After work, I headed to Bradbury today. I really needed the run. It even took a few miles before I was smiling. In fact, it wasn't till I ran threw a few muddy puddles till I felt right. Only 4.6, but very valuable miles.
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
TNR@BC WER@Brad
Scout and Squirrel,back to the routine of TNR at the Back Cove, discussed feeling not quite over the effects of Peaks after thinking there were no effects of Peaks. Still, I think we are pretty fortunate to not having to have taken any time off and mostly just to feel creaky. We just did one loop, but it wasn't slow.
After work, I headed to Bradbury today. I really needed the run. It even took a few miles before I was smiling. In fact, it wasn't till I ran threw a few muddy puddles till I felt right. Only 4.6, but very valuable miles.
After work, I headed to Bradbury today. I really needed the run. It even took a few miles before I was smiling. In fact, it wasn't till I ran threw a few muddy puddles till I felt right. Only 4.6, but very valuable miles.
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Beautiful, Beautiful BBU
Mindy and I met at the Brad at 8am, both with the knowledge that Joe had just earned his Silver Buckle at Western States! That's pretty good inspiration for a run! I was pretty sure the course for the BBU was locked down, but running it again, on a clear day, with two Garmins would give more confidence that we've nailed down the loop.
The morning actually felt cool starting out. I think that was just in contrast to how hot it has been. We were running the loop starting from the Brad parking lot, which meant heading to the east side first. We were treated to the beauty of the dark, wet tree trunks against the bright green foliage, highlighted by the sunlight coming through the canopy. We were reminded of how the humidity hangs in there for a while even though the clearing storm has gone through.
As always, even after covering lots of territory yesterday, we had tons to talk about and the miles ticked off. We stopped briefly in the parking lot to see if Pete and a friend had decided to do their run at Brad. Nope. So off on the mountain side. Just as we were heading out, a sweet little border collie and her folks were heading in. We learned she'd been rescued just before she and all her siblings were executed by some Tennessee Farmer. Yikes! We could tell she was a very lucky pup to find a family that already had two border collies in their family. Sweet.
More chatter and appreciation of Brad before we ran into Fritz, the park ranger, his wife, and a new person to the park who, I think, is coordinating conservation volunteers at the park. He asked if we'd seen the work being done on the trail up towards Tryon. Yes! I am very happy and impressed with the job they're doing there. I could wait for Mindy to see; we both hated that short stretch. I swatted and was bitten by lots of mosquitoes as we talked.
Our next find was a box in the middle of the trail with the word, "wonderment" written on it. Me, "We're gonna open it, right?" Squirrel, mostly kidding, "Hope there's not a dead animal in there!" "Use a stick; I'll take a picture."
We oohed at the different treasures, then Mindy opened the scroll. I think she said something about stoners being out. Still, we were on the look out from then on for a treasure of our own to add to the box.
On Sweetser Road, the short dirt road stretch, we were bothered a bit by deer flies. They were on the power lines, too, but left us when we peeled off to the Connector. Again, we were struck by the beauty we were running through. The lighting seem extra special.
Mindy's find for the Wonderment Box had to be tossed aside. The box was gone. Oh, well. I think it was around here that Mindy started mentioning how hungry she was. Hmmm, this was a first; I'm usually the hungry one.
On the trail that connects the Reverse Mindy to the Tote Road, I started big time; a snake slithered out from just under my footfall. I like snakes, but they'll scare the shit out of me as much, if not more, than the next guy. While trying to get a photo of him, we met Mr. Toad. Well, Toad hopped close to Snake. The Squirrel told me that the snake snapped, nibbled, um...tasted Toad. I was looking through the viewfinder so saw none of it. All of my shots are kind of point and hope cause, without my glasses, I have no idea what I've got in the frame. Mindy thought I might have caught the encounter, or, at least, have gotten them in the same pic. No such luck :( But I did get something:
At the summit, we marveled at the difference in the view. Yesterday was interesting shades of gray with mist (haze?). Today was bright blue with clear view of the ocean. We didn't spend too long looking, since we were close to the finish. Mindy's stomach didn't get any less hungry. We headed down Lunch Break. It always seems longer than we remember. I think the up seems shorter. The only thing that held us up from just finishing was an adorable Corgi, well Corgi mix. Turns out, she was a rescue dog from Tennessee! After a nice visit we pushed through to the finish. There, I realized I was beyond hungry. Lucky for Scout and Squirrel, E&Ls had a repeat of yesterday's BLT on the menu. Perfect ending.
