Monday: 0.5 swim, 6 walk
Charlestown, RI
Swim: Knowing I would be going for a walk at 9am from VG trailhead on Kings Factory, I got there 35 minutes ahead of time to go for a pond swim. New equipment today included a bright neon yellow swim buoy and a new pair of goggles (thanks Jana). Swim felt really good. Arms tired, but not as much as last time. And time to throw the old goggles out, as I had to bail on the swim last time with leaking goggles, and today was perfect!
Walk: Met up with John K, his son, and his friend George for a walk of Sammy C's, North Camp, and Vin Gormley back to start. They all seemed to really enjoy Sammy C's (other than that I couldn't answer who is "Sammy C") and the view at North Camp beach.
 |
| On the way back home, stopped at Dave's Coffee (one of my favorite coffee shops) and sat outside here. Looks pretty simple to put together. I'm sure I'm underestimating it, but maybe this is something I could try at home. Something about flowing water is just so soothing to me. |
 |
| And came home to find this in my driveway. Probably the opposite of soothing! |
Tuesday: 1 walk, 6 run
AM: Westerly, RI. Final CCC before summer break. Worked on white trail, on west edge of clearing. Cleared a lot of overgrowth, so hopefully this will extend the trail a bit and pay dividends in the form of lighter maintenance in the fall.
PM: Charlestown, RI. Burlingame North with Brady. First DFK of the season. Ugh.
Wednesday: 3 walk, 10 run
Washington, DC. Down here in the nation's capital with Matthew for two days visiting potential grad schools that he has been accepted in. Opted to take the train down as 1) I really didn't feel like driving the busy Northeast corridor, and 2) I cashed in a few Amtrak points to get free business class tickets. I earned them from all the years commuting into Boston when I worked at Fidelity.
 |
| Leaving Boston en route to Washington, DC |
Walk: Walked 3 miles including a self-guided tour at George Washington University, then to the place where we'd leave our bags while going for run, from there to dinner, and then to the Metro station to head to the hotel. Rainy; glad I brought a rain jacket at Jana's suggestion.
 |
| Washington's Metro system is one of the nicest in the country |
 |
| Clean and stately |
Run: After stopping to cross a few busy streets, we ran in East and West Potomac Parks, managed by the National Park Service, and enjoyed about 4 miles of almost zero-traffic park roads. This was perhaps the best part of the run, as we were on a scenic peninsula where we could just run right in the middle of the park road. Certainly weather played a factor in the scant amount of cars and people out in the park, but no complaints here.
 |
| A few neat scenes along our run: World War II Memorial |
 |
| MLK, of course |
 |
| The iconic Reflecting Pool |
 |
| and our 16th President |
The last part of the run was on the National Mall. The rain had picked up and there were very few people out and about. The only downside was how many times we had to stop here at road crossings and wait for a pedestrian signal to go.
Thursday: 13 run, 4 walk
College Park, MD. Up relatively early (6am) to get in a run before a busy day of college visits and train travel. I had planned out a 12-mile route to/from our hotel, and the route got expanded by about a mile due to trail closures/detours. The route we ran broke down to about 4 miles of road and 9 miles of bike paths and trails.
We got most of the roads out of the way early, with 3 miles on mostly neighborhood roads. We even crossed "Rhode Island Avenue" en route! We ran through Buddy Attick Park, including along the shores of Greenbelt Lake. After a short distance on roads, we ran next into the Greenbelt Park, owned and maintained by the National Park Service. Unfortunately, part of the Perimeter Trail (which I had mapped out) was closed and a detour dropped us into the Greenbelt Campground and this is where the added mile came in.
 |
| Nice easy trails and greenway at Greenbelt Park |
 |
| Note the deer alongside this double-track path |
 |
| Greenbelt Lake, at Buddy Attick Lake Park |
After one more short road stretch, the remainder of the run (~5 miles) was entirely on paved biked paths around a small airport (College Park Airport), around Lake Artemesia, and through a wooded canopy and greenway. This section was really nice as it included dedicated tunnels under roads and really nice bridges. Much of it reminded me of the paths I've run on in Rochester, MN.
Washington, DC. Tour of Georgetown University
Philadelphia, PA. Self-guided tour of Drexel University
Friday: 3
Charlestown, RI. Short and easy run with Brady, practicing with canicross leash and harness. Took me a few tries to get the hang of it.
 |
| Late afternoon we drove up to Bear Brook State Park in NH, where the four of us camped for the night (note tent in background) and enjoyed a campfire. |
Saturday: 10
Gilford, NH. Gunstock Trailfest. Separate write-up to follow.
Sunday: 5
Charlestown, RI. Easy run at Burlingame campground with Brady. Body is really beat up, bruised, and sore.
Weekly mileage: 48 run, 16 walk, 0.5 swim
Weekly synopsis: Quite the varied week. I didn't quite hit my weekly mileage goal (55), but I also walked more miles than I have in a long time, so the combination fit well.
Weekly highlight: Gunstock canicross run with Brady. The Maryland run a close second.
Weekly lowlight: Gunstock 10K. It was a good race course and well organized. I just fell too much and got banged up and ended up running slow and cautious. (more to come in race report)
No comments:
Post a Comment