Weekly Log 21-Feb to 27-Feb-2022: Need a "Plan B" Marathon

Miscellaneous rambling:

Looks like any thought of a free "elite" entry into Providence Marathon has vanished, as I procrastinated, being oblivious to the fact that there was a capacity:

Back to the drawing board.  Will have to check what else is reasonably close, i.e., driveable,
about this timeframe.

Googled "Hare Hop 5K" to find out more info as I contemplate running this local race next Saturday with other club members:

The locale, at least, sounds really interesting!  Always had this country on
my bucket list.

Monday:  10 run, 2 hike

AM:  Hopkinton, RI.  Presidents' Day.  Ran at Yawgoog / Green Falls with Brady.  Very quiet; saw but one other person during our trek.  Beautiful, especially in Green Falls Pond area.  My do-good deed today was picking up a "Happy Birthday" helium balloon from deep in the woods on an unmarked trail in Pachaug and carrying it out.  If I had made my deed even better, I would have carried it all the way to the car and brought it home to discard, but I was early in the run and dropped it off at a trailhead parking at Green Falls.  Hopefully another Good Samaritan will take it from there.  Just beautiful at Green Falls Pond.

PM:  Westerly, RI.  Afternoon hike with Jana and Brady at Champlin.

Tuesday:  1 walk, 4 run

AM:  Westerly, RI.  CCC.  Massive tangled blowdown at Wahaneeta.  In retrospect, I would have re-routed the trail around this monster.  Just not worth the risk, but it wasn't my call.

PM:  Charlestown, RI.  From Kettle Pond Visitor Center in the rain, dark skies, and wind.  With Brady.  Not sure if it was due to the inclement weather, but I had a lot of negative and dark thoughts during this run.  Mostly about my brother's death.  I am cognizant that my mental recovery does not take a linear progression, and I have to deal with that.

Wednesday:  13

AM:  Westerly, RI.  8 mile 'Round the Pond run snuck in between six meetings.  We should really have a maximum number of meetings per day; otherwise, it's just tough to get anything done, especially running!  Very warm (51°F) and humid (91%) day, and I just felt very sweaty.  Part of it my own fault for wearing a long sleeve shirt, but obviously part of it that I'm not used to these temps in February.  This winter has been a real rollercoaster of weather, and I can't say I enjoy it.  Decent headwind on return, but still averaged 6:48 pace without really pushing it.

PM:  Stonington, CT.  My 4-5pm meeting ended 15 minutes early, so headed to Barn Island with Brady to catch a final daylight activity.  With the warm weather, many others had the same idea apparently as there were at least 10 cars parked there.  Fortunately, most of the visitors typically stick to the double-track carriage roads along the marsh, so we quickly headed for the single-track sylvan sections.  Disappointed to see a number of single-track trails overgrown with briars even in February.  DEEP doesn't seem to maintain these trails, and the downside of them not getting much love is they're overgrown.  Returning to the marshes near end of run, we saw the last flickers of an impressive crimson sunset, which faded to complete darkness just as we were finishing.

Thursday:  8

Charlestown, RI.  Had planned on running 13 today, but just plain lost interest in going that far.  Morning run at Ninigret with Brady.  The run was just fine, but decided 8 was enough and maybe I'd go back for more later.  Back home, got into my routine and no interest to run came back to me.  In sharp contrast to yesterday, it was only 28° when I ran, but felt so much more comfortable than yesterday.

Friday:  5

Westerly, RI.  Morning snow and sleet run, before heading up to Boston for the day.  Early in my run with Brady, the snow turned to sleet.  Found myself looking down to reduce the stinging on my face.  Unlike snow, and even rain if warm enough, sleet is just not enjoyable under any circumstances.

In Boston for the day, Jana and I had lunch
at a Japanese hot pot restaurant at Back Bay.

Pick you main plate ...

... pick your broth (mushroom left, miso right),
add some vegetables and noodles,
and cook your own meal.
---
We just happened to stumble on this place
while looking for a more traditional sandwich shop;
a lot more fun!

Snowy day in Boston.  Glad we opted for
public transportation, especially as we
got sleet on top of snow back home making
for slippery roads even getting to the local train station.

