Weekly Log 4-Mar to 10-Mar-2019: Marathon Recovery

Having run Myrtle Beach Marathon this past weekend, this coming week will feature a few days off, easing back into running midweek, amidst contemplative research into the next marathon.  Should I wait until next spring, or try to find a fall marathon?

Monday:  0

Two days out from the marathon, legs were very sore.  I was grateful for a delayed opening at work due to the 4-5" of snow that had fallen (up to a foot at interior locations of RI and MA), and slept in, and then got a workout of another kind by shoveling very heavy wet snow.

About 45 minutes to shovel our front walkway and driveway.

Very heavy, rain-drenched snow.

Tuesday:  0

Moderate level of soreness.

Wednesday:  2

Soreness mostly gone.  Late afternoon I went to Wahaneeta for a snowshoe hike, and felt good enough to run it in snowshoes.

Was a little concerned driving the road to Wahaneeta Preserve
with frozen chunks of snow (unplowed) and frozen mud ruts
in my FWD low-clearance car,
but took it slow and I made it.
My next vehicle will be 4WD.  Oh, didn't I say that last time?

Snow on the new Wahaneeta bridge and surrounding the
stream.  Absolutely beautiful out there today.

I don't remember seeing this boundary marker before
(Woody Hill Mgmt Area),
but it doesn't look new either.

Finishing up near the Wahaneeta cabin framed in snow,
I had visions of going inside, starting a fire,
and spending the night there.  Wouldn't that be awesome
to spend a winter night in a cabin in the snow covered woods?

Thursday:  4
Six miles over four days.  Really racking up the miles this week!  Drove to Fallon Trail, and ran a 4-mile loop through Woody Hill and Wahaneeta.  Nine degrees!  I dressed warm, and after a mile or so, warmed up nicely.  Wore my Gore-Tex trail shoes, plus Yak-Trax with microspikes.  Probably didn't need the latter.

Frozen quarry hole

Very slow going in the frozen, crusty snow

Another awesome day in the snow-covered woods!
Had very, very few of these this season.
1,200+ acres to myself this morning.

Friday:  7
After work, picked up Matthew from the Mystic train station to start his spring break from UNH.  Went to Mystic Y, where we ran a usual loop on Hewitt/Mistuxet/Cove, and then a run on Vladimir's Loop (Latimer Point).  Average pace 6:42.  After a recovery week with more days off than on, and no road running until today, I was struggling around Mile 2 - 3, but feeling good towards the end of the run.

Beautiful sunset contrast against the snow on Williams Beach,
as we were finishing up.

Saturday:  7
Scone run from The Bakery (recently opened for the season) out to Charlestown Breachway with a couple of side road loops, with Matthew.  Super quiet roads this time of year.

Sunday:  5 run, 4 walk
Key West, Florida.  My first time here ever:

Hike:  John Pennekamp Coral State Park, Key Largo.  Very warm 86 degrees.  Walked on a neat mangrove trail, and would like have like to have gone another short trail hike, but it was just so hot, at least for this New Englander.  (Yesterday we were running over snow, and just 3 days ago I was running in 9-degree weather.)  They had kayak rentals at the state park as well, but in the direct sun I would have warped and wilted.

 Brady and Mark on the "Grove Trail"

Hard to see real clearly,
but this is a small male anole lizard
puffing out his red throat warning me I'm getting into his territory.

Run:  Got to Key West just before 5.  Matthew, Brady, and I went for a run.  Brady and I lasted about 2.5 miles down to "Southernmost Point in Continental US", and then Brady was done and I wasn't far behind him.  I felt really badly when he was panting so hard and just lay down on the sidewalk.  A ran was really kind and gave us his cold nearly full bottle of water, and I gave that to Brady.  He gradually recovered, but I figured it was best to just walk to the hotel (shortest distance 1 mile).  After leaving Brady in the A/C room with Mark and plenty of water, I went out on my home for a couple of slow miles.

Southernmost point in continental USA

Or so it would appear, but there a few questions that call the veracity of this claim into question:

1. Since Key West is an island, is it really part of "continental" US?
2. Ballast Key, a privately owned island just south and west of Key West, is further south.

At any rate, the concrete buoy is iconic and it was fun to see.  I've been to the easternmost point in the continental US (Lubec, Maine), and I've been much further south of Key West while in US territory (Guam).  Point Udall, Guam is the western most point in all of US, although I didn't go to that specific place in Guam.  Northernmost US place overall would be fun to visit, but expensive and logistically difficult (Point Barrow, Alaska).

