Monday: 0
Complete day off after 42 miles of trails in three days.
Tuesday: 1 walk, 5 run
AM: Westerly, RI. For today's CCC assignment, I worked with two others on clearing a lot of overgrowth at the Rathbun Cemetery at Wahaneeta Preserve. Much progress made, but a perennial task.
PM: Charlestown, RI. Parked at Burlingame Campground entrance, and ran the road perimeter, which is pretty much exactly 5 miles. Sunny but crisp day with temps in the mid-40s.
Wednesday: 10
Westerly, RI. Run with Brady at Woody Hill. Ran a fun CCW loop from Fallon Trail. Other than in the parking lot, never saw a single person on the trail the whole time.
Thursday: 5 walk
Hopkinton, RI. Led today's Thursday WLT hike. I am new to this since retiring in July, but the basics are that anyone is welcome, although the target audience is "agile seniors", which I guess with me pushing 60 and retired now I fit that profile as well. 50% of the hikes are supposed to be on WLT properties and the rest can be anywhere else in the nearby SE CT / SW RI region.
For the hike I led last month, I chose a WLT property (Grills Preserve), so this month I went with something different and chose Canonchet Brook Preserve. Besides our trio (Jana, Brady, me), there were twelve others that joined us. Many of the group had visited the stone structures on the Canonchet Trail, including the sawmill ruins and house and root cellar foundations from Jonathan Foster in the early 1800s. However, few had gone on the Table Rock Trail or Narragansett Trail extension. Unfortunately, the Table Rock Trail was pretty overgrown and needs some work. I was also concerned about the river (Canonchet Brook) that you need to cross on the Table Rock Trail as there is no bridge there and just go across on rocks and logs. Not to worry, many in the group, including spry octogenarians simply jumped over rocks and river to my surprise and delight!
The first mile or so was unfortunately leaf-blown, both unnecessary and a source of erosion. One woman (who also maintains several HLT properties) was especially upset by this and reached out to find out who did this. It turns out it was the Nature Conservancy that did this! They are the properties owners, but if they have that kind of time to work on trails, maybe instead of wasting fuel and creating emissions and erosion unnecessarily, they could put that time to better use by actually maintaining and pruning the Table Rock Trail, also on their property.
Friday: 10
Charlestown, RI. Solo mid-morning road run at Quonochontaug. Temps in the high 30s, but felt very comfortable in the sunny and calm weather. It's so nice there this time of year.
Saturday: 1 walk, 5 run
AM: Westerly, RI. Short hike as part of Westerly Land Trust's annual meeting. From WLT headquarters at the 80-acre Barlow Preserve, we walked the trails just to the west of the Barlow buildings, including a soon-to-be-cut trail going through a section of tall cedars.
PM: Charlestown, RI. Short 5-miler in wind-driven rain with Matthew. Still warm (mid-50s) and comfortable.
Sunday: 10
Groton, CT. WTAC monthly group run. December was my turn to host the group run, and I chose trails at Bluff Point and Haley Farm State Parks. I would venture a guess that 95%+ of people walk or run the fire roads there, and I emphasized that I was looking to get off "the beaten path" and run the single-track trails there instead. It worked out well. Group of nine total, including Brady.
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| Today's group (or most of us anyway) |
Weekly mileage: 41 run, 7 walk
Weekly synopsis: Lowest mileage week since April, with not one, but two days off from running this week. Just nothing planned and took an easy week. Which is OK with me only I if I get some goals and get back into it. Next week should keep me focused with a 5K on Saturday, and hopefully a workout midweek, but beyond that?
Weekly highlight: Group run today at Bluff & Haley.
Weekly lowlight: Lack of focus.
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