Weekly Log 19-Apr to 25-Apr-2021: Surgery and Recovery

Miscellaneous ramblings:

• One of the many notes entered into my medical records this week was literally "He appears to be well-nourished."  Is that a euphemism for "That guy is fat!"?
• So glad to hear that the US Government is approving resuming the Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccine.  It not only validates my own shot, but also just gives additional options for other Americans to get vaccinated.  I know there are others like me that just want the 1-shot over and done with option.
• There are still so few countries in Europe that are open to Americans, but Iceland is now open to anyone fully vaccinated.  I'm kicking myself for not signing up for Laugavegur back in January, but registration filled in just three hours and I was skeptical the borders would open.
• In a similar vein, Boston Marathon 2021 registration was open for four days this week, and I have a qualifying time from Myrtle Beach Marathon 2019, but I let it pass.  I have plenty of excuses, including Indigenous People protesting to move the date, BAA requiring two negative COVID tests before running the race, tough race logistics, etc., but really it came down to my heart just wasn't in it, especially during this week of surgery and resetting of priorities.
• On a more local note, the Blessing of the Fleet has opened registration for virtual running 2021, but I really hope they open in-person.  Our new governor has already announced no outdoor capacity limits for events after May 28.
• On a even more localized note, the Y is cancelling the Back Road Ramble trail race again this year, but is somehow "combining" it with the Schonning 5K, and moving both to September.

Monday:  2 walk

Surgery day is here.  Nervous, but ready to move on with my life.  Outpatient surgery is slated to be completed during the morning, but with recommendations to cancel all my other appointments for the day, I did just that and took the day off from work.

This sums up how I felt when I woke up.  Nervous and scared that
the day was here, but also glad that it's time to start the process.

I arrived at the surgeon's office about 9:30am, and after checking in and getting our temperatures taken, Jana and I waited in the ... well, in the waiting room, of course.  We were probably there about 15 minutes when I was called in.  Fortunately, the scalpels and other instruments were not visible to me.  I won't write about every detail that happened this morning, but it went by quicker than I thought.  Here are some random thoughts and things that stuck with me:

• There was a lot of downtime initially (waiting for local anesthetics to take effect, etc) and I found the view out the window of the Mystic River and seaport to be pacifying.
• I also gazed through the window at the Captain Daniel Packer Inne and its 1754 sign, and wondered what life was like there over 250 years ago in Colonial British America.  What was it like for "weary travelers between New York and Boston" to stop for the night and partake in a hearty meal, while Captain Packer regaled his guests of his adventures on the high seas?
• Each of the nurses that attended to me and checked in on me at various stages was professional, calm, and reassuring.
• I was told I should be comforted in the fact that my cancer is Stage 0 and that's why I am here, as their Stage 1 patients are sent to L&M Hospital to have their lymph nodes harvested.  OK, that's both scary and helpful.
• One of the prep nurses remembered my concerns from last week about not being able to run for a week (yeah, I don't always get my priorities right!).  Anyway, with that backdrop, she spoke to me about her experiences with the New York City Marathon, both as 1) a triage nurse at the finish line tent, and 2) cheering her daughter on when she ran the marathon.  I realized she was doing this to divert my attention, but it worked, as I enjoyed the stories and before I knew it, she was done with what seemed a myriad of one of my phobias:  needles.
• One of the nurses was also a prior patient and showed me her scars from the same surgery and same surgeon as I was facing today, and spoke about her experience, albeit hers on a smaller scale.  That's helpful to put a real face and a real experience to this.
• There was some minor pain during the surgery itself, but mostly discomfort, and I was relieved when the surgeon said I was done and the nurses would bandage me and give me further instructions.
• I'm feeling a little light-headed (Jana would drive me home) and I have a massive bandage on my head (I'm glad I'm working from home and won't be turning on my video for the next couple of days), but otherwise am OK.
• Now the wait time until 10am tomorrow when I learn the lab results of whether they got all the cancer ...

Spent most of the afternoon on the couch, and after dinner felt up to going for an easy and flat walk.  Jana found some oversized hats for me, and the three of us (Jana, Brady, and me) went to Grills Wildlife Sanctuary (Hopkinton), where we encountered zero other humans.

I'm currently reading this book about
1957 Boston Marathon champion Johnny Kelley.
His statue is just a few blocks from where I had my surgery.
The irony in the section I read tonight is that I
learned he died of melanoma.  Bad timing after I
just got through a day of surgery to remove melanoma.

Tuesday:  0 run, 0 walk, lots of time on the couch

Woke up at 5am and laid awake staring at the ceiling. (I can only lie on my back and with elevated pillows, but that's probably TMI.)

Five more hours until I learn if the cancer is gone.
How do I slow down my heartbeat?  Patience, patience.

Just a few minutes before 10, my cell phone rings and shows "Mystic, CT".  I pick it up, listen, and am devastated.  Jana has just come in from her run, and I tell her that we need to leave pretty much right away as they found more cancer remaining and I need to go back into surgery right away.  I pack a few things and we're off.  

