Weekly Log 21-Mar to 27-Mar-2022: Spring has Sprung

Miscellaneous Rambling:

• Was seriously considering the Newport 10-Miler for this June.  Until I saw just too many Strava posts and blog posts with mileage of 9.90 or even 9.85 and the words "short course".  I contacted the race organizers with my concerns and asked if the course was certified (it's not).  They got back to me quickly to their credit, but the response was "This course has never been certified however it is measured to 10 miles.".  But they didn't say how it was measured.  Map My Run?  Car?  Um, yeah, crossing that one off.  It's too bad; the course looks great, but I know myself and just personally I'd be ticked if I ran a PR and it wasn't legit.
• Staying on the Newport spring race topic, I have decided I will run in the Newport Half next month.  The course is the first half of the full marathon, which Tommy and I ran five years ago, and it's the flatter and better half in my opinion.

Monday:  2

Hopkinton, RI.  Perimeter loop of Grills Wildlife Sanctuary late afternoon with Brady.  No injuries.  No fail.  Just intentionally conservative and preventative.  Legs surprisingly sore and tight after the weekend, which consisted of a 14-miler, a 10-miler, and a 4-mile hike.  So a busy weekend, but nothing strenuous.

First full day of spring.

Tuesday:  7 run, 4 walk

AM:  Westerly, RI.  3 mile walk.  CCC weekly volunteering.  3rd consecutive week leading a group at Riverwood Preserve to paint blazes.  This should do it for this year at Riverwood.

Noon:  Charlestown, RI.  7 mile run.  Sunny and reasonably warm, but very blustery with a 15mph wind out of the west.  I had thought of running the middle 3-4 miles hard, but I gave up that notion with the wind.  In fact, I almost gave up on the run completely as I started out running west.

Start/finish of today's run, at West Beach.  Beautiful location,
right?  Made me disgusted to see nip bottles and bottle caps
here as I finished up.  At first, I got in my car as I stewed over the
careless humans.  Then I realized the least I can do is go back and
pick up and dispose of the mess, which made me a feel a little better.

 
PM:  Westerly, RI.  1-mile post-work walk at Avondale Preserve with Jana and Brady.

Wednesday:  7

Charlestown, RI.  Post-work run with Brady at Burlingame.  First time running Sammy C's trail in a long time.  I've missed you, Sammy!  Fun techy run, including Lenny Lane, and down to the beach at North Camp, back on Vin Gormley.

Thursday:  10

Stonington, CT.  Planned out a 10-mile road loop in Mystic, which I barely had time to execute between a work meeting ending at 2:30pm and an appointment at 4:30pm.  2:30pm came and went, and the meeting continued.  Ugh.  What about my run?  My boss was in the meeting, as were a few executives, so I stayed on until the conclusion.  At 2:43pm!  Fortunately I was already in running clothes (a benefit of working remotely) and out the door in no time.  Parked at the Mystic Y, and noted to myself that there could be no lollygagging on this run.

Ran the mile west to the Groton line (the drawbridge), and then ran the majority of the Mystic 10K route, the entirety of which I'll run in May with my Land Trust friends.  Even with dreary weather, the views did not disappoint along the west side of the river looking into Stonington and the ships at Mystic Seaport.  It is a pretty area.  I was surprised to encounter another runner and two walkers on River Road in the drizzle.  Other than the first two miles and a mile with a hill climb (Jerry Brown), my pace was pretty consistently in the 6:30s.  Back at the Y, after quickly changing out of my wet clothes, I wasted no time in departing and arrived at my appointment at 4:32pm, just two minutes late.  Well played.

Friday:  5

Westerly, RI.  Very warm 56° when I went for a late afternoon run with Brady.  Intentionally slow pace on [mostly] easy trails at Grills, given I have a 20-mile race in a day and a half.

Saturday:  7

Charlestown, RI.  Re-do of Wednesday's run, and with Brady again, except this time also inviting WLT's intern Marc, a hiker, runner, and all around good guy.  I was happy to introduce him to single-track at Burlingame and we caught up at Dave's Coffee afterwards for great conversation and reflection.  Good time, before heading north.

Sunday:  21

Kittery, ME.  Eastern States 20 Mile race.  Write-up to follow.

Weekly mileage:  60 run, 3 walk

Weekly synopsis:  A really good running week!  60 miles on the week, with a good mix of roads and trails, and variety in venues.  Ran in five of the six New England states this week to boot!

Weekly highlight:  From an accomplishment standpoint, the Eastern States 20-Mile Race.  From a fun standpoint, introducing a friend to techy trails at Burlingame.

Weekly lowlight:  Truly none this week.  Life is good.