Monday: 7
Martin Luther King Day. I wondered if there is such a thing as an MLK Day road race. There is! Just none around here. They abound in places like Atlanta, Birmingham, Miami, and Portland, Oregon.
Charlestown, RI. 6 miles. Carter Preserve with Matthew and Brady. From Old Mill Road CW to Grassland Preserve, where it was very windy in the open, and then completed the loop around to the north and east. Trails were very muddy and slippery out there. Saw a few other humans and canines.
Westerly, RI. 1 mile. Barlow Preserve, checking out flagging for new potential trail along Chapman Swamp.
Tuesday: 2 walk, 10 run
AM: Westerly, RI. Annual Land Trust accreditation monitoring. Led a group of four at Wahaneeta. First time using mobile app for recording. Progress.
PM: Westerly, RI. Late afternoon trail run at Woody Hill with Matthew and Brady. Last run with Matthew for a while, as he returns to school. Final four miles in the dark. Not a soul out there.
Wednesday: 1 walk
Westerly, RI. Wahaneeta Preserve. Planned late afternoon run turned into a walk. Brady was limping a little bit, and I wasn't overly into it. Thus endeth a 36-day running streak. Longest in years.
Thursday: 15
Westerly, RI. Woke up to a cold rain in the low 30s. Rain at 70° feels nice; rain at 33° not so much. Opted to defer my run a bit, and fortunately an hour later the temp fell and the rain changed to all snow. After a couple of work meetings, I had a long window to get out there before the afternoon. Ran 'Round the Pond roads, plus several extra miles. It was neat to run in the falling snow. Average pace 6:48, but my pace was pretty much all over the place.
Friday: 5
Charlestown, RI. Late afternoon run with Brady at Burlingame Campground. Pretty quiet out there. Only ran into two other people out there, each with a single dog. Unfortunately, these were not the friendliest of dogs as both barked and snarled, but there was also no issue. I surprised myself by still being able to locate and run the old "Brrr-lingame" course, as it isn't easy or intuitive to follow on the campground trails.
On the bog bridge trail, Brady all of a sudden just bolted away from me and sprinted down the trail out of sight. Certainly not his usual behavior. What gives? As I rounded the next corner, I then figured it out as I saw a white tail in the distance. Of course, he didn't catch the deer, but that's his natural instinct, and after another minute or so he rejoined me for my more pedestrian pace on the trail.
Saturday: 5
Westerly, RI. I had planned for a 16-mile long run, which was already backing down from my training plan of a 20-mile run for today. This was going to be really tight to begin with, as we were leaving for UNH to watch Matthew's meet, and when my alarm went off at 6:30am and it was dark and 13°, I was out. Set the alarm for an hour later, and headed to Grills with Brady for a short run. 15° and windy, with a wind chill factor of 2°. My face took a long time to warm up, and my finger tips never warmed up. On the positive side, we never saw another soul out there.
Sunday: 20
Charlestown, RI. Since I abandoned my planned long run yesterday, today was the day to get it done. And unlike yesterday, I didn't have any excuses today. I slept in and was well refreshed, it was daylight, the wind had died down, it was sunny, and the temps in the mid-20s when I got up. I had planned out a 20-miler from Dave's Coffee, and once I got in the car and backed out of the garage, I was fully committed.
Seven miles south of Route 1 to start. Warmed up in only a mile or so. It was about that time that I was getting chased by the PM. I remembered the bank of PM defense shelters at the state fishing pier at Quonochontaug Breachway at the end of West Beach Road, and I just barely made it there when ... Oh, no, they removed the porta-jons for the winter. With no time to spare, I ducked into some bushes to take care of business. There had been no vehicle activity on the nearby dirt road, but now an SUV slowed down where I was, and worse, I clearly read the banner on the door: Charlestown Police. Ugh. I can just see it now - "Elderly perverted man arrested with his shorts pulled down" - story at 11. Fortunately, they only slowed but did not stop and were soon gone. Whether they figured out what I was doing and moved along, or whether they even saw me in the bushes I am not sure, but all was good. Feeling much better, I continued on through the coastal community and eventually re-crossed Route 1 at East Beach Road, where there is also a push button to stop traffic for pedestrians.
Thirteen miles north of Route 1. At the light, the driver of a car waved to me. I recognized him as multiple-time Ironman and barefoot trail runner Eric Winn. I thought I might catch up with him when I entered Burlingame Campground moments later, but I didn't see him again. Most times when I go to the campground, it's of course to run the trails, but I must say I've really come to enjoy running the roads there off-season as well recently. They're scenic, along the lake in two places, behind the gates where cars can't travel between mid-October and mid-April, and relatively protected against the wind. There were a few people out walking the roads, and a few hiking the VG Trail. I saw a golden retriever who I guess you could technically say was leashed: the clasp of the leash was attached to his collar, and the handle of the leash was in his mouth as he walked along! It was pretty funny; you had to see it.
Left the campground via the short section of VG trail to the east connecting to the dirt road which is Sanctuary Road. The rest of the run (Prosser, King's Factory, Shumankanuc Hill, Buckeye Brook, Charles, Klondike) was pretty unremarkable. Ran at a comfortable pace only checking my watch when it beeped at mile splits. Still had some bad thoughts and awful images in my mind around our recent family tragedy, but I also tried hard to shift to looking to the future and fun days and events again. Worked hard on the two substantial (> 100') climbs, and the rest was easy. Returned to Dave's Coffee at 19.7 miles, so I didn't need to tack on much at all, before going inside to enjoy an iced coffee and a scone. Just like my 15-mile run on Thursday, this one worked out also to a 6:48 average pace. Feel good about that for not trying.
Weekly mileage: 62 run, 3 walk
Weekly synopsis: This was the week that I told myself I would resume running and training in earnest. My brother's service was last week, and while there continue to be difficult moments and conversations and still some somber tasks lying ahead, I need to start moving ahead with my own life. And I successfully resumed the training! I got in both a 15 miler and a 20 miler this week. I'm feeling really good about that.
I'm not ready for big group runs or races, so I've decided to bag any thoughts of running the USATF-NE indoor track masters meet next weekend. I'll get there, but it needs to be on my own pace (no pun intended!).
Weekly highlight: Today's 20-mile long run! Psyched that I got it done. Running it at average 6:48 without trying was just a bonus. Onward!
Weekly lowlight: Cold fingers and a little bit of self-doubt. The latter will come and is at least partially related to me still trying to figure things out in the wake of the tragedy. As to the former, I feel this is somewhat new. As Kevin M mentioned, this may indeed be part of aging. Temps in the upper 20s felt fine today, but at 15° and below, I just can't seem to get my fingers warm until wearing ridiculously thick gloves. I may look into those "convertible" gloves with an extra fabric layer to go over the fingers and essentially make a mitten in cold temps, or might consider those hand warmers. Any thoughts on either welcome. Either way, if that's my weekly lowlight of the week, that's a huge improvement from the past two weeks!
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