March 2024: Border Patrol Challenge Completed!

Running stats:

Miles run:  312.1

Elevation gain:  20,303'

Weekly miles (for weeks ended in month):  48, 83, 58, 80, 58

High mileage and high elevation gain this past month

Primary running surfaces:  Trails (182 miles), roads (138)
Primary running locations:  Westerly (66 miles), then Charlestown (49), then Exeter (48)

Other disciplines:
Walk / hike:  6 miles

Alpine skiing:  38 miles

Quick synopsis:

• Great mileage month!  Highest in over a year.
• Marathon training is going well.  Four 80+ mileage weeks so far this year, ten 16+ mile long runs, with four of those 20+.  Not sure what pace I'll end up running of course, but endurance should not be an issue.
• Despite always being a secondary goal, I did end up completing all twenty Border Patrol Challenge routes!
• I had two races; one went well, the other could have gone better.
• I got some snowshoeing and alpine skiing in, and in pretty great conditions!  Unfortunately I didn't get any nordic skiing in this year, but you can't do it all.

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Interesting runs:

• Hopkinton Hills, Hopkinton, March 5.  Nice hilly 15 mile run.
• Long run, South Kingstown, March 10.  21 miler, with 2 * 5M @ MP.  Actually couldn't hit the intended splits, but I'm blaming that on yet another very windy day.
• West Thompson Dam Run & Swim, Thompson, CT, March 13.  Absolutely one of my craziest runs ever, as I was getting close to finishing up the Border Patrol Challenge and wanted to get this done.  Partially flooded sections of trail, but the craziest part was with one mile to go on an 8-mile loop, just before sunset, the trail ahead of us (Brady and me) was flooded so deep it was over my head.  Only options were to either go for it and swim it, or backtrack in the dark with no headlamp.  Wouldn't recommend this to others, but we went for it and got it done.  We were never in danger, but it got complicated with pine branches we ran into while swimming, and that just prolonged our time in the water, which was frigid!

  

  Just crazy flooding.  Brady is
  actually swimming in the middle
  of the trail!

  

  Swampy mess.  Yes, this is the 
  trail.  Kind of waded through this
  section of waist-deep quagmire.

  
  
  
  
• Pachaug - Nehantic, Exeter (plus Voluntown and small sections of Sterling and Plainfield), March 19.  Final Border Patrol Challenge run just a few hours before the Spring Equinox deadline.  27 miles of trails, including some that were pretty technical, with over 2,400' of elevation gain.  This was my only solo BPC; all others were with Brady and a few with other human BPC runners.  I took my time and stopped every 5 miles for energy and water, and to text Jana the mile marker.

  

  Not only was this 27 miles, but it wasn't always 
  the easiest terrain!

  
  
• Snowshoe run, Carrabassett Valley, ME, March 26.  So happy to get this one in!  On the spur of the moment, with a major snowstorm (23" of new snow) arriving, my cousin Dave and I made a last minute decision to get away to Sugarloaf for a couple of days of skiing.  I got up early each day to run, and on this day went for a short (4 mile) but tough and hilly snowshoe run.

  

  So much snow!

  
  

  

  Tough going, but fun!

  
  

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Races:

PLR ShamRock & Roll 5K (Mar 3):

New Haven, CT

USATF-CT 5K Championship.  17:45, 3rd in 55-59 age group.  While I'm pretty sure 5K is not my optimal distance, I do enjoy this race and its post-race party (and ice cream!).  So well organized in every facet.  Last year I ran six seconds faster and took first, but I'm still happy with this one, and actually ran more even split this year (5:38, 5:44, 5:43).

Race report here

New Bedford Half Marathon (Mar 17):

New Bedford, MA

USATF-NE Half Championship.  1:23:35, 10th in 55-59 age group.  Between how much I struggled in the wind and hills (and yes, relative to others, so not just the wind itself), and how poorly I placed in my age group, just not happy with this one.  Yes, I made some tactical errors of my own, including starting too far up in the pack (usually I do the opposite) and running out too fast, but that doesn't explain why I faded so much in the back half (again, relative to others).  