My mood is really downtrodden today as I enter the room.  This time seeing the tray out in the open with the scalpels does not help my anxiety.  The nurses are all friendly and upbeat, pointing out an even better view (of the Mystic River and hills) than yesterday, but it's my body that's about to be injected and prodded and poked and cut and cauterized and bandaged, not theirs, and I'm depressed.  I try my best to focus on other stuff when the needles start coming.  After a seemingly longer wait than yesterday, the surgeon arrives in the room.

I ask the surgeon what they found this time and if it's just a small additional piece to remove.  He's brutally honest (as he should be) and says the region is mapped into four quadrants, and three of the four quadrants came back malignant post yesterday's surgery, so they have to widen the scope and remove in almost all adjacent areas from yesterday's surgery.  I did ask.  

At some point in the surgery, I felt intense pain and involuntarily yanked my head away and let out a low volume scream.  The nurses asked if it hurt.  Maybe I'm a wimp, but I said yes, a lot.  This did not happen yesterday.  I notice my hands and feet are just shaking uncontrollably.  The surgery then stopped, the surgeon left, and the injections and burning sensations resumed.  Ugh.  When the nurse was done and surgeon and other staff returned, I heard "make a note in Jeff's record that marcaine is more appropriate for him than lidocaine."  I wanted to stop and ask them to translate, but I've had it; I just want this to be over and I want to leave and never come back.

It turns out I may get my wish.  After the surgeon finally finished, I hear him say to one of the nurses, "Find out where Jeff lives and try to get him setup for wound care local to him".  You know that even though I'm physically and mentally anguished, I can still hear you, right?  The surgeon tells me that the courier just took my excisions from today and is leaving for a lab in Boston now (early afternoon now) and they'll have the results again for me in the morning.

After the surgeon leaves, the nurse explains to me that IF my results come back clear tomorrow morning, I'm probably done here at their practice, as my wound can't be stitched up because it's too large (presumably because of the enlarged surgical removal area today) and I'll be sent to the wound care center at Westerly Hospital on Thursday or Friday.  OK, one step at a time.  Let me hear and process tomorrow's pathology results first.  

She tells me that I had a lot of bleeding from my head today, and I'll want to change my shirt ASAP because it has blood on it.  Great.  She tries to make a joke that it's good that I am wearing a dark color shirt, because it would have really stood out on a white shirt, but sorry, I've just lost my sense of humor completely at this point.  I'm in a lot of pain, and it's time to leave.

Somewhere under there is my head.
I am a freak of nature, but I am surviving,
and that's all that counts.
I'm thinking my modeling days are over.

Wednesday: 1 walk (plus lots more time on the couch!)

Deja vu.  Here we go again.
Same as yesterday, a sleep-deprived night as part of the long wait
for the phone call with results.
Please, please, please, please, please be clear this time.

Today's call:  I see "Mystic, CT" again and my heart is just pounding as I answer the call.  I hear that my pathology results came back all clear this time!!!  My cancer is completely removed.  I don't know how I could've mentally or physically gone back for a 3rd day of surgery, but there won't be a third round of surgery today!  I must've excitedly thanked the caller at least five times before the end of the call, and then told Jana and then called my Mom and texted my sons.  What a huge relief!  Hallelujah. 

The miracles of modern medicine, being alive,
family and friends, and being cancer free!

My recovery will be long (months), I may need one more surgery for grafting, and I'm scheduled to report to the Westerly Hospital tomorrow morning, but I'm on the path to recovery!  After getting a few things done for work (despite my boss insisting I take at least another full day off), I took the afternoon off and fell into a deep sleep on the couch for much of the afternoon.  I think my body is just very tired.

In the evening, Jana and I went for a "Cancer Free Dinner Celebration" at Breakwater Stonington Harbor.  It was our first time there, and we had no trouble getting reservations on a rainy weeknight evening.  Jana found me a hat that was pretty deep and loose, with flaps on the sides that go down over the ears, so I was able to get my ginormous bandaged head into it without any bandaging sticking out.

Thursday:  1 walk

AM:  Went to Westerly Hospital's Wound Care Center for my first of many visits to come.  Met with the staff there, and one recognized me, said she knew Jana, and asked me about the WTAC and running events in general.  Oh good, I love it when you can make some kind of connection, especially in a somewhat stressful setting such as this.  They removed my bandage, cleaned me up, took measurements out loud  (which told me that the final wound size is THREE TIMES the size of the original site as measured - this may be why the wound can't be closed!), applied some medication and put on a much smaller bandage.  A little sore, but nothing like the surgery. 

For my next appointment, they asked me to have Jana come in so they show her how to change my dressings and bandages in between my visits, as I surely can't change them myself in an area I can't even see.  They seemed optimistic on my return to running, but pessimistic on any swimming even three months from now, but urged patience.  It's not my forte, but I'm trying!

PM:  1-mile walk at Wahaneeta with Jana and Brady.  Today, that was enough.

Friday:  1 walk

The closest to normal work day I have had this week, so a good note to end the week on.

A really nice and thoughtful surprise arrived this afternoon
from my staff at work!

Went for a post-work walk with Jana and Brady at the Whitely Preserve.

