AM: Exeter, RI. 8.5 mile recovery run at Arcadia with Brady and Matthew. Lung burn and cough from yesterday's 1-mile race was now gone, but still kept it easy on a mix of dirt roads and single-track.
PM: Stonington, CT. 5 miles with a headlamp at dusk. Ran the Kelley's Pace Frostbite 5-Mile course to get familiar with it as new RD. I'm fine with running these roads during the day, but several do not have any painted shoulders and made me a bit nervous in the dark.
PM: Stonington, CT. 3.5 mile run at the Kelley's Pace weekly run, every Monday at 6pm. Ran mostly with Bob Gralton, and we talked about respective upcoming big races, with his being the Pineland Farms either 50K or 50M course. I believe completing the run gets you a free beer (or wine?), but being tired plus not much of a beer drinker, I headed home for dinner instead.
Tuesday: 1 walk, 10 run
AM: Westerly, RI. Start of the new year at Westerly Land Trust means the start of annual property monitoring. Being an accredited land trust requires us, among other things, to monitor the borders of each of our 32 properties and report any issues (dumping, encroachment, work needed, etc). We still had the old paper forms and binders but they were just for backup and reviewing previous years' notes, as we're almost completely digital now in our reporting using phone apps.
Garbage: Today I was part of the team monitoring Barlow-1 (eastern half of the 80-acre Barlow Preserve), but it took us a while as there was a lot of trash too pick up, especially on the border of public roads and the border of one neighbor. Some people are just gross. It's unbelievable how many people just toss their stuff out of car windows, with the most prevalent garbage being cigarette butts and drink containers (nips, beverage plastic cups, etc). Someone also took the time to discard and neatly place six tires on land trust property instead of paying the fee at the nearby transfer station. Ugh.
PM: Charlestown, RI. It's a new year, and time to get serious about running and training again. It was raining quite steadily by now and I was making excuses in my mind to cut the run short, eliminate the workout part, etc. Fortunately, I prevailed in fighting the demons in my head and sticking with the plan:
- 2 miles warmup (closed campground asphalt roads)
- 10 x (1-minute "ON", 1-minute "OFF"). This was getting pretty tough for me in last few iterations, but so glad I stuck with it.
- Cool-down to finish 10 miles
Not surprisingly, I never saw another soul out there. Surprisingly, despite applying BodyGlide early in the morning, I chafed something terrible in my inner thighs post-run and for the rest of the day. Either I didn't apply it liberally enough and/or too many hours had passed between application (8am) and run (12 Noon).
Wednesday: 11
Exeter, RI.
Back to Arcadia to knock off two more Border Patrol Challenges:
- Escoheag OAB (~3 miles)
- Ben Utter OAB (~2.7 miles)
I completely forgot how twists and turns are on the northern section of the Escoheag Trail and how you really have to pay attention to the white blazes as there a number of intersecting trails where you could easily go off course if simply followed the trail straight in front of you. The trail was set and slippery in places, and sure enough on a downhill wet section I slid and went down. Slid into a rock, but nothing terrible, and got up and going again.
When we (Brady and I) stopped between the two courses, I noticed I was bleeding from my knee and almost talked myself out of running the Ben Utter course. Fortunately, Brady was whining and trying to tell me to get going, so I pointed the way, told him to go and then he led me the rest of the way out and back.
Thursday: 0
Friday: 8
Hopkinton, RI. Rainy and drab. Two miles on somewhat busy Route 3, and then quite roads. Quite hilly.
Saturday: 0
Just a busy day between race directing at Frostbite 5-Miler, and then taking down the Christmas tree and decorations. I know, easy to make excuses, but just ran out of time.
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| Love this pic and FB post from Kelley's Pace owner Jeff A: "Jeff, Jeff, and Jeff are ready for the race! Are you?" |
Sunday: 11
Charlestown, RI. Slept in, and then headed to Burlingame with Brady for a run on the trails. Was surprised to see quite a few people out hiking on the trails. Temps in the low 30s, but with the sun and lack of wind, it felt quite warm.
Weekly mileage: 58 run, 1 walk
Weekly synopsis: Not much mileage. Some good runs overall, unfortunately sprinkled with two days off and no long runs.
Weekly highlight:
- Running-wise: First running workout in too long to remember, likely prior to Detroit Marathon last October.
- Race-director wise: Helping Kelley's Pace move to our first all-digital registration check-in, hopefully a harbinger of good things to come for WTAC in 2023 as well.
Weekly lowlight: Missing two days of running. Need to plan better, and then execute.
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