Weekly Log 15-Mar to 21-Mar-2021: Border Patrol Challenge Completion and Recap

Miscellaneous Ramblings:

• RIP, Dick Hoyt, who died this week at age 80.  I remember seeing the famed Dick & Rick Hoyt team out on the course, as he pushed his paraplegic son in a wheelchair, when I ran my first Boston Marathon in the terrible heat of 2004.  He had a marathon PR while pushing his son of 2:40:47!
• RIP, Keith Frost, co-owner of Higher Grounds Coffeeshop in Richmond, who passed away suddenly and unexpectedly this week at the young age of 51.  While I didn't know him outside of the coffee shop he and his wife operated, he was always upbeat, positive, and friendly.  The last time I saw (~ 3 weeks ago), he got my breakfast sandwich order wrong, immediately fixed it, apologized profusely (it was just a simple mistake), and gave me a coupon for a free beverage of my choice next time.  That's good service!
• Boston set for October 11, Columbus Day.  I dunno.  The qualifying window was stretched to 3 years, due to COVID, so my March 2019 Myrtle Beach counts.  Will have to decide before registration opens April 20.
• Vermont City Marathon, typically held late May, now set for October 24.  Hmmm...  I'd rather run that one, and it would complete a marathon in every NE state.  Like many races, they're not taking new registrations as they are full from 2020 deferrals, and are waiting to see how COVID restrictions evolve.
• Seven Sisters Trail Race, typically held early May, now TBD for October.
• Shad Bloom is back on!  Let's nab that one.

Monday:  0 run, 1 walk

Legs very sore from this past weekend's hard running adventures.  Afternoon post-work walk on Champlin trails with Jana and Brady.

Tuesday:  0 run, 3 walk

One more day off from running.  Gotta listen to the body.

AM:  Finished up Grills monitoring CCC.  Last week was Bowling Lane north (i.e., WLT property bordering houses on north side of Bowling Lane); this week was Bowling Lane south.  No shortage of garbage to be picked up.

PM:  Afternoon post-work walk in the neighborhood with Jana and Brady.

Wednesday:  5

Return to running after two full days off.  Easy run on campground trails with Brady.

Thursday:  13

Arcadia Trail, E2E2E.  Started/finished from DEM lot on Arcadia Road, Richmond.  Got up "early" at 6am; some of you undoubtedly find this laughable.  I remember the early years of my career at Fidelity in Boston when I had to go in 5 days per week and living in Charlestown, caught a train out of Kingston at 4:40am.  Yikes.  Worth it for the job and good career I had, but never again.

Anyhow, I digress as usual.  It was my first time ever parking at the DEM Forestry Headquarters, and there were eerily a number of "Keep Out" signs, so although I felt reasonably confident that I parked in the Visitors Lot, when a DEM truck pulled up and stopped, I took the opportunity to ask the driver if it was OK if I parked where I was, in order to use the Arcadia Trail.  He enthusiastically retorted, "Absolutely!  Have fun out there.".  OK, that would enable me to enjoy myself more.

Parked, walked across the street, started a short and easy warm-up, and immediately tripped and fell.  Ugh.  Really?  3rd fall in one week.  This was not a good omen.  This trail was very well marked, but that didn't stop me from going off course about two miles in, at the top of a hill, where the yellow (Arcadia) merges with the blue (North-South).  My Strava review confirms I lost about 30 seconds here before getting back on track.  Frustrating!

By this time, after two miles and hill climbing, I was feeling quite warm.  It was 34° and I shouldn't have worn a hat.  There was a dead tree just ahead, and only the bottom 2' of a stump remaining, and it ended up being the perfect hanger for my orange hat.  Continued on through the very technical rock garden and thought, "Oh, that wasn't so bad!".  Oh, wait a minute, we're not done yet.  

Picture of the rock garden, which I had taken several years
earlier on my inaugural visit here.  Yeah, it's a little rough!

The rest of the trail run seemed uneventful.  I had never been on the first or last mile of this trail, and both were fun single-track.  After my initial course error, I never had trouble with course navigation again.  I had to stop at about Mile 5 at the intersection of the trail with Arcadia Road and grab Brady to wait for two passing vehicles (shouldn't trail runners have the right of way?), but I don't think I lost more than another 15 seconds there at most.

