Monday: 5
Annual Christmas Light Run. Group of 6. We cycle through different friends hosting, and this year I hosted. In many past years, post-run we've gone in the house of the host for drinks and maybe some food, but this year with COVID would be different. I took the conservative route and hosted the post-run get-together outside on my patio, and Jana brought out hot chocolate for those so desiring.
 |
| I like a fire almost any time of year or weather, but this was something special this year when offset by the snow. |
 |
| Socially distanced, catching up with each other. |
Tuesday: 11 run, 2 snowshoe
AM: I "needed" to be at CCC about 8:30am at Barlow, so Matthew and I backed the time up to run at 7am and start from a reasonable proximity from Barlow Preserve. 30° felt warm after the recent cold streak. Ran from Bradford Citizens Club down to Burlingame Campground on roads, then through the campground roads, and finally Bog Bridge and Vin Gormley Trail. Campground roads were horribly icy and rut-strewn, but the trails were nice with just soft snow.
AM: CCC group snowshoe (6 of us) at Crandall Family Preserve. A nice get together and catch-up, after coffee and donuts for the final get together before Christmas.
 |
| First pic I took. Second is one captured from a trail cam (I'm second) |
Wednesday: 8
Border Patrol Challenge - #1 of 18 - Canonchet OAB (5.4 miles)
Matthew was off running with a college friend in CT, so I figured I'd go for my first Border Patrol Challenge, and pick one that didn't hold much appeal for him. I picked the Canonchet Trail OAB, and headed there with Brady. Obviously I knew the trails would be snow covered, so I picked my Gore-Tex waterproof trail shoes. So glad I went for a warm-up, as I was sliding around on icy sections, of which there were many.
Back at the car, I added on my Yak-Trax Run (with microspikes) for traction. They worked! I never slipped again for the rest of the run. I also correctly surmised that we wouldn't see anyone on this run, so I left Brady's leash in the car to keep my hands free. Don't report me to the Nature Conservancy authorities.
The first mile (from Route 3 trailhead) is relatively easy, but the next mile has some decent hill climbs and technical sections, and I was running so slowly through here (as in slower than 10 minute pace). The final section has a water crossing and wetlands with slippery log bridges that were just iced over and borderline treacherous. Brady was uncharacteristically lagging behind here, but once we got past that, of course he caught right back up. Obviously not an impressive time given the snow and ice conditions, but still fun to get out there and get one done.
Thursday: 11
Burlingame slush / snow / ice / puddles run with Matthew and Brady. A little bit of everything on this trail run. Legs pretty sore by finish.
Friday: 11
Christmas Day. Woody Hill. As with Thanksgiving Day, this holiday run and most of the day would be in the pouring rain. I was joined by two nuts (Matthew and Brady), and not surprisingly, we never saw another soul in the pouring rain on Christmas Day.
 |
| This year's 8' white pine from Hartikka Farms |
 |
| Brady, right in the middle of Matthew and Mark and the present-opening action. |
 |
| With our sons now grown up, it was fun to have the excitement of a "kid" (2-year old Brady) opening his presents. |
 |
| Went over to my Mom's for the afternoon on Christmas Day. We didn't get to see her on Thanksgiving, as she was understandably not comfortable with everyone just arriving in RI before Thanksgiving. --- But with all four of us home for the past month, and Mark and I getting COVID tests just last week, I guess that helped. |
 |
| Christmas to me is about the season, the lights, and seeing relatives and friends (didn't have much of the latter of course this year). --- Still, a sampling of loot that will come in handy (from upper-left): chocolate to fatten me up even more and sate my sweet tooth, Body Glide, 890v7 road shoes, NB shorts, the latest AC/DC album, Dave's Coffee gift certificate, a 25' tape measure to replace the one I destroyed at Li'l Rhody measuring out starting corral, and a pair of trail shoes with lugs that will see action right away at the Border Patrol Challenge. |
Saturday: 11
Border Patrol Challenge - #2 of 18 - Ben Utter OAB (2.7 miles)
Warmed up with Matthew and Brady on dirt roads from Breakheart Pond.
I debated about putting Brady on a leash for the "race" portion, but he's so good about staying with me, and it would cramp my style and his trying to run all out and up and over bridges. So I just carried the leash in case needed (it wasn't). Matthew continued his warm-up and stretching while Brady and I toed the line. Taking a cue from Muddy's Strava post, I started a little before the actual trail start and we're off. We had surmised that we may see others running the Border Patrol Challenge today, and sure enough, within one minute of my start, we encountered Jonathan Short finishing up. It was kind of an awkward encounter, as this early section was right along the banks of a raging river and completely flooded as we passed each other. That water was ankle deep and cold to run through!
We passed a couple of hikers and their dog on the way up, and Brady ignored them and just stayed with me, generally just a few feet ahead. The trail was well marked and easy to follow, and while I wouldn't call it technical, it did have a few techy sections that slowed me down. I took the long bridges crossing rivers and skipped the short ones and ran across the streams instead. It was about 180' steady climb during the trail going up, but so steady that I really didn't notice it nearly as much as I did on the return downhill. Turned around at the road, and heading back down, we crossed Matthew on his way up. This was a dilemma for Brady as he stopped between us trying to decide which runner to follow. Fortunately, after calling him about four times, he came to me and of course caught right up, so I didn't need to slow down. The rest of the run went very quickly and before I knew it I was back along the river running through the cold flooded sections.
While waiting for Matthew to finish, Brady and I cooled down on the dirt road that was gated off and closed to traffic for the winter. Almost immediately, an ATV followed by a dirt motorcycle came at us. It seemed like they were racing and going near 50mph. Maybe my speed judgment is off, but they were going way too fast and it was pretty annoying. Fortunately, they were both so noisy that we were alerted in plenty of time to get off the road into the bushes on the side of the road until the idiots passed (ask me how I really feel).
After Matthew finished, we cooled down on the Breakheart Trail back to the car. Breakheart has at least four blow-downs blocking the trail, so it was good to see this as Breakheart is another upcoming challenge.
Sunday: 12
Another day, another race, or another informal one at least. The "Run Away from 2020 5K" was a Jeff Vuono production, and I commend him for putting this together and keeping it small and COVID restriction friendly.
The announced plan was warm-up at 8am and race at 8:15am, so I made my own warm-up by running the two miles from the house and arriving about 5 minutes ahead of time. I ran a few strides and then stripped the running pants (I left the house at 19°, but it was sunny, no wind, and warming up decently).
Sizing up the competition, it was no surprise to me that Tommy 5K would be leading the pack out. I kept Tommy in sight pretty much the whole way. I surprisingly ran very consistent splits of 5:54, 5:56, 5:51, and finished in 18:16, about 30 seconds behind Tommy.
Thanks to JV for putting this on, and Shara for the ornaments designed by her Mom.
 |
| Results |
 |
| Ornament from Kathy (Shara's Mom) with "RWYC" (Run While You Can) |
Weekly mileage: 70!
Weekly synopsis: My highest mileage week in 2020!
Weekly highlight: The Christmas Light Run. Good to get together with friends, albeit a smaller group this year, and have some sense of normalcy and tradition.
Weekly lowlight: None. A huge (for me) mileage week, and no injuries. No complaints about that.
No comments:
Post a Comment