I don't want to sound like sour grapes, but unrelated to my performance, I'm not sure if the race was over-hyped to me and I had really high expectations for an amazing race course/organization/food itself, but I didn't love it.  Some things well organized, but others not so much (details in race report).  Not as well run as PLR ShamRock & Roll, both with a field size of over 1,000 runners.  Not saying I won't be back, but I'll just say it's not a priority.

Race report here

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Miscellaneous:

• We had a very wet March to end out one of the wettest winters on record in RI.
• My March Thursday hike that I had planned for Burlingame North was cancelled due to rain (see above).  I'll run in any kind of weather (blizzard, hurricane, whatever), but it's different when I'm leading others.
• As I mentioned above, I completed 20 out of 20 routes in this year's Border Patrol Challenge!  This was my 4th consecutive year running in it (although only 2nd time completing all routes), so I make take a break from it next year.  Factors include 1) it's good to vary it up and do something different, 2) it's hard to train AND run BPC, and 3) some routes I enjoy, and others are just a chore that I'd never personally choose (e.g., Quinebaug, all OAB routes).

Quick shout-out to running vendors I had a great experience with:

Darn Tough.  Sock manufacturer in Vermont, with an unconditional lifetime guarantee.  I am by no means a nationalist, and I appreciate a free market global economy getting consumers the best price and selection.  Against that background, it is nice to see that this company makes all its socks not only in the USA, but right here in New England.  As to the guarantee, I put that to the test in March, as I went to put on my only pair of Darn Tough socks for a long run, and found a hole in one of the toes.  The last time I wore them was at the grueling and hot Honolulu Marathon and that might have done them in.  Went online, filled out their form, got a return code and shipping label, and sent them off.  About two weeks later, a brand new pair came in the mail!  Success!  I've since bought one more pair based on this positive experience.

Nathan Sports.  I really like my Nathan hydration pack.  That is, until the mouthpiece sprung a leak early on in my 27-mile trail run on Pachaug - Nehantic.  It was 32°F at the start, and besides losing precious water, it was spraying cold water into my gloves and shirt.  Did my best to rig a tourniquet to get through the run, not sure if this would spell the end of the pack.  To my surprise, not only was Nathan able to get me the exact replacement part, but they got it to me for free and in one day!   (Also kudos to Kelley's Pace to facilitating this.)

Mouthpiece on left had a pin-sized hole that was 
enough to wreak havoc on my run

And one vendor I'll have to wait until next year to assess:  Kahtoola.  My existing traction devices are pretty worn and beat up, with a few microspikes missing, so I took advantage of a winter-end closeout to buy a brand new pair of Kahtoola Exospikes for $27 instead of the regular price of $65.

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Looking ahead to April:

Three races on the docket:

• Middletown 10K, Middletown, CT, April 7.  USATF-CT championship race.  Second time running this.  Last year came in 2nd in AG by 18 seconds, in 37:09 (5:59 pace).  HMF said they would solve the issue with 10K'ers running into back-of-the-pack 5K walkers.  Fingers crossed.
• Rocky Neck Trail 5K, East Lyme, CT, April 21.  USATF-CT championship race.  Not a goal race for me, and will need to remind myself to run easy.
• St Lawrence Marathon, Cornwall, ON, April 27.  

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Monthly highlight: 

Most fun:  snowshoe run!

Most satisfying:  completing the 27-mile Pachaug Forest run.

Monthly lowlight: 

Ticks!  Specifically, I pulled one tick off me after a trail run on the penultimate day of March.  Vile, disgusting creatures.  Guess it's that time of year again.

New Bedford Half Marathon

 

New Bedford, MA

Sunday, March 17, 2024

First time ever running New Bedford Half.  Had originally considered racing both Shamrock Marathon this same date AND St Lawrence Marathon six weeks later.  Yeah, pretty foolhardy.  Hence the change to run NB Half as a tune-up FOR St Lawrence.