Evening:  Walked to Duval Street (entertaining and busy nighttime street) and sat outside to eat.  Very comfortable.  Brady just lay down and we got some water for him.  After dinner, walked down Duval Street and people watched, and they were just starting their evening drag shows.  Seriously.

Do they "bury" the dead stacked above ground in Key West
 because A) there is just no land
left on the island, or B) because it's a southern custom?
(I mean zero disrespect, and am truly just curious.)

Outdoor family dinner on Duval Street.
My mahi mahi tacos were awesome!

Crappy photo along fun and busy Duval Street.

Care for an evening nightcap?

Busy day.  Back at the hotel, Brady
crashed in the bed we bought for him when he was in RI
over Christmas.

Weekly mileage:  26 run, 4 walk

Weekly synopsis:  Wildly diverse week.  From 9 degrees to 86 degrees.  Started it off just coming back from Myrtle Beach, recovering from the marathon, and then getting out for some cold runs and snowshoeing in the snow.  Finished up the week in 86 degrees weather 1,600 miles south of home.  I think I recovered quite well from the marathon this time.

Weekly highlight:  The snow run in Woody Hill, with a second place to Key West southernmost run.  Sure, the Key West run was iconic and a neat place, but I was very hot myself and very worried about Brady overheating.  Nobody overheated in Woody Hill at 9 degrees, and it was just peaceful and idyllic for my sylvan snow run.

Weekly lowlight:  None really.  Again, I recovered well from the marathon, got in a good mix of snow trail runs, snowshoed, a couple of good road runs with Matthew, and ran in a brand new area for me at Key West.  A great week!

Myrtle Beach Marathon

Myrtle Beach, SC
Saturday, March 2, 2019

Background:  While it wasn't the plan, it had been two years since my last marathon (Newport Marathon in April 2017).  A spring 2018 marathon never came to fruition due to crazy work hours on a major project implementation with a complete vacation freeze for the division I work in.  A fall 2018 marathon never materialized due to a nagging nerve injury that took months to go away.

The previous marathon was April 2019,
with Tommy.
(I couldn't get him to come with me to Myrtle Beach
Marathon; for some reason he preferred to stay at home
to be there for the birth of his daughter on same day of marathon!
Congrats to Shara and him.)

Why South Carolina?  I'ts high time to get in Marathon #20, but why go all the way to South Carolina for a marathon?  Well, I really wanted to get the long runs and marathon run and done early in the season, to avoid potentially warm weather in April or May, and also to have the marathon out of the way to concentrate on other running, as this year mountain running and the USATF-New England Mountain Running Series will be a focus for me.  Looking at marathons on the east coast in March, it came down to two possibilities:  Myrtle Beach in early March, and Shamrock (Virginia Beach) in mid-March.  Shamrock didn't work due to a conflict.  I had heard good things about Myrtle Beach when I was down here with Mark and Brady just two months ago, it's billed as the flattest and fastest marathon in SC, the flights were cheap, so Myrtle Beach it is!

Myrtle Beach, with Brady, in January of this year.
The gentleman who stopped to take this pic and talk for a while
talked up the Myrtle Beach Marathon and gave me a lot of details on it.
Back home, researched it more and it fit quite nicely for me.

Goals:  You put so much time and effort into marathon training, so I typically set A, B, and C goals so that I don't have a mental breakdown and hissy-fit and sulk if I don't hit any of my goals.

• Goal A:  PR (2:51:58 from five years ago)
• Goal B:  2:56 or lower
• Goal C:  Sub-3

Yes, at this point you know the outcome, but try into get into my race experience.  From the starting line, I knew that Goal A was not happening (with an average 6:31 pace needed, and with my tendency to really slow down the last 6 miles, that likely meant I would be running a lot of 6:20 or faster miles).  Goal B seemed possibly attainable to me (6:43 average pace), and my true goal was Goal C.  Yes, I had run seven straight sub-3 marathons, but I hadn't a marathon at all in two years, my last one I eked out in 2:58:59, and I'm getting old.

Race day:  7am race start on a Saturday morning; you've got to like that!  Set the alarm for 5:15am, but had already woken up frequently and tossed and turned in the hotel room at Breakers Resort (marathon host hotel).  The hotel opened up their breakfast buffet at 5:30am for runners.  After tasting and bypassing what I thought was oatmeal (it was grits; I'm in the south; I should have known that!), I had a bagel, OJ, cereal, and some fresh fruit.  Back to the hotel room to brush teeth and liberally apply BodyGlide, and off we go.  Took a very nice shuttle bus to the start, checked my gear bag, and ran a few strides before watching the start of the crank and wheel chair.  5 minutes to go!