Saturday:  16

Colchester, CT.  Colchester Half Marathon.  Full write-up to follow very shortly.

Sunday:  5

Taking Brady out for his evening ritual before bed last night, both of us were slip sliding away on the snow crust on our back lawn.  That killed any thought of a Sunday morning trail run for me; just not worth the risk and likely not fun.  So a medium-long road run, perhaps?

Westerly, RI.  Woke up to quite a bit of post-race soreness, mostly in the calf and quad muscles.  Rolled out and stretched well, but ruled out anything long.  Easy local road run with Brady.  There were even places on the roads where we had to slow down or go up on people's lawns to avoid ice.  Ran a bit on the beach as well to break it up.  Five is good for today.

Weekly mileage:  62 run, 3 walk

Weekly synopsis:  Weekly mileage was under what I was targeting in marathon build-up, but now with Providence off the table, I need to refigure my plans.  

Weekly highlight:  Colchester Half Marathon.  Exceeded my expectations!

Weekly lowlight:  Disappointment in not having fixed marathon plans.  Looking forward to Eastern States 20-Miler in just one month, but need to set more of a race plan.

Weekly Log 14-Feb to 20-Feb-2022: Seventy-Five

Miscellaneous Olympics rambling:

• I typically watch very little sports on TV, but I really enjoyed watching the 2022 Winter Olympics.
• I think the only Winter Olympics event I would feel comfortable with trying would be any of the nordic skiing events.  The rest of the events are fun to watch, but a little too extreme for me personally.  Well, I suppose curling seems safe enough, but not that interesting to me.
• Next Olympics will be in Paris (Summer 2024).  Will they really be able to clean up the "River of Rubbish" (the Seine) and be able to host the triathlon there?
• Summer Olympics 2032 will be in Brisbane.  Does that mean it will be held during Brisbane's summer, or during ours?

Monday:  3

Westerly, RI.  We were only supposed to get a "coating to an inch" of snow, but instead we woke up to 4" of fresh powder.  Got out in the afternoon for a very fun, if not tiring, snowshoe run at Woody Hill with Brady.

Tuesday:  12

AM:  Stonington, CT.  7 miles.  Had a short window between work meetings to get out there for a run.  Weather late morning only 23°, but it was sunny and calm and felt great.  Ran on mostly quiet roads in lower Pawcatuck, and vowed to get out there again today.

PM:  Westerly, RI.  5 miles.  Late afternoon with Brady at Grills.  Trails were generally well packed down hardpack snow.  Conditions were just superb.  Zero ice as temps have been below freezing since the snow fell 48 hours ago.  Amazing sunset and bright white moonrise atop Big Hill.  I read later tonight that this was the "Snow Moon"!  Fantastic.

Wednesday:  15

AM:  Westerly, RI.  8 miles.  'Round the pond solo road run.  Still 15mph wind from the south, off the ocean.  Felt cold because of this and a lack of sun, despite temps in the high 30s.  Average pace 6:59, but overall pace pretty inconsistent, which I'll chalk up to the wind.

PM:  Charlestown, RI.  7 miles.  Parked at Kings Factory Road trailhead and ran the road section first, as we started at 4:30pm and I correctly predicted we'd finish in the dark (without headlamps).  In other words, I'd much rather finish on trails in the dark than roads with cars.  Trails were 90% snow-covered, with a soft wet snow.  Traction was fine except on the bog bridges.  Brady slipped awkwardly near the covered bridge.  I didn't think much of it at the time and just slowed the two of us down while on bridges.  However, an hour or so after getting home, he was really limping and keeping his rear left leg from hitting the floor.  If I fall or injure myself, that's one thing.  But when he gets injured, I feel badly and guilty even; hopefully a quick recovery.

Thursday:  8 run, 3 hike

AM:  Westerly, RI.  WLT hike from Wahaneeta into Woody Hill.  I led a group of 22 (much more than I expected!) on a warm but wet day.  Great group of people, mostly all retirees and many whom I met for the first time.  I hope activities like these are ones that I can establish more firmly when I reach retirement.