The morning actually felt cool starting out. I think that was just in contrast to how hot it has been. We were running the loop starting from the Brad parking lot, which meant heading to the east side first. We were treated to the beauty of the dark, wet tree trunks against the bright green foliage, highlighted by the sunlight coming through the canopy. We were reminded of how the humidity hangs in there for a while even though the clearing storm has gone through.
As always, even after covering lots of territory yesterday, we had tons to talk about and the miles ticked off. We stopped briefly in the parking lot to see if Pete and a friend had decided to do their run at Brad. Nope. So off on the mountain side. Just as we were heading out, a sweet little border collie and her folks were heading in. We learned she'd been rescued just before she and all her siblings were executed by some Tennessee Farmer. Yikes! We could tell she was a very lucky pup to find a family that already had two border collies in their family. Sweet.
More chatter and appreciation of Brad before we ran into Fritz, the park ranger, his wife, and a new person to the park who, I think, is coordinating conservation volunteers at the park. He asked if we'd seen the work being done on the trail up towards Tryon. Yes! I am very happy and impressed with the job they're doing there. I could wait for Mindy to see; we both hated that short stretch. I swatted and was bitten by lots of mosquitoes as we talked.
Our next find was a box in the middle of the trail with the word, "wonderment" written on it. Me, "We're gonna open it, right?" Squirrel, mostly kidding, "Hope there's not a dead animal in there!" "Use a stick; I'll take a picture."
On Sweetser Road, the short dirt road stretch, we were bothered a bit by deer flies. They were on the power lines, too, but left us when we peeled off to the Connector. Again, we were struck by the beauty we were running through. The lighting seem extra special.
 |
| The work being done on the before-disliked hill |
 |
| More of the work |
 |
| Lots of work on drainage |
 | |
| Of course the shot doesn't capture the real scene |
Mindy's find for the Wonderment Box had to be tossed aside. The box was gone. Oh, well. I think it was around here that Mindy started mentioning how hungry she was. Hmmm, this was a first; I'm usually the hungry one.
On the trail that connects the Reverse Mindy to the Tote Road, I started big time; a snake slithered out from just under my footfall. I like snakes, but they'll scare the shit out of me as much, if not more, than the next guy. While trying to get a photo of him, we met Mr. Toad. Well, Toad hopped close to Snake. The Squirrel told me that the snake snapped, nibbled, um...tasted Toad. I was looking through the viewfinder so saw none of it. All of my shots are kind of point and hope cause, without my glasses, I have no idea what I've got in the frame. Mindy thought I might have caught the encounter, or, at least, have gotten them in the same pic. No such luck :( But I did get something:
 |
| Look close! Mr. Toad is there. |
 |
| Mr. Toad alone |
Saturday, Brad, Squirrel
We decided not to run till 9 instead of the usual 8, but, otherwise, all was right with the world. After discussing the amazing, inspired concert we went to last night (who knew we were running/friends with such talent?!!), we moved on to solving all the problems we know of. We marveled at the lush greeness of the east side. We ran at the Brad. Yup, the world is right.
Saturday, June 23, 2012
IRS Fail
Well, life interfered with Wednesday's IRS meeting. I had hopes of a repeat of the Triumverate run with a slide show of Unstrung's Grand Teton Adventure after. Well, both the Squirrel and Xar had stuff that kept them from coming. So, I put on my not-fully-recharged headlamp, my starting-to-break-through-to-the-soles, worn-outr oad shoes (all my Inov8s were outside in various states of drenchedness), and headed into the swampiness of the still-78-degrees-at-10 pm night air. I tried to say, "yay, I'm out here doing this", but I just found myself grumping about not charging my light.
Across the street, I marveled at how high the hay was on either side of the mowed path. Mindy could have hidden without ducking. Then I started feeling like things could be startled by me; we wouldn't see each other coming. I decided I should make noise. Yup, I started singing. Unfortunately, all I could come up with was, "Show Me the Way to Go Home" and "Henry the 8th". Finally, I opted for the National Anthem which morphed into the "Hair" version. Then, BAM! My feet went out from underneath me and I landed hard on my hip. My totally gripless shoes had slipped on the dew-slicked grass that covered the ruts that my pale light probably wouldn't have illuminated anyway. Ow. Ow. My hip is still sore. That was not my last fall either of my short 4.1 miles. I fell once more in much the same way and twisted my ankle pretty good once.
