Weekly Log 25-Jan to 31-Jan-2021: Cold Snap

Miscellaneous ramblings:

• Received my notification from BAA that the 2021 Boston Marathon will be held October 11 (Columbus Day holiday), if MA is in Phase IV of COVID reopening and allowing road races at that time.  The thought of running Boston in the fall is kind of interesting, but I also fear the scenario I had last year of being signed up, in the middle of training, and then having it cancelled.  Something to think about.
• So not sorry to hear that the NRA is filing for bankruptcy.  Years of mismanagement, diversion of funds, and misleading American voters.
• I'm pretty excited for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.  I'm rather paranoid of needles and blood draws, so one injection takes a lot of the fear out of it for me.  (Not really sure if we'll get to choose which vaccine you get, but that's my hope.)
• Thus far in 2021, I'm signed up for Mt Washington only.  I'm itching to get some other races on the calendar, especially the trail variety, but it's understandably slim pickings amidst COVID uncertainties.

Monday:  1 walk

Late afternoon walk at Avondale just as getting dark.

Tuesday:  6, 1 walk

Late after run in the falling snow, with Brady.  Winnapaug Farm Preserve, roads, and attempted to go on the beach, but it was high tide.

Even this small amount of snow looks
beautiful in Winnapaug Farm Preserve.

New signage on the trails going down to the pond

... and to help people from straying onto an
angry neighbor's adjacent property.

Note the neat cairn that someone put atop the 
staircase at the west end of Atlantic Ave

And a new coat of paint!  I supposed it's
nothing more than graffiti, but I approve.

Wednesday:  5

We picked up a little more snow overnight, and it was beautiful out in the woods.

Virgin snow on the path to the pond at Lathrop Preserve

And the contrast of Brady to the Winter Wonderland 
around him in Champlin Glacier Preserve

Thursday:   7

Finished work a little early and headed all the way up to West Greenwich to run Tillinghast / Wickaboxet "Sampler" route of the Border Patrol Challenge.  Why would I run the BPC on a Thursday evening in the snow and ending in the dark?  Yes, both would necessarily contribute to a slower than usual time.  

However, there was actually a method to the madness and it goes sort of like this:  I "need" to keep up a cadence of at least one BPC per week, as prior to today's BPC run, I had ten remaining routes and only seven weeks left in the challenge.  Given that "need", I knew going in that snow would be a factor, but wanted to avoid "racing" in the upcoming deep freeze of single digits over the next few days, which obviously all means the snow is here to stay for at least a little while.  So there you have it.

Today's gear:  GoreTex waterproof trail shoes, YakTrak Run, and my Black Diamond headlamp

As to the run itself, the Strava label of "Workout" would have been more appropriate than "Race".  My heart rate was high and racing the entire time trudging through the snow.  I was a little nervous of missing turns, as I had on the "blue" Wickaboxet trail a few months ago, but fortunately I could focus on my footfalls and didn't need to watch for trail intersections at all.  How so?  Well, Brady led the entire way today, and at each intersection, he would stop or slow enough for me to almost catch up, and then he would turn instinctively onto the correct trail.  I wasted time second-guessing his decision at one intersection, and then when I found he was right and I was wrong, I just followed him blindly for the rest of the run, especially when it got dark.  Yep, sure enough, he followed the entire course correctly, even taking the hard right unmarked turn that I missed the last time and had to double back for.  Obviously I'm biased, but he's more clever and has much more "trail smarts" than I give him credit for.

Finishing time was 1:04:42.  I knew it would be slow, but that's more than 11 minutes slower than the leader (Bob Jackman) thus far.  Ouch.  Oh well, like my run in the snow at Canonchet, if  (and that's a BIG if) I finish up the series with time to spare, I can always come back.  If not, then I had a fun adventure in the snow at Tillinghast.  Things could be worse!

It got a little harder to follow once it got dark.

But I just followed the guy in the orange bandana,
and pulsating neon-green light around his neck,
and all was good.

Friday:  6

Today's high was 18°!  Ran at Burlingame with Brady, who actually seems to thrive in the cold.  Campground run from Kettle Pond visitor center, finishing just before it got dark.

Saturday:  11

Planned meetup with Justin P and Kevin M for a preview of Kevin's planned club run on March 6.  It was 7° when I left the house and only 9° when I arrived for a few warmup miles with Brady.  I WAY overdressed in a balaclava and ski gloves.  Good thing we returned to the car just 3+ miles later to rendezvous with the guys, as sweat was just pouring down my neck by then.  Swapped out the balaclava and ski gloves for a regular running hat and medium thickness running gloves, and we were good.

It's a decent loop with a mix of fire roads and single-track and a very small amount of asphalt.

Sunday:  12

12° at start; 17° at finish.  Final day of a 3-day cold snap with lows in single digits each night.  (It was 6° when I got up, and being a Sunday morning, I dallied a bit until the temps rose.)

Headed to Haley Farm and ran almost all single-track at both Haley and adjacent Bluff Point State Park.  One advantage of the cold and snow on the ground was that both state parks were almost deserted, a rare oddity on a weekend morning.  As with the past few days, it was fairly snow going with the snow cover, but the extra work almost meant I warmed up quicker.

Weekly mileage:  47 run, 2 walk

Weekly synopsis:  A bit under my arbitrary target of 55 mpw, but now by much, and given the cold and snow, I'm fine with it.  With a snowstorm coming in tomorrow, I'll certainly get out there but the distances might be iffy this coming week as well.

Weekly highlight:  Wednesday's fresh powder local run.

Weekly lowlight:  None.

Weekly Log 18-Jan to 24-Jan-2021: Doubling Up on the Border Patrol

 Monday:  16

MLK Day holiday.  Ran Quinebaug Trail FKT for the full 8-mile trail sections, E2E2E.  My primary purpose for running this was for the 14-mile Border Patrol Challenge route (7-miles each way) on the section of Quinebaug Trail from Breakneck Hill Road in Griswold, CT, crossing through Voluntown, and finishing at Route 14A in Plainfield.