Leading a hike, and explaining something
along the way (far right)

We had a lot of different ages and abilities on
our hike, which was great, but I was a little
nervous on technical river crossings (behind me),
and made sure I stayed behind to give any assistance.
Was thrilled everyone got across with zero falls.

Mid-afternoon:  Charlestown, RI.  4 miles.  Had a short window to run between a post-cancer checkup and my next appointment.  Ran wet roads inside Burlingame Campground.  The asphalt roads were fine; the dirt roads were basically rutted mud.

Yikes.  Glad this was finally caught and surgically removed,
just as it was starting to spread.  I'll be having a full checkup
every four months for ten years, and I am just fine with that!

Late-afternoon:  Stonington, CT.  4 miles.  After my final appointment, starting at 5pm, my next window was short due to impending darkness.  Easy run in lower Pawcatuck.

Friday:  5

Westerly, RI.  Late afternoon easy run with Brady at Woody Hill.  Yay, he's recovered!  From Fallon Trail.  Temps dropped 30 degrees today (from low 60s to low 30s, and it was brutal, but fortunately Woody is fairly well protected.  I can't imagine a road run along Atlantic Ave today.  Brrr.

Saturday:  22!

Richmond, RI.  Parked at Arcadia Y, and got ready in the car for my planned out and pre-mapped run loaded to my watch.  Conditions?  28° with a 10mph wind.  OK, hat?  Check.  Gloves?  Check.  Quarter-zip?  Negative.  Oh man, what a dunce.  I remember taking it out last night (bright yellow to be visible on roads), but pretty sure I left it on my nightstand.  A lot of good it does me there.  Now what?  Drive back home, get it, and return?  No.  Cancel the run?  No.  I resolved to get out there sans quarter-zip, run at least a few miles, and then adjust or end early as needed.

Got of the car and was instantly hit by a gust of cold wind.  Brrr.  What am I doing, thinking of a long run in just short shorts and a thin tech shirt?  Stick to the plan, man.  Started the run, and not unexpectedly, my core got cold pretty quickly.  Hang in there, and stop the whining.  Within a mile, I saw two other runners out there.  See - other people are out here running.  Yeah, but both are wearing tights AND at an additional top layer.  Oh.

Two miles in I was committed.  I no longer felt cold, and other than occasional short cold bouts in shaded and/or gusty headwind areas, I felt fine.  Today was an intentional LSD.  Never pushed the pace, and never looked at my watch, except when the watch beeped for mile splits.  Even then, I never adjusted my pace based on what I saw.

I ran five miles on dirt roads (Blitzkrieg Trail and Skunk Hill Road), and the rest on asphalt.  Mostly very quiet, rural roads.  I felt good until the final two hills, when I was fatiguing, even on downhills.   Without any drink, food, or gels during the 22 miles, I was feeling pretty hungry and weak when I finished.  I know first-hand how important it is to get some protein ASAP after a long, hard, or depleting effort, so off it was to Alaina's for a turkey sandwich and iced latte.  Hit the spot.

Four hill climbs in today's run:  one 150' early on,
and then three 200' climbs late in the run.  I certainly
wouldn't want it that way in a road race, but this was good
practice.
---
Next weekend (Colchester Half), it looks like I'll have a 150' early,
a 100' and 150' climb middle, and another 150' to finish.

Awesome dinner (if you like sushi and eel)
in Mystic seemed a fitting end to a great day.

Sunday:  9 run, 2.5 hours skiing

AM:  Charlestown, RI.  Recovery run with Brady.  3.5 mile Burlingame North dirt road loop, then 5.5 miles on North Camp, VG, and Sammy Cs.  20° at start, but little wind for a change today.  Between the relative calm and sunshine, I warmed up quicker than I had expected.  The cold temps did not stop Brady from walking right into Watchaug Pond, and the price for him to pay was snow and ice chunks on his legs until we finished.  Didn't seem to bother him!  It was beautiful out on Sammy Cs with a thin veneer of snow covering the trail and woods.