Coming back, the repeat through the rock gardens was not fun, and I was tiring, but after the rock gardens, I had three miles of net downhill that I was looking for.  Grabbed my orange hat on the way back, ran past the only people I saw on the trail (two hikers), and finished the run in 1:52:23, just under a minute behind Ben Q, but several minutes ahead of Bob and Zak.  Done!  That was #19 of 19; see my recap below.

Friday:  5

Relatively easy run at Canonchet late afternoon.  Truth be told, that was not my intention.  This being the final day of winter and thus the final day of the Border Patrol Challenge, I still had time to improve my standings.  My poorest finish was 6th at Canonchet, because I ran it in snow and ice in late December, where others ran it in better conditions.

I was researching and planning this at noontime as I pored over spreadsheet calculations, but the math just didn't work.  I'm in 2nd place behind Bob Jackman, but by 8 points.  I have put in a lot of hard runs recently, but let's say I ran fast enough to pick up 4 minutes and beat Bob's time; I would only pick up a gain of 4 points (between the points added to me and taken away from Bob).  So I'd still be in a deficit of four points.  Well, I could then do another snow-run re-do at Tillinghast and pickup 2 points (all predicated on beating Bob's time again, which I have nothing to base any reason that I would).  This is just getting pointless.  If I had another week, sure, go for it, but I don't.

Ran the BCP route only as far as Table Rock Trail, then ran out on Table Rock.  When we popped out on Canonchet Road for a bit, I put Brady on the leash for his own safety, and in the distance I could see a person on the road and then an outstretched leash with presumably a dog in the grass on the side of the road.  As we got closer, we saw it wasn't a dog on the leash, but rather a kid about age 4-5 that a woman was walking!  Why is the kid leashed?  Is he hard to control?  Is he a substitute for the dog she always wanted?

As we approached, the kid got excited to see Brady and was calling out to him, "Doggy!"  After we ran past, he was repeatedly yelling, "Doggy, come back here!  Doggy!".  It was pretty funny.  I guess you had to be there.

Saturday:  10

Met up with fellow WTAC'ers Nick, Justin, and Kevin (and Brady, of course!) for our first ever run of the planned Grills 10 Mile Trail Race course.  With permission granted from land trusts on both sides of the river (Westerly and Hopkinton), we will have a longer trail race!  I had tried several machinations of courses on Strava Route Builder, and when I came up with about 9 miles, I tried hard to make some more variations that would come to 10 miles, and with minimum overlap.  Success!  

There will be two sections of trail that we will have 2-way traffic:  1 mile in Hopkinton, getting from Westerly side to Hopkinton trails, and then a ~0.2 mile section on the Westerly side getting out to and returning from the race track.  I think it will be fine.

Most of the course is flat, but there will also be three 100' climbs and a 125' climb to keep things interesting.  Almost entirely single-track, with some short double-track/dirt road sections, but ZERO asphalt!

October 30 is race date.  Based on limited parking availability, we will need to constrain registration to about 75 participants.  10K option available.

---

After the planning group run, I went up to Browning Pond DEM site for a Border Patrol Challenge social gathering.  I thought race "swag" might be distributed here, as it was originally planned to be mailed out in mid-January per a race e-mail, but no worry as it's supposed to be mailed out.  I certainly didn't enter the challenge because it offered swag anyway, but rather because it offered a challenge when not much else was happening.  I had a good time catching up with trail running friends old and new, and there was a lot of good conversation on people running the longer routes (Tippecansett and Pachaug-Nehantic), near unanimity on everyone's disdain for the Quinebaug Trail (or as Ben Q pronounced it, "Kwine-bog"), and people starting to planning out their trail races beyond the challenge.

As the challenge is now over, here are some quick geeky stats and views from my perspective:

And just a few of the more memorable BPC pics for me:

Yeah, NOT my favorite.  Ripped up jeep roads
with loose rocks.

TriTown:  technical and hilly,
pretty neat place!

Tillinghast:  in the dark and snow

Old Furnace:  lots of snow here; well packed
down in some places, deep powder in others

George Washington:  very deep snow
continued into late February, but well packed
down here by snowshoes, XC skis,
and prior BPC runners!