Saturday:  3 walk!

Why the exclamation point?  Because 3 miles is the longest I've walked since the surgery, and with no apparent side effects or bleeding, I'm optimistic that a return to "light running" will be approved for middle to late week.

Went for an easy paced walk at DuVal with Brady, on undulating terrain, and I was amused with many things Brady did, including jumping into Bullhead Pond and separately finding and carrying a big stick for miles.  This was really fun!  Sometimes the simple things in life are great.

The stick was bigger than him!

At one point, two women trail runners came our way and I could just see Brady getting excited.  The shoe was on the other foot now, as when I run trails and encounter other dogs out hiking with their owners, they will often run with me for a while.  Brady was steadfastly obedient and stayed right with me, but there was a lot of whining, and all of a sudden he took off on a short sprint ahead of me (opposite direction from the trail runners now) before returning.  I think he was telling me we should be running.  Hopefully soon enough ...

Five six, pick up sticks ...
Picked up three heaping wheelbarrows of sticks from my yard.
Did we have a stormier than normal winter this year?
I got perverse pleasure out of incinerating them.  Is pyromania
a guy thing?

Sunday:  0

Race directed the 40th annual Clamdigger road races, and that was enough for today.  Especially in the rain.  Jana and I were the first to arrive at 8:45 and last to leave at 12:45.  I was pretty wet and cold by then.  Glad I had brought a change of clothing.

Rain-soaked (look at the puddle) start to this year's Clamdigger,
but at least we were able to have a Clamdigger at all this year!

175 runners signed up, and of those 118 (67%) were tough enough to show up today.  That's a pretty good outcome!  I am grateful that we were able to use the town's awesome facility, and the clean indoor bathrooms and pavilion were a welcome temporary respite from the rain as well.  I am not aware of a single issue that occurred, and I attribute the success to the awesome volunteers we have in the WTAC.

I panicked a bit when I got home and found that I had been bleeding from my head.  (The bandages were covered by a hat and then hood, so no one at the race could've seen this and freaked out.)  I may have overdone it scurrying about in my RD duties today and hope I didn't set myself back at all.

Weekly mileage:  0 run, 8 miles walked

Weekly synopsis:  It is easy to look at the events of the past week as pretty awful.  And for sure I had some days that were just pure awful, painful, bloody, depressing, and scary.  I still have a 3-month recovery ahead of me.  I wasn't able to run the Clamdigger, I'll be back at the Westerly Hospital in the morning, and I may be facing one more surgery.

But out of the ashes arose the phoenix, and that today is me.  I am fortunate to have my life, a supportive spouse, my family, and all things considered, my health.  Life is short and precious; live life to the fullest.

In my patient health portal, I had to read slowly as there were just so many words that I did not understand and had to look up (subcutaneous, cautery, slough, serosanguinous, lentigo, in situ, autolytic debridement, and so on, and so on).  However, one sentence towards the end was an exception not only in that I understood every single word, but more importantly, it gave me a lot of hope:  "He lives a very healthy lifestyle and otherwise is in excellent health which is beneficial to healing."

Weekly highlight:  Being told (finally) that my results came back clear and I was cancer free!!!

Weekly lowlight:  Obviously the surgery, and especially the second one.  Not being able to run all week was truly suddenly the least of my worries, and put things in perspective.  

Not to minimize in any way the many people who have had forms
of cancer more serious and more pervasive than mine,
but this past week was a real tough one for me both mentally and physically,
and I am blessed to be on the path to recovery.

Weekly Log 12-Apr to 18-Apr-2021: Health Scare

Monday:  0 run, 1 walk

Wahaneeta Preserve.

Tuesday:  2 walk, 5 run

In the morning I led a crew of five re-painting blazes on Grills Preserves trails, and in the afternoon ran the Clamdigger course with Justin (after measuring and slightly altering start/finish for this year).  However, most of my day and thoughts were consumed by an unexpected setback:

Here's the condensed version of my health scare:

About a month ago, several people asked what happened to the top of my head?  I had no idea what they were talking about, felt a little embarrassed, and changed the conversation.  Once home, I awkwardly arranged mirrors to see what they were talking about.  Oh, what indeed is that?  A brown mole that I didn't know existed, but apparently had been there for a long time but was now growing and changing shape.  

So I went to get it checked out at a local express care and the doctor said it's probably nothing (good!) but better to have it checked out and referred me to a dermatologist.  The dermatologist took two biopsies and two weeks later, today was the appointment to get the results and have a full skin exam.  The dermatologist came in, was smiling, asking how I was, and I was thinking, great, everything is fine.

And then she said that the tests came back as malignant for melanoma, which she said is the worst kind of skin cancer, and she started talking about surgery and survival rates, but her words suddenly seemed all jumbled now and a cacophony of sounds as I felt light-headed and sank back in the examining chair.  I could see her mouth was still moving, but it was like the volume had been turned off as I could no longer hear (or didn't want to hear?) what she was saying.

Once she started talking to me about cancer, 
I was in that classic denial stage and just involuntarily shut down
listening to any more details.