PM:  Exeter, RI.  First time ever skiing with my sister-in-law and nieces.  Good to spend time with them, and a lot of fun to boot.  Brought back a lot of memories, as this is where I learned to ski at age 5 (just a few years ago!), enjoyed night skiing back in high school, and brought Mark and Matthew to skiing lessons at about age 4.

Skiing with (behind) my 6-year old niece,
on her favorite slope at Yawgoo.
(Pics by Jana)

Weekly mileage:  75!

Weekly synopsis:  Great mileage build-up week.  Really happy to hit this kind of weekly mileage, which I had not seen in over three years.

Weekly highlight:  Saturday's 22-miler.  Felt really good.  Ran easy and didn't feel sore afterwards at all.  Next I have to mix some harder miles into my long runs.

Weekly lowlight:  Time pressure several days with limited windows to run.  Not a huge complaint, as I'm cognizant and appreciative of how flexible my work schedule is.

Weekly Log 7-Feb to 13-Feb-2022: Arcadia in the Snow

Monday:  6

AM:  Westerly, RI.  1 mile.  Failed run at Wahaneeta Preserve, as with the snow now melted from my own yard, I had not anticipated that the trails would be snow and ice laden.  It was just so slick that it wasn't enjoyable.  Brady slid on an iced over bridge, I fell and strained my already hurting shoulder on impact, and then got up and immediately slid awkwardly.  Abort; try again later.

PM:  Stonington, CT.  5 miles.  Temps had warmed up to upper 30s, but it wasn't any more enjoyable at Barn Island, as the trails had wet snow, slush, and mud to contend with and slide through.  There were a few very cold puddles to run through, and midway through the run, the rain picked up.  Ugh.

Tuesday:  3 walk

AM:  Westerly, RI.  Another alarm clock fail.  To be clear, the clock didn't fail, its owner did.  Again.  Plan was to run 10 before CCC.  Woke up to darkness and pouring rain.  Nah.  Set the alarm clock 1.5 hours later and went back to sleep.  At CCC, today's continuing annual monitoring for land trust accreditation was at Riverwood Preserve.  As almost everyone agrees, a great little preserve but with horrible and intimidating access.  The trails were absolutely saturated today, and we walked on alternating sections of streams flowing down the trail, wet snow, and ice.

PM:  Thought about going out for a trail run when my work meetings finished up after 4pm, but by then had lost motivation especially given soaking wet and flooded trails.  Resolved (again) to get up early for a road run before morning meetings.  Let's see how this goes.

Wednesday:  15

Noon:  Charlestown, RI.  10 miles.  Truth be told, I failed yet again to get out for an early morning run.  Alarm went off at 6am, I got up, saw the darkness, and went back to bed.  I am impressed with those that consistently get up in the dark and go out for a run.  I used to do that, as Billy Joel would say, "when I wore a younger man's clothes".  But I need to acknowledge those days are gone, and fortunately I have a lot of flexibility in working from home, and yes, my manager and her manager know I often run during the workday, which is fine as long as I get my work done.  But I digress ...

After my last meeting of the morning, drove to Dave's Coffee for a planned workout in Quonochontaug.  3 miles easy (7:20s), 4 miles hard (5:57 average pace), 3 miles easy (7:10 average pace).  Mostly flat roads and while not racing effort, I was disappointed with how hard those 4 middle miles felt.  Until Matthew texted me that my 4-mile time was actually just 3 seconds off my 4 mile PR!  Oh.  Well, that changes my perspective!

Late afternoon:  Charlestown, RI.  5 miles.  Easy recovery on Burlingame roads, with Brady.  Saw Eric Winn out for a walk with his dog as well.

Thursday:  9

AM:  Charlestown, RI.  4 miles.  With Brady on campground trails.  Trails had some snowpack, but mostly clear.

PM:  Westerly, RI.  5 miles.  With Dave, Justin, and Kevin pre-WTAC board meeting, from Barlow into Woody Hill.  Some muddy spots but not bad overall.

Friday:  11

Narragansett, RI.  Finding myself in Narragansett again, I decided to run in a different part of town this time:  the southernmost.  Parked at Scarborough Beach, and then headed south to Point Judith Lighthouse.  This stretch was tough with a wind directly out of the south, but then headed west to Galilee and north into the quiet roads of Great Island, my first time running there.  Returned via Galilee Escape Road and finished on the beach.  Average pace 6:48.  Felt good throughout.  This run would not work well in the summer with tourist traffic, but was just fine today on a sunny winter afternoon!