Buck Hill:  ripped my legs up pretty
good between ice and frozen bushes

Buck Hill:  sheer ice, the traction devices
were needed here

Mt Tom:  some residual snow and ice into March

Tippecansett:  Brady's longest run at 21 miles!

Pachaug-Nehantic:  oof!  27 miles, with some
very tough terrain.

Sunday:  7 run, 3 hike

AM:  DuVal Trail System with Brady.  Only three cars here when I arrived, but finished to a packed parking lot of maybe a dozen cars.  So many trail systems have really become popular since the pandemic started a year ago.  We saw maybe ten people and five dogs in total during our run of the perimeter trails.  Most of the dogs were off-leash (the SKLT policy only requires dogs to be under voice control of their owner) and all were well behaved and friendly.

PM:  WLT Vernal Equinox hike, at Riverwood Preserve.  Just over 3 miles late afternoon.  This was a group of about 15 hikers, plus Brady.  

Weekly mileage:  40 run, 6 walk

Weekly synopsis:  Kind of a recovery week, plus the final "race" of the BPC series at Arcadia.  Super thrilled to finish all 19 of 19 routes.  This was a fun challenge that kept me going during the winter and getting out there.

Weekly highlight:  Arcadia Trail run and completion of the series.

Weekly lowlight:  I'm quite a bit off on my arbitrary weekly and yearly mileage goals, but the year is far from over.

Weekly Log 8-Mar to 14-Mar-2021: 27-mile Pachaug - Nehantic Run!

Monday:  0 run, 1 walk

Legs still sore after yesterday's 21 mile trail run.  No surprise there.  Brady seems completely recovered, unlike me, but we had him take a rest day today just to be conservative.  I certainly didn't go for a run, but he was ready to go for a run with Jana when she went out and seemed disappointed when I instead took him upstairs to my home office instead.

The three of us went for a post-work walk at Avondale about 4:30pm.  I felt pretty good walking, will try a very easy and flat run tomorrow before getting back at it.

Tuesday:  2 walk, 3 run

AM:  Lead a monitoring team of 4 at Grills Preserve, not the nice 500-acre section with trails, but the sections abutting duplexes north of Bowling Lane.  Picked up about 6 commercial garbage bags full of junk.

Some pieces had to be left behind for another day
(or year) due to either too big, or half-buried into ground.

AM:  Followed up the CCC work with a very easy recovery run in Woody Hill, mostly on dirt roads.  Legs still sore, but better.

Wednesday:  5

Easy pace trail run in Burlingame Campground, from Kettle Pond, with Brady.  There was a lot of clean-up activity going on with machines; presumably camping will open in April this year, unlike last year when it was delayed until late June at the height of the COVID pandemic.

Thursday:  11

Arcadia Management Area.  Finished my 16th (of 19) Border Patrol Challenges with an OAB run of the Breakheart Trail.  Obviously I wasn't going to touch Matthew's FKT on the trail (1:05), but I was curious to see how close I would be.  I ran 1:18.  Yeah, not even close.  Bob Jackman's time is 1:30+, but that's only because he ran it in deep snow; I fully expect him to come back this weekend and place a time somewhere between Matthew's and mine.

This is a hilly trail.  Temp inland at Arcadia got up to 65°, a little too warm for early March when we're far from acclimated.  Four miles in, I tripped on a branch that I couldn't unentangle from, and went down, left knee first into a sawed off log.  Ouch.  At the end of the run, Brady went right into the river just south of Breakheart Pond and put his head under water!

Brief notes:

• Someone finally cleaning up the trail.  Blowdowns on western end of trail are gone, but eastern ones remain.
• DEM is actively putting down stone dust and stones on section about 1/4 mile away from western trail terminus.

Friday:  3

Legs sore from yesterday's pretty hard effort.  Took it quite slow (8+ pace) on very easy and flat terrain at Ninigret, especially knowing I have a tough BPC weekend coming up.