The FKT route only added two miles (one mile out and back at southern end of trail) and seemed potentially achievable, so I parked at Breakneck Hill Road and opted to tack on those two extra miles first.

While there are some fun single-track sections at both ends and in the middle, there are also a number of ripped up, loose rock, rutted sections that are just inviting an ankle twist or sprain.  I had a lot of fun at the Pachaug Half Marathon, which uses part of the Quinebaug Trail, and had considered an attempt at the Pachaug 50K version this coming November.  However, now seeing the condition of additional rutted Jeep road sections north of Hell Hollow that the 50K adds on, my enthusiasm dims considerably.

This table-top rock section of Quinebaug was fun.
(This and subsequent photo from Rob O'Neill, as posted to
fastestknowntime.com Quinebaug FKT page)

While the pic is a little sun bleached,
it gives you an idea of a number of sections on 
Quinebaug Trail with loose ankle-biting rocks.

This was a really tough trail run and I was pretty sore for the rest of the day.  It was also Brady's longest run ever, and he seemed no worse for the wear.

My first FKT!

Unsolicited, but very nice comment on the FKT site from the former FKT holder.

Tuesday:  1 walk, 3 run

Brush overgrowth clearing at Winnapaug Farm Preserve.  Cleared a small portion of the land along Shore Road, between the road and stone walls.  This had all been cleared in the past, but it's a constant effort to keep the vines and briars down.

Covered in vines earlier, I took personal satisfaction
in liberating this beautiful 5' high stone wall,
even if temporary.

Sometimes I am disgusted with fellow humans.
This is just a fraction of the stuff we pulled out today,
all within throwing range from Shore Road.

After the CCC assignment and turning in the equipment, went for a short slow jog at Wahaneeta.  Easy trails on sore legs.

Wednesday:  5

Finding myself in Cranston with some downtime, I ran on a section of the Washington Secondary Bike Path with Brady.  Given that it was the middle of a weekday in January, it was pretty empty on the bike path.  We only encountered three people and one dog total on the path.  Unfortunately, the one dog was a mean dog.  The dog was pretty big and snarled at us as we approached, then leapt at me, fortunately constrained by the leash.  I kept Brady on the leash the whole time, and he pulled hard on the leash to get as far away from that dog as possible.

Inauguration Day.  Just keeping it upbeat here with this pic and slogan
 that I like from this Irish newspaper.  "A New Dawn".  Hope springs eternal.

Thursday:  8

Late afternoon run with Brady at Woody Hill.  We ran into two unleashed dogs right away and then again two miles in, but fortunately in sharp contrast to yesterday's encounter in Cranston, today was Nice Dog Day.  They came up to Brady smiling and wagging their tails.  OK, I'm presuming they were smiling of course.  Their owners apologized both times, but for what?  I rather enjoyed the distraction.  The irony is I didn't need or want any apology today, but could have used one yesterday when none was offered.

It turned completely dark for the last couple of miles and was actually kind of fun.  I was prepared, and turned on my headlamp and Brady's bright neon green light stick.  At one point, I turned off my headlamp for a minute or so.  I had to slow and was less than confident on the single-track in the pitch dark, but Brady moved with grace.

Friday:  5

Another late afternoon run.  No excuse at all not to run in the morning, especially when I'm working at home for the extended future, but just can't seem to get myself going.

Anyway, it was an easy and kind of aimless run with Brady in the Burlingame campground trails.

Saturday:  11

Group of four on the yellow trail at Grills Preserve,
approaching the pine barrens

At Big Hill

Polly Coon Bridge
(from the Hopkinton side looking into Westerly on right)

Sunday:  10

Tri-Town Preserve, North Stonington, CT

(The 527 acre preserve goes through the towns of North Stonington, Preston, and Griswold, hence the unique name.)

This would be my 9th route run in the Border Patrol Challenge, and my first visit ever to this very cool preserve.  Due to the cold (16°, windy, "real feel" of -1°), I knew I would need a good warm-up before embarking on this challenge.  As long as I was running a few miles for a warm-up, I figured I might as well just run the entire course and gain familiarity, especially as I heard one of my competitors recently ran off course and added 2+ minutes as a result.  Not that I can mention any names, of course, but a certain RD of a Run for the Beavers race may be suspect.

If I had known in advance how hard the course is, I'm not sure I would have run the full distance as a warm-up.  On the other hand, it took care of my two desired results: 1) physically warming up [my fingers were frigid for 2 miles, then good] and 2) familiarity with the course [it was very well marked, but there was an idiosyncrasy in the trail markings that certainly caused confusion for me; more on that in a bit].

The place was near empty when I had arrived and I only encountered one group of four runners on my first (warm-up) lap, but on the 2nd lap, despite the cold, I ran into four different groups of hikers.  Some were already off the trail for me and Brady before we got there (no doubt tipped off by my noisy dinosaur-like panting), and others were in areas easy for the two of us to jump off and run adjacent to the trail.  Thus, no humans were harmed in my experiment, nor the single dog (Eli) that we encountered.  Actually, Eli followed Brady and I for a while and seemed to want to run with us, but finally acquiesced to his owner's calls to return to "his people".

So I finished in 39:50 (39:49 on segment), first (thus far) in the BPC,
and 2nd on segment.  But wait a minute, the pace (9:27) doesn't sound right ...

Take a look at my individual mile splits above (2nd column).  You don't have to be a
math genius to realize that there's no way that can average 9:27.
So what gives?  The segment looks like the exact same route as mine,
yet the segment shows 4.21 miles, whereas my route shows 4.78.
As others' individual routes also show in the 4.7 to 4.8 area,
I'm guessing that whoever initially created the segment had a GPS
error, which is forever throwing off the segment distance (and thus 
calculated segment pace) for everyone else.