Well, it turns out grits do have a lot of carbs and offer some
healthy benefits (well, maybe without the pat of butter),
but race day is not the time to try something new.

Start to Mile 8:  Trying to set a pace.  Lined up about four rows back, with most of the runners in front of me sporting a half-marathon bib.  In the row behind me, there was a guy I heard being called out by his friend, "you're going to run a 2:48 today", to which I promptly turned around and told him we should switch spots as I didn't want to hold him up, but he turned me down.  There was a very mechanical countdown from 10 seconds out, and then we were off.

Start of the 2019 Myrtle Beach Marathon
(from MBM Facebook page)

With just over 3,000 runners toeing the line (~1,000 runners in the full marathon, and ~2,000 in the half), the process was surprisingly smooth.  I tried hard to keep myself in check when scads of runners were passing me, and reminded myself to just run my own race.  Doing mental calculations, I figured consistent 6:40 splits for 21 miles would give me enough cushion to run as slow as 7 minute pace for the balance of the race and chalk up a 2:56++ time.  Since I can't run super consistently, I adjusted that to a goal of running between 6:35 and 6:40.  So that's what I did.  Mile after mile.  Mile 3 was my slowest mile in the first half at 6:41 and I was a little worried that it felt harder than it should.

Mile 2:
I remember passing this dude,
as he kind of stuck out.

Much of the first few miles were on a closed off highway.  While it was neat that you had the road closed and very well policed to not let any traffic on, staring down long stretches of straight highway ahead of you was mentally tough.  I was so glad to turn off the highway about 5 miles in and then run on a shaded road adjacent to a golf course up to this neat cobblestone market area and back.  The only downside was twice going by a DJ blasting out Michael Jackson.  I know, I know, to each his own.

8 miles in we turned onto Ocean Boulevard (the main road along the ocean) to begin 8 miles on that road.  As we turned onto Ocean Boulevard, one spectator yelled out, "You have the winds at your back now, so fly like the wind".   Oh yeah, the wind does seem easier now, although to be fair, I think it was only about 10mph and not really a factor in the race.  One downside of having the wind behind you is you feel warm, and seeing the temp on a local bank display of 64 degrees already, I didn't need it any warmer.

Miles 9-17:  The long middle miles, all northbound on Ocean Boulevard.  Now I can see the "2:48 guy" (I later learn his name is Stuart) ahead of me and I'm closing the gap.  Stuart is in a pack of about 4.  About this time, a very fit, very muscular woman of about age 30 goes by easily.  Should I go with her?  No, run your own race.

Although this section is really, really long, it doesn't seem to bother me, as there are so many different tourist attractions (ferris wheel, luxury hotels, waterslides, etc) that kept changing the view, as well as the ocean on my right, that it keeps it interesting enough.  At about 10 miles in, I see a wall of people exiting onto the street a ways in front of me.  What are these people doing?  Is this a casual running group?  As I get closer, a race official yells out to me that this is part of the 5K merging now, and I can switch to use the full left lane to bypass them.  Whew!  So the 5K'ers are not in my way at all, but as this is probably close to the back-of-the-packers, my fear is that they will slow me down just by seeing people around me running so much slower that it appears to me that I'm going fast.

Approaching Jana at Mile 12
(just behind Stuart at this point)

The 5K and half-marathon courses split off about a mile later at Mile 11, and then it gets pretty lonely.  I can see Stuart ahead of me even closer now, and I catch up to him just after Mile 12.  He asks me what I'm looking to run, and I said I would be really happy to break 3.  He said "me too", and I said I thought he was trying to run 2:48?  But he said that wasn't happening.  We ran together for a while and chatted occasionally, so this was great.  He was looking to break 3 because that would be a BQ for him under the new 2020 lowered times.  We both went through the half in about 1:26:16 (6:35 average pace).  Sometime after Mile 14, I suddenly noticed Stuart wasn't with me anymore.  That's too bad, but I have to run my own race.  I don't see anyone ahead of me except on long straightaways, and the spectators out here are pretty scarce.  I was happy to finally turn off Ocean Boulevard.

Miles 18-21:  Hanging on. Pace was starting to edge over 6:40 pace here.  A guy passed me saying "that wind is really something".  Although we were into the 10mph wind again, I didn't think much of it, but it was easier to agree.  Turn around at Mile 18 - ugh; I went as wide as possibly could and still stay within the cones.

