VNR WNR VNC

So that's: Valerie not Rick, Wednesday Night Run, Very Nice Conditions.  The ground could have been really muddy, but the temperature had crept just below freezing for long enough to have it just starting to firm up.  The clumps of grass in the fields were not so hard that they hurt or caused weird foot falls.  The odd, cloudless snow was happening again.  I'm thinking it's the humidity freezing out.  Whatever, it makes the night a little magical.

Bradbury Triple Play

Though a good-sized Trail Monster contingent was running Blackstrap Hell on Saturday morning, Rick and I chose to head to Bradbury.  Ian and NJ Dave were also running there and waiting for us; I had forgotten my shoes, luckily I realized it before we'd gotten too far, but it made us a little late.  I asked what was the plan for the run.  Ian had the Connector in mind.  Very good.  When we reached the branch that we'd normally take for the Boundary, Ian said, "Lets mix it up."  So we went up the Ski Trail, onto the Tote Rd, and then onto the branch that connects the Tote to the Boundary.  I said something like, "We're doing the reverse of last week with Mindy."  However, Ian then ran past the trail that branches off and crosses the mountain.  I yelled something about aren't we doing the reverse Mindy?  Ian was agreeable and came back to head down that way.  Once we got to the Boundary, Dave asked what trail we were on and which one were we just left.  I said I didn't think that one had a name.  Ian?  He immediately responded, "The Reverse Mindy."  I love(d) it!!! I looked on the "official" map; it doesn't even show the trail.  It starts midway between markers 16 amd 17 then parallels the Boundary till it meets back up with the Boundary (I know, I know...if it parallels it, it can't meet back up with it; just look at the map) between 12 and 13.

It was a beautiful run:  The dusting of snow, the cold, crisp air, the good company, everything I love about the trails.  Then Ian ran past the little single track detour that we'd done the previous week (or what I thought was said detour).  I called up to him.  How about he and Dave go his way and Rick and I would take the detour?  We'd see who got to the "Quarry" sign (where they meet back up) first.  And we were off!  It didn't even take a minute for me to realize that it was a different trail.  Did that make Rick and I turn around?  Nope.  I sort of figured it would connect back in somewhere.  When we found ourselves approaching the back of a house, we turned back a bit, but kept going the way we thought would bring us back to the connector.  We needed to bushwhack a bit, but we got back on track.  Of course, Dave and Ian weren't at the sign when we got there.  We ran the actual single track as well as the part of the trail they would have run.  I yelled for them.  We waited on the trail.  Hmmm....We left a leafy branch on the Quarry sign.  I wrote something in the snow with my Nuun.  Then Rick and I headed for the power line. 


When we got back to the Quarry sign again, I put a stick arrow crossing the entrance to the single track.  I also put one on the other end of the single track and the head of the trail we shouldn't have run out on.

The arrow two days later, dusted with snow

I fretted that they were still looking for us.  Rick was with me, though and he said they'd know to go on.  I hope they'd know I would be fine with that even if I was on my own.  That's probably not the case in other places, but, I'm good there.  We got back to the parking lot with 8.5 on the Garmins.  I left a long note for Ian. 

Sunday, Christmas morning, Rick and I headed back to Bradbury.  The temperature was a couple degrees colder than the day before even though we were starting almost 2 hours later.  We ran the Scuffle.  While we ran a lot faster, it took us nearly as long as last week's shuffle; I took lots of pictures along the way.

Today, we were back to the Brad and back to the Connector.  There was more snow and more ice.  It made the going a little slower, but we had fun.  It also made the going much more beautiful.  Again, I had my camera.  I tried to capture what I saw, but only a couple we any good...and then only hinted at what we enjoyed.  I made sure to pick a few red berries out at the power lines, knowing there were none at the summit.  I wanted to make a snowman to honor the run last week with Dora, Mindy and Tim.

VNR ThNR

I'm very tempted to copy and paste Tuesday's run here.  About the only thing different was the temperature.  It was slightly warmer this night. 

VNR TNR

Instead of running at work, Rick waited and ran with me when I got home from work.  I didn't feel like I had the time to do the TMR TNR, but did I use the extra time for any Christmas stuff as planned?  Of course not.

Still, it was very nice running at night with Rick.  We caught up on our days and got to have someone to comment on the cold, the lumpy frozen ground, and the weird snowflakes that seemed to be falling even though the stars were out uncovered by any clouds.

My knee was only a little stiff.  I really feared a fall on the frozen lumps, but I stayed upright.

So, of course, VNR is Valerie 'n Rick.

