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.
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| Some pieces had to be left behind for another day (or year) due to either too big, or half-buried into ground. |
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.
A: No, but you can if you want to.
Q: Can I complete these routes on my bike?
A: No.
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.
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:
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| Start/finish of my run: Pachaug State Forest entrance just off Route 49, overlooking Beachdale Pond |
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| 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) |
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| Between 49 and 165 on Nehantic. Love white pine growth like this. |
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| South of 165, on Nehantic. First of a number of wet and mud spots, but overall the trail was in great shape. |
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| 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. |
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| This was kind of neat. Headed north on Pachaug Trail now, just north of Green Falls Pond. About Mile 6. |
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| Same rock formation. Use the standard trail blazes instead of arrows, please. |
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| Pretty rocky area at start of Pachaug Trail |
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| This is slow-going, even before the awkward blowdown. |
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| About 7 miles in now, just south of 138. Didn't know there were any sections of Pachaug Trail prohibiting bikes. |
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| 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. |
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| Neat stream crossing on east side of Beach Pond, mile 10. |
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| Very technical sections just north of 165. |
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| And steep! |
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| Wickaboxet Marsh. Mile 15. |
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| Double-track through a weird dead tree grove. The legs are enjoying the respite on what is essentially a flat dirt road. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| Never heard of the Pharisee Rock Trail. Maybe another day. Why does it smell like manure here? |
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| 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. |
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| 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). |
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| 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. |
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| 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!
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