Saturday:   8 run, 2 walk

Charlestown, RI.  8-mile run.  Run with Brady on Rhody loop, from Burlingame North parking lot.  Trails almost entirely clear of snow now.  A few places flooded and a few mudded, but overall not pad.

Westerly, RI.  2-mile Souper Bowl Hike.  Finished up the Burlingame run, stopped at Dave's Coffee for a cold brew and scone, and then Jana and I went to the annual Souper Bowl Hike at Wahaneeta Preserve.  There must've been 30-40 people on the hike, followed by three homemade soups (butternut squash, chicken chili, vegetarian soup) and three homemade breads (corn, cranberry, zucchini/carrot).  All delicious!  There was a fire going in the cabin, but it was 55° outside, so we just sat at a picnic table in the sun.

Pre-hike outside the Wahaneeta cabin.

Mid-hike, with bulk of hiking group behind me.
Not sure what's with the folded hands pose.  What a weirdo.

Fortunately, we didn't have any "gazpacho police" show up at the
Land Trust soup event today!  I try (usually) to leave political remarks
off my blog, but this one really takes the cake!

Sunday:  12

Woke up to light snow falling, but with temps just dropping to the freezing point, the roads were a slushy mess.  It was an easy decision for me to abandon (defer?) the planned 20-mile road run, and hit the trails instead.  The trails were even better than I envisioned, as by the time I got to Arcadia, there was about 2" of fresh snow (not slush) on the ground.

Starting in the JB Hudson trailhead parking lot.
Dry, powdery snow.

On the Mt Tom trail.  Beautiful!

Weekly mileage:  61

Weekly synopsis:  Not the mileage I was targeting, but not too far off, and the second week in a row heading in the right direction.

Weekly highlight:  The snow run at Arcadia on Sunday.  Just beautiful in the falling snow.

Weekly lowlight:  Issues with my left shoulder stemming from two falls.  Felt both times that same horrible feeling when my shoulder dislocated years ago, but then it just snapped back into place.  Hopefully just needs time to recoup and recover torn muscle tissue.

Weekly Log 31-Jan to 6-Feb-2022: Playing in the Snow

Miscellaneous rambling:

• Can you believe a full-price alpine ski day ticket at Killington is now $169?!!  While I have my own equipment, in case you don't, a 1-day onsite rental will set you back $85!  $254 for a day of skiing, before you figure in gas, lodging, food, etc.  Yikes!  Maybe it's good I only ski once or twice per season?  Otherwise, it makes a stronger case for XC skiing, which even at major areas in New England, runs closer to $24 for a full day ticket and $25 for a day's rental.
• In my continued efforts to key cold at bay as my aging fingers become increasingly susceptible to cold, I added one more item to my winter running attire arsenal:

  

  Convertible gloves.  They did the trick in this week's 13°F run
  on Sunday.  Yes, the price tag isn't cheap, but I had a $25 gift
  certificate to Wakefield Running Company, so it was like a 
  half-price offer.

  
  
• I finally got my Philadelphia Marathon age group award in the mail:

Not that I need more awards, but this acrylic
one is pretty neat, and I feel I definitely earned it!

Monday:  2

Charlestown, RI.  Two miles?  Pathetic, right?  And it took me almost 40 minutes to get it done.  What?

Yeah, this is how the trail (NST) looked:  a foot and a half of
virgin snow!  Fun, but oh so tiring.  Needed to take a couple of
breaks to catch my breath.

A little easier in this section where at least one person had
skied, but still slow going.  Or, as you can see above,
slow going for me that is.  Brady just ran through it, and
then repeatedly and obediently waited for the slowpoke (me).