The next night, when thinking of heading back out into pretty much the same conditions (oh, I would have made the effort to fetch my Inov8s off the patio), I realized that I could just get up 15 minutes earlier (Rick's been on vacation this week, so Spot has been getting me up at 5am to feed her, the time she's accustomed to), I could run in the morning light. It was a great idea. I ran pretty much the same course as the ill-fated IRS run, but was able to tack on 1/2 mile more in the same time. I didn't fall. I didn't have a sense that I was going to run into a coyote or skunk. I saw the dove before it would fly up in front of me.
Across the street, I marveled at how high the hay was on either side of the mowed path. Mindy could have hidden without ducking. Then I started feeling like things could be startled by me; we wouldn't see each other coming. I decided I should make noise. Yup, I started singing. Unfortunately, all I could come up with was, "Show Me the Way to Go Home" and "Henry the 8th". Finally, I opted for the National Anthem which morphed into the "Hair" version. Then, BAM! My feet went out from underneath me and I landed hard on my hip. My totally gripless shoes had slipped on the dew-slicked grass that covered the ruts that my pale light probably wouldn't have illuminated anyway. Ow. Ow. My hip is still sore. That was not my last fall either of my short 4.1 miles. I fell once more in much the same way and twisted my ankle pretty good once.
The next night, when thinking of heading back out into pretty much the same conditions (oh, I would have made the effort to fetch my Inov8s off the patio), I realized that I could just get up 15 minutes earlier (Rick's been on vacation this week, so Spot has been getting me up at 5am to feed her, the time she's accustomed to), I could run in the morning light. It was a great idea. I ran pretty much the same course as the ill-fated IRS run, but was able to tack on 1/2 mile more in the same time. I didn't fall. I didn't have a sense that I was going to run into a coyote or skunk. I saw the dove before it would fly up in front of me.
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
The Beast
The Beast was back in its proper month; last year it was held in August (thanks, Squirrel, I couldn't figure out why no one wrote about it and why it was mysteriously missing from my garmin data). Jim and Shauna host a great, if unusual, event. I did as many laps as the winner, Double T, but did not drink the required beers. I was happy with my speed. After lots of LSD, it felt good to just let go a bit. The laps were a mile long. I got to run a couple of laps with Kip and Jet. Man! Those are fast pups! I shared a lap or two with the eventual winner, TT. I kidded him it was his anniversary; last year's Beast was the first we knew that he was funny :) I ran a lap with Ian, when he caught up with his dogs. I shared the last of my laps with Blaine. I hadn't run with him in a long time, certainly not since the birth of Lillian. It was nice to catch up.
Post run, there was the usual great food and shenanigans. TMs, gotta love 'em.
Oh, I got in seven miles, but forgot to stop my garmin so don't know my actual pace.
Post run, there was the usual great food and shenanigans. TMs, gotta love 'em.
Oh, I got in seven miles, but forgot to stop my garmin so don't know my actual pace.
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Unstrung Sunday
I went back to Brad on Sunday, not knowing if any TMs would be there. It was Father's Day and I knew other TMs had other plans. Squirrel was on her way back from away. I drove in at 9, the designated Sunday time. The park was loaded with mountain bikers. I was sure I was on my own. Just as I was about to head out, I saw Unstrung heading out for the mountain side. I yelled to her!
She had just sent me some amazing pictures from the Grand Tetons. I didn't even know she was going and now she was back! I got to hear to wild, brave stories of her trip/trek/adventure. I interrupted to take pictures (my plan was to take lots on the BBU course), but immediately got us back to her story. Wow!
I posted the pics on BBU's Facebook page. Here are some of the others from our run which we finished up just shy of 8 miles.
Oh! And happiness for me and other runners who disliked that one climb with the loose, rotten rocks on the way to Tryon; someone is putting some fill down and doing drainage work. Thank you, someone :D
She had just sent me some amazing pictures from the Grand Tetons. I didn't even know she was going and now she was back! I got to hear to wild, brave stories of her trip/trek/adventure. I interrupted to take pictures (my plan was to take lots on the BBU course), but immediately got us back to her story. Wow!
