Old and New

Thursday I knocked off 6.18 miles of the 16.8 needed to reach 2000 miles in 2010. They were very slow, labored miles (about 12.5 min/mile); patches of the fields are bare, but all that snow was deposited in the low spots with depths reaching feet and feet...and feet. Of course, my feet tried to reach the ground way below. Yup. Post holing. Still, I love that type of run. It's like you've conquered something. And just short of 10.7 to go!

Friday, Rick and I headed out around 11 am. I was in a T-shirt. If I wasn't wearing screw shoes, I'd have been wearing shorts, too; I kick myself far too much. It's amazing the difference that tights can make in protecting against that pain. It's also amazing how much difference tights vs my heavier running pants can make in protecting my sore knee. I don't know how, bowlegged, I can still knock my knees together as I run, but I do. The knee I banged falling at Bradbury is still painful to the touch. Running in the heavier pants, I barely feel it.

Rick ran 3.5 with me and headed back. I planned to do 6.5 to 8 with a second run later to get in the miles to make 2000. I managed 7.9 before I required refueling. My legs were also feeling the conditions. Two hours later I strapped on the snowshoes to start my remaining miles. I wanted to pack down the mess Rick and I had made of the trail so that it would freeze nicer. After two miles of that, I headed back up the driveway to drop off the snowshoes. Ryan joined me for the last mile to help me finish the 2000th. According to my Garmin totals I actually ended the year with 2000.2 miles.

Oh, I wanted to comment on some of the wildlife signs out there, too. I saw fox, coyote, deer, and what, I suspect, might be fisher tracks. Ooh! And there was this little rodent, some kind of shrew, that made and incredible racket. It did not like me running near. No way would I have expected the little creature could make that much noise.

Today Rick and I headed to Thorncrag. The terrain is normally challenging. I started out with fairly trashed legs. As we ran, what was pretty packed snowshoed trail became mashed potato snow. This added to the difficulty of the steep hills.

The only animal tracks here were deer and lots of them. It was cool to see all the places they dug up acorns. About two miles in, I heard the familiar sound of the pileated woodpecker. I stopped. I called out, "Where are you?" Rick thought I was talking to him (I wasn't that far behind!). As if to answer, the woodpecker took wing. I'm making up a proverb that it's good luck to start the year with a pileated woodpecker sighting.

We ran for an hour giving us a very hard-earned 4.5 miles. As Rick pointed out, he has the same number of miles as I do for the year : )