Signed up to run this just before price increased from $75 to $85 (and subsequently to $95).  I read a number of blog race reports from prior years; some mentioned wind and some didn't.  One mentioned she had a love-hate relationship with this race, partly because "it's always windy".  Of course wind is always a concern on races that have routes along the ocean.  And it would be this year.  Checking Strava race reports from last year, wind was reported as 16mph out of the West.  Maybe this year would be better?  No!  This year at race start wind was reported as 15mph out of the South.

One race report indicated that if you didn't get there by 90 minutes before race start, it would be tough to find parking.  OK, well that set the plan for me.  Got there just about 90 minutes before the start, parked for free in one of two designated city-owned parking garages, and it was just two blocks from the start/finish, and about 1/4 mile to the New Bedford YMCA for bib pickup.

Walking from parking garage on Elm St (middle of pic
between two historical buildings) to YMCA.  Neat cobblestone
street, but hopefully it's not on the race course.  It wasn't.

First stop.  Almost non-existent lines (at this point, at least)

Check-in was inside a gym at the Y, old-school style by first looking
up your bib number on a wall (kind of like years ago at Blessing)

Picked up my bib without issue, and came outside to have some drunk person stagger and throw up on the sidewalk right in front of me.  I'm guessing he's not running.

Tried and failed to find some of the Westerly area runners racing this today (Jeff V, Kate and Paul, Eileen) so just went on my own warm-up of about two miles.  Got back and changed into my singlet and racing shoes, and noticed the porta-potty line was at the back of the race queue and very long with about eight minutes to spare.  That wasn't going to work.  Saw other [male] runners going into a few pine trees up against a building.  Works for me!

Saw this house / pub along the route
during warm-up.  Kind of creepy.

Start to Mile 2:  The Tailwind

I've had horrific experiences at the start of big races where the start is corralled off (as this was on the sides) and you have to enter from the rear and mercilessly push your way forward.  Fortunately, even though there were over 1,800 starting in this race, you could enter the race line-up by crossing the starting line, so it was very easy for me to get in and be near the start.  I intentionally pushed myself back about ten rows, and as I later found out, this wasn't nearly far enough back, but hard to know where to seed yourself and I didn't want to be weaving around people in the first mile.

The downside to no corral for faster runners and allowing anyone to get on the starting line
is the guy in all black on far right swinging some type of plastic bag that we all had to weave
around.  Other than that, everyone seemed legit.

It took me five seconds from gun start to cross the line (it turned out most of my competitors finishing around me would take 12-15 seconds to reach the starting line, but obviously I didn't know that at the time).  So no issue at all with anyone in my way, except for the guy dressed in all black in above pic.

I held back my own pace as many rushed past me, feeling a little guilty that in retrospect I hadn't started further back.  Even with holding back, I was surprised when my first mile split came across as 5:48.  Oops.  I had been shooting loosely for 6-flat to low 6s (excepting the hilly miles), so while that was faster than I wanted or planned, I rationalized to myself that this wasn't terrible with the tailwind and slightly net downhill, but still needed to back off.

Mile 2 was a much more on-target split at 6:07, and then that was the end of anything on target for me.

My Strava map of the race route,
with my annotations on conditions this year

Miles 3-4:  The Hills

Hill climbs are clearly not my strength, and I repeatedly reminded myself of that fact as so many runners were passing me on the two ~100' hills in this section.  But I would be less than candid if I pretended it wasn't bothering me.  Dozens of runners passed me, and I didn't pass a single runner.  Until I passed one that was having some issue and resorted to walking up the hill.  Yeah, that doesn't count.  Just frustrating.  

What was more frustrating is that I could tell a number passing me were in my age group.  Can I catch them on the downhill?

Miles 5-9:  Holy Wind

When we turned at the top of the hill, the good news was the hill climb was over and we'd even have a net downhill for the next three consecutive miles.  Great, this is to my advantage.  But wait, we've turned into a headwind.  Of course I knew it was coming.  But I just didn't realize how much I'd struggle.  The masses that were passing me on the hill now slowed to a trickle, but I wasn't exactly making progress against those that had gone by me.

The absolute worst was Mile 9, where we along the water where the wind was just whipping off of it into our faces.  Struggle city for me as once again many runners were now passing me again, and my pace dropped off all the way to 6:56.  Ouch.