 Having solved that mystery (and probably bored any readers in the process), here is a quick pictorial overview of the course, taken during my warm-up lap of course:

And now for the promised
issue on idiosyncratic
trail markings:
Above is the blue trail
(which we're supposed to follow)

And here is the trail we are NOT
supposed to follow
(The difference is subtle, but the 
bottom sliver of above marker
is white, indicating this is the
blue-white trail, NOT the blue
trail.)

Thus, to the uninitiated (that would be me at first,
as well as perhaps my esteemed competitor),
while this sign may seem to indicate that the 
red and blue trails go left here,
the correct and somewhat confusing interpretation is
that the red and blue-white trails go left here,
but by virtue of absence of any pure blue markers,
the blue trail continues straight ahead.
---
Again, every intersection is marked,
but how about a completely different color
for any spur trails?

Very few sections of the blue trail
were as flat and narrow as shown
here by our model trail runner.

The blue trail was much more likely to look
like this, or ...

this, or ...

this.  Fun and challenging trail,
which I woefully underestimated.

Weekly mileage:  58 run, 1 walk

Weekly synopsis:  Achieved my weekly run goal (55) this week, but certainly having MLK Day off on Monday and running the 16-mile Quinebaug Trail helped get me there.  I won't rest on my laurels, and need to get back at it with the dreaded return of five-day work weeks tomorrow.

Also of note is that Brady ran 55 of my 58 miles with me, and that doesn't count his miles on several runs he went on with Jana.  Which means that Brady ran 16 miles in a single run, and well over 60 miles on the week.  Is that too much for a dog?  I learned that's too broad of a question; it really depends on the breed, the weather, the age, how acclimated to running the dog is, etc., etc.  In the summer, I did ask this question during a routine veterinary visit, and after asking me a few questions, the vet didn't see any issue at all with Brady running long distances, as long as I pay attention to any warning signs (e.g., if he were dragging behind, limping, excessive panting, etc).

Weekly highlight:  I'm certainly happy with both my Quinebaug and Tri-Town results, but in terms of pure enjoyment, I would have to go with the latter.

Weekly lowlight:  Running the bike path in Cranston.  I like running in different locales, but the snarling jumping dog and far too much broken glass were real turnoffs to me.

Weekly Log 11-Jan to 17-Jan-2021: Low Motivation, Low Mileage

Monday:  0 run, 2 walk

Post-work walk in Champlin Glacier Preserve with Brady and Jana.

Tuesday:  6 run, 5 walk

Pre-CCC run from Barlow Preserve.  The road to the trailhead at Bradford Preserve was longer than I thought.  It was about a mile, and it meant running on tight shoulders and sucking in fumes for that mile.  The rest of the solo trail run was great.  A little cool at 19°, but I dressed for it and was fine.

Today's CCC assignment was to monitor the Grills Property for annual Land Trust Authority accreditation purposes.  This really consisted of a nice walk in the woods on the perimeter trails with three others, while looking for and documenting any issues (there weren't any except "buck thorn" invasives).

Wednesday:  0

Delayed my morning run and soon lost any window to run at all.  I'd like to blame work for getting in the way, but the reality is where there is a will there is a way.

Thursday:  6

Pre-work morning run at Bluff Point, with Brady.  A very popular CT state park, it was neat to visit early enough on a weekday morning when the parking lot was almost empty.  A few humans and dogs on the main carriage roads, but the single-track was delightfully completely empty.

Friday:  6

Late afternoon at Burlingame campground, with Brady.  Ran the old Brrr-lingame course; not the easiest to follow.  I noticed a white sign just beyond one of the sites.  I went to check it out and was very surprised to find that there was a historical cemetery there.  Eleven stones, all unmarked, but still pretty cool.  I had run past there so many times and never seen it before.  Perhaps it was just the diminished light that I was running in that made the white sign stand out more today?  Looked it up on the RI Historical Cemeteries site; it didn't add much except that it was the "Clark Family Lot".

Saturday:  9

Resumed the Border Patrol Challenge.  Ran Shelter Trail (Arcadia) as my 7th (of 19) route.  Parked at JB Hudson trailhead, as it gave me just shy of a mile warm-up/cool-down to the start/finish of Shelter Trail (OAB).  

I had never run the trail in the NW direction before, but I figured I knew the intersections with dirt roads, which it turns out I did.  Even though parts of the trail seemed unfamiliar to me going in this direction, it was very well blazed (white).  The only part I hadn't prepared for and that really threw me off was what to do when I came to the Penny Cutoff section, where all of a sudden there are white blazes in two different trail directions.  I slowed to a stop, let out a few choice words (I should've covered Brady's young ears), and took a guess that I should go right.  Whew, fortunately that ended up being correct!

I turned around where the trail ends at Breakheart Trail, and ran a slight negative split back.  I was panting the whole way, which I guess shows I was working hard.  Despite that, the run went by pretty quickly.  I finished the 7-mile OAB run in 53:10, taking three minutes off the Strava OAB segment.

Sunday:  4

Easy running day between two hard days.  Slow jog on roads and fields around the house.

This was actually my proudest accomplishment of the day:
I rented this "Rug Doctor" steam cleaner for the day, and
for a small inexpensive machine, I was impressed with the results.

And here's the dirty water being discharged.  Pretty gross, eh?
This thing really works.  Took me a few hours to clean the second floor carpeting,
but well worth it.  We should really do this every couple of years or so.
Our first floor is all hardwoods, but we cleaned the area throw rugs as well.
One of them that we just thought was dark gray turns out to be light gray
in color.  Ugh.  And we have a rule of no shoes in the house, mostly
following Jana's Asian upbringing.  Good thing; I can only imagine it would be even
worse with regular shoe wearing.