I posted the pics on BBU's Facebook page. Here are some of the others from our run which we finished up just shy of 8 miles.
 | |
| We met this wonderful face |
 |
| 1/2 Wolfhound 1/2 Husky, all sweetness |
 |
| Plenty of dog |
 |
| Inviting |
 |
| Technical Trails |
 |
| So nice |
 |
| One of like five oldies that went by |
 | |
| Arrugah! |
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Shaky Saturday
So. Friday. Rick and I were happy to go out to eat in Portland. We didn't want to do anything fancy and decided on Ri Ra's. Unwisely, I listened to the waiter and chose the Fish N Chips special. For some reason I've been drawn to fish and chips lately. Rick had my other choice and was very happy. Mine was an entire of slab of haddock that was very heavily breaded on top of a huge, huge bed of fried onion rings. Thinking I should add a veggie to this, I ordered a side of carrot and parsnip mash. Ugh! The mash probably had as much fat in it as the fried stuff. Definite fat overload. The odd thing was the Guinness I ordered seemed off. I had most of it, but decided it wasn't me; Something was definitely wrong with it. On the drive home, my stomach was uncomfortable, but nothing bad. Just before 3 a.m., I woke up feeling way worse than uncomfortable. I spent most of the rest of the morning in the bathroom pretty sure I was going to be sick. At least I almost caught up on the Scientific Americans in there. By the time I should be getting ready to run, I was feeling a bit better. I headed to the Brad. I stopped at McDonald's for coffee. I figured if I could drink it, I might be OK to go. The few sips I took stayed put.
I expected Mary and Double T, but wasn't sure what other TMs would be around; I knew various people were off doing various things, including the Squirrel. A group was there to run the Scuffle course. Yana(!), Julia, Mary and Ruby, Nathan, and I headed off on the BBU loop. The pace was definitely faster than I would have chosen considering I was doing 15.5, but I figured I could hang on till the people peeled off. Like last Saturday, most people weren't doing the full loop.
When we got back to the parking lot, a runner was heading out. I yelled to him about the BBU; I've been mentioning it to any runner I see at the park. He stopped and came back to the group. He was interested and decided to hang with us on the run. I could tell it was hard for him to go as slow as the group. Mary and Ruby pulled off a bit after we started the Boundary. I think the pace, though sometimes dictated by Ruby, took its toll on the pup. She was beat. At the start of the Connector, Julia and Yana peeled off. That left the new guy, Double T, and me. I tried to keep the pace up. Ugh. Though the run helped me feel better, I was still not myself.
When we got to Lawrence Road, I kind of told the new guy (who seemed familiar with the Connector from mountain biking), how the course went from there, thinking he might want to go his own way. He said he'd stick with us. Heading back towards Brad from the power lines, I started to fade a bit. The new guy kept to his pace. Nathan could have stuck with him but eventually dropped back with me. It was very good to have Double T leading the way. He just bopped ahead pulling me with him.
At the summit, he waited till I caught up. Was I gonna bail or finish the BBU? Hmmm...I'd asked myself that on the way up. If Nathan hadn't been along, I'd have quit back when Yana and Julia headed in. Even though, I'd let myself think I was going to leave off Lunch Break - kind of mentally tricking myself, I knew I had to finish it. Lets do it. I mentioned that we might be the first to run the final BBU loop.
We lamented that Adventurous Joe wasn't on the summit. Last Saturday, a guy was on top of the summit handing out samples of Adventurous Joe coffee. It was quite good. Maybe he'd be set up by the time we re-summitted, another mind trick.
Nathan bopped ahead, looking like he did at the start of the run. He was waiting for me at the basketball court. Yup, nearly in the bag. I think I managed to run most of the hill. Phew! I really didn't think there was any way I'd get much of it done. My garmin read 15.56 when we reached the parking lot. SportTracks would later correct that to 15.8x. After a yummy reward at E&Ls, I headed to home to an afternoon of naps.
I expected Mary and Double T, but wasn't sure what other TMs would be around; I knew various people were off doing various things, including the Squirrel. A group was there to run the Scuffle course. Yana(!), Julia, Mary and Ruby, Nathan, and I headed off on the BBU loop. The pace was definitely faster than I would have chosen considering I was doing 15.5, but I figured I could hang on till the people peeled off. Like last Saturday, most people weren't doing the full loop.
When we got back to the parking lot, a runner was heading out. I yelled to him about the BBU; I've been mentioning it to any runner I see at the park. He stopped and came back to the group. He was interested and decided to hang with us on the run. I could tell it was hard for him to go as slow as the group. Mary and Ruby pulled off a bit after we started the Boundary. I think the pace, though sometimes dictated by Ruby, took its toll on the pup. She was beat. At the start of the Connector, Julia and Yana peeled off. That left the new guy, Double T, and me. I tried to keep the pace up. Ugh. Though the run helped me feel better, I was still not myself.
When we got to Lawrence Road, I kind of told the new guy (who seemed familiar with the Connector from mountain biking), how the course went from there, thinking he might want to go his own way. He said he'd stick with us. Heading back towards Brad from the power lines, I started to fade a bit. The new guy kept to his pace. Nathan could have stuck with him but eventually dropped back with me. It was very good to have Double T leading the way. He just bopped ahead pulling me with him.