Scuffle Shuffle

Rick and I were a little slow to get ourselves to the Brad on Sunday.  It was so cold.  My knee was really stiff.  Rick was really tired.  I knew the run would do us good.  We decided to keep it light, just running the Scuffle.  The first 1/4 mile probably couldn't be considered running.  I thought I was going to have to say I couldn't run after all and feel rotten for dragging Rick out.  Slowly, it began to loosen up.  I'd say it was about two miles before it wasn't really even painful.

At one point, two mountain bikers appeared seemingly out of nowhere.  The were very nice and pulled off to the side.  I said to Rick it was amazing that they could get that close without us hearing.  That's when Rick pointed out to me just how crunchy the leaves were, even suggesting the title for my post could be "Corn Flakes".  Looking at the snow dusting the ground, I said maybe "Frosted Flakes".

The run began to work its magic on us.  We'd warmed up, loosened up, and could enjoy the experience.  Fortunately, the Scuffle ended just in time; my knee started to complain again with just 10ths to go.  I'd like to say I iced immediately, but I needed to get to the store before the Giants' game started.  I did ice during the game.

Today was a day off.  Though the knee feels much better and can flex more, there is more inflammation.  It's swollen and hard well down my shin.  Not sure what that means.  I can say I like the less pain part.

The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful

I had a hard time with the title because it was such a diverse and spectacular run.  I think Tim said it was more like a field trip.  We did a lot of playing.  We had Highland Cows, pigs, a super-friendly border collie, snowmen, snowball fights, trail exploring, and blood.

Mindy and Tim were waiting in the parking lot when I pulled in.  All of a sudden Alan was there.  It took me a second to realize he had run there from his home.  I was getting my gear together feeling a little slow (Rick and I had a fun, late night out in Portland on Friday), when Dora pulled in.  The conversation was mostly about the unexpected snow we were experiencing.  The roads had started to get slick.  We weren't worried about the trails, but that is would switch over to rain.

The group set off at an easy pace; we planned on running long.  I had 18 in mind.  It was our typical chatter.  Crossing the first bridge on the Connector, Alan commented on the beauty.  That's when we learned he'd never run the Connector to the power lines before.  It's fun to see it through fresh eyes, although we usually do a good job appreciating the scenery.

The power line "road" was frozen.  It was much easier running than the mud the previous weeks.  We were bopping along just fine till all of sudden I was down.  The snow hid some ice.  My left leg went out straight ahead of me while my right leg folded under me resulting in my knee hitting the ice really hard.  It hurt.  A lot.  Crap.  Everyone was very patient while I needed to walk for a while. I think it was right around the bridge before crossing Elmwood Rd.  After a short walk, I was able to run again.  It was still pretty painful, but Alan said if I needed to I could jump off the run with him at the next road.  He was heading back to his house; it would be shorter than running back from where we were.  It was good to know I had options, but by the time we got to W. Pownal Rd, my knee was runnable.  However, talking with Alan about where that road went, we realized it was part of the Animal Loop.  We were very close to the Highland Coos!!!  We were all on the same page and up for a short branch off our trail to visit the wonderful beasts.

We were rewarded with the owner being out and more than willing to allow us to visit and share with us lots of knowledge about her animals.  Not only did we get to check in on Maisy, Errol, and Iona (the cows), we met a very handsome, friendly pig named Rory.  All the while there was a super happy border collie getting Tim to throw a tennis ball for her.  We were meeting the second pig when Ian, Zak, and Daren (was there another person?  I'm not sure) came running up the driveway.  They'd followed our footprints.  Ian said, when they saw we'd turned off onto the road, he knew exactly where we were going.

By then we'd spent so much time visiting the animals, we were all cold.  It was time to get moving.  Alan parted ways heading off with Ian's group who were doing a shorter route.  Mindy, Dora, Tim and I headed back to the power lines to resume our journey to Pineland.  When we reached the railroad tracks, we had a choice:  head down the tracks to Pineland as planned or continue on the powerlines.  None of us really liked the idea of the tracks, so we opted to explore new ground.  While very pretty for power lines, it was also very marshy.  Much of the "run" was bog jumping.  We decided on our turnaround when we came across a swampy area that looked like it would require us getting pretty we to cross.  By now, my knee was starting to get pretty stiff.  The hills hurt both up and down.

It wasn't too far after we turned around that Tim discovered that the snow was packy.  The first few snowballs were thrown.  And a very little, very evil snowman was born.  Tim gave him red berries for eyes.  Yikes!  He also had a little snowdog.  The knee was even stiffer for the stop.