Weekly mileage:  31 run, 7 walk

Weekly synopsis:  Pretty pathetic mileage, and well below the arbitrary weekly goal of 55 I set for this year.  Hopefully this will be one of my lowest, if not the lowest, week of 2021.

Weekly highlight:  Running the Shelter Trail hard and doing fairly well.

Weekly lowlight:  Very low mileage, and motivation wasn't that high either.

Weekly Log 4-Jan to 10-Jan-2021: Epiphany, Chaos, and a Resolution

Monday:  1 walk

After 21 straight days of running, with 18 of those off from work, it was time for a day off.  Feeling cooped in from sitting in my office all day, I went for a Avondale Preserve post-work walk.  Jana and Brady were kind enough to accompany me.

Tuesday:  1 walk, 5 run

Monday night I planned out an 11-mile run to start and end at my Land Trust CCC assignment, laid out my running and work crew clothes, set my alarm for 6:30am, and went to bed.

6:30am: Alarm off.  I got up, looked outside.  It was dark and cold.  I whined, probably cried a little bit, and slunk back under the covers.  Pathetic. 

Slept another hour, then got up for a casual breakfast before heading off for the CCC assignment.  Today's assignment of locating a historic cemetery circa 1680s at Grills Preserve was pretty cool.  Here is the documentation we had to go off from 1878:

Description we had to go on.
Dorrville was renamed to Niantic,
and subsequently to Bradford.
"Hon. N. F. Dixon" was a US Senator at the time this was
written in the mid-1800s, and his farm is the current site
of Grills Preserve.
We know that 50 rods = 825', but how liberally is
the "about" in "about 50 rods" used, is the direction
really 0° north, or just generally in northerly direction,
and are unmarked stones even above ground anymore?

After the failed cemetery locating, as I was getting a ride back out of the preserve, I was told that a bad day in the woods beats a good day at the office.  So true!  That changed my mood a little bit more upbeat after being disappointed with not getting out earlier, but still in some kind of funk.  Managed a kind of lackluster 5-miler using some trails in Burlingame, before heading home for afternoon meetings.

Wednesday:   8

Trail run at Wahaneeta / Woody Hill with Brady.  Just a thin overnight coating of snow.  Stopped at Woody Hill Marsh.  The only thing I could hear was the water moving on the pond.  Oh, and Brady jumping through the paper thin ice to get into the pond.  No one else out there this morning.

So glad I got this run in before the day turned chaotic during the counting of the Electoral College votes:

What is going on?!!!  Absolute chaos at the Capitol, with incitement from a sitting President?
The first breach of the US Capitol since 1814, and that time was by a foreign power during war!
Yes, this is a running blog (mostly), but I also try to log those life items that affect me, as this did and does.  As Strava co-founders published this week on a statement denouncing this domestic terrorism,
"This is not about politics. It is about fundamental principles we deeply believe in: Treat ALL people with decency, respect and equity."  I am very upset about this.  So bear with me for just a few shocking photos here...

Not only our northern neighbor and ally, but the
whole world is watching us with shock.  An absolute embarrassment.
Hopefully our own precipitous fall in trust and partnership in the world
in recent years is soon coming to an end.

Armed standoff inside the Capitol?!
This looks like something out of a fiction movie.

What a scary sight to see this redneck
parading the Confederate battle flag inside the US Capitol in 2021.
Fortunately the FBI found and arrested him.

The fact that this QAnon "Shaman" freak (as well as racist Proud Boys leaders) were trampling
through the Capitol building is just disgusting and unacceptable.
And note the genius to the right (carrying red Trump flag) forgot to
take off his work badge around his neck, making it easy for law
enforcement to identify him, as well as his employer, who by
the way fired him.  Oops.

As the idiot in center is charging towards a US Capitol Police officer (the idiot is under arrest now), taking a cue from the red MAGA hat on right in picture,
is THIS insurrection how we are going to "Make America Great Again"?

Final riot picture:  The only thing positive I see in this picture of Trump supporters
attacking Capitol police in riot gear is the temporary staging in upper left:
In just two weeks, we usher in a new president and administration,
and while of course not all will be smooth or perfect,
the bully goes away and hope springs eternal.

I had to get that off my chest.  And now back to our regular programming.
What I would much rather remember this January 6 for is Epiphany.
As with Christmas, we personally don't celebrate the religious aspects of Epiphany,
but it is also known as "Twelfth Night" as the twelve days of 
Christmas have just completed, and this is the traditional end of of the Christmas season.
Growing up in Germany, my Mom would put up the tree on Christmas Eve and take
it down on Epiphany.  The latter is my goal every year, and fortunately, with this
year's tree dropping almost no needles at all, we were able to do so.

Thursday:  0

Poor planning amidst a slate of meetings and appointments throughout the day.  The holidays and unfettered days are now gone; I need to plan out my runs a day before if I'm to get them in.

Friday:  9

Border Patrol Challenge #5 - Li'l Rhody course.  Late afternoon run with Brady.  Lost a little time on the road sections leashing and unleashing him, as well as one pee break he took off the road, but other than that, no issue.  He alternates running slightly ahead of and slightly behind me on single-track trails, with the only time he significantly deviated today being when he saw two white-tailed deer cross the Vin Gormley Trail and he sprinted after them.  I just let him go, as sure enough, within a minute or so he comes right back.  Oddly enough the times he saw other dogs on the trail today he just avoided them and stayed right with me.  52 minutes.  Not bad for a solo race effort for me.

Saturday:  9

Resolution Reunion.  Steve Brightman had brought back a 2nd reunion tour of the old Resolution 5K.  It was kind of like a reunion that you see of last men standing from a long ago Army tour.  Our ragtag outfit consisted of about a dozen diehards, and it was noted that only two were under the age of 40.  

