Clamdigger 2019

Clamdigger 5-Miler

Westerly, RI

Saturday, April 27, 2019

We had moved the 38th annual edition of the Clamdigger moved from its usual 2nd Sunday in April slot to the last Saturday of the month, due to it falling on Easter Sunday this year.  We were hoping that slightly later in the season would give us more favorable weather this year, and while the temp was fine at about 50 degrees, unfortunately with 20mph winds and overcast, it just felt quite cold.  We were very grateful to the Town of Westerly Recreation Department for allowing us to once again open and use the beach pavilion for "real" bathrooms and have registration sheltered from the wind.

Despite the race in its 38th year, you're never too experienced to learn something new, and when we had two setbacks at last year's race, we made adjustments:

• The clam chowder (prepared by Westerly High School culinary students) was not warm enough last year, so this year we replaced our burners, got an earlier start, and the chowder was hot by race finish and serving.
• A number of folks went off-course last year as some of our road race "sandwich board" course markers were blown over by the wind.  This year we switched to our trail race course markers, which are anchored into the ground, and while some were swaying in the wind today, none faltered and the masses stayed on course.

A very calm Race Director before the start of the race.
(We have a great volunteer crew to keep things well organized.)

Fast start:  About 130 runners toed the line this year.  While the numbers are down from recent years, we find that's consistent with many local races, and indeed even our timing company came back from a conference lately where they learned that trends have shifted over time and statistically race participation has declined nationally in recent years, and it's not simply a saturation of races.  But I digress...

After a few very brief remarks from me, mostly about staying to the ocean side of the road on Atlantic Avenue (start/finish), leaving the roads open for traffic, flooding in a few spots, and the 5K/5M split, we were off.  I try to keep my remarks shorter and shorter each year, realizing it's best to quickly hit whatever is deemed most important as after a minute or so, you'll start to lose people.

Start of the 2019 Clamdigger races. Muddy and I (red shoes) are on the far right
near one of a number of puddles on today's course.  Tommy 5K in green shoes.

Tommy 5K pulled ahead to lead the pack, followed by a guy in his 20s (?), and then Muddy and I.  Muddy asked me if Tommy was running the 5K or 5Mile, to which I retorted, "um, he's Tommy 5K". After only 1/4 mile, we come up on the usual flooded section of Atlantic Avenue, which after last night's rains, was completely flooded across the road, except for the sidewalks.  I stayed to the far right, went up on sidewalks a couple of times, but when I saw Tommy running up driveways and back down them to avoid water, no, I'm going through those.

The first and largest "puddle" we would encounter on today's race.

In fact, the road flooding was a pretty short distance, and most of the rest of the roads were dry.  Muddy and I ran together for the first mile, and passed the younger guy.  First mile pace 5:43.

We watched Tommy turn off onto the 5K course, and Muddy pulled ahead as we approached the bridge.  After the bridge, we had some buffeting winds, so I was surprised for Mile 2 that I averaged 5:54 and not slower.

Swirling in Weekapaug:  We originally had eight high school runners lined up as course marshals, but that fell through when a meet of theirs got rescheduled.  So we were back to our original plan of using course markers only.  I was very pleased to see every single course marker (trail arrow signs) was still up, plus some added reinforcements that Muddy had added in the way of additional signs at a few 90-degree turns on the course.

On sections running right along the ocean, you could see the whitecaps out there.  And when the course turned around near Weekapaug Inn and you started to head back, now you could really feel the wind. I could still see Muddy ahead of me on straight-aways, but at points I had to question if I was still moving forward.  Mile 3 split 6:18.

Struggle-fest finish:  It was a mixed blessing to make the final turn at the Weekapaug Breachway bridge to head back to the finish.  "Only" 1.5 miles to go now, but this section was entirely into the wind.  It was tough to make out Muddy now, as we were blending in with the 5K mid-packers.  Many were supportive as you went by.  At one point, three walkers were abreast coming at me, taking up most of the entire road driving lane.  I cringed, fearing a talking to by Westerly PD as I had received last time.  I yelled for them to get to the side of the road, but with the wind noise and my breathing hard, I'm not sure it was clear to them what I was saying.

