Miscellaneous ramblings:
- I have a serious case of wanderlust. I feel like I've been locked up in a cabin for a year (I know, not exactly), and am anxious for some type of summer trip. I keep tabs on which borders are opening to Americans (not many) and which states are open for travel (most).
- I am really bummed about the Blessing decision to hold this summer's race as virtual again. It's been an annual rite for me for 18 years, and while there is a clause "If an in person event is able to take place we will notify all participants and advise.", the reality is they could hold an in-person event if they wanted to, as Providence Marathon had 1,000 in-person participants last weekend and RI outdoor event caps expire completely on May 28th. We'll see.
- I got invited to an HR meeting next week to discuss the potential for returning in-person to work starting June 1st. After working from home for 14 months, I am in no hurry for that to happen. (The irony is not lost on me in that I want to have my cake and eat it too; specifically I want all races to return to in-person, but I don't want to go into work in-person myself!)
Monday: 0 run, 1 walk
Normal Monday off, with a post-work walk in the neighborhood.
Tuesday: 0
Woke up to rain, and deferred a potential run to the afternoon. But a mid-afternoon session at Westerly Hospital's Wound Care Center left me in a fair amount of pain, and I took Vitamin I and crashed on the couch instead. Today is two weeks to the day from my second head surgery. I was hoping for some solid progress on the wound healing, but none yet. I was told this is normal at this early stage. OK, patience, patience.
Wednesday: 6
Rainy Grills run from Hopkinton side. I pushed the uphills and downhills as best I could, and ran the flats easy.
Early in the run, I was crossing a river (Tomaquag Brook) via a wooden bridge, when I heard a splash behind me and then nothing. OK, I figured Brady jumped into the river, jumped back out, and will soon be sprinting to catch up to me. Nope. Continued on. Nothing. Turned around and looked. Brady is nowhere to be seen. Called him (he always comes). Nothing. Uh oh.
Turned around on the bridge and hurriedly started running back to the other side. Panicked thoughts arose, such as did he get trapped in brush in the water?, is he drowning? Fortunately after just a few more seconds I saw him. He was UNDER the long bridge span, swimming, as he opted to swim across the river instead of taking the bridge. This was a first! My mood changed from desperation to amusement, as I literally laughed out loud. I'm guessing these are the kinds of moments that my wound care medical staff recommended I have a dog accompany me for healing powers.
Thursday: 8
Woody Hill late afternoon run with Brady. Took it easy on mostly easy trails, but yet had some sort of rock hard feeling in my calf. Not painful, just awkward. Hopefully nothing.
Lots of mountain bikers out there today. A few by themselves, but most were in long lines of riders. All were polite and friendly and most pulled off the trail for me, which was very nice. Saw a RI NEMBA sign that said bikers should yield to hikers; I guess they expand that to include runners as well? One rider stopped before approaching me and put on a face mask. My initial thought was, "Didn't your hear our President say you don't need to wear a mask outdoors?", but I have to remember to each to his own. It was much less awkward than a week ago with Nick at DuVal when a hiker upon seeing us quickly scrambled a good 15' off the trail into the woods, faced away from us, and hurriedly put on a face mask.
Friday: 2
Avondale Preserve. Super short shakeout. How's that for unintended alliteration? Brady ran ahead of me and was sniffing something crossing the trail. A foot long snapping turtle! Whoa, easy, boy. Ran back to the car to get my phone to snap a picture, but by the time we got back the turtle was off the trail into some brush.
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| Unfortunately not a great picture by the time we returned. |
Saturday: 10
Shad Bloom trail race. Separate write-up to follow.
Sunday: 10
Acadia Management Area with Matthew and Brady. My quads were sore from the get-go, especially on the climbs. Probably not the best recovery route, but then again, as I found out yesterday, I have some work to do on the hills, and I'm soon coming into some big hill and mountain races.
Ran my "classic" loop, with a few modifications, including running it in the "wrong" direction (CCW). Pretty good run. I will need a day off tomorrow.
Weekly mileage: 37 run, 1 walk
Weekly synopsis: I'm still not paying attention to the mileage, and as long as it continues to climb in the next few weeks, I'm fine with it. I'm definitely feeling I lost some fitness with my downtime and recovery, and will write more about that in the Shad post, but again, a small price to pay for my overall health.
Weekly highlight: Hands down, the Shad Bloom race. More to come on that.
Weekly lowlight: Again, I'm just trying to stay positive and optimistic. No complaints.
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