I arrived about 45 minutes ahead of the appointed hour, and as I had brought both road and trail shoes and there was a cold wind on the open beach, I opted to warm up for 4 miles on roads instead.  I was really cold for a good mile or so, but then shifting directions, warmed up nicely.  Even shed my quarter-zip and hat just in time for the "race".

Much as with the 1897 Boston Marathon (I remember that one vividly), with Steve dragging his shoe in the sand, the start line was established.  Although there are several routes that Galoob had employed over the years, today we would run the traditional route of south to the end of the beach, turn-around, out to Ocean Road, a CW loop of Black Point trails, through the old house remains, jump the stream, and sprint the beach back to the finish line.

And here we are lining up for the start of the Resolution 5K run.
In 2014, that is.  
BTW, whose is that guy in WTAC singlet and yellow shoes between Muddy and Seth?  My
memory is sure fading, as I can't figure that one out.

Running through the remains of the stone house is
pretty cool.  Except in years where there is ice on the surface,
which fortunately there wasn't this year.

I ran moderately hard and finished in 5th I think, behind Mike Daniels, Steve Brightman, Croft, and Principe.  20:46.  Brutal wind on the way out; fast and fun on the way back.

Sunday:  11

Border Patrol Challenge #6 - Green Falls Pond lollipop.  Parked at Hidden Lake, and then warmed up for just shy of two miles on a mix of dirt road and easy single-track.  And now it's time to go.

You know those days when you're out on a trail run and you just get into a rhythm?  Yeah, today was NOT one of those days.  Green Falls Pond is probably the second most technical course in the BPC series, behind Narragansett, or at least that's my assessment thus far.  But I knew that ahead of time, I've run the technical parts many times, and I just couldn't seem to get going today.  At least three times, I jumped up onto the next rock only to "fall" back off the rock and get started again.  Brady seriously had to stop and wait for me many times.  Both south of the pond and west of the pond were very slow for me, and I was uncharacteristically relieved to come out onto asphalt (yes, you read that right, but I'll deny it) for the short road section north of the pond near the campground and bathrooms.  Returning to single-track on the eastern side of the pond, I did better and there are several "fast" runnable sections there.  I could see the southern end of the pond and dam coming up soon, yet somehow in the glare of the sun (or at least that's my excuse) I completely missed the hard right trail down to the dam to start the final section of the "stick" to finish the run.  I noticed my mistake pretty quickly, but then wasted too much time deliberating whether to bushwhack my way down the steep embankment to the dam or backtrack on the trail (the latter is what I finally chose, but only after I had started my way down the steep part).  Did my best to finish out the stick and the route overall, and somehow still nabbed the fastest BPC time on this route so far in 23:07 (average 9:11 pace).

By now, it had warmed up into the 30s and with the sun and after a hard effort, I felt very comfortable.  Extended my cool down to a 6.5 miler going back into RI, around Yawgoog Pond and Hidden Lake to finish up.

Weekly mileage:  43

Weekly synopsis:  Low mileage week in a strange, strange week.  No one to blame for the low mileage but myself as I didn't do a good job acclimating to the return of the dreaded 5-day work week since the first time since before Thanksgiving.

Weekly highlight:  Probably the Resolution Reunion.  Just good to get out and see and talk to fellow runners.

Weekly lowlight:  The deadly riots and insurrection at our nation's capital for sure.  Paling in comparison is my low mileage effort and return to the reality of work.  Onward and upward ...

Weekly Log 28-Dec-2020 to 3-Jan-2021: Border Patrol Challenge Fun

Miscellaneous Rambling:

• I was amazed by the large number of hikers out on the trails this past weekend.  Smaller trailhead parking lots we went past were completely full, and other preserves had way more than normal.  Several runners also mentioned this phenomenon on their Strava posts.  Was it due to 1) a New Year with new healthy resolutions, 2) nice weather, or 3) cabin fever from COVID?
• Over the holidays, I got pretty undisciplined with my sleeping and awakening hours with 18 days off, as well as voraciously eating desserts of all sorts throughout the day.  Now is the time to pay the piper and get back to discipline.  No, I won't be running at 5am anytime soon, although kudos to Tommy and JV and the like for doing so, and no, I'm not giving up on desserts, but I hope to revert to going to bed at 10pm more evenings than not and at least reducing gorging on sweets.
• I set some big 2021 goals for myself in my recent yearly review, and I benefit from, if not "need", planned races on the calendar to keep me focused.  Sure, the Border Patrol Challenge should help for the next 2.5 months, but then what?  Random sampling of races out there aren't promising near term:

• The only 2021 race I'm signed up for is Mt Washington in June, which is a carry-over from last year's race entry that I earned from completing the 2019 USATF-NE Mountain Race series.
• Otherwise, there are very few races listed in New England in 2021 thus far.
• Some races have already been deferred to the fall, such as Cranmore deferred to October, while other races have not announced dates at all (e.g., Seven Sisters, Loon, Boston, Eastern States).

Monday:  7

AM:  After being home for about month, since just before Thanksgiving, we dropped my oldest son Mark off at TF Green for his return flight to his adopted state of Florida.  Selfishly, I wish he would live closer, but of course I want him to be happy.  He should soon receive his newly minted Master of Science diploma in Marine Biology, and hopefully that will land him a permanent job soon.

After dropping Mark off, we went to visit my
father in Cranston.  I'm glad my Mom has kept up
her wreath tradition.

Yes, gravestones can be somber.  But they can also teach you
the history of one's life.  Take this stone of my great-great-grandfather
for example.  He departed at the very early age of 36.

PM:  Late afternoon run at Ninigret with Matthew and Brady.  Three slightly different loops, all incorporating a lot of grass fields.

