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| My phones always have a short life span, as I'm really hard on them. A drop onto a parking lot this week spelled the death knoll for this current one. --- I was frequently in trouble at Fidelity for ruining so many of the expensive global Blackberrys they issued me. Was it my fault that they didn't fare well with sweat from running or taking a dip in the ocean? |
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| It was not a good week for technology for me. The screen is delaminating, wires are exposed, and tiny parts are literally falling out each day. |
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| I've always like the Microsoft Surface series, I'm pretty used to them as they have been the work-issued laptop at my past two employers, and they seem a lot more structurally sound than the flimsy Lenovo Thinkpad laptop I have, so I picked one up today before the Lenovo melts down completely. |
Monday: 1 walk
Just wasn't up for a run today. Should you push yourself just to get miles? Or it's OK to just sometimes take the day off for no reason?
Westerly, RI. Post-work walk with Jana and Brady at Avondale. Temperature about 27°, but somehow felt much colder. Gloved hands were cold throughout the walk. Old age cometh.
Tuesday: 1 walk, 12 run
Westerly, RI. Walk - CCC monitoring at Winnapaug Farm. Lead a team of four monitoring the borders of this property. Map based app showing borders worked well; app to report encroachments did not. This property is very clean, with minor exceptions of borders on Shore Road and Winnapaug Road, where some drivers think the Land Trust properties are their personal dumping grounds for trash they don't want.
Charlestown, RI. Run - Two CCW loops of Quonochontaug. I'm not really a multi-lap kind of runner, but I do really like these quiet roads, especially in the off-season. Despite being 38°, felt cold much of the time with a 13mph and increasing wind off the ocean and totally cloudy. Started off very slowly (7:40 pace), and then despite not pushing it, ran an average 6:49 pace. Loved the run. Hated the shoes I wore (NB Speedrift), but even though I got a great deal on them, I'm too cheap just to throw them out due to their being very uncomfortable. Isn't that just plain silly?
Wednesday: 13
AM: Westerly, RI - 10 miles. 'Round the pond, punctuated with 2 on, 2 off telephone pole pick-ups in Miles 3, 5, and 7. It was another breezy day out there today, but bright sunshine made all the difference and it was much more comfortable.
PM: Westerly, RI - 3 miles. Was intending a longer recovery late afternoon with Brady, and with the warm weather (mid 40s), I figured it was time for me to try the trails again. Bad move. Went to Grills, and while there were some bare spots, there was also a lot of mud, slush, and crusty snow. Back to the roads, for now at least.
Thursday: 5
Charlestown, RI. With a stiff wind again, and the snow now melted from my yard, I gave the trails another try. With Brady late afternoon, ran the old Brrr-lingame course. Remember that gem of a race? I imagine it's pretty rare that anyone runs the course anymore, and given the fact that the trails inside the campground had virgin snow, that sort of confirms it. About 70% of the course was clear today, and the remaining 30% was crusty snow.
Friday: 6
Charlestown, RI. Busy morning with non-work meetings (Land Trust board, etc). Finished up just before Noon, so went for a run. Of course. Was looking for something easy, flat, and soft surface, with a 5K race tomorrow morning. Ninigret! Easy grass loops, plus a few 100 meter strides at the end.
Saturday: 7
Stonington, CT. Hare Hop 5K, plus warm-up and cool-down. Write-up to follow.
Sunday: 11
Hopkinton, RI. Dirt road run with Nick and Brady. First time running with Nick this year, as he's recovering from an injury and I was avoiding people for a while after my brother's death. Really good to catch up with him. He's intentionally staying off trails and on dirt roads while he heals. This was even more fun than I thought. Nobody was out there, except for farmers at the very end of Gallup Road in Voluntown, which by the way was my first time ever running on that road. I could really feel the 200' rather steep climb up from Green Falls trailhead parking. Whew. Need more hills. They make you stronger.
There were some pretty dicey sections where the road was covered in snow and ice, so I wore trail shoes with decent grip, but overall not an issue. Never looked at my watch once. Well, except to tack on a little extra at finish to make it to my arbitrary 55mpw goal.
Post-run went to Higher Grounds Community Coffeeshop, reopened under new owners. The latte and egg and cheese sandwich on a bagel did not disappoint; it's nice to have freshly cooked to order product instead of the those fast food places with pre-fab egg and cheese shapes. Unfortunately, Fatty was a bit gluttonous when he saw the decadent donuts as well; that seems to be the new craze in doughnuts where they're more like a very rich mini-cake than a donut. That one is still sitting like a lead sinker in my stomach a few hours later. I hope I remember this incident next time I'm staring down a decadent donut.
Weekly mileage: 55 run, 2 walk
Weekly synopsis: Overall, pretty disappointing actually. Did I have any good runs? Yes, three actually: 12-miler at Quonnie, 10-mile telephone pickups in Misquamicut, and 11-mile dirt road run at Yawgoo/Green Falls. So what's the problem? Well, just didn't feel very motivated, and other than Saturday's race and Sunday's run with Nick, they were all spur of the moment and almost didn't happen.
I bailed on the Border Patrol Challenge just after I started it, as I didn't want to see people at that time right after the family tragedy. And now without a marathon plan, I'm languishing a bit and just need to get a major race back on the schedule. Some runners just seem to naturally have the motivation to keep getting out there, which I admire, but I do seem to need a bit more discipline these days. Onward.
Weekly highlight: Hilly dirt road run on Sunday.
Weekly lowlight: Lethargy.
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