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| I was surprised and thrilled to get this age group award in the mail this week. It's been three months since the Detroit Marathon, but this was worth the wait! This might be the only award I've ever won that is embossed with my name. |
Plainfield, CT. Quinebaug Trail OAB. 9th (of 19) Border Patrol Challenges completed now. Started near, but not at, the recommended spot of the trail's northern terminus. The terminus is on busy Route 14A, and there is no parking lot, just room for a car or two to pull off the road. There is a public parking lot at a trailhead just half a mile away, so I opted for that, as it was very quiet and also made me much more comfortable getting Brady in and out of the car and not being near fast moving cars.
The weather was in the mid-30s with off-and-on rain and windy. This trail is in rough condition to begin with (think rutted and washed out jeep roads ripped up further by motorcycles), but it was even worse today as so much of it was just flooded. Don't I like running through puddles? Depending upon the conditions, yes, but it was 35° out today and that water was cold. It wasn't just one or two puddles, but rather dozens and dozens of long flooded section of trail that were impassable except to go straight through the cold flooded sections. It got old quickly.
If it weren't for the Border Patrol Challenge, I would never run this trail again. Even with BPC, if this trail remains in the line-up and if I run BPC again, I'll have to think hard about whether I want to run this trail or not. It just plain is not enjoyable.
Just so that I'm not giving a overly harsh assessment of the trail, I googled reviews on Quinebaug Trail. Here are excerpts of the first review that I found, and I totally agree with both comments:
- "... located in Pachaug State Forest and disappointing in almost every way. The nearby Pachaug, Narragansett and Nehantic should always be a preference to this one."
- "It may sound harsh but this trail has almost no redeeming features. The northern 3 miles struggles along a rocky wide path with very little to see and past a heavily flooded pond area. The southern section is better and has woodland areas but still no real highlights or features and the whole trail has significant damage from logging activity and ATV vehicles. The only reason you might come here is to avoid seeing anyone else."
Ran the Quinebaug Trail OAB in 2:17, one minute faster than two years ago. I was surprised by that given the trails being so soaked and also that I had to stop three times on today's run (once to re-tie and tighten shoe laces, twice to pee).
Trying to give balanced feedback, here are the three positive aspects of today's run:
- Seeing a coyote on the trail in front of us and watching the action unfold, as Brady burst out ahead of me and chased the coyote until he ran off the trail. Good boy, Brady!
- I was so happy to get back to the car, blast the heat, change into a full set of dry clothes, and mentally cross this route off. Satisfaction.
- Less than a five minute drive from the trailhead was Baker's Dozen, a really nice coffee shop and bakery that Matthew had found and we visited for the first time just a week ago on return from running Midstate Trail. A large hot coffee, egg and cheese on an asiago bagel, and a donut hit the spot!
Tuesday: 2 walk, 4 run
AM: Westerly, RI. My CCC assignment today was to monitor the western boundary of Champlin Glacier Preserve, as part of the required annual monitoring for accreditation. It's funny how this is the closest property to me, as in less than one mile, borders my neighborhood, yet I had never visited or walked this boundary before. It's not remarkable in any way yet it was interesting to visit.
PM: Westerly, RI. Late afternoon easy run at Grills Preserve with Brady. As expected, my legs were pretty tired after two back-to-back 16-milers, and especially yesterday's being on the Quinebaug Trail. Having said that, they felt tired but not trashed, so I'm encouraged there but for once did the sensible thing and took it short and easy.
Wednesday: 10
Charlestown, RI. Pretty pathetic interval workout attempt on campground roads. 10 x (1:00 on, 1:00 off), with on paces generally hovering just below or above 6-flat, but in the middle had a 6:45 and a 7:00 pace interval. I guess I just got complacent there. Ran with Brady for the entirety, and with Matthew for warm-up and cool-down.
Thursday: 10
Charlestown, RI. Easy trail day, with Matthew and Brady, on Vin Gormley Trail at Burlingame, plus tacking on Burlingame Trail to make an even 10 miles. After a lot of heavy rain lately, it was not surprising to see raging rivers overflowing their banks and flooded sections of trail.
Friday: 0
Unintended zero, but in retrospect not a bad idea to take a day off. Land Trust meeting went on much longer than I anticipated and by then I was too hungry and weak to go for a run. Blah, blah, blah.
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| Took advantage of a sunny day to at least spend some time outdoors. Was taking down Christmas lights when Brady surprised me with a football he had fished out of the garage and insisted I throw it to him. Kicked it and threw a few passes which he caught, but I was a little hesitant as I was afraid it could hurt his teeth or jaws. |
Saturday: 12
Exeter, RI. Breakheart Trail OAB. 10 Border Patrol Challenges completed, 9 to go. Nice to be more than halfway done. Justin started ahead of us and we would see him out on the trail. My only previous attempt on this trail OAB was two years ago when I ran it in 1:18, and that would be my benchmark for today.
After a mile warm-up, Nick and I (and Brady!) started off together. Nick was staying right with me, which was good and helped me to push pace. I didn't know if he would go ahead of me, and if so, I told myself to push to stay close instead of just dropping back. He stayed right with me for over three miles, through streams (one of which I stumbled in and almost fell!), climbs, and descents. There are two long climbs going out (and since you have to come back, four total), both of about 200' up on single-track. We had just finished the second climb and it was the downhill towards the turn-around where I started to get some separation.
34 minutes out, 37 minutes back. How much of the three minutes extra on return were due to me running solo now, and how much due to me just getting tired? I felt like I was running just as hard on the return, but I also was clearly making mistakes in footing as I tired. On the way out, I saw Justin alone on his way back, but on the return I saw maybe eight mountain bikers and three hikers.
I never looked at my watch during the run but once I finished I saw 1:11. A full seven minutes taken off my time from two years ago! Nick came in just three minutes after me, and then we cooled down back to the cars. The three of us were pretty tired, and only Brady was looking like he wanted to keep running. Had a nice stop at a coffee shop in Richmond (Higher Grounds) to refuel. Until next time.
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| The Breakheart run temporarily put me on top of the BPC leaderboard, so I figured I'd take and post a snapshot of this before I get overtaken again. |
Sunday: 18
Westerly, RI. Often I overthink and over-plan my runs, but today I just made it up as I went along and that was kind of nice. Since I got out the door just before 8am, I made it a point to catch up with the Run While You Can crew for part of my run as the time goes by quicker when you're with others and conversing. The easy pace also worked well for me after yesterday's hard effort. After saying good-bye to the RWYC folks, I ended up running "around the pond" and through a few neighborhoods on the way back to get to 18.
Weekly mileage: 71
Weekly synopsis: Third consecutive week of mileage right around 70 (69, 70, 71). Pretty happy with that. Got in a workout, two hard BPC efforts, and a long run as well. I would call that a great running week!
Weekly highlight: Satisfaction-wise, getting the Detroit Marathon age-group winner plaque. Running-wise, the Breakheart Trail BPC run.
Weekly lowlight: The Quinebaug Trail. I think it should be renamed the Misery Trail, except that we already have a Mt Misery nearby.
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