When I got back to the puddle section again, with the 5K'ers up on the sidewalk already taking that dry ground, I just forged through the puddles.  I have dry shoes and socks back in the car, and it's only water!

Passing 5K mid-packers near the finish.

I feel like this photo better captures the essence of my struggling against the wind.
(Thanks for Jana for all pics.)

Final results:  30:52, 2nd overall.  Full results here.

Miles 4 and 5 (the latter all headwind) were a slow 6:13 and 6:33, respectively.  Done.  Changed into dry shoes, cheered on more runners, had some hot chowder, and got ready for kids' run and awards.

Kids' fun run on the beach:  Look at the white caps in background!
I was getting really cold now setting this up,
but seeing the smiles on kids' faces made it all worthwhile!
We've continued to increase the number of free kids' fun runs that we have at club races;
and I'm absolutely convinced that's the right thing to do.

Awards ceremony:  OK, I'm freezing by now.  You can see some of the attire
people are wearing.  How can I run through this quickly and efficiently?
Thanks to all WTAC volunteers making this race a success today.

After we cleaned up the site, this race picture just spoke to me of the
stark, bleak day today.  Not to complain, as the downpours had stopped
long before the race, but hopefully next year we'll have slightly better weather?

Next up:  So many of you have been asking, "What are your next races, Jeff?".  (OK, nobody has been asking, but let's just assume that someone asked.  Go with me here.)  Well, I'm glad you asked.  My upcoming race schedule has about six trail races / mountain races over the next two months, so that's where more of my training runs will be focused.  I'll need some hill training to be sure.  I may also sneak a 5K race in mid-May, as it's just a mile from my house, and I try to support the local races as well as keep up some road racing.  The next major road race will be the Blessing.  It will all come up soon.

Weekly Log 22-Apr to 28-Apr-2019: A Busy Week amidst Clamdigger Prep

Monday:  0
Two days after Sleepy Hollow Mountain Race, but legs are really sore.  More so than yesterday.

Continuing our "Swedish Death Cleaning".
Unbelievable how many water bottles we had accumulated as a
family.  In triple digits.  No, we don't go out and buy these, at least not
directly.  But after hundreds of races, youth soccer league games, etc.,
more than a decade's worth of getting water bottles was
totally out of control.  Fortunately, these are recyclable.
Dumped out bags of these onto the living room floor,
and then kept only about 20 of them based on quality
and event remembrances (e.g., Hartford Marathon finisher bottles).

Tuesday:  6
Barn Island at lunch.  Twisty meandering loop almost entirely on single-track.  Was surprised to see anyone out there on the single-track trails; two mountain bikers had stopped right before a mudpit that's there almost year 'round on the perimeter trail.  It looked like they were trying to figure how to get across it, so as long as they're stopped, I just went right through it, seemingly to their surprise.  Fun run.  Felt decent.

Wednesday:  6
Late afternoon run at Ninigret.  68 degrees and sunny.  Got to get more of my singlets down out of the attic.  It felt quite warm.   Will need to acclimate to this and warmer temps.  Quite a few people out walking the wildlife refuge trails today.

Thursday:  4
Wahaneeta at lunch.  Just barely squeezed in a swampy run, before rushing home to shower and getting back to work two minutes before I had to present at a meeting.

Was pleasantly surprised to see this guy out on the trails today.

Mud!

Refreshing and cleaning off the mud at the same time,
in a clear stream at Wahaneeta.