Miles 22-Finish:  The suffering.  There is about one mile bike path that we run on here, and it's really neat as it goes through a pine forest, but alas that quickly ends.  Mile 22 is my last sub-7 mile (6:57) and from there I just keep getting slower and slower.  Can you believe there is a final cone turnaround at Mile 22.5?  Remembering that was my undoing at a cone turnaround at Mile 21 at Newport, I am fearful of a repeat slowing down into the 8:xx pace and again try to turn as wide as possible.  I figure that Stuart will pass me at any moment, but he never does as he slows down even more than I do (I looked him up later and see he got his sub-3 by about 30 seconds, and I reach out to congratulate him).

Mile 22:
I look better than I feel

The final four miles continue to tick up:  7:04, 7:04, 7:20, 7:42.  I don't remember much of them as I think I was getting into that delirious zone.  We rejoined the tail end of the half-marathoners for the last 0.3 miles only, and despite all my slowing, was thrilled to break sub-3 with a comfortable cushion of two and a half minutes.

Final strides in the finishing corral
(Pic by Jana)

Coming in to the finish just behind this guy.

So why do I look dead compared to him?
Oh yeah, we both ran the same time, but I ran
twice the distance.

Final results:  2:57:27.  15th overall out of 900+.  1st in age group.  Full results here.

Finishing the marathon, I'm feeling weak and light-headed and searing pain is coming into my legs.  Jana has cold water and a towel for me, and I'm thankful for her shepherding me around in my dazed and painful state.  Over the next hour, I downed three chocolate milks, three bottles of water, and a Starbucks' iced mocha latte.

In my friend Tommy's style, a look at the pros and cons of both the race and my performance:

Pros:

• Very well organized marathon.
• Saturday race (giving you Sunday to recover).
• Excellent course marking and policing.
• Pancake flat.
• Occasional views of the ocean.
• I ran consistent near-target splits for 21 miles (kind of like Newport 2017).

Cons:

• I fell apart in the last five miles (kind of like Newport 2017).
• I wish I had gotten in more focused speed and long runs training just before my taper, but prolonged cold and bronchial issues just knocked me down.
• Expo parking was atrocious (still high marks for the event overall, it can't all be perfect).

In pain, but happy to be done.

Left to right:
Biggest finisher medal I've ever seen or gotten,
Nice bib with my name on it,
age group winner medal.

Left to right:
finisher singlet given at end ("2019 Finisher" on reverse),
race shirt for entrants.

Weekly Log 25-Feb to 3-Mar-2019: Marathon Week

Coming up at the end of this week is my first marathon in two years, and my 20th overall.  Tom Petty's "The Waiting is the Hardest Part" always come to my mind pre-marathons.  I'm concerned about how three weeks of sickness has negatively affected my training, but otherwise feeling good and ready to go.  Obviously this week and next will feature much lighter running volumes and efforts.

Monday:  0
Planned day off this week.  In fact, I only plan to run four days, including the marathon itself.

Tuesday:  5
Late afternoon.  29 degrees and very windy.  Scrapped the road run.  Went to Bradford Preserve, and seeing a good dozen cars at the trailhead, opted to keep driving.  At Grills, there were only two cars and once on the trails, I never saw a soul, save a white-tailed deep on the yellow trail along the Pawcatuck River.  In the pine barrens, I could hear the wind whipping above the trees.  Easy run.

Wednesday:  0
As part of marathon tapering, I had planned to run today and take tomorrow off.  With rare snow forecast for Thursday morning, I switched plans to be able to get out and play in the snow tomorrow.  Let's see how this plays out ...

Meanwhile, time to start packing:

Yuk.  Pretty sure that form it will take at recovery would be pretty useless.
Let's Run forum can sometimes have some funny responses, as this one in response to the same question I had.

While the first answer was funnier, I think I'm going to go with this one.

Thursday:  6
Woke up excited for the forecast 2-4" of snow, only to find 1/2" at most.  Ugh.  Local roads through Misquamicut.  Last run in RI for probably about a week.

In the afternoon, I went to Ray Willis for three packs of GU.  After selection and purchase, I browsed the pretty new bikes, and the new owner came over and talked to me.  No pressure at all; I told him I was just window shopping and thinking about it.

Am I just over the hill and boring, or are these new GU flavors getting a little too weird?
I stuck with one of my usual go-to flavors:  Vanilla Bean
Who craves Cucumber Mint during an endurance race?  Please do tell; I won't judge.
What on earth does Tastefully Nude taste like?  Please elaborate, anyone, as I'm not familiar with that flavor.