Tuesday:  4 snowshoe hike, 2 run

AM:  Westerly, RI.  Snowshoe hike leading a group of 6 CCC guys.  Snow too deep to get any traditional CCC work done, so we switched to a snowshoe hike.  One slightly bigger group went on a much shorter hike at Barlow, while I led a group at Woody Hill.  Parked at the gate at Fern Drive, as most parking lots not plowed during the winter.  I wanted to go completely around the Woody Hill Marsh, which we did and I think the participants appreciated the beauty, as several took out cameras.  Unfortunately, though, I underestimated both the distance and the pace we would travel, so I felt badly for keeping the group well beyond the two hour guideline.  Most seemed to really enjoy it, so I guess I fretted too much.

The only remaining foundation in Woody Hill that
has a roof covering.  It's pretty neat!

The frozen over Woody Hill Marsh.
I believe the vast majority of Westerly's 20,000 residents
don't even know this exists, never mind have never been here.

Some of our participants out here today on a beautiful
winter's day.

PM:  2 run

Westerly, RI.  I took Brady out in the afternoon for a road run, and I'm not sure why, but he wasn't into in and was just dragging.  Very atypical of him.  No sense forcing him.  Cut it short and headed back to the house, where I lost interest to go out again.

Wednesday:  4 snowshoe run

Westerly, RI.  Same route as I took the gang on yesterday.  Today it was just Brady and me.  I did see and talk to a few mountain bikers on Fat bikes at the beginning, but they weren't venturing out this far as they were trying to pack down a local trail (Driving Miss Hazy).  Unfortunately the snow was soft and very wet today, as temps got up to about 40°F.  

Thursday:  16

Charlestown, RI.  OK, enough playing in the snow for now, and time to get down to business.  Parked at the Breachway Grill parking lot, and then ran local roads in Charlestown and SK, including Green Hill loop and Run 4 Kerri loop:

• 3 miles easy at ~7:20 pace
• 9 miles target MP at 6:20s
• 1 mile hard at 5:55 (that wasn't part of the plan, but I was feeling good!)
• 3 miles easy at 6:50

Post workout, I went to Wakefield Running Store and picked up a pair of convertible gloves.  I read good things about these, and despite being thin, supposedly the optional glove cover keeps fingers warmer at cold temperatures, which is exactly what I'm looking for.  May have an opportunity to try these in the cold temps coming this weekend.

Friday:  4 run, plus Boston walking

Woke up (that's a good thing, right?) and found the weather to be pouring rain and dark.  I had only a short window before we went up to Boston to watch Matthew's meet, and had no motivation to run in the dark and rain.  

Despite the even worse weather when we got to Boston (freezing rain and sleet), besides the thrill of watching Matthew win his 5K heat, I really enjoyed our short time in the city.  Took the orange line to Chinatown, and it was deja vu from my old days of working downtown for 13 years.  I was thrilled to remember the streets and establishments well, and while my favorite dim sum restaurant was unfortunately closed for renovations, the dim sum restaurant across the street worked in a pinch.  In fact there are so many good restaurants in Chinatown (and other parts of Boston).  I have fond memories of large group lunches at Penang (Malaysian food) and smaller group lunches at Pho Pasteur that my Vietnamese colleague Tran brought us to.  I had forgotten that you now need proof of vaccination to enter any public building in Boston (and they really enforced this to get into Reggie Lewis track facility), but obviously that was no problem.

Westerly, RI.  Back home now, it was 32° with a light rain.  Pretty miserable weather really, but I wanted to get out for something, so Brady and I were off.  It only got worse as it soon turned it to a steady rain, and I was pretty cold in this slop, so 4 miles were more than enough.

Saturday:  6

Westerly, RI.  WTAC Group Run.  Originally planned for Grills as our 3rd annual February group run, but it was not to be after a melt / freeze cycle with frozen boot prints in the trail and an unplowed lot.  Switched to roads and that worked out just fine for us.  It was a group of seven, but I ran mostly just with Dave and had a good conversational run down into Weekapaug.

Fun group and run!

Sunday:  20!

Westerly, RI.  

Plans:  Had my doubts on getting this one done.  I had mapped out a 10-miler solo ending at RWYC group run start at Avondale, and then would run the RWYC course, more or less, to get me to 20.  

