a great week!