Friday:  4
Late afternoon run on the Clamdigger course.  Atlantic Ave partially flooded in the usual spot.  Unabated, Atlantic Avenue is projected to be underwater by the year 2100.  Not that I'll be around in 2100 and not that climate change is real anyway.  :)

Vats of clear chowder lying frozen and thawing
on our counters for tomorrow's Clamdigger.  Hopefully they
thaw out overnight.

Spent most of the day getting ready for Clamdigger race tomorrow.

Saturday:  7
Clamdigger.  Separate race report shortly.

Sunday:  7
Met up with Tommy 5K for a run for the first time in months.  Was good to catch up with him.  Ran at Ninigret, accompanied by his dog Riley.  The latter starts out super hyper, but settled down mid run or so.  Look out when there is a rabbit or squirrel around!

Weekly Mileage:  36

Weekly Synopsis:  Clear a down week for mileage.  It's easy to blame being busy at work or whatever issue du-jour, but absent injuries (which I don't have at present, fortunately), I own that and need to plan to get out there better when I do have the time (early morning) instead of hoping for a window to open up later in the day.  I better not be writing the same thing a week from now!

Weekly highlight: Our club's Clamdigger race (minus the wind!), followed closely by an overdue run and catch-up with Tommy 5K.

Weekly lowlight:  Crammed for time and not getting the mileage in.

Sleepy Hollow Mountain Race 2019: Fun in the Mud

Huntington, Vermont
Saturday, April 20, 2019

You know those races you've done where the weather before the race was terrible, but just before race start, the rain ended or the wind died down or perhaps even the sun came out?  Yeah, this race experience wasn't like that at all.  In fact, it was a little bit of the opposite.  To break up the car ride from southern RI, we spent the night in White River Junction, VT.  As we left the hotel Saturday morning it was overcast but not raining and 67 degrees.  OK, with only a 1.5 hour drive, let's plan for a warm, dry race.  Wrong!

Headed up I-89 North, the temperature dropped precipitously.  In fact, it was 42 degrees when we arrived.  That's right; a 25-degree drop!  After about four miles on dirt roads and watching and hearing the Subaru WRX in front of me bottom out in the mud multiple times, we arrived at the Sleepy Hollow Ski Lodge.  I had my singlet on to run in, plus a long sleeve tech shirt to warm up in.  Felt cold once I got out of the car, so I put on the windbreaker/rain coat that I had and headed up to registration.  I saw fellow Rhode Islander Rachel Flaksman as I headed into the barn to get ready and pin my bib to my singlet.

Parking on dirt road leading up to the ski lodge.
Most sections of the dirt road were in good shape as
seen here; but there were certainly some challenging sections.

Warm-up:    With only about 20 minutes to race start, I went out for a short warm-up.  If you can call it that.  I ran up just a short section of the first trail we would ascend out of the "gate", but it was flooded muddy mess, so I just tiptoed around awkwardly to avoid plunging in the mud.  Obviously this strategy would NOT work at race time.  And now it started to rain steadily.  Of course it did!  I pondered switching my bib to my long sleeve shirt, as I remembered running Hartford Marathon in 42 degrees and rain, and feeling very cold at the end.  On the other hand, having looked at last year's results and the two finishers I know rather well (Steve Brightman and Leslie O'Dell), I figured I'd be done in an hour and could tough it out.

My understanding is that the start is usually pretty much right
where the snow patch is behind me in pic, so this year the
organizers moved the starting line just higher to avoid this.

Here is the starting trail (to the left of green plastic fencing).
Doesn't look too wet, right?  Let's look a little closer ...

And now up closer.  Oh yeah, feet will NOT be staying dry for long today!

Pre race announcements were here.

Lining up for the start.  A few of us wore singlets, but not many.