After a while she realized she had lost me and had to start over again.  She was very patient with questions and repeating info.  My cancer has not metastasized yet, I would be referred to a specialist surgeon today, bumped up in the queue for surgery ASAP, and based on my specific diagnosis, stage, and prescribed surgical technique, the prognosis is excellent with a 5-year survival rate of 99.9%.  OK, well that's a little better, but still scary and so much info.

This was a lot for me to process.  New prescriptions,
new (to me) medical terms, imminent surgery.

I had a long talk with my Mom, and then with each of my two sons and three brothers, as I was asked to notify them all and suggest a skin check-up, as unfortunately there is a hereditary aspect.  Naturally, they were all very supportive.

I was stunned and dumb-founded and lay awake that night thinking about it.  But then I thought I need to put this in perspective, have a positive attitude, and live my life.  I thought about when my father received his own diagnosis of cancer.  He was less than two years older than I am right now, but his diagnosis was Stage 4 lung cancer, and he had what I would term a poor quality of life for the next six months (think chemo, hospital stays, oxygen tanks, etc) and then he died, at age 58.  25 years later, I still haven't gotten over losing my father, but that's very different from the cancer I have.  I'm going to beat this thing.

Wednesday:  0

Was still processing yesterday's news and thinking about when I can get a run in, when I got a call asking if I could come in to meet with the dermatology surgeon right away.  Of course.  Suddenly running seems much less important.

My surgery is scheduled for Monday morning (5 days from now), and I learned that my post-surgical restrictions will include no running for about 1.5 weeks and no swimming for 3 months.  OK, so I won't be running the Clamdigger after all, but I can still direct it.  And if I do make a return to triathlons this year, it won't be until August or later.  I can live with all of that, of course.  The important thing is I'm going to live.

As much as I'm scared of the surgery, I want the time to go by quickly between now and then.  Signed up this evening for a loop trail race this Saturday; run as many loops as you can in 2 hours.  Not my type of trail race, but it was a race and would get me out there and get my mind off of this.

Thursday:  8

Matthew is home for a few days, for the first time since Christmas vacation.  It was raining and 43° and I probably would've just taken another zero if I were solo.  It's good to have a partner in crime.  (Although, of course, Brady had no issue at all with going for a run in the cold rain!)  

The three of us went for a run in Ninigret, and since almost no one was there due to the rain, I felt comfortable to take Brady onto the Ninigret National Wildlife Service trails, where technically dogs are not allowed (they're allowed in the town owned portions only).  The only wildlife Brady disturbed was the overpopulation of many bunnies that he chased.

Friday:  8

Another day of cold rain.  High in the upper 30s was less than pleasant for mid-April, but dealt with it and the three of us ran at Bluff Point State Park.  Some of the techy trails were a bit slippery and definitely some flooded sections, but I didn't mind those at all.  

Behind our house in the morning.  Yes, those are snowflakes
on Brady, on April 16!

Saturday:  14 run, 2 walk

Ledyard Mini Loop race.  Separate write-up.

Jana and I doing our part to help out Mother Earth on
the start of Earth Day week, plus getting credit for
community volunteerism initiatives sponsored by my employer.

Walked for just about a mile out, in our neighborhood and then
along Shore Road, picking up discarded crap from thoughtless humans:
vodka bottles (yes, plural), beaucoup de  nip bottles, cans,
plastic, metal, and even an exhaust pipe.

Sunday:  8 run, 3 walk

Burlingame's Vin Gormley loop with Matthew and Brady, plus tacked on a tiny bit to come to 8 miles exactly instead of 7.64382 miles, because runners are geeky like that.  Or, at least some of us are.

At the boat launch, the state has now put the docks back in the water.  Surely a harbinger of summer days ahead.  In what I initially thought a cruel trick, Matthew ran down the dock with Brady alongside, and that at the very end, Matthew stopped dead while Brady continued, jumped off the dock and went completely underwater in Watchaug Pond.  My verdict changed when I could see how happy Brady looked in the water, as he swam back to land and chased after us.

In the afternoon, Jana, Brady, and I joined a group of about 12 (including my Mom and neighbors) in a Westerly Land Trust hike of the closed to the public Crandall Preserve.  Easy, flat hike, culminating in conversation over wine and cheese.  That was a pretty neat ending!

The trail to Wolf Island, where purportedly
the last wolf in RI was shot.

Mom (in purple)

Lab wine!

The full gang (minus Brady,
who was taking the picture)

And here he is!  The challenge was keeping him 
away from the cheese.

And post hike, a great dinner (I know, you either love sushi
or you hate it) to finish out my weekend and nervous
waiting.

Weekly mileage:  44 run, 7 walk

Weekly synopsis:  What a whirlwind week.  Tuesday learning my skin cancer diagnosis, my thoughts turned to my own mortality.  However, while I'm still going to die, it won't be from this!  After deeper reflection, education, and speaking with others who have had skin cancer, I got myself into a better place mentally, and while I'm still scared and anxious, I am looking forward to the surgery on a Monday to start to move beyond this.