Miles 10-Finish:  Nothing Left

We turned out of the wind at the end of Mile 9, and my mind went to the similarities of Newport Half 2022, where the wind was also out of SW at even slightly stronger 17mph.  I struggled into the wind there also, but the final three wind-aided miles there were all sub-6.

Unfortunately the course layout along the ocean and the final three miles wind-aided heading north to the finish is where the similarities between the two races end.  I pushed really hard in the final miles at New Bedford, especially when I saw older runners (my age and plus) coming up on me, but in those final four miles, I couldn't even break 6:20 in a single mile.  And that's wind-aided.  That was one of my biggest frustrations about my own performance.

Final result:  Gun 1:23:40, chip 1:23:35, 266th overall of 1,829 finishers, 10th of 174 in M50-59 Age Group.  Results here.

I was surprised that in a race of this size just over an hour from my home, I never saw a single runner that I knew before or after the race.  (Exception:  watching Paul and Kate J finish, but I couldn't find them afterwards).  Not a reflection on the race of course, but just surprising.  Heading in the opposite direction (west) from home for 1 hour to New Haven, I probably encounter 30 runners I know (and same before I even ran for the Mohegan Striders).

What went well:

• Registration:  easy.  (Although I prefer RunSignup to Race Roster)
• Parking:  FREE, easy, and very close to start/finish.
• Packet pickup:  Simple and quick.
• Race start:  punctual.
• Race course marshals:  virtually impossible to go off course.
• Race course traffic:  non-existent.  Streets were either closed entirely, or at least closed in runners' direction of travel lanes.
• Race shirt:  I'd wear it.  Solid black with a single sponsor on back.
• Finishing:  Similar to Blessing, your name and town are announced as you finish.

What could have gone better:

• Porta-jons at start/finish:  Would have been nice to have some out in front of start line instead of using bushes just before race.
• Race website:  Could be better organized, and provide more information on food at YMCA, age groups, any award ceremony?, course elevation profile, link to last year's results, etc.  Clicking on "Race Details" gives you results for 2022 only (update:  they finally added a tab "2024 Results")
• Food at finish line:  bottled water (not good for the environment) and sliced oranges (no complaints there).  That's it for a half-marathon?  I found out later after I left that there was "bagged food" available 1/4 mile away at the YMCA, but there is zero mention of this on their website, FB, or the one communication e-mail sent pre-race.
• Results:  Not available until an hour after I crossed the finish line, and at that, difficult to find.
• Hills:  This is just a subjective comment of course, but I'm not a fan of the hills at Miles 3, 4, and 13, each about 100' gain.
• 10K split:  This is just plain false.  Reminds me of the Providence Marathon half split year, which wasn't even close to accurate, since it was placed in the wrong spot on course.  I suspect the same here:

  

  36:23 (5:52 pace) - sounds pretty impressive for me in the middle of a HM.  Not even close.
  My Strava post shows me at 39:01 (6:16 pace)
  ---
  I'm not sure what state "RH" is (highlighted).  I'll let that one go,
  but not the 10K split.

  
  

Bib and medal are fine.  Nice to have personalized bib.

Overall I was disappointed with my own race.  I didn't sulk or throw a temper tantrum, but I had just expected to both run faster (maybe 1:21:xx) and place better.  Yes, it was windy, but it was windy for everyone else too, and it was even windier at Newport where I ran 1:19:46.  I take a modicum of relief when I look at the M60-69 (where I'll be in four months) and see I would've won that outright.  Moving on.  This was a tune-up race, after all.

PLR ShamRock & Roll

 

New Haven, CT

Sunday, March 3, 2024

USATF-CT 5K Championship.  As for the name of the race, when I arrived, I heard over the loudspeaker, "Welcome to the 99.1 PLR Crosspoint Federal Credit Union ShamRock & Roll 5K".  Yeah, what a mouthful.  That's why I hear runners refer to the race as simply "PLR", "Shamrock", etc.