Tuesday:  2 walk, 12 run

AM:  Final Land Trust CCC work day of the year.  After coffee, it was off to Grills Preserve, where I had received approval on my proposal to clear the "race track" (an area used by ATVs and motorcycles prior to Land Trust purchase, but long abandoned and very overgrown).  The race track itself is in good shape as it's in a meadow; it's the trail getting there that was extremely overgrown.

This is what we cleared through:
briars, thicket, and a river crossing.  I think
this will need a bridge, and I'll request that
as well for 2021, but in the meantime, we cleared
adjoining land just to the right in this picture that
was slightly higher and [somewhat] dry

The "race track" (or its remainder) through a 
meadow.  Five years ago, this was torn up,
but it's in pretty good shape now.

PM:  The stated goal was to run two Border Patrol Challenges:  Narragansett Trail - RI, and Green Falls Pond loop.  My success rate was an abysmal and embarrassing 0 for 2.  Ugh.  More on each failure below:

1. Narragansett - I know and have run all portions of this trail a number of times.  Sure, there are a number of unmarked intersections, especially in the southern-most section.  But I know those and that's not where I went off course.  Parked at Greens Falls Pond, jogged over to the RI/CT border, and ready to go.  (OAB from RI/CT border to Ashville Pond).  I held Brady back as Matthew went ahead by one minute.  Brady was whining from the get-go as he wanted to run with the faster guy (Matthew).  When Brady and I started, he flew off down the dirt road and I had to call him multiple times as he wanted to catch up to Matthew.  After a while, he settled in to running with me (or just ahead of me, but waiting for me) and I never had to pay attention to any intersections as he would sniff and follow Matthew's scent.  This worked well until the southern end of the trail, when Matthew was starting his return trek, and despite me calling Brady, this time he ran to Matthew.  I backtracked a bit to get him, but Matthew said he would take him with him.  OK then.  I ran 3/4 of the route without issue, but for some foolish reason (confusion?  old age?  senility?) took the wrong trail at Cooning Orchard.  The trail was also blazed yellow, so I continued on, but it had double yellow blazes and it didn't seem right.  At the next intersection, I saw a sign indicating I was on the "Buxton Trail".  Ugh.  Lost too much time, and jogged it in.

   

   The blue arrow shows where I was supposed to run;
   the black arrow shows where I took a wrong turn onto the Buxton Trail.

   
   
   
2. Green Falls Pond - Nothing left.  Legs were too tired from the tough rocky climbs.

Wednesday:  10

Back at it early morning, for take #2 on the Narragansett Trail.  This time ran from North Road, approximately the mid point of Narragansett Trail RI section.  Yes, this meant two turn-arounds instead of one, but on an eight mile technical route, I don't think this makes much difference in terms of adding time with a second turnaround.  I wasn't planning on bringing Brady, but he got up with me and followed me closely.

18° today, so I ran in tights.  Chilly at start but warmed up quickly.  After a short warm-up on North Road (dirt road), I took off fast from Ell Pond/Long Pond trailhead.  Ran the 1/3 mile or so on the dirt road, turned onto the trail and then noticed I hadn't started my watch.  What a moron!

Since I had just ran past the prominent green Narragansett Trail / Boy Scout property sign, I stopped, backtracked, caught my breath, and started my run from here.  No issues at all today.  Very few hikers (only two), I didn't go off course, and Brady stayed right with me (since no one else in the family to chase).  I even ended up taking the North Road to Yawgoo Valley Road segment.  Woo hoo.

18° didn't keep Brady from jumping into streams,
but there was a price to pay as ice formed on his
stomach, legs, tail, etc.  Didn't seem to bother him.

Thursday:  4

Legs pretty sore after two hard days on the Narragansett Trail.  Very easy and flat run on Westerly Grills trails with Brady, to close out 2020.  As mentioned in my year-end review, a record 2,642 miles for the year.

Friday:  13

New Year's Day run on Burlingame trails with Brady.  Legs still sore, along with tightness in my right quad, so I just took it easy.  Below freezing at start, but with sun and no wind, it felt nice.

Saturday:  9

Carter Preserve, Charlestown.  Back at the Border Patrol Challenge.   Soreness finally gone.  Warmed up with Matthew, before he unfortunately bowed out of today's challenge with a foot issue.  I was ready then to bag the day's challenge myself, but Matthew magnanimously insisted that I go and he'd wait in the car.  

Went out hard from the get-go, perhaps a little too hard.  Was really glad I had gone for a warm-up at least as far as the grassland mile, as the first right (at end of River Trail) was clear to me, but not the immediate left after that.  Everything after that I was following the perimeter of marked trails, so no issue there.  There were quite a few hikers out there taking advantage of the nice January day (sunny and upper 40s), and we had been advised by the race organizer to yield to hikers as that was more important than our time; however, fortunately all but one got out of my way before I even got there.  (I'm assuming my loud breathing like a dinosaur gave them advance notice.)  

In the far end of the loop near Route 112, I was getting tired.  The course is NOT technical, but this is the section that probably comes the closest with rock-laden trails and has a few short but tiring climbs.  On the way back, I was able to pick the pace back up, closing in sub-7 pace the last two miles.  Finished 2nd overall to date on this route, just ahead of Muddy.  Picked up three segments, which probably won't stick very long at all.

Sunday:  8

I had considered running the Quinebaug Trail for the Border Patrol Challenge today, but remembered that when I ran hard two days in this week (Narragansett Trail), my body let me know about it.  So instead I ran at Barn Island.  Easy run, mostly on single-track.  

Weekly mileage:  63

Weekly synopsis:  Started out the new year right!  Got two Border Patrol Challenges done and exceeded my weekly mileage goal.  I had bumped up my weekly goal from 50 to 55 and hit it pretty easily.  Of course, having the whole week off made it very easy as I could lazily sleep in and run whenever I wanted.  Let's see how that plays out when I return to 5-day workweeks next week.