As to the running, I'm surprised I got as many as 44 miles in.  Just about all of that came at the end of the week, where I ran 39 of the miles in the last four days.  It certainly helped having Matthew home, plus a trail race, to force me to get out there and focus my mind on other things.

Weekly highlight:  The Ledyard trail race.  Despite not being my preferred race format of multiple loops, I had a lot of fun out there.  Seeing some familiar faces and having mud and water on the course only increased my enjoyment.

Weekly lowlight:  My skin cancer diagnosis.  As positive as I'm trying to be and as optimistic as I [now] am, I can't spin this in any other way but a setback [even if temporary] and a concern.  We just got a letter from our home insurance company saying they were dropping us because of past claims we had filed (isn't that what you have home insurance for?!), and I had an engorged tick in my chest (gross!), but those are just so minor by comparison.

Epilogue:  My weekly blog is now written and I'm ready to hit the "Publish" button, but I'm going to hold this entry in draft for another week, until my surgery and post-op has completed, and until the Clamdigger is over.  I want to gain a little more confidence, and at the Clamdigger, I want the event to be completely about the runners and not draw any attention to myself.

Ledyard Mini Loop - Trail Race

Ledyard, CT

Saturday, April 17, 2021

Not sure I would have even have known about this inaugural race if I hadn't received an e-mail directly from RD Rob Hanna.  He and his wife had run every race in our WTAC Fall Trail Race Series last fall, and he was simply e-mailing me to ask if the WTAC could help promote this race.  Sure.  (There ended up being four WTAC runners out there today, but can't tell if that's a result of the promotion or not.)

The format is run as many loops of a 1.3 mile course as you can in either 2 hours or 8 hours.  Well, I certainly wasn't going to be running 8 hours (but kudos to those that did).  On the other hand, a 2-hour rotation, while still not my forte, is indeed a possibility and I'd like to get some kind of race in.  As I will not be running the Clamdigger with everything going on, I opted in, so at least I get one trail race in before Shad Bloom three weeks later.  The 8 hour course was 8am - 4pm, and for the 2 hour, you could choose to start at either 8am, 11am, or 2pm.  Only 8am was remotely attractive.

Race day:  To set the stage, it had rained quite a bit the past two days, and the sun was not out today.  Translation:  mud, puddles, and streams.  Yes!  I arrived, checked in, caught up with the RD, and Bill and Sharon, and went for a very short warm-up.  It was 39° and breezy when I arrived, so with the start/finish conveniently adjacent to a pavilion with picnic tables, I opted to start with a thin hat and thin gloves, figuring I could easily ditch them if I warmed up.

Race start:  About 20 of us started socially distanced in a field adjacent to the pavilion.  We had to have our face masks on to get into formation, but then could remove.  I've gotten into the habit of wearing running shorts with a zipper to many races during COVID for this reason.  At any rate, I saw two much younger and fitter looking runners on the starting line, so I lined up behind the two of them in the 3rd place.  There was a brief countdown and we're off.

Lap 1:  As we started running, I noticed that both of them had hydration packs on.  Hmm.  Does that mean they're running the 8-hour "ultra" version?  But then I thought, no matter the distance, with the pavilion and tables every 1.3 miles, why would you wear a pack for any distance?  Anyhow, I quickly caught and passed the first young guy (whom I'd later find out was indeed running the 8-hour ultra), and then trailed behind the leader (who was also in the same race as me) for a good 1/2 mile or so.  I caught up to him on the sustained uphill portion of the course, went past him just at the top of the hill, and then I thought I pushed it downhill but he stayed right with me and was just behind me when we crossed through the start/finish to start Lap 2.

Lap 2:  I started to put some distance on my competitor.  This would be my last lap with no one in front of me, almost, as at the end of Lap 2 I passed one back-of-the-packer.

Lap 3:  This was the first of many laps where I would continually be passing people.  I said hello to Faith (running 8-hour ultra) and Sharon many times, and when passing Bill usually he or I would try to find some clever quip to say to each other.  As I passed him the first time towards the end of my 3rd lap, he said to me, "I thought I would at least make it to the 3rd lap before you passed me".  This confused me (that doesn't take much) as it was the 3rd lap and then a light turned on - it's MY 3rd lap; it's HIS 2nd.

At the conclusion of lap 3, this was the only time I would temporarily go into the open pavilion, as I shed my hat and gloves.  The next time I saw Bill, the comment was "I see the gloves are off now!".  Yup.  I'm ready to do some damage.

Laps 4 - 10:  'Round and round we go.  My fear was I would mentally tire more than physically, but I didn't.  A second fear was having to slow for other runners, but I never did.  There was always enough room to pass and quite often runners would hear my dinosaur-like panting and either get out of my way completely (which wasn't necessary) or apologize (again, not necessary).

Race photos (the first three from me pre-race; the rest from RD Rob Hanna):

The very first lap start was socially distanced in a field;
after that, this served as start/finish of each lap.

Then you quickly came to this bridge.  It should not surprise readers
that know me to learn that many times I took the "Fun Way"!
This was especially true if anyone was on the bridge ahead of me, as I certainly
wasn't slowing down or waiting.