After we crossed Elmwood, and were maybe 1/3 of the way down the final stretch of power line, one of us noticed a trail going into the woods.  We were still in the mood for exploring.  It was probably a well-traveled snowmobile trail in winter, not single track at all.  It was pretty straight.  It was way better than power line running.  I correctly guessed that it would be the very "road" that is briefly on our regular Connector trail right where the TMs made the little rock "bridge" when we were helping work on the trail.  Nice.

When we got back to the Boundary Trail, I (my knee) required walking which gave us more opportunity for snowball fights!  The biggest fight was, fittingly, on the summit.  We also built another, non-evil, snowman.  From there it was down the Switchback, kinda skipping a lot of the switching back.  Now how do you cap off a run/adventure like that?  Edna and Lucy's, of course!

very swollen, the color just developing

14.5 miles of fun

Slipping

After winning the first ever TM award for best blog, I'm feeling a little guilty for not keeping up with my runs.  I've had a few good ones even.  Lets see, Saturday Mindy and Ian started early at Pineland.  They were planning running the start of the Pineland races, jumping off just after the steep hill on Gloucester Hill Trail to head to Bradbury.  Mindy dubbed it the "Pinebuy" : ) 

I felt like I didn't have that much time. Hmmm...did I not have the time or did I not want to run the Pine portion of Pinebury?  It's not like I finished before them; I just started later.  I ran from the Brad towards them.  It was fun meeting them seemingly in the middle of nowhere.  It was kind of the best of both worlds.  I got have my piece of solo run on the beautiful trails and then I got to share those trails with two of the best people in the world to run with.  How's that for a run?!

By the time the end of the run, I'd gotten in 11.5 miles.  I didn't even head to E&Ls with them because I wanted to get to Thorncrag to nail down the course for Sunday's Till We Meet In Hell 2 event.  Rick and I found a pretty good loop, but it didn't show off the variety that Thorncrag has.  So we tried again.  The 2nd loop had just a slightly less long first climb, but had more in terms of trail variety.  Yup, it was Red, Orange, then Yellow.  The nerd in me liked the pattern.

Sunday, Rick and I headed to Thorncrag early to set out the flags to mark the course.  We didn't really need a lot, but we also needed to put out the tenth markers.  There was a good turnout; we had 27 runners.  Not everyone really raced it, but everyone got to enjoy the effort of those that did.  I felt that I pushed harder than I would normally run at the bird santuary.  I'm not sure I had much more in there, but I didn't have anyone pushing me either.  It was a blast to be lapped by Andy and Jeremy.  They were working hard, pushing and pulling each other.  Jeff was also pushing the pace.  I'm not sure exactly where Jeremy overtook Andy, but he ended up winning.  The first three were Jeremy, Andy and Jeff.  The funny part was that, even though it was a handicapped race, the first three actual finishers were also the first three after the handicap was applied.  That meant they really earned it.  Congrats guys!  It was a lot of fun to witness.

Of course, the post-race party with the first annual TM awards was also a lot of fun.  We even learned there would be a new TM in June.  Congratulations Erin and Blaine!!!!!

Monday was a day off, more just cause of logistics than need of rest.  I did make TNR.  Now that I know where to go, PBR is better for me than TB.  It was a smaller crew than normal, but Emma was able to make it.  I wouldn't be able to find my way at all, but I did recognize a few spots.  The trails were less wet, but did have a few stretches of slippery ice.  It's not long till screw shoes will be needed.

Tonight I just got in 3.5 miles.  My stomach felt pretty rotten after 2 miles.  I couldn't tell if it really was my GI tract being grumpy or if I hurt some ab muscles when I hung up my treads on a clump of frozen turf.  Still, it was good to get out no matter.

Just Get Out

I think my exact words to Rick when I walked in the door were, "I'm going for a run; I just don't feel like going out there."  It really is just getting out the door that's unappealing.  My run was pretty great.  I enjoyed the cold, crisp air, the fact that I almost didn't need my headlamp, and that the ground was crunching beneath my feet.  Even the places were I was getting wet were kinda cool cause I first had to break a think layer of ice.

I ran just under 4.5 miles.  I might have run longer if food wasn't an issue.