February miles:  190

Friday:  3

So far the travel is not off to a great start.  Probably the first time ever flying out of or into LaGuardia.  I booked LGA to save a few dollars (to be fair, a few hundred dollars, and a direct non-stop flight to Myrtle Beach).  But it sure doesn't seem worth it as I sit on the floor (literally) at LGA now.  The planned two hour drive turned into four hours as I sat in bumper to bumper traffic on the Merritt Parkway (yes, I know NYC salaries are higher, but how people from CT drive this day in and day out is beyond me).  LaGuardia airport is dirty and under construction, and I had to really pay attention to snake around the detours once inside the airport and get to parking.

This is the Merritt Parkway and while a stock photo,
this is what the traffic looked like today for miles and miles and miles.

Tough to find a parking spot, but Jana saw one on the 5th floor of Terminal C parking garage.  OK, now off to Gate D2 in Terminal D.  Walked to Terminal D before learning that due to construction, getting to this part of Terminal D first required entering through Terminal C.  Ugh; that was clear as mud.  Hightailed through the dirty passageway back to Terminal C, proceeded through security (fortunately light as we're pretty late now) and then the cut-through to Terminal D.  Looked up at the flight board to see it showing same gate and on-time.  Hurried and got to the gate as a flight is boarding, but it shows "Detroit" instead of "Myrtle Beach".  Huh?  Asked an attendant and was told the Myrtle Beach flight is delayed two hours.  Ugh. 

OK, we'll go get something to eat and come back.  In the main terminal, I double-checked the board again to see it still shows on-time.  Frustrating!  Bought lunch, came back to the gate, and looked for an open seat.  Nada.  Oh, so that's why so many people are just sitting on the floor in the terminal.  So here we are sitting on the floor with hundreds of others.  I even overheard one cop say to another, "This place is like a nuthouse!"  Um, yeah, it is.

No, this is not LGA, and while not THIS bad,
it certainly felt cramped with literally hundreds of us sitting on the floor.

Remind me never to book a flight out of LGA again!

After finally boarding, the plane sat on the tarmac for 1/2 hour, and once airborne, no more issues.  Arrived Myrtle Beach mid-afternoon, checked in, and went for an easy shakeout run with Jana on some of the roads that the course would be on (the course went right past our host hotel on Ocean Ave).

Saturday:  27
Myrtle Beach Marathon.  Full write-up forthcoming in next day or two.

Saturday afternoon:  time to reverse the trip.
Myrtle Beach airport:  clean, attractive, inviting, efficient.

LaGuardia Airport:  unsightly, off-putting, chaotic, confusing.
I'm guessing over the years I've flown into or out of at least 50 different airports,
 and I would rate this one the worst.  (That's including airports in India and China.)

Balanced feedback:  unlike the rest of the airport, the bathrooms are surprisingly clean.

Our flight parked at Myrtle Beach Airport.
First time taking the yellow airline; think hard about it if you
ever consider it.  We knew what we were getting into with a
bare-bones discount carrier in terms of no amenities at all,
but didn't think the dirt-cheap prices would come with dirty seats
or insolent, nonchalant customer service.

Balanced feedback:  The lead attendant was witty and funny.
Upon landing back at grimy LaGuardia, she announced to a big laugh,
"I want to be the first to welcome you to sunny Hawaii!"
(Then we sat on the tarmac for another 35 minutes before a gate
became available to taxi to.)

Sunday:  0
Rolled and stretched the legs out pretty good this morning.  Quite sore, but actually not as bad as I feared or have experienced in the past.  Still, it will be several consecutive days completely off from running for me.

Weekly mileage:  40

Weekly synopsis:  I'll leave the marathon review to a separate focused post, but otherwise the week besides the marathon itself, as expected, featured scant running.  In fact, just 13 miles!  Looking ahead, next week will also be a really low mileage week, and then I'll need to gradually shift the focus of my training away from road running and into mountain/trail running, as my first mountain circuit race is just seven weeks away.

Weekly highlight:  Of course, the Myrtle Beach Marathon!

Weekly lowlight:  LaGuardia Airport takes the cake by far, with a second place award to Spirit Airlines.

Weekly Log 18-Feb to 24-Feb-2019: Friendly Indians, Disrespectful Dog Owners, & a rare Snow Run

Monday:  21!

Thank you George and Abe for the day off.