Weekly highlight:  The Border Patrol Challenge runs.  Specifically, my Narragansett Trail run (the second one, not the failed one) and Carter Preserve.  I pushed both and am happy with my results.  With no races on the horizon, this challenge is keeping my interest and competitive spirit.  4 down, 14 to go!

Weekly lowlight:  Very tight right quad after running the very technical Narragansett Trail two days in a row.  It seems to be dissipating now and not bothering me while I'm running, so hopefully I will remember to space out hard efforts a bit.

Good Riddance 2020: Year in Review

COVID-19 global pandemic.  Racial injustice, protests, and riots.  Wildfires burning out of control in Australia and western US.  A presidential election tainted with unsubstantiated claims of fraud, and an incalcitrant narcissist who still refuses to concede.  These were just some of the headlines dragging us down in 2020 and leading many of us to look forward to 2021.

Of course, the simple turning the page of the calendar to 2021 eradicates neither COVID nor the political divide in the US, but it does usher in a new era with renewed optimism and opportunities on the horizon.  From the macro level down to my own narrow running and outdoors focused lifestyle, improvements will come there as well.  In the dwindling days of 2019, I typed the final sentence of my final blog comment of the year (on Chris' blog):  "Looking forward to more races and race reports in 2020!"  Didn't exactly go down that way, but the races that were completely cancelled in 2020 will slowly make a comeback in 2021.  Maybe not all of them, and maybe not in the first few months of 2021, but the handwriting is clearly on the wall for gradual improvement.  It is against this backdrop that I choose to write an upbeat yearly review and look ahead to 2021:

2020 goals assessment:  (Verbatim restatement of the past year's goals [in black], and responses in red.)

• Mileage:  2,600.  Same carried over failed goal from 2018 and 2019.  2020 will be my injury-free year.  I can feel it.  Success on all fronts!  My 2020 mileage was a record 2,642, and no injuries!
• Marathon:  Complete at least one marathon.  As long as I stay injury free, should be easy.  Fail.  I was signed up for Boston 2020, but once that was deferred and subsequently cancelled due to COVID-19, I stopped training and the reality is there were very, very few marathons held anywhere for the rest of the year.
• Marathon time:  Break 3 hours in a marathon.  I've done that the past 8 marathons, but it's getting harder and the margin of error smaller.  See above bullet.  Kind of hard to break 3 in a marathon if you don't actually run in a marathon.  Same reason I will never win the lottery.  :(
• Run at least one new trail race.  Huge success here!  Not one, not two, but four new trail races for me this year!  How cool is that?!  (OK, well, I thought it was cool.)  If there was a silver lining to races returning in the latter part of the year, it was that smaller trail races (my new favorite kind of race) came back much stronger than any road races.  And what were the four, you ask?  People's Forest Trail Race (Aug - CT), Ridge to the River  (Sep - ME), Pachaug Trail Half Marathon (Oct - CT), F.I.T. Turkey Trot Trail Race (Nov - RI).
• Run a fun destination vacation run in a new venue.  Success.  The Ridge to River Half Marathon in Newry, Maine in mid-September.
• Rejoin the sport of triathlon after a 2-year hiatus.  Fail.  I'm going to claim a COVID excuse on this one, and defer this goal to 2021.

Finally some redemption!
After two years with injuries (2018 - Adherent Nerve Syndrome,
2019 - Polymyalgia Rheumatica), 2020 was my highest
mileage year ever.

Breakdown of where I ran the miles, or at least the top ten municipalities:

Not surprisingly, especially in a year of COVID and travel restrictions,
the ten municipalities I ran the most in are all very local to me.

Pictorial highlights of 2020:

January:  Chili 5K in Charlestown.
This is a really fun event in Ninigret Park,
with ~15 different types of chili served indoors
afterwards.  Unfortunately it appears this event will not occur in 2021.

February:  Family hike at Grills Preserve on Groundhog Day

Brady came to stay with us on Halloween 2019, and has been
here with us ever since.  He provides us all with so much joy
and entertainment.  In this pic (same Grills hike), he looks poised
to pounce on something.  My best guess is that it's a stick about to
be thrown.

March:  Hare Hop 5K, Mystic, CT,
with fellow WTAC member Nick Alge chasing me.
Very slow time of 19:09.
This would be my last "real" race for a while,
with COVID shutting down all races for months
starting the following week.

April:  Spring has sprung
At Napatree.
Most races cancelled, including Clamdigger,
but Jana and I (and Brady) got out for more
walks than usual.

My work-from-home office every
working day since mid-March, and for the 
foreseeable future.  Brady is the most frequent
office visitor that I receive.  My work attire has changed to
jeans (or shorts) and running shirts.
(Due to the pandemic, I'm not allowed to go into
the physical work offices.)

May:  My first (of two) virtual races this year:
Stand Up For Animals 5K.  With pet option.
Thanks to my pacer (Matthew), I fared much better than I expected and
ran an 18:10.

June:  New patio and fire pit

July:  Return of the Fun Runs!  We had to cancel Fun Runs
outright for the month of June, but were allowed to resume
them in July when COVID numbers improved.  Yes, there were a lot of restrictions
 and unfortunately no kids' fun runs at all, but it was a welcome relief
for us to be able to host at all.

July:  Jumps into ponds and lakes became a fun
post-run summer tradition this year
(By the end of the summer, Brady would run ahead
of me on the dock and jump first)

August:  Return of real races!!!  As races slowly returned
beginning in August, only a very small minority of races
actually happened, those that did had additional new restrictions,
 and you had to search and be willing to drive
a little further, but I'm good with all that.  For the first August
in three years, I'm completely healthy and I want to race!
A silver lining is that I got to try some races that I never even heard
of before, and most were pretty cool!
(People's Forest Trail Race, 8 miles, Barkhamsted, CT)
---
Seriously, had you ever even heard of Barkhamsted, CT?  I hadn't.