Race start:  After a brief announcement from the RD with a warning on forecasted thunderstorms, we lined up and were off.  I opted to start in the second row, figuring I had a good chance of finishing top 20.  We took off, and no pussy-footing around this time.  Straight through the puddles and mud and up the slope we go.  It seemed every step I took was a post-hole into the mud.  Slow going.  EVERYONE was passing me and the race had only just begun.  Grandmothers pushing strollers uphill were passing me at this section.  Or so it seemed.  Time for this novice to look around and watch the veterans of this race and see what they were doing right and what I was doing wrong.  Oh, they are running on the sides of the trail; not totally mud-free, but the mud is less deep there as some vegetation is holding the dirt better.  Well, that helped a little, but it still seemed like a long slog up the initial ~300' climb and I was seriously doubting myself.

And we're off.  I'm front and center in green singlet, bib 239.

Starting the uphill climb.

Even when it was leaf-covered, you can see how soft the
ground was here and easy to post-hole.

Out of control:  There was no time to catch your breath at the "top of the mountain", as you went right into a 500' fairly steep decline over the next mile or so.  There was still the same deep mud, and it was a blast running/sliding down the slope.  Finally I'm feeling a little more comfortable, and although on the ragged edge of control, I'm passing quite a few people here.

I'm not in this picture, but I included it to
show typical race conditions today.  Mudfest!

2nd ascent:  In retrospect, I think of this race as three ascents, each followed by an immediate descent.  Yes, that's an oversimplification, but it works for me in my simple mind.  This next ascent was the longest and lasted roughly from Mile 1.5 to Mile 3.2.  Unlike the first mud/slop wide trail ascent, much of this next climb was on a fairly well drained single-track with lots of switchbacks on a trail named "Darth Vader"!  I could see fellow RI'er Brightman on the switchbacks and he wasn't as far ahead of me as I expected (five days earlier, he had run some little 26.2 mile run in Boston, so his legs may not have been fresh).  Fellow runners on the course were friendly and when I caught right up to one in particular, he moved aside for me in an area that would have been tough for me to pass otherwise.

On one of my uphill climbs;
this one was not as muddy.

Downhill to the finish area:  At the top of this climb, there was a trail sign showing we were going onto a single-track trail named "Princess Leia", and lo and behold, in the rain and mud, there was Princess Leia!  In her white robe and with her classic cinnamon buns hairstyle on each side of her head!  You may be thinking, he's hallucinating.  And I thought that myself at the time, much as late in a hard race I have imagined things there that aren't, but this be the real thing.  As I went past her, she said to me, "May the force be with you!".  Now, if you've run this race before, or if you're not into Star Wars, you're probably thinking that I need to get a life (which I do, but that's a separate story); however, for me, this was so cool and brought a huge smile to my face!

Star Wars themed trail names!  Very cool!

The Princess Leia single-track ended quickly at another wide ski trail, and we were back on our way bombing down a 400' descent back to the start/finish area.  I noted that I was passing some of the same people now that had passed me going up.  Downhill is my sweet revenge.

Watch out for the snow patches coming down to the start/finish area.  They're slick!

Final climb:  In a cruel twist of fate, you empty out onto the main field and go right past the finish line and clock but yet still have about two miles to go.  Leaving the start/finish area again, you're now on a two-way wide trail with a slight downhill.  Then it's a sharp right turn and start of a twisty climb up Han Solo.  Han may have been killed in the movie, but his spirit is alive here.  Right at the start, I move over and motion for the guy on my heels to pass me.  We've been trading spots for a while now.  He asks me, "How do you guys run so fast on the downhills?".  I responded I'm borderline out of control on the downhills, and he retorts that the only way to beat me then is on the uphills.  Sure enough, he's soon far ahead of me on the twisty switchbacks and also overtaking the next person, who is not only the woman in the WRX that was bottoming out getting here, but more importantly, soon to be the women's overall winner.

Final downhill push:  Just over a mile to go.  I can see my competition a ways ahead of me now, and it's time to go for it.  Worst case scenario, I go down in the mud and lose more time, but I've got to at least try.  I push it hard down the final long slope.  I hit some really soft spot and struggled to stay upright, but kept going.  Somewhere near the bottom of the hill I go past him, not letting up at all, as I know the finish is on a slight uphill.  Done!