At any rate, this was my second year running this race, and it's the first race of the year of the USATF-CT Road Grand Prix.  I find this race to be really well organized, run by JB Sports, the same company that manages the New Haven Road Races in September, with 5K, 20K, and Half options.

Alarm went off at 6am.  I stayed in bed for another ten minutes, then got up, took Brady out, and made my typical pre-race breakfast of oatmeal with blueberries and cranberries.  I was a bundle of nerves for the 1-hour drive to New Haven.  As I got out of the car, I ran into Scott Grandfield.  My first thought was "Ugh".  Nothing against Scott personally of course; it just meant another very strong AG competitor in a race where I eked out a 1st place last year by one second, and 1st and 4th place in my AG were separated by just seven seconds!

As I entered Toad's Place to pick up my bib and shirt, I waited in line for less than 60 seconds, before being directed to the next available person to check me in.  Got my bib, went into another room to pick up my shirt, and there was no line there at all.  I was asked "tech" or "cotton" and I immediately answered tech, but walking out with my tech shirt, I reflected that it was neat to have that option and I actually get very few cotton shirts that maybe I should've answered differently.

As I went on my warm-up, I resolved to not fret about my competitors and instead just run my own race.  That helped as I lined up ready to go.

Mile 1:  I had lined up in about the 5th row.  The announcer said race would start in 4 minutes, and although he gave periodic time updates, it seemed to take so long for those 4 minutes to pass.  I remembered last year I got boxed in on the first right-hand turn that comes up quick, so I lined up on the left this time, figuring it was better to go wide and potentially add a few feet.  That part worked and I had no issues with being crowded in even from the start.  

In starting line, just before the start.
Didn't realize until now that Dave Goodrich was right in front of me.
(Pic courtesy of Chris Colangelo)

This is a DEEP starting line.  You need to plan accordingly
and line up in time.

About five rows back and ready to go

I thought I lined up well, but I was passing so many people in the first half mile or so that I questioned it.  Again, not an issue as they weren't in my way like at Honolulu Marathon.  I just went to the outside and had a clear shot.  It wasn't until close to the end of the first mile that I saw Dave Goodrich ahead of me, and then Scott just a few runners ahead of him.   Mile split 5:38.

Mile 2:  Early in the mile, I caught and passed Dave Goodrich.  I didn't know it at the time, but that put me in first place for the Striders.  That's certainly not where I want to be.  Sam Alexander was signed up but sick, Jared in Mexico, and not sure on others.  

At any rate, as I made the turn off the main thoroughfare (Whitney Ave) to start the small lollipop before reversing direction, I noticed Scott was just a few places ahead of me.  I think that helped me to maintain pace and keep me motivated through the four turns to get us headed south back towards home.  Mile split 5:44.

Mile 3:  With one mile to go, the race was far from over, at least for my age group.  Brett Stoeffler, my friendly adversary of many of these USATF-CT races, went past me easily and I had no response.  (Brett would go on to run a 5:30 3rd mile, something outside of my current abilities.)  Next I saw Brett catch and pass Scott.  It looked like Scott was trying to latch onto him and stay with him, which I give him credit for, but it didn't last long as Brett charged ahead leaving Scott behind.

This course is really near pancake flat (my Strava post showed an elevation gain of 48').  With about 1/2 mile to go, there is a very slight downhill of about -15' drop.  I used this to my advantage and for the first and only time of the race, caught right up to Scott.  Unfortunately, he turned and looked back (he probably was startled by hearing the breathing of a dinosaur) and saw me.  He had another gear to finish out the race, and I did not.  Mile split 5:43.

Just before the final turn to
finish line

Photos by Chris C

Final result:  17:48 gun, 17:45 chip.  39th overall out of 1,274.  3rd in age group (of 61).  Full results here.

Changed out of my carbon fiber shoes, and went on a 3+ mile cooldown with Scott, finishing up intentionally at the advertised race awards time.

