Monday: 7
Tampa, FL. Got up at 6am for a sunrise run before a busy day. This far west in the Eastern Time Zone, the sun rises and sets much later than back at home. Even at sunrise it was still 75° with 90% humidity. Ugh. Well, still need to get it done. My singlet was pretty much soaked by Mile 1, but with thanks to my friend BodyGlide, I did not chafe or bleed anywhere. Ran the very short distance from my hotel to the Courtney Campbell Causeway paved path, which parallels Route 60 but runners have a protected lane. The path goes all the way to Clearwater, but seven miles would do for today.
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| Running along the path, just before sunrise |
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| Attractive natural scenery |
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| For most of the span, the bike/pedestrian path was adjacent to the road, but there we had our separate bridge away from cars |
Back at the hotel, since I was drenched with sweat already, took a quick dip in the hotel pool before getting breakfast (great buffet and plenty of fruit and fresh juices) and starting my grinding day.
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| The hotel pool looks nice, but it was disappointingly not refreshing at all as the water was like bath water |
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| My "job" today was driving this U-Haul truck from Mark's apartment, seen here in Tampa, to temporarily store his stuff at my brother's house just outside Augusta, Georgia. --- It wasn't particularly difficult to drive, but certainly uncomfortable being in the truck for almost 9 hours, especially during heavy rain storms and state highways with ZERO shoulders. |
Tuesday: 9 run, 1 walk
Columbia County, GA. Drove early morning to the northern terminus of the Augusta Canal Path. Again, early morning, temp was already in the 70s with humidity at 92%. Easy, flat run along the canal. Quite a few people out walking, running, and biking. Glad I brought a towel from the hotel as I was again drenched.
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| Falls at the start of the run. |
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| Most of the run looked like this. |
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| Dessert after dinner in final night (for now) in the south. Rich and delicious, but couldn't even finish it. I was glad we walked to/from the restaurant, as I was stuffed. |
Wednesday: 4 walk, 4 run
AM: Up before 5am for shuttle to airport and return flights to RI. Walked 2 miles in Atlanta airport and then 2 in Philly waiting for transfer.
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| First time in years that we used a moveable staircase instead of a jetway to board the aircraft. Mark (just ahead of me) said it might have been his first time ever. --- I much prefer larger jets. |
PM: Westerly, RI. Fun Run week #2. Between travel fatigue and racing in two days, opted to take it slower and easy. 6:30 average pace for a 20:37 finish.
Thursday: 6
Westerly, RI. Late afternoon run with Brady in Woody Hill. Sunny and warm 75°.
Friday: 10
AM: Charlestown, RI. 3-mile shakeout, with Brady, on dirt roads in Burlingame North.
PM: East Lyme, CT. Niantic Bay 10K. Separate write-up to follow.
Saturday: 16
Stonington, CT. Busy day with a brother's wedding celebration in the afternoon and Tom McCoy's trail dedication in the morning. When Justin P reached out to me to ask if I would run before the trail dedication, I saw a way to kill not two, but three birds with one stone. (Just an expression; no birds were harmed in this exercise.) Got my long run in from Stonington High School (site of McCoy trail dedication), finally got out to run the new red trail (being dedicated to Tom McCoy) and measure that for inclusion in our Stonington XC 5K Fun Run, and attended the dedication itself, all in one fell swoop. Kind of.
Ran 11 solo on mostly quiet roads, including dead end roads in Wequetequock and dirt roads in Barn Island Management Area. Screwed up twice trying to return to the back trail entrance to SHS. Kept going down one-way streets until I remembered that the route back (from Palmer / Moss St) was actually a gated dirt road, not an open asphalt road at all.
Met up with Dave and Justin to run the Stonington course with the red trail swapped in as recommended by town officials. This will also eliminate the 2-way trail traffic problem we have had in past years. At least on GPS, the route came out a little long at 3.22 miles, so we think we will eliminate the perimeter run of the first artificial turf field and then try wheel measuring.
Sunday: 8
Charlestown, RI. 2-mile warm-up with Brady and Matthew, with most of the run on Sanctuary Road (dirt). Came back to the start (picnic area) at the appointed time of 6:45am to meet up with Chris, Tommy, Mike, and one of Mike's co-workers/friends. Went for a very easy run up to the Ninigret tower and on the Burlingame Trail. Finished up with a dip in the pond and a get-together at Dave's Coffee for coffee and scones.
Weekly mileage: 61 run, 4 walk
Weekly synopsis: Tiring week with travel. At least I still hit my weekly goal. And it's fun to run in different states.
Weekly highlight: The run, pond dip, and coffee get-together with friends on Sunday. The Florida run could be a contender if it weren't so uncomfortably humid.
Weekly lowlight: Saturday's long run. I get the miles in, but a number of them were on pretty busy roads.
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