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.
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| Even this small amount of snow looks beautiful in Winnapaug Farm Preserve. |
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| New signage on the trails going down to the pond |
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| ... and to help people from straying onto an angry neighbor's adjacent property. |
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| Note the neat cairn that someone put atop the staircase at the west end of Atlantic Ave |
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| 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.
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| Virgin snow on the path to the pond at Lathrop Preserve |
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| 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!
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| It got a little harder to follow once it got dark. |
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| But I just followed the guy in the orange bandana, and pulsating neon-green light around his neck, and all was good. |
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.
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