Saturday:  27

Pachaug - Nehantic Trail, Voluntown, CT (plus Exeter, RI, and small parts of Sterling, CT and Plainfield, CT)

Looking at the menu of Border Patrol Challenges early on, I wasn't thrilled about Quinebaug (16 miles, rough, and rutted) or Tippecansett (20 miles) but I was plain dreading this one.  

From the initial signup FAQ:

Q: Do I really have to run that 30 mile Pachaug-Nehantic loop?
A: No, but you can if you want to.

Q: Can I complete these routes on my bike?
A: No.

Q: Do I have to complete the trail in one single push?
A: Yes, you can't do these "piece meal" style. Once you start a trail, finish it in one go. We're looking at your elapsed time- start to finish including stops. Don't pause your watch, please. That's whack.

I'm old, so I don't know what "whack" means outside of "Whack-A-Mole", but I found the bike question to be funny, and interpreted the "No, but you can if you want to" answer to really mean "Yes, you have to run that 30 mile [only 27, actually] Pachaug-Nehantic loop".

Here is a pictorial review of my run:

Start/finish of my run:  Pachaug State Forest entrance just
off Route 49, overlooking Beachdale Pond

Heading south on Nehantic, got the 1/2 mile of Route 49
out of the way first (turning left off 49 here, and into single-track)

Between 49 and 165 on Nehantic.
Love white pine growth like this.

South of 165, on Nehantic.  First of a number
of wet and mud spots, but overall the trail
was in great shape.

So as this is the Pachaug - Nehantic course run,
turning left seems an obvious choice.  But not the
correct one!  Continued straight on Nehantic,
southbound to Green Falls Pond.

This was kind of neat.
Headed north on Pachaug Trail now,
just north of Green Falls Pond.
About Mile 6.

Same rock formation.  Use the
standard trail blazes instead of arrows,
please.

Pretty rocky area at start of Pachaug Trail

This is slow-going, even before the awkward blowdown.

About 7 miles in now, just south of 138.
Didn't know there were any sections of Pachaug Trail
prohibiting bikes.

Beach Pond!  At the RI/CT border on 165.  9 miles in.
Took a break here to drink some Gatorade I had stashed
pre-run and have a chocolate/nut granola bar.

Neat stream crossing on east side of Beach Pond, mile 10.

Very technical sections just north of 165.

And steep!

Wickaboxet Marsh.  Mile 15.

Double-track through a weird dead tree grove.
The legs are enjoying the respite on what is essentially
a flat dirt road.

Great Meadow Brook Pond.  17 miles and over 3 hours in.
I am tired.  I am questioning my ability or desire to finish the run.
I resist the strong urge to sit down, or else I'll have trouble getting up!
I take a couple minute break to eat my 2nd and
final chocolate/nut granola bar.  I note that I am really missing
my trail companion, as he'd undoubtedly being amusing me
in the water here.  I felt so bad after he was pretty sore after the
21 miler, so left him home for this one.  Onward ...
---
At about 2 o'clock in pic, the flat section of water is remnant ice.

Neat little bridge, 19 miles in, off Brown Road.
This is about as far north as Patchaug Trail goes,
as it now crosses over Brown Road and heads west
to Hell Hollow.

Route 49?  I'm momentarily confused.  I started at Route 49.
Pulled out my phone to check bearings.
Oh yeah, we're on the eastern side of Route 49, and heading
west, we will cross over 49 in 2.4 miles.  Ok, I'm good.

This is what the trail looks like now.  Nothing terrible,
but 20 miles in, my feet just don't have the same agility as they started with,
and jumping even small blowdowns (like this one ahead) is painful.

Never heard of the Pharisee Rock Trail.
Maybe another day.  Why does it smell like manure here?

Well, I think I figured out the source of manure.
Mile 21, popping out on Cedar Swamp Road, with farmland.  Once I cross
Route 49 (which you can see by the telephone poles/electric lines
at 9 o'clock), this becomes Hell Hollow Road.

Looking and feeling tired and haggard, with the same farm
behind me.  I started at about 33° in a hat and gloves
about 4 hours ago, but lost the hat about 3 miles in
and the gloves by 10 miles in, as it's close to 40° now.
You can see I'm wearing a hydration pack, which
has plenty of room to carry my hat and gloves (plus
phone, keys, granola bars, etc).

