Miscellaneous rambling:
- Have you ever listened to the lyrics of Warren Zevon's Excitable Boy? I did recently, and they're so disturbing to me that I don't think I can ever listen to the song again.
- Good to see that the Pie Run is returning this fall. Not sure if I can make it this year, but it is a fun race in Newport County that I have enjoyed running on past Thanksgivings.
- Glad I ran the very challenging Pachaug Trail Run (half marathon) last fall, as I can't find any info about it and thus suspect it might be done.
- Ditto for Christmas 10K in Newport?
- On the flip side, there is an oversaturation of races out there this fall. Not only are so many races back on the docket after a COVID hiatus last year, but there are a number of spring races that are now occurring. I do like running the RI State Police 5K, which is normally in April, but was just held this past weekend.
Monday: 22!
And now for something completely different: take the train from Westerly to Kingston, and run back! The idea came to me over the weekend when I was trying to "kill two birds with one stone", and two very unrelated birds at that:
- Many rewards programs cause you to lose any accumulated points after a period of inactivity. Amtrak's "Guest Rewards" is no different, and points expire after two years of inactivity, with my most recent activity having occurred October 23, 2019. You can see where this is going. For many providers, such as airlines that I seldom fly, I just let the expiration happen, but with Amtrak, from all of my daily commutes to Boston over 13 years, I have over 200,000 miles, and that is after redeeming some big trips, like two round trip auto train family trips to Florida, including sleeper and car.
- The second "bird" is much more obvious. Time to get in a long run. 22 miles to be exact, at least according to the training plan, which I try to follow. Kind of, sort of.
So marrying the two objectives above, I planned it out. Book train ticket on Amtrak.com. Check. Bonus: only $14! Plan out return running route on Strava, approximately to 22 miles. Check. Bonus: Almost all on rural roads, very little highway.
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| Source of my "run transportation" today (Westerly Sun photo of Amtrak train at Westerly station) |
A few highlights:
- Got a disposable mask (masks are required on most public transportation) for my train trip; got off the train and promptly threw it in a trash can. Went around the station and prepared to go in to use the bathroom pre-run until I saw a big sign on the door that masks are required inside all Amtrak stations. Darn. Actually thought about looking through the trash can, but it's dark, so just peed in the bushes. TMI.
- While I was pretty sure I'd remember the route I had pre-planned, I set up the route in Strava and used navigation on my watch just the same. That worked out well, as there was one turn in Hopkinton (James Road off Tomaquag) that I would have missed completely, and other times on roads I'm not very familiar with it was nice to know the distance until the upcoming turn.
- First three miles were very dark. For some of my runner friends, that's their normal morning routine, but I hadn't run in the dark in a long time, at least since winter.
- About 5 miles in, I was hitting some roads in my old stomping grounds that I hadn't been on in many years. For those of you familiar with Richmond, think Beaver River Schoolhouse Road.
- My target on this run was a 6:50/mile pace. Hit first four miles right around there, some just above, some just below, until Shannock Hill at Mile 5. Slowed to a 7:35, which I can understand with the hill climbing combined with my poor showing on hill climbs, but this being the first of four hills with more than 100' climb, I started doubting myself on whether I'd hit 6:50 overall or wear myself out.
- The downhill on Shannock Hill was just awkward. Sure, it was a fast mile (6:06), but steep at an average grad of -9%.
- At Mile 7, I took my first of two GUs. Nothing to wash down with, but wasn't as "cement" like as I feared.
- Running on Pine Hill Road (Miles 7 - 10) brought back memories of high school, as I remembered high school classmates (and one teacher) as I ran past the houses where they lived WAY back then.
- Crossed into Hopkinton (3rd town of 4th today) and knew that some "good" hills awaited me soon on Collins Road and Chase Hill Road.
- The Collins Road hill (does it have a name?) had more elevation gain than Shannock Hill at about 200', but it was much more gradual. At the top of that hill, somebody is driving towards me in a pickup truck and beeping. Oh, it's Muddy! Had my final GU and looked forward to the nice long 2-mile descent on Tomaquag Road.
- I usually feel great on descents, but I was getting weak at the bottom of the descent. 16 miles in now; no more GU.
- Mile 16.5 - brief stop as I drank half a bottle of PowerAde I had stashed on the side of the road. Time for the Chase Hill climb. Halfway up the climb, I shouted out loud as I had some mildly painful twinges in my leg. Not good this early on. More doubting myself.
- Fortunately, another mile in and I suddenly felt better and got a second wind! From the PowerAde? The second GU?
- Finished out Chase Hill Road and made a mental note as I crossed Route 3 and entered my final town (Westerly). Just 3 more miles, but the Potter Hill climb is next.
- The Potter Hill climb, although 125' gain and 20 miles in, went by easier and quicker than I expected. Yes!
- Mile 21 had a 113' drop and was my fastest mile thus far at 6:02!
- One mile to go! Although certainly not part of the plan, I was feeling good again and pushed it hard. This was a mostly flat mile, so I figured if I hit low 6s that would be great. My watch beeped 22 miles as I pulled into the Westerly Train Station driveway. 5:44 final mile!
Tuesday: 2 walk
Intentional day off from running today. For today's Land Trust CCC session, I had a team of six volunteers and we conquered the remaining overgrowth at Grills. No photos this time, but suffice it to say that the racetrack trail and right around the Larson Foundation was thick as a jungle. Worth the effort, of course, and now the trails are looking really good for running in general and our inaugural race on the 30th.
Wednesday: 10
AM: [5] Ran the Pumpkins 8K course, with the needed modification for the wetlands issue this year. Hopefully this year only.
PM: [5] Ran the course again in early evening, just to assess whether we needed to add on more in the field. We don't. Fortunately. Got dark on the way back.
Thursday: 10
AM: [7] Ran in Burlingame "South" with Brady. Only others we saw were a young guy and his huge Husky. This was also the first time I had run there since the campground closed for the year on Columbus Day. So we meandered through the campground trails used in the now defunct "Brrr-lingame" winter trail race. Finished at the docks where Brady and I jumped off just as an older couple was rowing their boat in. They seemed to delight in watching Brady jump off the dock and then swim, as after they tied up their boat, they came over to talk to me and spoke of their own experience with having had three labs.
PM: [3] Shorty at Barlow Preserve before WTAC board meeting. I'm very appreciative of being able to use this facility, complete with conference room and projection screen. Besides being on an 80-acre property is pretty cool in itself. I go to Barlow at least once per week for Land Trust functions, but I had not been on the Barlow small trail system in quite a while. Have the spur trails to the marsh overlook always been there?
Friday: 6
Ran the Westerly portion of the upcoming Grills trail race, in order to assess whether we need any more Land Trust CCC crews to clean up trails. We don't, fortunately. Just a few minor snips with loppers that I'll probably take care of race week, and honestly aren't really needed anyway. The old XC field will need a mowing, as that's where we plan to park cars, and that should do it.
Saturday: 11
Run for the Pumpkins 8K. Separate write-up to follow.
Sunday: 11
Had originally intended a long run (18 miles) with faster miles, but my legs are still sore from yesterday's race. Decided to run an easy recovery run, incorporating part of the Sunday RWYC run. Ran from the house with Brady, caught up with a few RWYC'ers, and ran back on the beach with Brady. Legs a little sore, but very manageable.
Weekly mileage: 71!
Weekly synopsis: Highest mileage week since December 2019. Got in a long training run and a lot of good runs.
Weekly high point: The 22-mile from Kingston train station to Westerly train station.
Weekly low point: None.
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