Reality:  Alarm clock went off at 6:20am.  It was dark and 9°.  I reset the alarm clock to 7:30am.  I told myself that was only acceptable if once the alarm went off again, I would immediately get my keister out of bed.  And I did!

So I switched it up to instead run the RWYC portion first.  There were only 4 RWYC runners today perhaps due to the cold weather (it had warmed up to only 13° now, with a wind chill of 2°).  Ran with JV for about a couple of miles, and the rest solo.  Never pushed the pace, and ran a very consistent run with an average pace of 6:54.

Weekly mileage:  53 run, 4 snowshoe hike

Weekly synopsis:  Still off my target weekly mileage, but an improvement over last week.  And besides, I wouldn't trade off playing in the snow for a few more miles!  

Weekly highlight:  Running in the snow!  Any snow here in southern RI typically does not last long at all, so I try to maximize my enjoyment out in the snow.  Don't get me wrong; my 16 and 20-mile runs were more productive for sure and both went all; just not as much fun!

Weekly lowlight:  The very cold rain run on Friday afternoon.  Just shivering, soaked, and not enjoyable.  Life goes on.

I'll close with this gem from a local coffee shop.
No, I don't exactly agree with this, but coffee is
important to me and I did get a chuckle!

Weekly Log 24-Jan to 30-Jan-2022: Blizzard!

Monday:  4

Westerly, RI.  Short and easy recovery run late afternoon with Brady.  From Wahaneeta into Woody Hill and back.  Legs tight from yesterday's 20-miler, but not terrible.

Tuesday:  6 run, 2 walk

Westerly, RI

AM:  3.5 miles at Grills in a light coating of snow.  Just enough time to get this in before meeting for CCC.

AM:  2+ miles monitoring three different WLT properties:  Whitely, Anderson, and Wildwood.

PM:  2.5 miles at Champlin with Brady, sandwiched between late afternoon meetings.

Not what I planned to get done, but just tight constraints today.  Back at it tomorrow!

Wednesday:  8

Hopkinton, RI.  Late afternoon run at Grills Preserve.  Started from Chase Hill Road trailhead and arrived at top of Big Hill just after sunset, with a neat orange glow on the distant horizon.  The price to be paid was finishing in the dark.  While I did bring my headlamp, I left it in the car, and it turns out that isn't very helpful.  The toughest section to navigate in the dark was the technical single-track section of Tomaquag Trail between Polly Coon Bridge and Tomaquag Brook Bridge.  I asked Brady to lead in this section, given his far superior nighttime trail navigational skills, and fortunately I had at least remembered to put orange on him, so I could follow his orange buff around his neck instead of his black fur in the dark!

Thursday:  12

Narragansett, RI.  After taking care of some death-related tasks in Narragansett, I needed some uplifting and took the opportunity while here to run somewhere different.  I parked in the plaza next to Brickley's Ice Cream, and followed a mapped out route through Bonnet Shores first.  Temps about 25° and sunny, but felt brisk along the exposed shorelines.  Even with navigation, I had trouble finding an unmarked trail connecting Bonnet Shores neighborhood with South Ferry (otherwise you'd have to run on busy Route 1A).  Finally I found it, and it was a short and not terribly established trail, but it did the trick.

In South Ferry, ran down to the URI Oceanography Campus and promptly got confused on roadways there and ran an extra circle before properly following the route on my watch.  Made note of an "Aquarium" building; I wonder if that's open to the public.  Hill climb up to South Ferry Church (where one of my brothers was married many moons ago) and then continued across Route 1A into Pettaquamscutt Lake Shores, as I was trying hard to avoid busy roads.  Down Middlebridge Road before working my way back on quiet roads on the east side of the river.  Middlebridge River?  Felt pretty good throughout, and ran an average 6:41 pace.

Friday:  0

Ugh.  My early morning into mid-afternoon was tied up with work meetings, but then I had a few hours free.  I had planned out an 18-miler, but between my penchant for underestimating time commitments and some more unplanned death related tasks, I lost my entire window for running.  Rather than sulk, I recounted how well yesterday's run went and delighted in the heavy snow forecast for tomorrow.  I need to remind myself to keep focusing on the positive.