25 miles in.  Oh, I really don't need this rock garden now.
I slow almost to a walk, as I'm getting a little tipsy and weak,
and a fall here would likely be ugly and bloody.
After this stretch, I'm able to resume running a little more
normal, but at a pretty slow pace.

Yes!  Back to where I started from.
27 miles.  5 hours.  Done.

I texted Jana that I had finished, and that this was my longest run since Myrtle Beach Marathon in 2019.  But then I realize no, I ran more than a marathon, so this is my longest run since Bimblers Bluff 50K in 2017.  I start my drive back.  First back to Beach Bond to pick up my stashed garbage, then to a coffee shop to pig out.  For today, at least, I earned it!

Sunday:  8

West Thompson Dam, West Thompson, CT.  My penultimate Border Patrol Challenge!  Yesterday evening, I wasn't sure if I'd be able to run at all today.  My legs are sore, but not nearly as trashed as I feared or as they felt last night.  OK, let's get this one done.  

Drove the hour up to West Thompson disc course parking lot.  Everyone else in the challenge was starting at "Ravenelle", but, well, I'm not everyone else!  Seriously, since I knew the course, and I had always (the 4-5 times I've been here) parked and started from the disc course/boat launch parking lot, no need to mix things up and add any confusion now.

After a short warm up to stretch out the legs, take care of bathroom break, etc., Brady and I are ready to go.  Just after starting, we encounter a small group of young guys playing disc golf.  Uh oh.  True to form, Brady gets very excited seeing their frisbees and takes off sprinting towards them, hoping they'll let him play as well.  Brady will come to me if I call him even if he is in the middle of chasing a deer or a squirrel, but frisbees are a different story.  Last summer at Watchaug Pond, he took off into the pond after a group of guys playing frisbee and my calls went unheeded.  I feared my run would similarly be interrupted here, and I had to raise my voice and call him several times, but he turned back and came back to me and continued running next to me.  Whew.  Similar to the frisbee guys last summer, the guys today found it funny and just laughed.

Continued on around the dam and on to the very fun orange single-track trail on the western side of the lake.  Cold when exposed to the lake, and toasty warm when in the protected woods.  About three miles in, I almost missed a hard left, recovered by taking it awkwardly and that came at a cost as I forward face planted, landing first with my right knee into a rock.  Three days ago the left knee into a log, today the right one into a rock!  Laid there for a bit feeling sorry for myself and the pain.  Get up, you big dummy!  The clock is running.

Never saw anyone on the west side of the lake, which makes it easier for trying to run a fast time.  Crossing over at the northern end, and coming back down the eastern side, we ran into three groups of people and one friendly dog.  The first two groups were polite and gave us plenty of room.  The third group, a couple out hiking, were both wearing masks and freaked out as we came up to them, going to the far edge of the trail, and bending over far into bushes and away from Brady and me.  They were clearly not happy with me.  I know we are in a pandemic, and I respect everyone's right to handle it differently, but when I'm out in the woods trail running, if I encounter people at all, the irony is I much prefer to encounter people who are NOT wearing masks.  

Pushed the rest of the run, taking one CR and the fastest time (yet) in the BPC.  59 minutes flat.

Weekly mileage:  57 run, 3 walk

Weekly synopsis:  A great week!  Met my weekly mileage goal, completed three more Border Patrol Challenges, including the longest one, and have only ONE more to go to finish the series!  Was behind just a couple weeks back and in jeopardy of running out of time, but I turned the ship around and feel pretty good about that.  I'm not sure that two hard runs on back-to-back weekend days this weekend was the smartest move, but I got it done, and will take the next couple of days off.

Weekly highlight:  Running the 27-mile Pachaug / Nehantic loop.  Great sense of accomplishment for me.

Weekly lowlight:  Running the 27-mile Pachaug / Nehantic loop.  It was hard, and it hurt!

Weekly Log 1-Mar to 7-Mar-2019: Ramping up Border Patrol, Jesus, & a sore Brady

Monday:  1 walk

Breezy late afternoon walk at Wahaneeta with Jana and Brady.  Legs and oddly my hips are still sore from this past weekend's activities of a snowshoe race on Saturday and running 10 miles on solid snow and ice yesterday.

