Monday: 5
Charlestown, RI. Windy recovery run at Ninigret with Brady. There have been construction workers here weekdays for the past few weeks. Curious what they are working on, but I guess not curious enough to ask.
Tuesday: 2 walk, 5 run
AM: Westerly, RI. CCC. Final property to be monitored this year was Grills. I led one of the two teams, and took the Land Trust property behind homes on the north side of Bowling Lane. Absolutely disgusting the amount of dumping that goes on there.
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| One of the nice parts of the northern section of this property is the railroad tracks are still in place from when trains ran here from the nearby mill many decades ago. |
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| The tracks continue across a stream even though the bridge is long ago rotted and washed away. |
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| Just a portion of the junk we hauled out of our WLT property today, including a bed post, bed rail, TV, remains of a scooter, and copious amounts of other junk. |
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| Emma (WLT intern that I was paired up with today) even pulled this child's kitchen playhouse out of the stream. This was heavy; it clearly did not just blow into the stream. --- But, hey, why bother with the hassle of bringing this junk to the town transfer station when for free you can just throw this all into the woods on Land Trust property? Sometimes I just can't understand people's mentality. At all. |
PM: Charlestown, RI. Another windy run, and another recovery run, as legs a tad sore today. Burlingame Campground perimeter loop jog with Brady.
Wednesday: 14
Westerly, RI. From home to Avondale and Watch Hill, then a loop "around the pond" through Misquamicut and back. Felt like a struggle to run this at about 7-minute pace, but this is the longest I've run in a while and parts of it were into pretty strong headwinds.
Thursday: 5 walk, 4 run
AM: Richmond, RI. This week's WLT hike was at Carolina North. Pleasantly surprised to see and catch up with John H / Pard. Nice group of 15 (plus Brady today).
Was nice to have the hike leader (Sally) come up to us after the hike specifically to call out Brady and say how well he behaved is.
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| Very happy to find and carry a stick. |
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| Glad my Mom (in red jacket) came along as well. |
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| Happily chasing a stick and running at Carolina Trout Pond |
PM: Westerly, RI. Woody Hill with Brady. Exactly three weeks out from my ankle injury, I decided to try a short trail run. In retrospect, this was premature. Even going slow and cautious on easy trails, I mis-stepped twice and could feel my ankle is still pretty unstable on any uneven surfaces (both were on rocks in the trail).
Friday: 20!
Richmond, RI. I was in Richmond for a weekly meeting on my hiking trail map short term freelance project. Finished the meeting and came out of the coffee shop (Higher Grounds) to sun, no wind, and mid-40s. Perfect running weather!
Drove the short distance to DEM's Wyoming Dam parking lot and started my two (different) loop run from there. I had already planned to break the run into two pieces with a gel and fluids stop in between. I like the way on longer runs that Matthew will often make the first portion the longer distance, so you have less to do in the second "half" and I opted to do the same.
Loop 1 (12 miles): Ran hilly roads (Highview Rd, Fenner Hill Rd) before about a mile section of Route 3. I noted to myself that Route 3 in this section (west of the old Edwards Garage) was actually so quiet that I could normally just in the road to avoid the sand-covered shoulder, and even when vehicles approached, the shoulder was very wide. Ran the 300' climb up Canonchet Road, which I actually like.
I was running uphill on Canonchet Road when the PM struck. It quickly became clear to me that this wasn't a situation where I might be able to outrun him for a couple of miles, but rather this was immediately impending. I just made it off the road and behind some trees in the nick of time. [Note to self: this is why I personally should never drink coffee before runs.]
The rest of this loop was great. Very little traffic, no ankle instability, and only minor pain in the ankle for a short steeper part of a road climb. The miles went by pretty quickly on Dye Hill Road and Fairview Ave and I'm back at the car. I was having a little redness and tenderness on my inner thigh. Fortunately, I had Body Glide in my car so I applied that liberally to avoid any chafing or chub rub. Took my GU gel, some water, and Gatorade, fought off the temptation to end my run, and headed out for Loop 2.
Loop 2 (8 miles): Headed east, mostly on KG Ranch Road and back on Arcadia Road. Had some pangs in the legs from about Mile 16 on, but by then I was on my way back and had no choice but to continue on. Just my luck that I got back about Mile 19.5 and had to go for a short OAB to get 20.
Finally, done. Legs are sore pretty quickly, so I take some Vitamin I, and I down an entire quart of Gatorade, a small chocolate milk, and lots of water. I need some protein replacement quick, so I get shrimp tacos at Alaina's Guac & Roll. Decent, but not great. Didn't seem fresh. I much preferred Alaina's when it was a sandwich and coffee shop.
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| Wyoming Dam: pretty area |
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| The water was really rushing through the old dam foundation dating to at least 1890. |
Saturday: 7
Stonington, CT. WTAC monthly group run at Barn Island. Temps in upper 30s, drizzling, and a little windy. One of those days where standing around you feel cold, but on the run was just fine. In fact, I was overdressed in a quarter-zip and felt quite warm. I did fine with my ankle on the dirt roads of Barn Island and paved roads in lower Pawcatuck; just a few loose rock sections in Barn I had to be careful with.
Sunday: 7 run, 2 walk
AM: Hopkinton, RI. When Nick's ankle was injured, it seems he was running dirt roads instead of trails. Now the shoe is on the other foot, so to speak, as he's out running a 26-mile BPC technical course today, while I'm taking a page from his book and running the route he planned out for a WTAC group run late last year.
Parked on Camp Yawgoog Road, just outside the Bucklin Gate, and ran OAB with Brady out into Voluntown, CT and back.
Weekly mileage: 64 run, 9 walk
Weekly synopsis: This was a great week! Upped my mileage back over 50 for the first time since ankle injury three weeks ago, and got in my longest run (20 miler) since Detroit Marathon last October. Unfortunately, the trail run test didn't go so well, but as long as I can run roads (including dirt roads), I think I can be patient.
Weekly highlight: Running a 20-miler on Friday.
Weekly lowlight: Realizing I'm not ready to get back to trail running, and that I won't be able to do any more of the Border Patrol Challenges this season.
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