Sections of trail in a few places were just
flooded across the whole trail.

So...
I guess you COULD pussyfoot around and try to keep
your feet dry as in this pic, but WHY?

Yeah, I never once took this bridge,
at 9 o'clock in above pic.
Something about the shortest distance between
two points being a straight line, and that
bridge was several feet out of the way.

Bill's quip here (to the RD taking the pic) was
"Did you get this pic?  I'm beating Jeff"!

And it was posted on FB with this caption (above pic)

Apparently we had a good laugh about it
as I caught up

And here's a still of that 5-second video
of me running downhill in the mud

Lap 11:  Making note of the clock counting down at finish line, I calculated I was running about 11 minutes per lap, so finishing up my 10th lap with about 14 minutes to go, it was a no-brainer to go back out for one more.  Besides, I didn't know how far back my next competitor was and if he had time to make an 11th lap (he didn't, but I didn't know that), so off I went.  I got a lot of encouragement from other runners out there on this my (and their) final lap, and was able to pick it up just a bit.

Final results:  11 laps, 15 miles, 1:55:20, 1st of 27 (in combined 2-hour races).  Full results here.

My splits (4th column) were much more consistent than I had 
imagined.  (The 1st lap isn't accurate, because start was slightly different),
but the rest are.  

Post-race, looking back now, I had a lot of fun.  Am I champing at the bit to sign up for another multi-loop trail race?  Well, no, but I wouldn't hesitate it as much now.  This was a fun, low-key, local trail race with water on the course and mud.  How can you beat that?

Weekly Log 5-Apr to 11-Apr-2021: Vaccination!

Miscellaneous ramblings:

• Race restrictions are easing (e.g., just got permission from town to up our Clamdigger races to 175)
• Several more local restaurants just opened indoor dining (e.g., enjoyed Pizza Place Friday evening; had sushi and grilled Chilean sea bass at Koi on Saturday).
• Our bank (my employer) reopened their lobbies for the first time since last year, but we were advised that "non-essential" employees like me won't be allowed back in the office for months.  I'm in no rush.
• Coffee shops starting to open for sit-down (e.g., Junk and Java opened a few weeks back, and I saw a DD in RI open for sit-down for the first time in over a year).
• And, of course, the best news is ... I'm now fully vaccinated!  Yay!

Monday:   1 walk

Typical Monday off from running.  1 mile family (including dog) walk at Avondale post-work.

Tuesday:  1 walk

Typically every Tuesday at CCC ("Coffee & Clearing Club"), there are anywhere from 2-4 assignment where I can choose from, or am asked to lead.  Having to miss the coffee half-hour plus being 40 minutes late (due to scrambling on Internet to find one of the just released and coveted COVID vaccine appointments) left me with only choice:   meet up with a crew at Barlow picking up trash on Barlow's road frontage with Route 91.  No problem; with gloves I don't mind picking up trash of this sort (typically cans, bottles, nips).  It's the really disgusting stuff (like diapers outside of a couple of Bradford houses a few years back) where I draw the line.

Wednesday:  6

AM:  Vaccination time!  Nervous and excited at the same time.  We had to drive up to East Providence, but it was a nice day, my employer gives up to 2 paid days off per vaccination shot, and it was all worthwhile for both of us to get a next day appointment and with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, we don't need to come back again!

As we waited at the pharmacy counter (Stop & Shop), my hands were getting sweaty as normal.  (Ancient history flashback:  At age 18, I fainted while getting an injection, rolled off the bed in my doctor's office, fell, hit my head, and got a concussion and temporary memory loss.  Since then, I know it's psychological, but I'm afraid of needles of any sort.)  The pharmacist was really good, talked me through it, I felt pain for just a few seconds, and then done.  My arm was sore for about an hour afterwards, but a small price to pay.  Jana had no side effects.

We went to Dunkin next door and then out to lunch in Garden City.  Just such a huge relief off my shoulders.

PM:  Post-work run in Wahaneeta/Woody Hill with Brady.  Care-free and a lot of fun.

Thursday:  5

My planned daytime run fizzled out due to various work constraints.  Oh yeah, that's what they pay me for.  I'm still waiting for someone to pay me for trail running, but I'm not holding out much hope.

After a 13-month run of virtual WTAC board meetings via WebEx, we moved to a hybrid format of in-person and WebEx.  Another positive sign!  Seven of us joined around a very long conference table where we could all socially distance, and another three joined remotely from their homes and appeared on the conference room screen.

Since we were at Barlow Preserve, post-meeting, Paul, Dave, and I went for hybrid road/trail run up to and into Woody Hill.

Friday:  3

I was asked to shoot a "thank you" video for the Westerly Land Trust, with the guidelines that it should be on a WLT property and no longer than 30 seconds.  It was also suggested that I film from my capacity in WTAC for a different angle.  OK, I can do that.  Running during the video and shooting at Big Hill (Grills Preserve) came to mind.

I used a tripod for the running part, and a selfie stick for the standing/speaking part.  How do I carry those and a cell phone/camera?  Left Brady's leash in the car, and wore a standard backpack.  They're fine for a short hike, but not for a run.  Kept it short.