Tuesday:  2 walk

Nasty cold outside.  Woke up and heard the wind howling with temp 16° at the time and wind chills below zero.  Huge kudos to those who got out there and ran.  Just not enjoyable, so I went back under the covers.

Volunteered a bit later in the morning (9am) when the temp warmed up to 18° and real feel of 1°.  Bundled up and my fellow Land Trust volunteers had my number, with remarks like "you look almost like a normal person today" and "where are your shorts?".  Opted to go with the crew that was monitoring Crandall Preserve, as 1) it would be mostly in the protected woods, and 2) we would be constantly moving.  Brrr.

Wednesday:  10

Mt Tom OAB.  14th of 19 Border Patrol Challenge routes.  Ran one mile warm-up on JB Hudson Trail, and then we're off.  As with my previous run (Sunday at Buck Hill), I falsely assumed the trails would be free of snow and ice, but I was much closer this time, as I estimate the trails were 90% clear.  But there were still some spots where you were on sheer ice for 30' or more, and then there were a number of spots that ice didn't cover the whole trail and you could awkwardly "dance" around it.  I was hoping to also go for the CR/FKT at the same time, but about three miles in, comparing against the pace I needed, I knew it wasn't happening today.  To be fair, I don't really know if I could pull it off on a perfect trail condition day, but it certainly wasn't happening today.

Two items of note here:
1) The calendar says March, but clearly winter isn't done yet.
2) Regarding the stick, after Brady jumped waist deep into the Wood River, put his
head under water to free the stick, and then carried it for a mile back to the
car, I just didn't have the heart to tell him he had to leave the stick in Arcadia.
In fact, I think the stick is still in my car.

Yes, the trail went across here.  Somehow I didn't
go down, but I think I looked like Gumby dancing
erratically across the ice.

Huffed and puffed my way up the fairly technical Mt Tom, but I was really slowed on the final 1/3 mile section of the trail, which Steve Servidio refers to as the "gutter".  I can totally relate to that!  It's a narrow single-track, but poorly planned being straight as an arrow and gradually but consistently downhill (heading north).  This often results in the trail being flooded and just a running stream.  No different today, EXCEPT that it was a frozen stream!  In some places, I could awkwardly set a foot down on the outside of the ice, but in others I had to risk stepping directly on the ice, which could result in either sliding or breaking through the ice, both of which happened many times.  I really think this section of trail should be rerouted and designed better.  Anyhow, still a fun time.  Five more to go, fifteen days remain.  I'm not liking that ratio.

Now I'm all for signs on the trail, especially ones that
guide direction.  But my questions are 1) how many deer do you
think actually read the sign and go down that trail as a result, and 2)
is it OK for humans to also go down that trail, or only for deer?

Post-run stop at a coffee shop in Richmond on the way home.
It turns out I only needed one of the aforementioned items today,
but I did get a chuckle from the sign.

Thursday:  9

My carbon footprint was really low today, as I of course no longer drive to work, and if I have no errands and run from home as I did, the car just sat in the garage.  Hope the insurance company continues to give out returns of premiums for all the money saved.  I think we've received two checks back so far for car insurance and two for health insurance.

Unusual solo run on local roads.  Easy pace, and I needed it, as the legs didn't bounce back from yesterday's Mt Tom challenge the way I had hoped.

This evening is my employer's annual Employee Fest.
Typically this includes a cocktail hour, speeches, awards, and a 
buffet dinner in Warwick, but this year not surprisingly, like
most other large events, it has gone entirely virtual.  We are
encouraged to gather our "furry friends" to watch with us, and
so I comply (as does Brady, although perhaps begrudgingly.)
---
Both during the event as well as in the ensuing days, employee
after employee laments the absence of the in-person event and
seeing everyone in person.  I, on the other hand, give my honest
opinion that the virtual format was great!  The introvert in me
doesn't love a party of several hundred people where the majority
I have no idea who they are, the duration of the event was shrunk
from four hours down to one, I can (and do) wear jeans and a
t-shirt instead of a stuffy suit and tie, and the commute is
non-existent.  Am I perverse in my thinking?  Or just anti-social
and curmudgeonly?