Done!  The top female finisher is just ahead of me in red.

Not surprisingly, the finish area as well was quite muddy. 

I held off my competitor by 8 seconds.  Not that he was in my age group, but it's good to have someone to push you.  We chatted for a bit, and it turns out that he used to run in Mystic, CT (one town over from me), then lived in Newport, RI, before moving to MA.

Final results:  51:43, 11th overall of 195 finishers, 3rd in age group.  Full results here.

Post-race:  changed out of the wet clothes, with a jacket on inside,
trying to get warm (it would take me a while)

Post race I caught up with Rachel, Steve, and Leslie, while waiting for awards and trying to get warm.  As with much of the rest of this race, the food was fairly unique too, and I really enjoyed the build-your-own burrito bar, cups of trail mix, and the HOT coffee until it ran out.  (OK, I probably didn't help keep the coffee going for others by drinking three cups, but it sure hit the spot on a cold and rainy day.)

The next day over Easter dinner, I was talking about the race (of course) and
explaining how I did much better on the downhills than uphills, and I was then
asked, "How did you do on the FLAT sections?"
Um ... where exactly are the flat sections?

I was technically 4th in my age group and not sure if I would get anything as the 1st place overall was also in my 50s age group.  Fortunately, this race followed the practice of most, and did not double-dip, which meant I got the 3rd place award.  Yay!  By the way, I was the 10th male overall but yet 4 out of the 10 top males were in their 50s?!  Kudos to us old guys, I guess.

Really unique and fun age group awards and giveaways!
--------------
Left:  Age-group award:  Darth Berry Jam!  (who needs another medal?)
Right:  Race entrant give-away:  Vermont maple syrup made on the premises!  (who needs another shirt?)

I'm quite sure this was the muddiest race I've done in my life.  And I've run some pretty muddy races in my humble opinion, from running through a swamp at Old Mountain Field Trail Race (RI) to slip-sliding on steep muddy single-track in Pioneer Ridge Vertical Mile (AK).  Today's event was a very well organized, unique and challenging race, and I had such a BLAST out there!  The first race in the USATF-NE Mountain Series is done; I look forward to the rest!

Here are my race shoes ONE DAY later, AFTER I banged a lot of mud off!
(As part of a post-race e-mail sent out by the RD, it appropriately said,
"Good luck getting your shoes dried out."!)

Weekly Log 15-Apr to 21-Apr: A Return to Racing

After a 7-week hiatus from racing, since the Myrtle Beach Marathon in early March, it's time to toe the line again.  Saturday I'll be racing the Sleepy Hollow Mountain Race.  It's the first race in the USATF-NE Mountain Series that I'm trying complete this year, and my first time running this race.  Steve Brightman told me it's my kind of race; we'll know very shortly.

Miscellaneous ramblings:

• Fun watching the Boston Marathon on Monday.  Congrats to all, but especially Brightman and Principe for turning in really impressive performances at 2:42 and 2:39, respectively.  Kind of piques my interest to return.
• Clamdigger races in one week, to kick off the WTAC season.  Registrations running 30% lower, but don't know if that's just temporary or part of the overall trend of local race participation in general less over past few years.
• Best one-liner I heard this week:  I'm waiting in line at D'angelos to pay for my sandwich, and the man in front of me is conversing with the checkout clerk (I actually think he's the manager, but I digress).  The customer is complaining about some recurring shoulder pain, but says he hopes it will feel better tomorrow because he's going to a place to get a massage.  To which the clerk/manager retorts:  Your massage isn't in Florida, is it?!  (I'm not even sure the customer got or appreciated the Robert Kraft reference, but I literally laughed out loud.)

Monday:  600 yards swim
I don't love swimming laps, so why do I do it?  1) I believe the reason I got the sustained injury last year was because I wasn't doing any type of stretching or cross-training and my muscles were extremely tight, and 2) I still want to race in triathlons from time to time.