In the early seconds of the short video, Brady awkwardly
jumps off the rocks and right in front of me.  Oh well,
I kept it in.

Saturday:  12

Ran Tillinghast and Wickaboxet preserves.  For a change of pace, I parked at the small Hell's Gate parking lot and ran the Bates Loop first.  I had forgotten how much fun the Bates Loop is, but really that applies to the entire trail system here.  This must be one of the best marked trail systems in the state, and has frequent maps with "You are here" designations.

As I have been doing lately, I ran in a long sleeve shirt, but this was a mistake as the temperature (we're a bit inland here and away from the cooler coastline) quickly made its way into the mid-60s and I was quite warm.  Apparently Brady was as well, as at a deeper stream he not only jumped right in, but sat down in the water, and then put his head under.

Probably between 6 - 10 hikers out there today.  Many were with dogs, all of which were nice dogs today.  One woman with two dogs had the fear that her dogs would rather run with Brady and me than walk with her, and that turned out to be true!  Eventually they heeded her call and turned back.

Sunday:  12

Burlingame long way around the pond, with Brady.  I had thought of running roads with the RWYC crew, and I probably should get in a few more road runs before Clamdigger, but they're just not as fun (the roads that is, not the RWYC crew).  When I do run RWYC group road runs, I usually peel off on the return and run the beach back home, but I checked the tides and it was high tide so that sealed the fate for me:  no RWYC run today.

Parked at Kettle Pond in Charlestown, and ran a big CCW loop around the pond, including down to North Camp, where Brady went in for a full swim.  He came back to shore and whined.  I wish he would speak English instead of whine, but my best guess on a translation is he wanted me to come in swimming too.  Another month and a half and I'll be there.  A few hikers and a few bikers out, but pretty quiet overall.  

Weekly mileage:  38

Weekly synopsis:  Pretty meager running mileage this week.  I guess that happens when you take two days off, and also run short runs midweek.

Weekly highlight:  Getting the vaccine, really.  As for runs, the Tillinghast run.  That is just an awesome place.

Weekly lowlight:  Low mileage.

Weekly Log 29-Mar to 4-Apr-2021: The Easter that Wasn't

Monday:  1 walk

Planned to get in a run today.  No dice.  Doctor said the body needs a day of recovery.  OK.  Went for a neighborhood post-dinner walk instead.

Last night's clear-liquid dinner:
A bowl of berry Jello-O and white cranberry juice.
Yum.  Not.  I'm starved.

Fast forward to tonight's dinner:
Grilled salmon, grilled brussels sprouts, and steamed rice.
I would have been happy with just a bowl of rice,
so this was awesome.  It's funny how you take things for granted.

Tuesday:  4

Easy late afternoon run with Brady at Woody Hill from Fallon Trail.

Wednesday:  9

Another Woody Hill run with Brady.  This time at 8am, and it was great that absolutely nobody was out there!

Thursday:  6

Late afternoon run with Brady at Barn Island.  Pretty quiet there, and absolutely no one else on the single-track trails.  Trails a little wet and muddy in a few spots after last night's downpours, but nothing wrong with a little mud from time to time.  We got out to Wequetequock Cove, and Brady just sprinted into the water.  So much fun to watch!

Friday:  6

Afternoon:  2 mile fail on Mystic trails.  Just flooded in so many areas.  Pouted and gave up.

Evening:  4 mile workout with Justin and Kevin.  This was the 2nd Friday in a row that Justin was organizing a track workout.  When I arrived, Justin asked when was the last time that I ran a track workout.  I said at least a year, but looking through Strava, the correct answer is 2 years and 3 months ago!  Ran 2x800 (2:51, 2:52) and 3x400 (78, 77, 78).  Actually the times were better than I expected, but man did I feel out of shape.  I can't imagine I would get out there to run this on my own.

Saturday:  8

WTAC group run of the month.  This was the 3rd monthly edition, attended by about a dozen runners, and led by Justin Pearce.  Got there an hourly early to help Justin flag the course (roads in Avondale and Watch Hill) and get in a warm-up.  For the 1st Saturday in April, it was a chilly 28° when I got up and 33° at start with a light breeze.

About a dozen runners for the April WTAC group run today.

Clever and kind of funny sign posted at Avondale Preserve.
It really is an issue.  I don't get it; makes us dog
owners look bad.  You already did the hard part; just bring it home.

Ran the group run with Nick.  We were just talking away for the run and I didn't realize we had dropped the pace from 7:30 first mile gradually down to 6:15 for the final mile.  A few of the rest of the group said we just took off, but it really wasn't intended that way.  Good catch up with the group.

Sunday:  15

Easter Sunday.

Remember those days of yesteryear with Easter egg hunts in the yard?
Yeah, those days are gone with the boys grown and out of state now.
(Easter 2001 at our house in Charlestown, Mark and Matthew)

Or remember when there were Easter family gatherings?
Yeah, not happening with COVID.
(Easter 2019 at our house, with my Mom, brother and
sister-in-law's family)

Easter 2021:  This was my only semblance to Easter today:
Eating a Cadbury creme egg!