Would you consider it ironic, or perhaps fitting, on this historical holiday honoring presidents from centuries ago, that I had a minor encounter with Indians?  It was a brief discourse that was both polite and respectful on both sides, but nonetheless just a bit odd.  I was running on the east side of Pound Road for the first time ever, enjoying the rural nature of the dirt road, when a vehicle approaching me stopped in the middle of the road.  I attempted to run around it but the driver put the window down and it was clear he wanted to talk to me.  Based upon the fact that I was approaching Narragansett Indian property, I surmised that he was a tribal member.  He asked me if I intended to run through (to the other side of Pound Road, which has been closed off in the middle since ~1991 due to a tax dispute between the town and previous land owner).  I asked if I could go across, as it would make my run easier and more direct.  He explained that it is Narragansett Indian tribal property that you would have to go over to get to the other side, which I indicated I understood.  He took my name and number, and mentioned he would have to talk to his Medicine Man to check on future possibilities, but for today he was going to have to ask me to re-route my run and not go over tribal property.  OK, no problem.  I said if it was OK with him I would like to continue regardless on the road down to the Indian property as I had never been down there, and assured him that I would turn around when I reached the tribal property gate and then re-route.  He was fine with that, and I told him I had a lot of respect (truthfully) for what the tribe is doing with the old dilapidated farm and turning it into a food initiative.

Unfortunately I did not make it this far.
(Photo from Narragansett Food Sovereignty Initiative website.)

When I reached the gate blocking the road, there was a part of me that wanted to just go around and explore and continue my run on the trail they recently opened up.  But this is private property after all and I gave him my word, and my word is worth something, so I absolutely honored his request and turned around.

The rest of the run was uneventful until 20 miles in.  I avoided fresh snow and ice patches where possible, and treaded lightly where I could not.  I often get twitches and weird pains north of 15 miles, but today I had none of that!  20 miles in I was running on Rabbit Run in Misquamicut, when all of a sudden three gnarling rat dogs came at me.  Their presumed owner was calling them in some cutesy voice with some cutesy names (Milly or Molly or Muffy or something) but they totally ignored her.  So now meanwhile these miserable malicious animals have caught up to me and are on both sides of my ankles snapping at me and despite having 20 miles on my legs now, I have to make these repeated darting elusive maneuvers to try and avoid their bite.  So frustrating!  NOW my legs are hurting; thank you very much.  Finally, several properties away, they gave up and turned around, at which point at I turned back and yelled, "There is a leash law for a reason!".  No response, no apology.  She never even came after them; she just stayed in her yard.  Maybe if she can't control her dogs, she shouldn't have them?  Total opposite from the well behaved dogs Matthew and I encountered yesterday in Barn Island.  Man, was I angry, and even had thoughts of calling the dog officer when I got home, but I figured I just have to let it go.  Ugh.

POST-SCRIPT:  Fast forward to late in the day, when I was very pleasantly surprised to get a voicemail from the same tribal member, apologizing for the inconvenience to me this morning, and after discussing with others in the tribe, I was notified that I was free in the future to run the trail over their property at any time.  I had to listen to the voicemail twice to make sure I wasn't mishearing and misconstruing it, and then I called the gentleman back to thank him and to say he didn't owe me an apology.  We had a really good chat about my running, the tribe, the newly learned fact that we're both Chariho grads from the 80s, my conversation with Tarzan Brown's widow, and in the end we left it that we hope to catch up again in person some day.

Tuesday:  4
Late afternoon easy recovery run on the Weekapaug Sand Trail, and back on the barrier beach.  Legs pretty sore from yesterday's run.  Took it slow and easy.

Wednesday:  8
Run 1:  7am, 2.5 miles, Adams Farm, Walpole, MA.  I guess I wasn't paying attention to the temps on the ride up from RI, and as I was getting out of the car, I noticed it was 10 degrees!  And 4-5" of snow on the ground up here.  Ran on packed down crunchy snow for a while, and was under-dressed and cold.  Branched off to try a single-track with virgin snow, and a little ways in broke through the ice underneath into a standing stream about 6" deep.  COLD.  High-tailed it back to the car, stripped off the socks and shoes and blasted the heat on my feet as I drove off.

Run 2:  8am, 5 miles, Noanet Woodlands, Dover, MA.  Driving towards work, my feet were warming up, and so I decided to go for a second try.  Put on a spare pair of dry socks (always good to have!) and off I went.  I stuck to the marked trails that people had walked/run on already this time (I didn't have a 3rd pair of dry socks!). 