Tuesday:  7
Lunch time run from Bradford Preserve, looping through Woody Hill around the pond and back.  Sunny, windy, upper 50s.

Wednesday:  5
Ridge Hill Reservation, Needham, MA.  Had been here but once before.  Decided to run some trails I had not been on the first time.  I wasn't 1/2 mile in, when I found myself horizontal on the ground, chest striking the ground and knocking the wind out of me, and one knee smashed into a root.  Ugh.  I lay dazed on the forest floor for a good minute until I started to get cold (it was 35 degrees).  Got up and saw the root protrusion that I tripped over.  Cracked part of my phone at camera lens; I think that explains the lighting issue in my pics below.  Hobbled a bit, but got my cadence back.  Finished the run, but with many stops to check a map on my phone for where I was.

Typical of many of the pine covered trails I ran on today.

Generally well marked.  Part of Town of Needham trail system.

The Swamp Trail boardwalk was long and pretty neat.

At one point the markers changed to "Wellesley Trails".  It seems
it connects to a trail system in that town.  For another day ...

The rest of the day working the knee hurt and I tried my best not to limp.

Thursday:  0
Between the knee still sore (but no longer any pain) and a busy work day and retirement party, just conservatively took the day off.  I'll run an easy day tomorrow (Friday) before race day Saturday.

Friday:  4
Easy shake-out in Portsmouth, NH, before having dinner with Matthew in Dover and continuing on to Vermont.  Pretty much on the way, went to YMCA of the Seacoast to change, run, and provide a place to shower post-run.  I brought my phone with me and figured I'd make a road loop, but very early on I saw a sign for "Urban Forestry Center, Division of NH Lands and Forests".  Hmm, let me run down here and see if this gets me off the roads for a few minutes...

Neat view of Sagamore Creek

Some technical stuff ...

but mostly just a lot of easy, relaxing, fun stuff like this ...

and this ...

and this.

Fun place.  Ended up spending pretty much my whole run here.

Saturday:  7
Sleepy Hollow Mountain Race, Huntington, VT.  Separate race write-up coming very soon.

Sunday:  7
Easter Sunday.  Local roads around Avondale and Misquamicut.  Mis-timed catching up with the Run While You Can group run from Avondale by about one minute, and ended up just ahead of them.  Felt surprisingly good.

Weekly mileage:  30

Weekly synopsis:  This week wasn't about mileage at all.  It was about taking it easy and racing Sleepy Hollow, and when I banged up my knee, I conservatively took another day off.  Certainly a good week overall.  I get bored running the same old, same old, and I mixed it pretty good this week (4 trail runs [including 1 race], 1 road run, 1 swim) and some diverse runs in RI, MA, NH, and VT.

Weekly highlight:  No question here at all:  Sleepy Hollow Mountain Race!

Weekly lowlight:  Banging up my knee at Ridge Hill and letting myself worry about it and the impacts to my race.

Weekly Log 8-Apr to 14-Apr-2019

Miscellaneous ramblings:

• Can someone please solve the robocall issue?  I'm now getting 2-4 calls on my cell phone everyday, and it's really annoying.  I never answer anymore unless I recognize the number, but some still leave voicemails warning of my impending doom (criminal proceedings against me are about to start, my computer is virus infected, my gonorrhea tests came back positive, yadda yadda ...).
• Felt just a tad odd going to watch a Westerly High School track meet, where for the first time in six years, none of my two sons were running.  In fact, early in the meet, I received a call from my brother, and after I told him where I was, he asked, "Um, didn't your kids graduate?!"  Funny.  However, I still know most of the runners, and a number of parents and coaches for both Westerly and Chariho, and thus it was enjoyable to watch the meet and catch up with parents and coaches.  Hope I didn't creep anyone out (that is, anymore than I usually do).
• I'm so glad I write my blog every day now.  It now only doesn't take long (often just a few minutes), but as I reread it now on Sunday night, I had forgotten already what I ran on Monday and Tuesday.
• Best one-liner I heard this week:  Stormy Daniels has just filed her income taxes, and she reported her monies received from Trump as "gross income".

