Westerly, RI. Walked the perimeter of a potential WLT acquisition. I believe it's confidential, but I'll just say it wasn't one that I was impressed with and my vote will be a no.
Stonington, CT. New Balance Demo Night at Kelley's Pace. Prior to this, the only time I've ever been to a running shoe demo was last July at the USATF Mountain Series Championships at Whiteface Mountain. There were several vendors there, and I visited the VJ booth and tried two different shoes, including running up and down scree.
Tonight's demo was coordinated with the regular Monday night Kelley's Pace / Jealous Monk run, held during the summer months on trails and rest of the year on roads. I've tried several brands, but New Balance is the one that works best for me. The New Balance rep was engaging but not overbearing and had many pairs of 1080, 880, and one other model I can't remember, in many sizes and ready for demo. While I would have loved to demo some of the more high end racing shoes, like the SC Elite v3, that wasn't in the offerings. Since I currently have the 1080v11 in my rotation as a training shoe, I tried the 1080v12 and it did seem to resolve the heel lock-down issue that I have with the v11. The rep asked me how I liked the Rebel V3 I was wearing (I love them!) and we had a good discussion on a number of other NB shoes, including the ones that Emily Sisson wore recently when breaking the American record in the half this January.
Tuesday: 5 run, 2 walk
Westerly, RI. After today's CCC session (which was the first ever Safety Day, and I was humbled to be asked to lead operation and safety of trimmers session), it was raining steadily. I checked the hourly weather forecast hoping for a later drier window, but every hour of daylight showed high probability of rain. Rain in the summer is fine with me, but rain when it's 42° not so much. Decided to abbreviate the run and ran Clamdigger 5M course in the rain.
Hopkinton, RI. The weather forecast was wrong, as the rain was done by 3pm, and the sun came out about 4pm. I was home working on my next trail map assignment of Black Farm State Management Area, and realizing I knew very little about it, I decided to take Brady and go walk it. (It's one thing for me to not be familiar with Tiverton preserves, as that's a logistical nightmare for a native Rhode Islander to get to in the same day [sarcasm], but no excuse for me not to be familiar with preserves in my adjacent town.)
It's a pretty neat place, with rickety bridges over fast flowing streams, and neat history including the remains of the Wood River Branch Railroad from the late 1800s, which used to extend from Hope Valley to Richmond Switch (modern day Wood River Junction). The railroad opened in 1874, one year after the infamous "Wreck at Richmond Switch" deadly disaster.
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| And here's that rickety bridge. Brady normally just runs over stream bridges, but was extra cautious on this one! |
Wednesday: 19
Charlestown, RI. Had a 7:30am physical therapy appointment with John Ward. Note he is selling his business as of next week to Tier One PT, but remaining on as an active employee. I was pretty annoyed that now six full weeks after my bad ankle sprain, the darned thing is still partially swollen and unstable. He reviewed my "high ankle sprain" and the notes from my doctor and x-ray results, and after some poking and prodding, had a pretty optimistic assessment. He said this would typically heal on its own, but went through some exercises to accelerate that by working on my proprioception and strengthening. I had no idea what proprioception was (a sense that allows us to perceive the location, movement, and actions of parts of our body), but mine was impaired due to the injury and I am likely favoring my opposite foot subconsciously.
Oh yeah, about today's run. Since I was already in Charlestown for PT, I opted to drive to the nearby town beach and run from there. I picked out a route that I thought was about 18 miles, and ended up being 19. East as far as Matunuck (SK), and west as far as Arnolda (Charlestown). Kind of a double OAB, but with no "cone" turnarounds. Today's temp was high 30s when I started, but since it was sunny, it just felt so much warmer than yesterday's rain. I shouldn't have worn the quarter-zip and gloves, or at least could have ditched them halfway through. I thought about dropping them, but since I'm such a scatterbrain I also realized there was a high probability that I would completely forget about them post-run and just drive home.
Average pace today 6:53. No workout since I have a race Sunday, but happy with the pace at least. Corrected my error from last week's 20-miler by taking in protein right away. Had a turkey, egg, and cheese on a bagel from Beach Rose Cafe, the same shop that donated coffee and muffins to our Li'l Rhody race last fall.
Thursday: 8
Exeter, RI. Dirt road loop with Brady, from Arcadia check station.
Friday: 1 walk, 5 run
AM: Smithfield, RI. Walked the Ken Weber Conservation Area with John K. Needed to visit this in order to map the trails. It's a nice, small (27 acre) preserve with some interesting features (photos below), but it's not well cared for and there are too many side trails, likely unauthorized.
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| Ledges |
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| And a small waterfall |
PM: Charlestown, RI. Ninigret Park with Brady, late afternoon. Really lost interest to run by now. It's pretty clear I'm not an early morning person, but late afternoon and early evening hold even less appeal for me to run. I need to get out mornings, and when I do have a conflict like this morning, just get up a little earlier.
Saturday: 8
Groton, CT. WTAC monthly group run. Dirt roads and a few trails in Bluff Point and Haley Farm State Parks. Six guys, including Brady. Toughest part was getting out of the car in heavy rain, but after that was just fine, as temp was about 55°F. One trail we went on was more technical than I'm comfortable with given my swollen ankle, but I just dropped to the back and took it slow and cautious.
Fortunately I brought a towel and a change of dry clothes, as all of us went to nearby Social Cafe for coffee, breakfast sandwiches, and running talk.
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| Rainy day, but good times with a good group. |
Sunday: 11
Middletown, CT. Middletown 10K. Separate write-up to follow.
Weekly mileage: 60 run, 4 walk
Weekly synopsis: A good week overall. I'm getting a little frustrated limiting my runs to only roads (and dirt roads), but keeping the faith that I'm moving in the right direction and reminding myself that at least I'm able to run roads without issues.
Weekly highlight: The 19-miler went well and without issues.
Weekly lowlight: Just my frustration with the ankle issues taking so long. Partially assuaged by John Ward's optimistic assessment.
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