The beauty of winter,
which I haven't been able to see much with the paucity of snow in RI.

I just love being out in the woods in the snow.

Icicles at the remains of the old Dover Mill Iron Works (circa 1815)
deep in the woods.

Monday was Mean Dog Day, but fortunately today was Nice Dog Day.  I only ran into two dogs, both unleashed:

• Dog #1 was called by its owner as soon as I was seen, and it came over to its owner and sat down nicely and quietly in the snow, as she told her dog not to go running with me (as I was thinking I hope the dog comes running with me!).
• Dog #2 was a playful Lab/Boxer mix (??) that was just having fun in the snow and came right up to see me.  The owner said she (the dog) hadn't had her run yet today, so she wanted to go running with me.  Hmmm ... can I quit my day job and get paid to take dogs out for a trail run instead?  Only nice dogs need apply.

Thursday:  5
Slushy mess.  Crazy busy day at work with non-stop back-to-back meetings.  If I declined my 1pm, I had just enough time to go the Y, change, get a road run in, shower, grab a sandwich and get back to the office for my 1:30.  Didn't dilly-dally on the run with a sub-7 average; got a sandwich and back at my desk at 1:28 with two minutes to spare.  A little close, but it worked.

Friday:  0

Saturday:  13
32 degrees at start, 38 at finish.  Loop through Pound Road (using my new tribal permissions) up to 91 and back Apache.  Never saw anyone while going across tribal property, but did see a lot of neat buildings, including a mix of old barns from the old Crandall farm and newer edifices being built, including perhaps a re-creation of an historic Indian long house(?).

Fortunately, today was another Nice Dog Day.  Two labs out for a walk with their owner on Pound Road, followed by a Brady-looking-dog just sitting on the edge of his lawn.  None of them looked like they wanted to come running with me today, but rather just a look towards me like "Who's that weirdo and why does he smell so badly?".

Sunday:  5
Late afternoon run in a heavy mist.  Local neighborhood roads.

Finished up the day by watching "Arctic" at
the Showcase Warwick,
then a first-time visit to Condesa Restaurante Mexicano
nearby.  Muy bueno!

A survival film in the Arctic,
filmed in Iceland.

Weekly mileage:  56

Weekly synopsis:  Truly a good week of running.  The 21-miler was a confident builder, especially after losing time and training and possibly even some fitness with this really bad cold and bronchitis I've had.  It went on for the better part of three weeks, but finally as of this weekend I'm feeling that the symptoms are gone.

Weekly highlight:  My 21-mile Presidents' Day run, for sure, but not solely for running reasons.  Yes, of course, I was thrilled to get in a long run, without pain or issues, and in fact that was my longest run since I ran Bimblers Bluff 50K a year and a half ago.  Besides the running that day, I was happy to have a new running route possibility to shave off parts of Dunns' Corners-Bradford Road and Route 91 (realistically I probably won't run it that often), but more importantly, it was a pleasant surprise to get permission from the Narragansett Indian Tribe to run over their new trail on this section of property that has been closed and since grown over for 28 years.

Nota bene:  To be clear, I am not in any way advocating for anyone to go over tribal land without permission.  In fact, emboldened by my positive outcome, my understanding is that a request went out to the tribe for this past week's Land Trust public hike to extend onto tribal land and to see some of their property and building exteriors, and purportedly that request was denied.  I don't know the particulars, and it's really not my business, but my point is that tribal land should be respected.

Weekly lowlight:  The friggin' dogs yapping and snapping at my heels when I'm running on a public Town of Westerly owned road in Misquamicut.

Town of Westerly legislation, Chapter 76, section 8, subsection C:  "No person owning, keeping or harboring a dog of whatever age shall allow such dog to go out on any highway or public place and growl, snap or bite, or otherwise annoy any person; or bark at, run in front of, run beside, run after or pursue any motor vehicle." 

Since you can't follow common sense and civility towards others, follow the law!  Grrr!

Weekly Log 11-Feb to 17-Feb-2019: Another Down Week

This is a markhor, a rare mountain goat which is the national animal of Pakistan.
Isn't it majestic?  I had never heard of it, until this week when I read about the 3rd
person in recent months that went to Pakistan and hunted and killed this animal.
Bryan Harlan of Texas paid $110K for a permit to hunt and kill the markhor.  He is reported to
have said, "It was an easy and close shot and I am pleased to take this trophy."  Just because
you have money doesn't make it right to kill these gentle animals.  All three "trophy hunters"
were Americans!!!  Another embarrassment for our country.  End of rant.