Monday:  4 run, 600 yard swim
AM:  Today was our first Back Road Ramble committee meeting.  With the meeting at Arcadia Y at 8:15am, I had planned to get up there about 6:30am and go for back country run on dirt roads.  Woke up at 5:30am to heavy rain.  Nope, a 10+ mile run is just not happening.  I'm actually surprised I got out for any run, but I did get up about an hour later than planned, and ran 4 miles on local roads.  Mid-40s and steady rain; just felt miserable.

Noon:  The whole day ended up dreary and raining or at least drizzling.  Went to the Westerly Y at lunch for a swim instead.  600 yards.  Felt OK.

Tuesday:  5
Late afternoon run at Wahaneeta and into Woody Hill.  Similar to my last run here, the only person I ran into was ex-marathoner Tom Beattie and his three dogs.

Wednesday:  13
AM:  8 miles.  Local neighborhood roads.  I made up the run as I went along (sometimes the best kind), trying to pick as many hills as I could here in relatively flat Westerly (although Matthew reminds me Westerly is actually hillier than Durham, NH).  I got a grand total of 419 feet of elevation, so this is great mountain training for something like Loon Mountain race, with pretty much the same elevation gain and grade, right?  Oh, wait a minute ...

PM:  5 miles.  Lunchtime run at Grills, Westerly side of preserve.  Zero humans encountered.

Thursday:  15
AM:  9 miles.  Blue Heron loop in Dedham and Boston, MA.  This loop has so much terrain variation that it keeps it quite interesting for me:  single-track, a little bit of road (normally a turn-off on a trail run, but cool to me crossing the "Entering Boston" sign, and there are zero road-crossings), marsh boardwalks, and trails along the Charles River.

PM:  6 miles.  Arcadia's JB Hudson trail to Breakheart Pond, around the pond, and then Shelter Trail and single-track on both sides of Breakheart Brook.  Even nabbed a CR!

Unfortunately, today was Mean Dog Day.  Right near the pond, four unleashed dogs surrounded me in a circle and growled and gnashed at me.  Really quite frightening, and I had to wait for their owner to arrive and diffuse the situation.  What did the owner say to me?  Not a thing!  No apology!  I didn't utter a word myself, as I was kind of shocked at how quickly it transpired while simultaneously honestly a bit afraid.  There really is little upshot in verbal confrontations anyway.  I ran the rest of the run in fear that I would encounter them again, but fortunately I did not.  I find it so unfair and disheartening that a few irresponsible dog owners can ruin it for others.

Friday:  6
7am run with WTAC board member Justin Pearce at Grills.  He had the week off from work, and asked if I'd show him some more local trails.  Sure!  Easy run from Hopkinton side into Westerly, and then short loop on blue trail.  Good way to start the day.  I hope he felt the same.

Saturday:  6

Used the rainy morning to go through and clean out boxes
of old financial records in my basement, and bring them to a free shredding
event my employer was having.
---------
This box contained records I had accumulated and created from the
estate of my great-aunt (I was the executor).  The process was
not made any easier by the fact that she had accounts at nine
different institutions and had at least eight beneficiaries at varying
percentages.  At any rate, she passed away in 2003 and I was
overdue in getting rid of these and other records.

Burlingame Campground trails.  Waited until the afternoon when the rain stopped.  With some heavy overnight rains, some trails were wet, especially the bog bridge trail on NST.  I quickly stopped trying to find tiny rocks and logs to awkwardly jump on and just ran through full bore.  Mudfest!

My trail shoes were gunked up with mud and soaking wet;
might as well take advantage of a big puddle near the end to
get them cleaned up before getting back in the car.

