Catching Up

Well.  Now I'm nine runs behind in posts.  I'll try to recapture them, but, I had some really great runs in there that I know I won't do justice.  Any way...

Dec. 31st -  Heading to the Brad, I was surprised as the roads became more and more slick.  Well, it was supposed to get warmer.  There was a pretty good group of Monsters in the parking lot.  The bulk of them headed out ahead of Ian, Mindy, and me.  I can't remember why really, but we were planning on a longer run than the rest of them.  Starting out, I didn't hear Mindy's shoes clicking like Ian's and mine.  She had been away for a bit over a week and didn't realize it was screw shoe time.  Leave it to Ian!  He had screw and the cordless driver right in his vehicle.  Mindy (she commented feeling like a horse being shod) was equipped with screw shoes without ever taking off a shoe!

There was icy patches everywhere.  The mist that came down added to the slipperiness.  Still we bopped along chatting.  As the run time increased, I could tell Mindy's body was letting her down.  She never complained, but she was coughing and sniffling.  She had fluid behind her ear and was dealing with balance issues all the while handling the difficult trail conditions. 

We ended back by the parking lot near 12 miles in.  That was good timing for me; I could take advantage of the outhouse.  It was then that I noticed that my Fuelbelt was totally iced over.  Instead of getting warmer and less slippery, everything was icing!  Mindy made the smart decision to call it a day right there.  Ian had another 6+ in mind.  That was a bit more than I had originally planned, but 15 or 18?  Not really that big of a deal.

Yeah, that's what I thought till we headed back out there.  Yikes!  Things were icier than I'd ever run on, but I didn't want to back out.  However, when Ian almost wiped out cause even the dirt was icy, I said I was gonna call it quits.  Ian proposed a less scary way to get in a couple of miles on the way back to the parking lot.  I'm glad I agreed; it was almost magical.  As Ian ran along the Reverse Mindy, he left snowy footprints on the leaves.  I'd never seen anything like it.  It seemed like a ghost was running along.  Actually, he was just chopping up the ice covering on the leaves, but it really did look cool.

We got in just over 15 miles.  We met back up with Mindy at E&L's.  I felt like we were justly rewarded for our efforts; The special was TBLTs!!!

Jan 1st - Happy 2012!  Rick and I met up with Danielle at the Brad.  I was a little afraid of what the trails would be like.  I suggested we might try the Animal Loop.  Danielle, probably rightly, was afraid the dirt roads might be just as icy as the trails.  OK, we'd try Mindy's Loop.  We could always bail it it was too bad.

I'm not sure if the new year had brought a new "icier than I'd ever run on" or just a different icy.  We had to plan our footfalls very carefully and go VERY slowly.  Still, it was enjoyable; We rarely get to run with Danielle.  Plus, it was an adventure, a good way to start the new year of running.  By the time we'd gone 5+miles, things were starting to get a little more grippy.  We could even run at a non-pathetic pace in a few stretches.  So, our eight miles took a long time, but we were all happy with the run.

Jan. 2nd - This was a day off from work, since the first fell on a Sunday.  My roommate from college had come up to visit.  She is quite a hiker, but is just getting back to real fitness after a long recovery from foot surgery.  I proposed we head to the Brad.  We'd pick a length of time and meet back at the cars (she was leaving for home from there).  I decided to explore the Tryon Mountain area.  It was fun.  Some of the trails I had to turn back just because of time constraints, but knew I'd check them out again.  Clarice, my friend, had a nice walk; I don't think she really considered it a hike.  She did sport her full pack just for the exercise.

Jan 3rd - I am having a hard time making the TMR TNR, even though it's practically on my way home.  The fact that it's a little off my path and doesn't start right when I get there, puts me getting home a little after 8pm.  Not so bad?  Well, Rick generally goes to bed by 9: he has to get up at 4:30 am.  I'm not sure who checked with who, but Mindy was still not feeling 100% and thought the Back Cove might be a better option for her.  It definitely worked for me; I was home by 7 and got to have Mindy's company :)

Jan 5th - Four miles in the fields and woods around the house with Rick.  I'm lucky; he could have run in the daylight at work, but knew I'd be running at night. 

Jan. 7th - Another epic Saturday spent at the Brad, this time with Gnarls and Squirrel!  We were looking for 15 and ended up with 16.  Heading out the Connector, we did a little more exploring on Tryon.  Mindy had done some bushwacking and new trail finding with Ian earlier in the week.  We covered some of the same ground and I noted where my Monday run intersected this one.  Then we headed out to the power line.  The trails had patches of ice, but nothing bad.  You just had to keep a keen eye on the trail.  Of course, I felt compulsed to announce every little patch I saw.

It was good to run with Emma, especially since we got to show her the heeland coos along with the other wonderful animals on the Animal Loop.  Though I normally shun roads, I do love the Animal Loop.  It has wicked cool animals and mostly back, dirt roads.  It was also good to peel off some quicker miles.  These long runs on icy trails take a loooong time!

Oh!  And besides the animals on the Loop, we saw lots of evidence of varied animals along the trail.  There were coyote, deer, squirrel, and turkey tracks.  The turkeys appeared to have had quite the party.  I can picture the males doing their plumage display from the feather prints in the snow.  Then there were tracks I couldn't identify.  I really have to remember to google fisher tracks.  That would be my guess.

Jan 8th - Rick and I ran the Connector enough to get in 9 miles.  The going was a lot easier with less ice.  It was pretty perfect weather.  Maybe tomorrow I'll get up some pictures.  Besides the ones I put up from the 7th run, I brought the camera on a few other runs.

Jan 10th - TNR VNR  Rick and I had another pretty great home run getting in just over four miles.

Today - Four solo miles around here.  Nice.

Done.