At the summit, he waited till I caught up. Was I gonna bail or finish the BBU? Hmmm...I'd asked myself that on the way up. If Nathan hadn't been along, I'd have quit back when Yana and Julia headed in. Even though, I'd let myself think I was going to leave off Lunch Break - kind of mentally tricking myself, I knew I had to finish it. Lets do it. I mentioned that we might be the first to run the final BBU loop.
We lamented that Adventurous Joe wasn't on the summit. Last Saturday, a guy was on top of the summit handing out samples of Adventurous Joe coffee. It was quite good. Maybe he'd be set up by the time we re-summitted, another mind trick.
Nathan bopped ahead, looking like he did at the start of the run. He was waiting for me at the basketball court. Yup, nearly in the bag. I think I managed to run most of the hill. Phew! I really didn't think there was any way I'd get much of it done. My garmin read 15.56 when we reached the parking lot. SportTracks would later correct that to 15.8x. After a yummy reward at E&Ls, I headed to home to an afternoon of naps.
Friday, June 15, 2012
Catch Up...Again
So, I'm very impressed with the runner's who are also bloggers who regularly get their posts out even though they work. Impressed, but not inspired...enough. I am behind again. I guess I should start with
Saturday:
Met up with lots of TMs at the Brad. I'm guessing close to 20 people were running. Thanks to a little slowness on my part, we were still in the parking lot when Yana showed up! Just last week, Rick and I had been saying that we hadn't seen her in ages. Ian, Mindy and I were doing a loop of the BBU. As we expected, there were all kinds of distance plans in the group. The nice part is there are lots of jumping off spots so people could run together till they were done.
It didn't take too long before there were two distinct group. Ian was leading the faster group. I was in the chase group...maybe the pelleton. Anyhow, we had a good group snaking through the single track on the east side. I yakked with Yana for most of the east side, about 5.2 miles. As always, it was fun catching up. She never fails to amaze me by her ability to run well and pretty long after little or no running.
Back in the parking lot, we lost a few people. Ian's lead group was significantly smaller; ours would drop to three by Lawrence Rd. Somehow it seemed right to be down to Mindy, Nathan (could his trail name be Double T, T^2, or Twinkle Toes? When Nathan took the lead, I'd mentioned to Yana to watch how light on his feet he was. I love to watch him run. She called him Twinkle Toes. Well, the Squirrel and I have been struggling to come up with a trail name for him...actually thinking of using NatN (needs a trail name...but really close to spelling NAThaN), so it almost seemed to work. I suggested T^2 (reads T squared). He liked Double T (seemed more like a brand)).
I had bouts of feeling pretty tired, but held on. When we hit the summit, on our way to Lunch Break, we met up with Ian's group, now of three also. They were summitting after finishing Lunch Break. After a brief visit, they finished and we pushed on. Nathan had shared the end of Scout and Squirrel's worst/last training run. I still believe his joining in changed the feel of that seemingly cursed run.
Sunday:
The Squirrel left.... :( I had work stuff to do. I couldn't justify driving to Brad. Hmmm....OK. I settled on Thorncrag. It's great running and unavoidably good hill work. I'd say the only drawback is it doesn't have enough miles of trails, but, close by and beautiful. I got in just over five and got back home to work.
Wednesday:
Since I had stuff to work on Monday and an actual seminar to give on Tuesday evening, I didn't get to run till Wednesday. I decided to visit Brad on the way home from work. <3 <3 <3 Since it was kind of rainy, there were hardly any cars in the lot. I did recognize on vehicle right off and knew that Pathfinder must be out there somewhere. I never ran into him. Not a few hundred yards into the run, I caught myself smiling. I just kept feeling it. Oh yeah, I do like to run by myself. I enjoy my TM family so much that I would never choose not to run with one, but... I love to run by myself, especially when it's at Brad and not super long run. I love to run. I felt the stress of the last few days melt away. Brad, what would I do without you?!
Thursday:
Pretty much a repeat of Wednesday's run except it was sunny and warm, so more people on the trails. Still, I love Brad and I appreciated another solo run. On Fox West, there is a squirrel that I've named Jeremy; it jumped out and scared the shit out of me. I think I screamed as loud as when the real Jeremy scared the real Squirrel and I heading down Lunch Break.