Saturday night we went to Cranston to have dinner at a dim sum place
that we like, only to find it closed for remodeling.  Now what?
Just "around the corner" was a hole in the wall joint with a dubious name
of "Uncle Sushi".  I was a little leery, but Jana walked right in and it was
quite good!  Very reasonable prices (maybe due to the atmosphere) and
I was very surprised to find my sushi dinner come with eel!  Saved the best (the eel!) for last.

Sunday:  11
Tillinghast Pond and Nicholas Farm Management Areas, West Greenwich and Coventry, RI.  Tillinghast has got to be one of my favorite trail systems around.  Very well marked, multiple "you are here" maps, and a really good mix of terrain, from pine-needle covered trails to deep in dense young white pines to open meadows, to steep climbs along a river, and even a few rock gardens, the variety is awesome here!

Broke up the run in between the trail systems using very rural roads, the kind that I could (and did) just run down the middle of.  It was all fun until about two miles to go, when I got chafing in my thighs and it started to hurt.  Got back to the car a little sore there and a sweaty mess overall (the temp was near 70 by now), leaving me with no desire to convert 10.86 miles into 11 flat.  Sorry if TMI, but with warmer weather here, it reminded me it's time for me to:

• Start using Body Glide on medium and long runs.
• Put a towel in the car to wipe up sweat.
• Bring more water for post-run.

Post-run, I continued my cleaning at home.
What to do with bibs all over the place?  Matthew and Mike B
have each done a great job with displaying theirs on walls, whereas I've done a
disservice by keeping them in piles next to my bureau.
Cleaned and got rid of half of them; kept the more colorful and meaningful bibs,
and put them in a shoe box.

Now what to do with the panoply of medals?  I had two
overflowing shoe boxes of them.  Ugh.
I came up with a rule of only keeping the ones earned in
marathons, half-marathons, half-Ironmans, or overseas races
(UK, Iceland, and Singapore).

Hmmm... that would mean I have to get rid
of our own club medals that I've earned.
I paused at that sacrilege, and then thought of the
"Swedish Death Cleaning" (someone, perhaps Beth,
enlightened me of that) and I already have way too much
crap that I don't want to burden myself down with anymore,
never mind my heirs when I die,
 and realistically what will anyone ever do with these things?
I have never even taken them out of their packaging.  Gone.

But it's not that easy.  This is one is too cute, so I kept it.

And how could I throw away this wooden
award from a race in Alaska, that came with a hand-written
note mailed from the RD?  I ended up keeping both the award and letter.
  (Isn't this the attachment mindset that leads me to keep too much stuff in the first place?)

What do others do in terms on keeping or discarding bibs or medals or race paraphernalia?  I'm curious.

Throwing away some running stuff this afternoon was a little bit hard, but the other stuff I threw away or shredded (paper income tax returns from 2009, airline tickets from 2005, an old sentimental Garmin watch that hasn't worked in years) was relatively easy (and a tad embarrassing).  Some of my colleagues at work marvel (or so they say) at what a minimalist footprint I have at work (I take meeting notes on my tablet instead of a paper notebook, I refuse to print out/hand out materials for meetings I host [I project them on screen, video conferencing, WebEx, shared folders instead] and have almost no paper in my office), so they may be surprised to see my clutter at home.  I've made slow progress (e.g., substituting electronic statement receipts for mailed paper versions, storing income tax returns on PDF with a backup to the cloud, etc.), but have a long ways to go.

Weekly mileage:  59

Weekly synopsis:  Fun week with good mileage!  3 road runs, 6 trail runs, 1 swim.  Feeling good.

Weekly highlight:  Today's Tillinghast/Nicholas Farm run.  Just a fun, quiet place to get away from it all and enjoy nature.

Weekly lowlight:  Mean dog day at Arcadia.  That marred an otherwise enjoyable run and got the best of me for a while, before I let it go.