Brady and I plotted out a fun trail run today at Yawgoog / Canonchet / Green Falls, with one connecting loop in each of those areas.  We even ran into Bill Bentley and Sharon out at Green Falls and caught up for a bit, until Brady was losing patience and wanted to continue the run.  Visited seven ponds on our rather technical run today:  Long Pond, Ell Pond, Yawgoog Pond, Wincheck Pond, Green Falls Pond, and Hidden Lake.  

We did get to see Matthew today, although only for an hour in a non-descript parking lot in MA, due to a car issue.  Jana and I had a very non-traditional Easter dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Warwick on the way home.  Oh well.  Easter is not as high on my calendar as other holidays, like Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Weekly mileage:  47 run, 1 walk

Weekly synopsis:  Kind of a weird week health and holiday wise, but got in decent mileage and had a great trail run to close out the week.

Weekly highlight:  The Easter trail run at Yawgoog, to be sure.

Weekly lowlight:  Nothing running related.  

Weekly Log 22-Mar to 28-Mar-2021: Post BPC Limbo

Miscellaneous rambling:

• The Border Patrol Challenge finished over a week ago now.  Time to start setting out some race plans.
• Governor McKee announced that outdoor events with over 1,000 participants can resume on July 15th.  I hope this portends well for an in-person running of the Blessing of the Fleet.

Monday:  0

Tuesday:  5 run, 2 walk

AM:  Short solo run in Grills to set flags for CCC cutting of a small trail off the top of Big Hill, to be used for this fall's inaugural Grills 10-Mile (and 10K) Trail Race.

AM:  Led group of 5 during this week's CCC session.  Cut the trail, and took out a couple of blowdowns and some trash.

Short new trail connecting to summit of Big Hill,
to be featured in WTAC fall trail race. 

PM:  Short run in Woody Hill with Brady.

Wednesday:  10

Ran the Rhody 10-mile course we used two years ago for the special USATF-NE edition.  I hadn't run this in a while.  I preferred this course (as it is more technical and has less asphalt), but not everyone did, and the agreement was to hold only for the USATF-NE championships anyway and then return to the classic course.

Thursday:  4 hike, 8 run

AM:  WLT hike at Grills.  

PM:  Brazen Hen Fun Runs.  I like running these occasionally; once a month or so is good.  Got there early and ran two miles on my own, on a hilly route up to WHS and back Narragansett Ave.  There were about 15 runners there tonight.  Ended up in a group with CarolAnn and Justin; I like the quiet hill up Asher in Pawcatuck.  Back on the Westerly side, we caught up with Matt Sweeney out for a run and asked he could join us.  Of course!  Had a drink on the deck with the gang, before heading home.

Overnight:  Brady ran away and didn't come home.  I was out frantically and repeatedly calling him and searching for him on various streets in the middle of the night, including where he was last reported.  So scary and heart-wrenching.  And then about 3am I was lying in my bed, nervous, sweating, and very confused.  I got out of bed and went to his bed; he was lying there sleeping.  Whew!  Only a bad dream, but seemed so real (which is why I wrote this paragraph the way I did; it all seemed very real to me at the time).

Friday:  5

Drizzly late afternoon run with Brady.  North Burlingame trails.

Saturday:  14

Arcadia run with Brady.  Ran kind of the "classic" loop that I like to there, except added on to go up to Step Stones Falls, and came back Shelter Trail instead of Breakheart.  Ran into two people I know:  Steve vonHousen out on his MTB, and Crutch and a friend out on a 23-miler.

The cleared area at the "summit" of Mt Tom,
north of 165.

Same general area, but now zoomed in 8x,
because what I never saw before in my numerous times
here was windmills!  This must be due to my newfound 20/20
vision (seriously!).  Look at about ten o'clock, on the far
left side of ridgeline in distance and you might see the
white silhouettes. 

Clear and clean, but COLD water at Stepstone Falls

New kicks to add to the rotation; lots of lugs in these

Sunday:  0

Being on a clear liquid diet for the entire day (for a minor medical procedure tomorrow), I am really hungry!  It doesn't sound like a good idea to go out for a run and increase the hunger when I'm already feeling weak.  I'll swap days and run tomorrow on my usual Monday off.

Weekly mileage:  42

Weekly synopsis:  I feel like I'm in some sort of temporary lost limbo between the end of the Border Patrol Challenge and the start of races.  Pretty pathetic, I know.  Hopefully getting a few races on the calendar will improve my motivation to get out there and who knows, maybe even get some training in.

Weekly highlight:  The run in Arcadia.  It wasn't that long ago that I wouldn't venture to the massive Arcadia Management Area on my own, lest I get hopelessly lost and be left for circling vultures to eat my dead body.  I'm still no expert on Arcadia, but with thanks mostly to Jonathan Short, I've patched together enough trails to make some fun routes and be comfortable with knowing where I am.

Weekly lowlight:  From a life standpoint, the bad dream about Brady for sure.  From a running standpoint, the limbo-induced lack of motivation.  This too shall pass.