Of course, this week we also learned about the mountain lion in CO killed by
trail runner Travis Kauffman.  Double standard?  Not at all.  Kauffman was justified
in the amazing choking/killing of the lion, as the lion attacked him, had his arm
locked inside its mouth, and caused him 28 stitches to the cheek, nose, and wrist.
Scary, but fortunately very rare attack.

Monday:  4
The sickness continues into its second week.  Ugh.  Slept in and went for two consecutive late afternoon runs:

• Barlow Preserve:  Ran the new trails at this new Westerly Land Trust preserve.  A lot of the 80-acre preserve is swamp, so the trails are pretty limited.
• Champlin Glacier Park:  Ran the perimeter before getting dark and home for dinner.

Tuesday:  6
Grills Preserve loop in snow/sleet.  I delayed my run until the afternoon, as I thought it would be fun to run in the snow, which it was, until it turned to sleet.  Such a disappointing winter thus far with barely any snowfall.  Certainly not enough to get out the snowshoes or build a snowman.

It was fun to run on snow-covered trails.

Dicey, slippery crossing, but I made it.

I love the relief of the letters against the embedded snow,
after I cleared the snow off his grave.
Posted this pic to findagrave.com as well.

Looking over a frozen section of pond connected to
Pawcatuck River.

Wednesday:  5
Ninigret Park lunchtime run.  Wet everywhere after yesterday's storm.  Stuck to roads and bike paths.  Some slush was unavoidable.

Thursday:  6
Ninigret Park Day 2.  I guess this has become sort of my "go to" place to run lately and get away from civilization.  Who wants to hear my hacking and sneezing?  Trails had snow and slush in shaded areas, but largely dry and clear.  A lot of these trails are gravel based so they drain well.  I have to imagine that trails in many other places, including Burlingame, continue to be wet and muddy.

Day 10 of my cold.  Sick of it.  Hopefully it's almost over.  Do you think we'll ever have a cure for the common cold?  My understanding is that part of the difficulty is that there are about 160 different strains of the rhinovirus that cause colds.

Friday:  6
Late afternoon loop from Avondale Farm Preserve down through Watch Hill and back.  Warm 47 degrees, but it didn't feel it with the damp, drizzly, breezy weather.  Faster than I expected, with first mile about 7:10, four middle miles 6:30 - 6:45, and feeling good, I picked it up in final mile to finish in 5:42 (full disclosure:  taking advantage of wind direction and a slight downhill on Browning to start the mile).

Best I felt on a run in weeks.  It didn't hit me until after the run finished:  NO KNEE PAIN!  As in ZERO!  It's been 2 1/2 weeks, and while one day does not a pattern make, hopefully that is it.  Now if I can just get rid of this blasted stubborn cold I'm nursing.

Saturday:  6
Afternoon run with Matthew at Ninigret.  Mix of trails and park roads.  Can't believe this is my 3rd trip to Ninigret in one week!  The trails are dry and relatively people free.  Super mild but fleeting knee pain, so while not completely gone, very much dissipated.

Sunday:  10
Parked at Pawcatuck River State Wildlife Management Area.  First time here in a couple of years actually.  Ran south along the river down to River View, reminiscent of runs with Mikey B a few years back.  Despite it being 32 degrees, with the sun and virtually no wind, quickly felt overheated in a quarter-zip, hat, and gloves, so Matthew and both shed these behind a tree for a later pickup, and then ran three miles of trails in Barn Island, before returning and finishing up a loop on roads.  In Barn, there were surprisingly a lot of people on the trails, and at least 10 dogs, fortunately all of them friendly (the people and the dogs!).  Most dogs were leashed, and the few that weren't posed no issues at all.  One looked just like Leslie's "Chill" and had a big stick in its mouth, and one was an adorable black lab puppy that looked like it wanted to come and run with us.  Not a single dog barked or growled at us; such a refreshing change from the spate of dog/owner issues you see on Strava recently and we've all been through at one point or another.

Weekly mileage:  44

Weekly synopsis:  Lowest mileage week in more than two months.  Not where I want to be, but I feel like backing off only made sense with my recent sickness.  I feel like I've done all the right things recently, including sleeping in, avoiding alcohol, increase Vitamin C and fluid intake, etc., but after all, it is a virus and needs to run its course.

Weekly highlight:  Probably a tie between the Grills run in the snow and the 10-miler loop today in the sunshine.

Weekly lowlight:  This friggin' cold still hanging on at the end of two weeks now.  Ugh.