Thoughts on the race:

• 5K to me at this point is such a hard distance.  Yes, it's by the far most popular racing distance is the USA today, but I think (total conjecture on my part) that's because the vast majority of people are running it an an easier effort than me, and I'm racing to win (my age group of course, not outright).  Unlike longer races like a 10M or marathon, this is just pure oxygen debt the whole way and I'm literally huffing and puffing pretty much out of the gate to the finish line.
• It's a flat and fast course!
• Very well organized.
• I ran more consistent splits than last year:
  
  
  
• It's fantastic that the main sponsor is a rock radio station, and that rock music is played at bib pickup and awards venue.

  

  (Race FB photo)

  
  
• Having ice cream post-race is amazing!  Yes, I'm one of those weirdos that skips the free beer line altogether and goes straight to the ice cream table, even in March.
• I'm not a fan of EVERY USATF-CT race, and I don't think 5K is "my" distance, but I do like this race and will likely keep coming back.
• I stopped at Madison Coffee House on the way back, just like last year, and had lox and bagels.  Awesome stuff; I like to "reward" myself after racing hard or racing well (I would check both of those boxes this time!).  Maybe that will be a tradition as well?
  

  

  My age group finisher prize

  
  

February 2024: Snow Runs!

Running stats:

Miles run:  297.6

Elevation gain:  17,927'

Weekly miles (for weeks ended in month):  80, 60, 69, 80

February saw the highest monthly run mileage for me in a year,
and that's in a short month!

Primary running surfaces:  Roads (145 miles), trails (136)
Primary running locations:  Charlestown (128 miles), then Westerly (31), then Hopkinton (23)

Other disciplines:
Walk / hike:  13 miles

Quick synopsis:

• Another great month of running!
• I only got three Border Patrol Challenge runs done this month, but they were some of the longer/harder runs.  I'm at 13 out of 20, so with seven to go in just 19 days before Spring Equinox, and me avoiding the BPC challenges close to race days, I'm not sure I'll finish them.  But that's fine, as race training has always been my priority anyway.  Stay tuned ...
• Speaking of race training, I got three quality long runs in.

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Interesting runs:

• Charlestown long run, Charlestown, February 3.  Besides being the first time in 13 days that we had a mostly sunny day, this was a fun combination solo / group run.  14 miles solo, and then 5 with a few WTAC friends before we all had breakfast at the Beach Rose Cafe.

  

  The owner of the Beach Rose Cafe later told me she loved that
  we stopped in and also posted this on FB.

  
  
• South County Bike Path workout, South Kingstown, February 8.  OAB on the bike path, with two sub-6 miles.
• Arcadia roads snow run, Exeter, February 14.  More fresh snow.  Zero traffic on largely closed roads.
  
  
  
• Burlingame in the falling snow, Charlestown, February 17.  11 miles with Brady in the falling snow.  So serene.

  

  So beautiful out there!  Really enjoyed the snow runs in February.

  
  
  
  
• Quinebaug in the snow, Plainfield, CT, February 18.  I hate Quinebaug Trail, right?  Well, usually pretty much.  But at least the snow hit much of the rough washed out jeep road sections.  Besides, snow always put me in a great mood.  17 miles in the snow with Brady, Matt S, and Justin P.  On the way out, we stayed together for much of the run, but towards the half-way mark and then on the way back, ran with Brady (usually leading) and Matt, as Justin was having some trouble.  Fortunately we all finished it.  Baker's Dozen for replenishment!

  

  Nice to get to the turnaround point at southern
  terminus of Quinebaug Trail.  I don't like OABs,
  but if you have to do them, there's something nice
  about reaching the turnaround point.
  These new signs are great!

  
  

  

  Snow was up to 6" deep in places.
  Brady did a lot of waiting for us
  (Matt in blue, Justin in orange)

  
  
• George Washington in the snow, Glocester, February 22.  Sensing a pattern here with the snow?  With rain and a significant warm-up in the near term forecast, I figured this might be my last chance for a while (or maybe for the whole winter season?) to get in a snow run.  There must have been a foot of snow here!  Similar to when we tried and failed to run here with Matthew in January, I made the identical wrong turn about two miles in.  But this time, what helped us is there had been a number of folks out snow-shoeing prior, and the trail was easier to run on.

  

  So much snow here!