Back in the parking lot I met up with Aaron. At first I thought it was someone Mindy and I had run into back in Feb/Mar. We'd met up with a new doctor thinking about moving to the area from Arkansas. I was about to say, "Oh, you did stay," when I noticed his plate was from N.Dakota. So, I told him the story of the guy we met earlier so he would think I was totally a whack job. Turns out Aaron has run a few times with the TMs on TNR. I think he's gonna start joining us on Saturday's and (maybe) is thinking of the BBU!!!
Saturday:
Met up with lots of TMs at the Brad. I'm guessing close to 20 people were running. Thanks to a little slowness on my part, we were still in the parking lot when Yana showed up! Just last week, Rick and I had been saying that we hadn't seen her in ages. Ian, Mindy and I were doing a loop of the BBU. As we expected, there were all kinds of distance plans in the group. The nice part is there are lots of jumping off spots so people could run together till they were done.
It didn't take too long before there were two distinct group. Ian was leading the faster group. I was in the chase group...maybe the pelleton. Anyhow, we had a good group snaking through the single track on the east side. I yakked with Yana for most of the east side, about 5.2 miles. As always, it was fun catching up. She never fails to amaze me by her ability to run well and pretty long after little or no running.
Back in the parking lot, we lost a few people. Ian's lead group was significantly smaller; ours would drop to three by Lawrence Rd. Somehow it seemed right to be down to Mindy, Nathan (could his trail name be Double T, T^2, or Twinkle Toes? When Nathan took the lead, I'd mentioned to Yana to watch how light on his feet he was. I love to watch him run. She called him Twinkle Toes. Well, the Squirrel and I have been struggling to come up with a trail name for him...actually thinking of using NatN (needs a trail name...but really close to spelling NAThaN), so it almost seemed to work. I suggested T^2 (reads T squared). He liked Double T (seemed more like a brand)).
I had bouts of feeling pretty tired, but held on. When we hit the summit, on our way to Lunch Break, we met up with Ian's group, now of three also. They were summitting after finishing Lunch Break. After a brief visit, they finished and we pushed on. Nathan had shared the end of Scout and Squirrel's worst/last training run. I still believe his joining in changed the feel of that seemingly cursed run.
Sunday:
The Squirrel left.... :( I had work stuff to do. I couldn't justify driving to Brad. Hmmm....OK. I settled on Thorncrag. It's great running and unavoidably good hill work. I'd say the only drawback is it doesn't have enough miles of trails, but, close by and beautiful. I got in just over five and got back home to work.
Wednesday:
Since I had stuff to work on Monday and an actual seminar to give on Tuesday evening, I didn't get to run till Wednesday. I decided to visit Brad on the way home from work. <3 <3 <3 Since it was kind of rainy, there were hardly any cars in the lot. I did recognize on vehicle right off and knew that Pathfinder must be out there somewhere. I never ran into him. Not a few hundred yards into the run, I caught myself smiling. I just kept feeling it. Oh yeah, I do like to run by myself. I enjoy my TM family so much that I would never choose not to run with one, but... I love to run by myself, especially when it's at Brad and not super long run. I love to run. I felt the stress of the last few days melt away. Brad, what would I do without you?!
Thursday:
Pretty much a repeat of Wednesday's run except it was sunny and warm, so more people on the trails. Still, I love Brad and I appreciated another solo run. On Fox West, there is a squirrel that I've named Jeremy; it jumped out and scared the shit out of me. I think I screamed as loud as when the real Jeremy scared the real Squirrel and I heading down Lunch Break.
Back in the parking lot I met up with Aaron. At first I thought it was someone Mindy and I had run into back in Feb/Mar. We'd met up with a new doctor thinking about moving to the area from Arkansas. I was about to say, "Oh, you did stay," when I noticed his plate was from N.Dakota. So, I told him the story of the guy we met earlier so he would think I was totally a whack job. Turns out Aaron has run a few times with the TMs on TNR. I think he's gonna start joining us on Saturday's and (maybe) is thinking of the BBU!!!
Thursday, June 7, 2012
IRS Triumvirate
The powerful three were all in attendance. What fun! Mindy was able to join the meeting. It was weird how there was still some lightness left to the day when we set out. Still, we all had our headlamps; it was probably just 5 minutes before they were truly need.
Lots of chatter and laughter were the minutes. It's a wonder that we even wondered where the usual wild life was. Mindy did get to see some of our early lightning bugs, some of our mutant worms and leeches, and more than the normal amount of annoying doves.
We almost hesitated to leave the mowed path to run through waist high grasses to the beaver pond, but we were brave. I don't think any of us even found a tick, unless Unstrung or the Squirrel found some hangers on later.