Friday:  6

Grills Preserve late afternoon run with Brady.  It's been very windy this week, and it was good to escape to the woods.

Saturday:  14 run, 1 walk

Group run at Barn Island.  Our nascent WTAC monthly group runs are off to a good start, with 14 at last month's run at Grills in the ice and snow, and 13 today (+ 2 dogs each time).  They're free, and just a good way to meet and keep up with other runners in a healthy environment.

Sunday:  21!

Tippecansett Trail.  15th (of 19) courses completed now in the Border Patrol Challenge.  The trail is about evenly divided north of Route 165 from where I started, and south of Route 165 down to Camp Yawgoog.  I will run the northern section first, and then the southern.  

Woke up to 17° weather at the house.  Ugh.  For this length of run, I really don't want to wear tights.  Brought various clothing with me, including different thicknesses of gloves, hats, etc.  When I pulled into the parking lot at Beach Pond, Exeter, the temp in my car now showed 20°.  So it's settled:  shorts!

Legs felt fine; it was the fingertips only that were cold the first three miles.  I had a number of missteps, all within the first six miles:

• WHUMP!  That's the sound of an overweight gazelle landing on its back on solid ice after sliding on ice and its legs came out from underneath it.  That one really hurt!
• Today's course is out and back on the Tippecansett.  Should be easy - just follow the yellow blazes.  So about 3 miles in, the trail (more like a Jeep road) goes both straight and left.  Yellow blazes on trail/road to the left, while none are visible straight ahead.  Turned left, and after a couple hundred yards, pulled out my phone and checked against the route.  Nope!  Off course!  Dang!  Why does a yellow trail intersect with another yellow trail?  Doubled back, corrected, and validated.   (I later found Seth made the exact same error.)
• About 5 miles in, at a trail intersection getting very close to the northern terminus, I make not one, but two wrong turns.  The first one is completely on me, but the second one I am following yellow blazes AGAIN!, but in the wrong direction, as once again, a yellow trail intersects with another yellow trail.  Ugh.  Frustrating!

This series of mishaps cost me the most time and added mileage.

After the above mishaps, I make it to the northern terminus, and turn around, and will make no further course errors today, but I have added an extra 2/3 of a mile by now.  The marking on the northern section is pretty sparse, but I've already run it in one direction, so between memory and Brady leading the way and tracking our scent, there is no question on the return path.

On the short paved road section (Hazard Road / Escoheag Hill Road), we come across Rhody Seth running in the opposite direction toward us, with a video cam.  Unfortunately, we later learn just after passing us, Seth takes a wrong turn that costs him an additional couple of miles.  Ouch.  That's a lot to tack on to a 20-miler.  See Seth's video recap here.

Next we run past and in close proximity to the South County Rod & Gun Club, where the gunfire is loud and constant.  I'm no fan, but Brady is just plain freaked out.  We can hear the gunfire for the next two miles until we get south of Tippecansett Pond, but the sounds gets fainter and fainter (or I should say less and less booming).

The rest of the return run to Beach Pond was pretty uneventful.  Upon return to Beach Pond, I contemplated going to the car for a water and maybe a granola bar.  Nah, keep going!  Brady is getting water breaks at streams that aren't frozen, and with temps in the 20s, I'm not feeling thirsty.  Momentarily leashed Brady to cross busy Route 165 with cars driving 60mph, and let the southern section begin.

The northern part of the southern section (say what?) of Tippecansett is a lot of fun:  single-track, undulating, beautiful views of Beach Pond, but not long after that you're on a long section of dirt road that must be close to two miles long.  It's easy to follow and not torn up like the northern section, but still just monotonous.  The road ends as it dumps you out onto Route 138 at the Hopkinton/Exeter line, within sight of the CT state line.  Leashed Brady for the very short distance on the road, before crossing onto a short dirt road and then single-track down to the trail terminus at Camp Yawgoog.