  
  
• Mindless meandering in Ninigret, Charlestown, February 23.  For a run that I made up as I went along, this turned out much better than I expected.  I had to improvise as I went along, as the bike path was really slushy, and the roads had puddles.  Ended up running a lot of the run on the only place that was dry:  the "crit" (criterion bicycle path).  20 miles at an average 6:44 pace!  I'll take it!

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Races:

King of Pain (Feb 11):

Glastonbury, CT

First time running this 10 1/4 mile hilly road race.  Found this blurb on a race report by my AG competitor in the race, Scott Livingston:

"Kudos to Rob for catching back up to me and then catching a very strong Jeff Walker (59 years old!) who took the 50-59 age group win. For the first half of the race, I would catch Jeff on the uphills, only to lose contact with him when the road tipped down. He was fast."

Yeah, exactly as Scott described.  And I love the exclamation mark after my age!  Can you imagine someone that age is still running?!  This blurb re-affirmed my downhill road skills, but I truly feared he was going to catch me in the latter half.

Race report here

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Miscellaneous:

My comic of the month.  I'm with Poncho on this!

Feb 8 hike that I led:  Mt Misery
I was wondering if I chose a place too far away and/or
too rugged for the "target agile seniors" group, but we got
a great turnout!

I later learned that Bill Bentley was part of a group
that built this shelter!  Small world.

Another area I was concerned about:  the Cedar Swamp,
flooded and iced over.  I thought about re-routing to avoid
this part, but participants said they loved it, found it to
be surreal, and asked if I could repeat leading this hike again
in the future.  Ok then!

Feb 13:  in last month's blog post,
I was lamenting I hadn't been able to build
a snowman in two years now.  Finally
we had not only 4" of snow, but it was wet
snow good for snowman building.
---
Several of my neighbors said they really liked
our snowman.  What I found disappointing was
that while the 59-year old retired guy was out
playing in the snow most of the day, other neighbors
including teenage kids who had the day off from school
never once went out and played in the snow in their yard, and we had
snow on the ground for over a week!  Sign of the times?
Get outside!

Feb 21:  excuse my shadow.  The snow
had disappeared from our front yard
eight days later, but I was able to periodically
patch and keep this (now skinny!) snowman
going for over a week.

Time for new shoes:

It was fun to track the progress of my VJ Xtrm 2
shoes from Helsinki to Westerly.

VJ Xtrm 2:
So far I'm loving them!
They don't have the narrow toebox issue that I
had with the VJ Ultra.

NB 1080v12:
My foray into this trainer didn't go
well, as they rubbed against my ankle bone
area and broke the skin.  Will have to wait until it
heals, and then try both BodyGlide and better socks.

NB Rebel 3:  at least my 3rd pair.  I love these
shoes; they feel great and springy right out of the box.

In the "learn something new" department, I initially panicked
when I finished my run in the snow in Glocester, RI and found
my car key FOB battery was dead and wouldn't unlock the car.
I was guessing I would have to ask Jana to drive the 1 hour+ here
with a spare key, as modern cars don't have traditional key locks.

Or do they?  It turns out the locks are there but just not exposed anymore,
since you seldom need them.  Well I'll be darned.
Usually I lock my cell phone in the car when I run, but fortuitously I
had my phone in my pocket to take pics in the snow.  Which
enabled me to Google and find this valuable info!

This dessert seems made for me!
Actually, in today's politically-correct world,
I'm surprised someone hasn't found it offensive
and required it to be renamed.

I chuckled at this bumper sticker on a car parked
at King of Pain race.  We've all had longer runs due to missed turns.

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Looking ahead to March:

Two races on the docket:

• PLR ShamRock and Roll 5K, New Haven, March 2.  USATF-CT championship race.
• New Bedford Half Marathon.  USATF-NE championship race.  Will use this as a marathon tune-up

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Monthly highlight: 

Any of the fantastic snow runs, really.  But I'll single out this one in Burlingame
 in the beautiful falling snow from February 17.

Monthly lowlight:

February was really a great month, so I'd be grasping to guess at something.  Melting snow?  Dead mice in the basement?  Onwards to March ...