After around 6.5 miles, we came in so Ryan could introduce 2/3 of the triumvirate to the Mystery Hunt puzzles. I love running.
Lots of chatter and laughter were the minutes. It's a wonder that we even wondered where the usual wild life was. Mindy did get to see some of our early lightning bugs, some of our mutant worms and leeches, and more than the normal amount of annoying doves.
We almost hesitated to leave the mowed path to run through waist high grasses to the beaver pond, but we were brave. I don't think any of us even found a tick, unless Unstrung or the Squirrel found some hangers on later.
After around 6.5 miles, we came in so Ryan could introduce 2/3 of the triumvirate to the Mystery Hunt puzzles. I love running.
TNR - The Early Edition
The TMR email went out that Twin Brooks was just too wet to take TM feet (of course, TM feet could have handled the wet trails, but didn't want to do damage), so they'd be meeting at the Back Cove at 6. Normally, I meet up with Mindy for our own TNR at the Back Cove at 5:30. This time, Mindy couldn't make it, but Ian had said he'd be running at 5:30, getting in a lap before the regular time. Sweet, at least I'd have company.
I got out of my car to see Ian starting out. I yelled to him then joined him. The pace wasn't fast, but it seemed it to me. I've been just running the slow long miles for so long, that's what I'm conditioned to do. Still, I could keep talking as we kept up our 7:52s (woohoo - ha!), well till I got a stitch somewhere before 3 miles in. Ian walked with me for a little before I decided it didn't matter. More running and talking before I the stitch got too much again. This time I told Ian to go ahead; I'd catch up at the end. He hesitated, but I was pretty convincing. However, once he was gone, it didn't take me long to recover; I think maybe I should learn not to talk so much. I had fun trying to reel him in, though I do think he slowed some when he met up with Jeff. By the time they'd gotten back to the start, I was a second or two behind. I said hey to Jeff, then to Zak and yelled a hey to Snowman. They were all just meeting, but I had to call it quits. I've got work work to do. The problem is, when I finished dinner and sat for a few seconds, I fell asleep; there was no work that night.
I got out of my car to see Ian starting out. I yelled to him then joined him. The pace wasn't fast, but it seemed it to me. I've been just running the slow long miles for so long, that's what I'm conditioned to do. Still, I could keep talking as we kept up our 7:52s (woohoo - ha!), well till I got a stitch somewhere before 3 miles in. Ian walked with me for a little before I decided it didn't matter. More running and talking before I the stitch got too much again. This time I told Ian to go ahead; I'd catch up at the end. He hesitated, but I was pretty convincing. However, once he was gone, it didn't take me long to recover; I think maybe I should learn not to talk so much. I had fun trying to reel him in, though I do think he slowed some when he met up with Jeff. By the time they'd gotten back to the start, I was a second or two behind. I said hey to Jeff, then to Zak and yelled a hey to Snowman. They were all just meeting, but I had to call it quits. I've got work work to do. The problem is, when I finished dinner and sat for a few seconds, I fell asleep; there was no work that night.
Saturation Sunday
The rain fell hard all night. The rain was still steady as Rick and I headed to the Brad. We were running with Mindy at 9. When we pulled into the parking lot, Kevin and his son were coming in from the east side. They were amazed by the rivers that were the trails. I asked if they saw Linda and Amy out there. Nope, but they were out there.
Mindy pulled just after. We had plans for doing a good portion of a BBU loop. We decided to start with the mountain side. Even though I've run at Brad in some very wet, rainy conditions, I was amazed by the streams sometime crossing the trail, sometimes running right down it. We enjoyed the novelty. It's rare that getting wet at the Brad gets you cleaner than when you started. It was chilly, but keeping moving seemed to keep it from getting too bad.
I really wish I had a camera that could handle water. The river was almost up to the newest bridge, the one that I, while admiring it, laughed at how over-constructed it was. I understand now. The other bridge, on the return, was less threatened due to being higher up, but was over and even more impressive river.
Mindy and I asked Rick if he wanted to experience Wiccahenge. He said he was just along for the ride so wherever we went...So, of course, we turned up the path. The place was a little different, mainly cause the grass was long (with all the rain, most grass is). We all crossed through the threshold and had lots of fun comments. I was a little disappointed that the smiling, growling, talking dog didn't show, but we had to move on.
On the way back, not far after entering the woods from the power lines, we came across a baby bluejay. I don't think I've ever seen one before. It really wished we weren't around. I got the sense it desperately wanted to be back in a tree. Poor little guy.