September:  Ridge to the River Half Marathon,
Sunday River Ski Resort, Newry, Maine
3rd overall.  This was fun and mostly all runnable,
more runnable than the better known Loon Mountain Race.

October:  Mount Tom Trail, Arcadia
A rare snow treat in RI in October!
Let's hope this is a harbinger of things to come this winter!

November:  Manchester City Half Marathon,
1:23:49.  1st in age group.  Hilly!

November:  Comfortable running in my 17th
straight Li'l Rhody.  50:58, my fastest time in 5 years!

December:  Christmas Light Run and socially distanced
post-run gathering with a few friends (and snow!) in our backyard.

Finally, completion of our 3-year house project:

2018:  This started in 2018 as a "small" $1,200 estimated project to remediate a small
section of rot near the back deck, but the more the carpenters peeled back ...

... the more rot and mold they found, purportedly due to so many cut corners on
original construction of a mere 16-year old house.  For peace of mind,
we ended up replacing the wood siding, flashing, Tyvek wrap, and
trim boards on the entire house and garage, several doors, and in a number
of places, soiled insulation and even interior walls, and then of course had to 
have the house painted.  The original $1,200 became just a fraction of
even the downpayment, but it was a necessary evil.

2019:  Due to vastly increased scope, duration, and price,
we decided to split the project into three phases over three years:
2018 - house siding and mold/rot remediation
2019 - deck demolition (it had rotted as well) and replacement
2020 - patio and firepit

Completed AZEK deck - attached to house, 
unattached stairs.  We won't be scraping and staining
the deck again!

2020:  Patio project sequential photos,
beginning in the spring

Kind of scary having our backyard all dug up

After a load of crushed stone added, and
the border molds in place.

These guys did nice work.

I love the way the compass came out!  
The cut water lines sticking out of the ground at 2 o'clock -
not so much, but all is starting to come together.

The irrigation company came out the following week,
after the concrete had cured,
replaced the broken water lines and added a new
zone of sprinkler heads.

Up and running by 4th of July

New furniture extended our outdoor living
space, and in the COVID era, with a new extended mesh wi-fi
system, I found myself out here most weekday work mornings
until it got too hot.

The final part of the project was the landscaping,
and by fall my newly seeded backyard blended
in with the old.

And with that, the three years of planned house projects and outlays are done!  Oh for sure, something else will come along in the next few years, including likely a roof replacement within five years, but to have this completed and no longer over my head is a huge relief.

2020 stats:

• Races run:  16 (2019: 24, 2018: 25, 2017: 22, 2016: 29, 2015:  36)
• Race breakdown by terrain:  Road - 7, Trail - 8, Beach - 1, Tri - 0, Indoor Track - 0
• Race breakdown by participation type:  In-person - 14, Virtual - 2 (Don't think I heard of virtual races prior to 2020, and don't have interest to run them after 2020)
• Age group wins:  12
• Overall wins:  2 (smaller trail races in CT, but I worked hard for each and I'll take it!)
• Miles run:  2,642 - highest mileage ever!
• Elevation run:  210, 945'
• Most elevation gain in a single run:  5,859' (epic 3-state mountain run on July 5)
• Hours run:  383 (2019:  281, 2018:  246, 2017:  360)
• Days run:  310 (2019:  276, 2018: 240, 2017:  315)  Much better than previous two years!
• Number of deerfly kills:  203 (Jun 19 - Aug 22)
• Most deerfly kills in a single run:  64
• Number of horsefly kills:  2
• Lowest mileage week:  24 (1st week of June; just low motivation)
• Highest mileage week:  70 (final full week of December, while off from work)
• Highest mileage day:  21 (training run for Boston Marathon in February)
• Highest mileage run:  21 (ditto)
• Longest running streak:  18 days (last 18 days of the year)
• Longest non-running streak: 2 days (not bad at all)
• Number of states run in:  8:  RI, CT, MA, NH, ME, NY, GA, AL (obviously lower due to COVID)
• Number of countries run in:  1 (not many countries accepting Americans due to COVID)
• Run furthest from home:  Tuscaloosa, AL

2021 goals:

• Mileage:  2,800.  That's an average of 55 miles per week, conservatively allowing for two down weeks.  Maybe I should just quit while I'm ahead?  Nah.  I just set these two goals (annually and weekly) into Strava, and here are three reasons why I believe I can accomplish this:

1. I'm told our division will be working full-time from home until at least June 2021 (hopefully longer).  That means more flexibility in working hours, zero commute, zero travel to other offices.  More time for running.
2. Even when I do go back to the physical office, I (along with other colleagues) will likely never work 5 days per week in the office again.  The pandemic has been a disruptor, with some positive changes.
3. On the final day of 2020, at an optometrist appointment and eye test, after having failed DMV eye tests since I was 21, I learned that I now have 20/20 vision.  Really?  Now?  At age 56?!  I found this hard to believe, but the optometrist confirmed it and said a minority of people do see improvement in vision as they age, and suggested when COVID ends I go to the DMV, retest and have the eyeglass restriction removed from my driver's license.  From there, it's an easy correlation also to see that my running will only get stronger and longer in my old age.  (Stay with me, here.)

• New England:  It's been a couple of years, and in 2020 I had to take a COVID pass on running in Vermont (I ran in the other five states), but in 2021 it's time once again to run in all six states.  While travel restrictions will remain in place in early 2021, I have faith they'll either go away completely or be sharply diminished as the year progresses.
• Trails:  Run at least one new trail race.  
• 50K:  Time to step up the distance!  I find the longer races in some ways easier and more enjoyable than oxygen-debt, panting 5K road races.
• Triathlon:  Rejoin the sport of triathlon after a 2-year 3-year hiatus.

Looking forward to a new year and new adventures!