Saturday:  7

Westerly, RI.  Blizzard of 2022!  Woke up to maybe 3" of fresh snow on the ground and lightly falling.  Time for a run!  With roads closed in the state today per a ban from the Governor, it was obvious I would be running from home.  Decided to head to the beach, and made it up from there.  Just as I was passing Keith's house, he was going out for a run, and thus joined Brady and I.  It was good to have company on the run.

On the roads, I was overdressed and warmed up quickly, but once Keith flipped around to head home and Brady and I went on the beach, I no longer felt so toasty in the very exposed winds.  Ran out towards Watch Hill, but after a few minutes realized this wasn't the fun I imagined.  The ocean had breached the beach in a few places, so had to awkwardly go up very high in places.  Then I didn't see a snow-covered breach, and both my feet went ankle deep into the water.  (Hint:  the ocean is not warm in January.)

Deep snow drifts at the dunes, Misquamicut.

Headed back out on the roads, and stayed on the roads for the rest of the run, where my feet gradually warmed up.  The snow and wind were really starting to intensify towards the end of my run.

Made several passes of shoveling the driveway during the storm, as I didn't want to leave it all until tomorrow.  Brady came out with me each time.

Not the best frisbee-flying weather, but he got his
frisbee out of the garage, and insisted on playing,
and even kept himself entertained with burying it in the snow
and digging it up again.  

His eyes are somewhere in there!

After several hours of being out in the storm (yes, hours!),
the snow was so matted into his fur like I've never seen before.
I figured he'd be cold, but he did NOT want to come in!
I guess he's not a Florida dog anymore?

My best estimate is that we got 18" of snow.  I tried measuring it, but with the blowing snow, the depths in my backyard are anywhere from 13" to 26".  22" was shown for Westerly on Channel 10 weather, as reported by National Weather Service, so I guess I'll go with that.

Interesting tidbit on the weather reporting that only four municipalities in the state officially had a blizzard:  Providence, Westerly, New Shoreham, and Newport.  Which, of course, begs the question of what specifically is the definition of a blizzard.  According to the National Weather Service, a blizzard is:

Blizzard criteria is three consecutive hours with winds sustained or frequently gusting at or above 35 mph with blowing or falling snow reducing visibility to a 1/4 mile or less.

While I knew there was a wind component to the blizzard criteria,
I had also thought it included a specific minimum of snow.  As my 
grandmother also said, try to learn something new everyday.
At least for today, I succeeded!

Sunday:  5

Finished shoveling out my driveway, and noticed the single Mom across from us was just getting started shoveling and had heavy and deep snow banks (more than 2' deep).  Momentarily thought I've had enough already from shoveling my own driveway from deep snow and that I'll go inside and have breakfast.  Nah, breakfast can wait.  This is a good opportunity to be neighborly.  Went over with the snowshovel to help her and her son, and before long, my next door neighbor came over to help as well, saying I was making him feel guilty.  My grandmother often used the adage, "Many hands make light work", and while the snow was anything but light, figuratively the work was much lighter for sure.

End of our driveway, with my running companion.
Not much snow in the middle of my driveway, but huge
drifts at both ends. (that snowbank is taller than me).
18° at Noon, but actually felt warm running with the
bright sunshine.

Westerly, RI.  I put the shovel aside and it was time for a run with Brady.  Surface varied from dry and heavily salted (Shore Road) to wet roads (Winnapaug Road) to nice snow hardpack (Misquamicut back roads).  Still slow going overall, but good to get out.  

Kept the run reasonably short, as besides
being pretty tired and sore from all the shoveling,
it was time to go sledding with my nieces!
(one in background, while Brady in foreground
is wondering what am I up to now)

Weekly mileage:  42 run, 2 walk

Weekly synopsis:  Lowest mileage week since Philadelphia Marathon recovery in early December.  A long run just wasn't happening with the blizzard this past weekend, and I zeroed on Friday with unanticipated life (or death) issues.

Weekly highlight:  The blizzard!  I just love snowstorms.  Running wise, the 12-miler in Bonnet Shores was fun to run in a different area.

Weekly lowlight:  Yeah, the low mileage.  Life goes on.