TNR PBR

From Google maps, I thought I was actually going to get to TNR with some time to spare.  I'd get to eat a snack and socialize before the run.  Instead, I found myself driving back and forth on a section of North Rd wondering how long the TMs would wait before they headed out on the run.  If I arrived after they left, would I just set out on the trails hoping to run into them and/or just hoping to get some miles in and still make it back to the car?  I pulled into someone's driveway and struggled to see my cell phone's contacts, pretty sure I found Mindy's name.  Turns out she was also driving back and forth on North Rd.  We met up and formed a mini-caravan.  Finally, Mindy spotted the sign.  Sometimes you think, "How could I have missed that?!"  This time, it was more like, "How could someone be expected to notice that, especially in the dark!"  Fortunately, the group was still there waiting for us.

Ian brought a headlamp for Mindy to run with.  Fortunately, he usually runs with a head and belly lamp because I couldn't find mine.  Next day, I found it in the front seat instead of in with my running gear like I expected.  Lets see, the group consisted of Blaine, Jim, Zak, Nathan, Ian, Mindy, and me.  I think that was all.  The trails were fine.  Some were very sloppy, some were pretty rooty, and some were almost like bike paths.  Running unknown trails in the dark is interesting.  As far as I knew, we just ran a 1/2 mile loop.  It sort of is all the same as far as scenery, especially since I am even more hyper-focused on the trail than usual.

Mindy and I did a little catching up, while being slightly worried that it looked like the big kids were pulling away (of course, they didn't).  When we all regrouped, Mindy and I ended up right behind Ian in the lead.  We were hashing out the plans for Till We Meet in Hell 2.  After a mass pee (lights doused), we sort of shuffled the order.  Mindy ran with Zak and I ran with Blaine.  At the finish everyone was very muddy - and hot.  I neglected to say it was really warm.  The NWS's hourly weather report had misled me.  I was dressed for low 30s not 50s.

Well, now I know where to find it.  I think I'd like to go back during the day to see what it actually looks like.

What Is Happy, Baby...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ii8Ca9B2_3Q  

(The title should link to that video)

I love this song (okay, I was, like, twelve when I first heard it).  It sort of could have been my theme song for the day with the small change of run for walk ("what is happy, baby? To me, it's running (sic) in the park when I'm alone with you...").  Rick and I headed to the Brad for an easy-paced run.  It was a nice recovery for me after yesterday's longer miles.  We ran what my Garmin knows I call a mishmash.  I just took us on any random trail that I felt like.

The first few trails left me thinking that the new TNR spot must be super soggy cause they weren't wet at all.  Then there'd be a very wet, muddy trail.  Rick and I covered a lot of the worlds ills, but still were able to stay happy enjoying the magic that is Brad.

After our run, we stopped in for a yummy brunch at E&Ls. 

Connecting with Friends

There was a pretty huge contingency of TMs assembled when I pulled into the Bradbury parking lot.  I hope they weren't waiting just for me.  I was a couple minutes late.  Ian lead the main group across the street to the east side trails.  Mindy, Tim, Dora and I had planned to go long on the Connector.  It was Tim's first time.

Of course there was lots of chatter as we went.  The trail was beautiful as usual, but in a new way.  We haven't seen it on the way to winter before.  The stream crossing was easy.  Amazingly, on the way back, Mindy mentioned feeling like taking a dip.  I think we were all sort of feeling like that.

We'd all planned to go long, but had sort of planned to go back to the car to refuel after 10ish miles.  However, as we got further out the power lines, the idea of actually connecting to Pineland became the plan.  None of us had ever gone all the way.  Running down the railroad tracks, Mindy kept talking about the drop off (we'd run part of the Beautiful Loop with the TMs in early April when there was still snow).  Tim feigned being worried with her interest in the drop off, perhaps picturing a cliff.  Really it was just where Emma had stepped down off the RR tracks into waste deep snow and water.  It was also the place Mindy, Rick and I turned around that day. 

We found the spot.  We were all wondering if we were looking up at one of the Pineland trails, but we thought that it didn't connect directly onto the trails.  Then I noticed someone walking.  "Are you at Pineland?"  She said yes.  "What trail are you on?"  She said the Gloucester hill.  We were all so excited.  She must have wondered where we came from.  We ran a little loop of the before heading back.  Tim sounded like he wanted to all of Pineland before returning.

On the return. we took a slight detour to see the quarry on Tryon Mountain.  It was a good group to do that sort of thing with.  You could point out interesting things and everyone would stop to look.  It was about the trail and the run.

Back on the summit of the Brad, we debated the descent.  I voted for the switchback, but would have taken a longer route if anyone was serious about more mileage.  I think we were all happy with the run.  My Garmin showed 15.7+; Mindy's had 15.3+.  SportTracks said it was more like 15.95.  Yay us!