On that short dirt road section just off Route 138, a black dog just bigger than Brady comes out of his yard running towards us and barking.  I'm hoping an invisible fence will soon contain him, but no such luck.  He runs onto the dirt road, past me, and towards Brady, just ahead of me.  Oh great, this is going to be ugly, as I sprint to try to catch up.  What happens next is the aggressor gets right behind Brady,  almost touching him, while continuing barking at him.  I should mention Brady is a very docile dog and goes out of his way to avoid aggressive dogs (yes, of course, I'm biased), but his gracious demeanor only goes so far.  Brady turns around, faces the dog face-to-face inches part and growls and snaps at him.  He didn't bite him, but let him know his displeasure.  The bigger dog literally starts whimpering and whimpers as he runs all the way back home.  Brady then came to me and we ran off onto the single-track.  I was both a bit surprised and pretty proud.

About a mile from the trail terminus, we run into Crutch and his friend Anthony, whom he introduces me to.  We have some tight climbs on rocks, one of which is the rock separation is too high for Brady, and after some assistance, we're to the trail end and turn around.

Brady, who led most of the 21 miles, is no longer in sight.
I usually let him drop back when he wants to, as he'll
attend to whatever he is doing (going over trail to take care of
his business, chasing a squirrel or deer, sniffing something interesting, etc),
as he always comes back quickly.  Not this time.  I double-back a very
short distance to find him unable to get up this series of boulders.
It doesn't look like much, but photos are deceiving, and I have to 
use my hands to get up here.  I help him here, and we're good to go.

The run back was uneventful.  I was fearing a repeat dog issue, and leashed Brady early to keep him very close to me, but the dog did not come back out.  Good.  The long dirt road section of course never seemed to end, but fortunately the final mile was a net 200' drop so it was a relatively easy finish.  Finished in the north parking lot just as Crutch and Anthony were heading north to start the northern loop.

About a mile to go.  One of the few remaining
snow patches covering the trail.

I did not carry water, as there were plenty of
places for him to drink.

Great pose and view of Beach Pond.

FINISHED!  Total time:  3:17.  Somehow I took the 10.35 mile north-to-south CR from Bob Jackman (by just 13 seconds!), but likely because of my missteps, I finished behind him for the full OAB.  I'm quite sure he was taking it easy, as my time includes going back to help Brady up the boulders and stopping to talk to Crutch.  This was NOT my favorite trail.  The northern section is rough (not as bad as Quinebaug, but rough) and very sparsely marked, making it easy to go off course.  The southern section is much better, but that long dirt road is unappealing to me.  

Fast forward a couple of hours, and I unfortunately learn the hard way that I think I've tested Brady's limits.  He was fine all through the run, and in fact, even when got home.  But by late afternoon, he was just sore and uncharacteristically lethargic, as he was not moving any more than he had to.  I took him out to the bathroom (the woods behind our house) and the way he walked just reminded me of my grandmother in her early 90s shuffling along constantly apologizing saying that she "only had one speed and that is SLOW".  Jana and I went for our usual as clockwork Sunday afternoon grocery shopping (we lead a really exciting life!) and I couldn't wait to get home to check on Brady.  We got home, opened the door, and while Brady wagged his tail to see us, he didn't even get up (normally he runs to us, go picks out of one his toys to play with, etc).  WHAT HAVE I DONE?!  I'm feeling terribly guilty, start Googling (always a dangerous thing) about dogs with sore muscles after too much exercise, and I'm panicked to read that I should expect 4-6 weeks for a recovery.  I am a terrible human being!

Fast forward another couple of hours.  We've finished dinner, Brady's finished his dinner, and he goes over and picks one of his favorite toys and brings it to me to throw.  Oh, I am SO relieved.  I refused to play as I want him to rest, and both Jana and I make sure he takes the next day off from running, but he already seems like himself.  Whew!  Meanwhile, I'm sore for the next 36 hours, but that's fine.

Weekly mileage:  62 run, 5 walk

Weekly synopsis:  For the first time since late January, I've accomplished my weekly running mileage goal (55)!  So that's something.  Also for the first time since late January, I've completed two Border Patrol Challenges in one week, so that's helping me to track to a likely completion with four left to go in less than two weeks.  All good stuff!

Weekly highlight:  For trails, I would say the Mt Tom escapade, but for the human aspect, I would say the March WTAC group run at Barn Island.

Weekly lowlight:  The northern half of the Tippecansett Trail.  Rutted, rocky jeep roads are just not my thing.