I'm Not Complaining...Much

My training plan calls for 16 miles today.  Seemed like the day to try the Beautiful Loop at Bradbury.  Even though we had close to a foot of snow yesterday, I hoped that the snowmobiles would have it packed enough for a decent run.

The roads were slick on the way over.  I hoped I wouldn't be too late to catch the group.  When I pulled into the lot, I spotted Snowman's bright yellow car right off, but no Snowman.  I correctly guessed he was already out on the Blizzard course.  No other TMs were there.  Seconds later Ian and Emma pulled in.  Ian had looked for the snowmobile tracks where the  BL would meet up with roads, but didn't see any.  He said it looked like maybe one sled had gone out the Link.  So he had decided to snowshoe instead.  Emma was opting for ten miles on the road.  Hmmmmm....I didn't bring snowshoes, didn't want to run roads, and really was unsure I could get in 16 miles on unpacked trails.  I formulated a plan.  Based on previous runs when the trails were more runnable, I probably would have done 16 miles in just under 3 hours.  So I would go for the time instead of distance.  Of course, I'd record actual distance, but feel like I'd done the spirit of the plan.

I'm not sure if Zak and his wife, Lenka, pulled in while I was deciding my plan of attack or after.  Like Ian and Emma, Zak would be snowshoeing and Lenka would be running the road, but looking for less miles than Emma.  Somewhere in here, Ryan came off the mountain, but he wasn't done.  We stood around gabbing a bit longer, thinking the roads could have made people late.  Nope.  We were it.

I started out of the park on the road with the girls, but turned onto the snowmobile trail leading onto the East side.  Yikes!  It was going to be very slow going.  I yelled at myself several times for not bringing the camera.  The running may have been ugly, but the scenery was beautiful.  I wish Danielle were along so I could read her post describing it.  I'll just leave it at "beautiful".

I think, sometimes, I had nearly as much sideways motion as forward.  At first I was going with the sugar analogy for the snow, but, it wasn't long till I decided I really was in the desert of Maine.  Kind of ironic that the cold snow could make me think desert, especially given all the trees.  But I could picture sinking this deeply into the sand.  Some places were like dunes.  Some point, well over an hour in, the America song Horse with No Name got stuck in my head.  I think I could have used some company!  (Sorry to hear that Mindy had car trouble on the way to the run...but, given the conditions, probably good for her ITB.)

Soon after the trail exits the park, it makes a left.  Today it didn't.  The only snowmobile(s) had gone straight onto the Libby Rd.  I ran onto the road and debated finishing my run on the pavement.  I'm not sure that, if I was certain of which road I was on, I would have opted for that.  It was so easy running.  No, no, no.  I was sticking with the trail.

I was excited to hear a snowmobile coming.  I mistakenly thought that would help the trail.  There was no packing this dry sand.  If anything, it seemed to fluff it more.  Or maybe I was just getting tired.  Heading down the snowmobile trail, I noticed that the Old Tuttle Rd had snowmobile traffic.  It looked pretty good.  I turned onto it and was immediately happy with my decision.  I was running almost 12 min/mile!  Woohoo!  Why was this so much better?  As I passed the place where Lanzo changes to Ragan, I wondered how far this went.  I couldn't picture where it would come out (I've since looked on the map; it meets up with rte 9).  A little further, I decided I better turn back.  OH!  That's why it was so much easier.  I didn't realize how steadily I had gone down hill.  Going back up, the trail seemed much like the first one I was on.

I ran all the way down the Snowmobile Trail into the field that would lead to Edna and Lucy's.  It was even deeper there.  After a short stint in the field, I retraced my steps till I got to the turn off to get to Knights Woods.  From there I took the snowmobile trail that branches off and comes out onto Rt 9 maybe 1/4 mile down from the park entrance.  I'd gone a measly 6.5 miles in 1:36:something....and I worked for those miles!  Lenka was back from her run.  She seemed happy with it.  I didn't see any sign of Emma.

As I made my way back towards the snowmobile trail to cross over to the East side again, Zak and Ian came in on that trail on snowshoes.  They gave me a rundown on their adventure, I gave them one of mine, and I was back across the street.

My butt and lower back were starting to complain.  Around 2 hours in I decided I better listen and headed back.  I finished up with just over ten miles in 2:32:45.  Before leaving, I was happy to count 20 cars in the parking lot.  Most were snowshoers.  It's nice to see people enjoying the park AND maybe they'll help pack the race course some (it'll have to warm up a good deal for that snow to pack, though).