Back on Brad's summit, we made the call to finish. We got back into the parking lot with 9.25 miles. Good enough, especially cause we went immediately to E&Ls. It'd been a long time since we'd been there. Yum. Linda and Amy were there with their own tales of the wet, wet trails.
Mindy pulled just after. We had plans for doing a good portion of a BBU loop. We decided to start with the mountain side. Even though I've run at Brad in some very wet, rainy conditions, I was amazed by the streams sometime crossing the trail, sometimes running right down it. We enjoyed the novelty. It's rare that getting wet at the Brad gets you cleaner than when you started. It was chilly, but keeping moving seemed to keep it from getting too bad.
I really wish I had a camera that could handle water. The river was almost up to the newest bridge, the one that I, while admiring it, laughed at how over-constructed it was. I understand now. The other bridge, on the return, was less threatened due to being higher up, but was over and even more impressive river.
Mindy and I asked Rick if he wanted to experience Wiccahenge. He said he was just along for the ride so wherever we went...So, of course, we turned up the path. The place was a little different, mainly cause the grass was long (with all the rain, most grass is). We all crossed through the threshold and had lots of fun comments. I was a little disappointed that the smiling, growling, talking dog didn't show, but we had to move on.
On the way back, not far after entering the woods from the power lines, we came across a baby bluejay. I don't think I've ever seen one before. It really wished we weren't around. I got the sense it desperately wanted to be back in a tree. Poor little guy.
Back on Brad's summit, we made the call to finish. We got back into the parking lot with 9.25 miles. Good enough, especially cause we went immediately to E&Ls. It'd been a long time since we'd been there. Yum. Linda and Amy were there with their own tales of the wet, wet trails.
Saturday, June 2, 2012
Road Trip
Rick and I thought we left plenty of time to get to the TM field trip to Bond Brook. Well, Rick googled the address rather than just following the Unstrung directions. We were just about to pull back onto the road after asking directions to Bond Brook Rd (just 1/2 mile up the road we were on) when we saw Nathan's Smart Car going by. So, we must be going the right way. He pulled over a little bit up the road. Follow us, we've got directions. Well, when we finally turned in where Google said, it was obvious it wasn't the place. A little up the road, we asked at a furniture store where to find the Bond Brook Trails. You would have thought I was asking where to find Area 51. Finally, we decided to go up the road to the airport and see what followed. Turns out Nathan had already been there, but didn't find anyone so thought he was at the wrong place. Nope. We drove in just as Roselea, Xar's room mate was getting back to the parking lot from a run. Pete, Mindy, and Xar were all there waiting.
Well, it was worth the mistakes. We had a great run on mostly single track. I might have led us on a short stretch of bushwacking, but there were pink ribbons...seemed like trail to me :) Pete road his bike; we saw him here and there. Kinda cool that both Xar and Nathan were totally fine less than one week after Pineland. It was fun to meet Roselea; I'd heard a good deal about her. I hope she attends an IRS meeting. After a bit we went back to the cars for people to get fluids. Xar proposed taking the run on the road...to more trails - Hobbitville. How could we resist.
We caravanned to Vaughn Woods. Roselea said bye here. She was heading to the state track meet. Sounds like she a coach. Hope her team ran well. This place was very special. It reminded me a lot of Thorncrag. We ran along some fine carriage trails, but also hit some very cool single track. Rick mentioned to me that he was getting hungry. I voiced to the group that I hoped this TM bonding included burgers and beers. Everyone seemed into it. Pete proposed two places. We opted for the Liberal Cup Pub. It was the perfect end to the morning's run.
Well, it was worth the mistakes. We had a great run on mostly single track. I might have led us on a short stretch of bushwacking, but there were pink ribbons...seemed like trail to me :) Pete road his bike; we saw him here and there. Kinda cool that both Xar and Nathan were totally fine less than one week after Pineland. It was fun to meet Roselea; I'd heard a good deal about her. I hope she attends an IRS meeting. After a bit we went back to the cars for people to get fluids. Xar proposed taking the run on the road...to more trails - Hobbitville. How could we resist.
We caravanned to Vaughn Woods. Roselea said bye here. She was heading to the state track meet. Sounds like she a coach. Hope her team ran well. This place was very special. It reminded me a lot of Thorncrag. We ran along some fine carriage trails, but also hit some very cool single track. Rick mentioned to me that he was getting hungry. I voiced to the group that I hoped this TM bonding included burgers and beers. Everyone seemed into it. Pete proposed two places. We opted for the Liberal Cup Pub. It was the perfect end to the morning's run.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)