Bearathon to Back Road Ramble - Week of 5-27 to 6-2

Monday, 5-27 - 4 Miles (Road) - Warmup and 5th Annual Mystic Bearathon.  21:58, 19th place total.  Stoked about my result here, after nursing a screwed-up lower back last week, and doing 11.5 miles in Grills yesterday with Seth and Muddy...pulled into the lot and ran into Mike B. immediately, got registered and said hello to Way, my karate friend Steve and his girl, and a few other familiar faces.  And who's the other guy in a WTAC singlet?  Turns out it's Roy Moran, who came over and introduced himself.  Got to talk to him for a few, and then did a short warmup with Mike.

The gun goes off and I felt tight, but kept a steady pace.  The course is pancake flat for 90% of the time, and my time at mile one was 7:00 on the nose.  OK, better than I expected.  Saw Mike twice on the out-and-back course, and was able to get a high-five in.  Tried to pick it up on the tail end of the race, and ended up missing my PR by two seconds!  Of course, I forgot to shut Strava off and added some time on there...My previous results at this race were 25:38 last year and 24:48 in 2010, so I shaved about 3 minutes off my best time on the course.  Awesome...and next up, the Back Road Ramble on Sunday!



Tuesday, 5-28 - a.m. Hey, I made the local paper today!  Article about Trails Day weekend, and trail maintenance :), here's a link:

http://www.theday.com/article/20130528/ENT18/305289991/1044

Now, off to chaperone another field trip...Mystic Seaport Museum!

                  p.m. - 2 Miles (Trail) - Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center trails, Mystic.  Mini-window before I had to be back to the house meant a quick exploratory run from the southern end of this Avalonia property.  Narrow, twisty trails but pretty damn cool that it's right across the street from the Aquarium, so easy access...

Ferns!

Wednesday, 5-29 - 0 - Karate class, followed by Invisible Fence installation, kids, stuff...

Thursday, 5-30 - 3 Miles (Trail Hike) Narragansett Trail 5K course - Blazing/Mapping/Clearing for Saturday's race.  Thankfully, Jim was able to lend a hand, so I got much further than I expected.  Trail looks really good, has all fresh blazes and is ready to go!  Hot out, might have to go find a shady place for a run this afternoon...

View from the trail this morning...

p.m. - 3.1 Miles (Beach run) - Reverse Stavros run on Misquamicut Beach, RI.  Shady run be damned!  As soon as I got to the beach today, the temp dropped to 75 degrees, 15 degrees cooler than at the house.  Perfect.  There were waves, but I didn't have a board with me, so why not get a few miles in, right?  Hardly anyone on the beach, that'll change by tomorrow...so off came the shoes for a quick run to town beach and back.  Beach looks great, by the way!  Lots of soft sand slowed me a bit, but that's good training and Hell, I was running on the beach so it could have been 20 minute miles and I wouldn't have cared :)

Friday, 5-31 - 3+ Miles (Trail) - Mapping/Clearing/Blazing on Narragansett Trail.  Hot and sweaty on the trail this morning would be the understatement of the century.  Got eaten alive once I stopped to paint, those North Stonington bugs laugh at the Deep Woods Off! I was using.  I think I nailed it at exactly 5K, though...jogged out with all my gear this morning to finish up blazing the course - hung a big white VW banner across the trail at the turnaround, hopefully it's still up tomorrow morning (might have to run out and check...).  So I have no idea who or how many people are showing up, but I have bibs (thanks Jeff!), registration forms, and will post a list of results on the FB event page for anyone who's interested.  So like an official race, just free...should be warm, but fun!  Technical in spots, 200 feet of elevation gain, two small stream crossings and a couple of minor rock gardens and a couple of muddy spots for fun, and the course is very well marked and pretty much free of obstructions.  Was hot as Hades when I went to pick up the bibs from Jeff, so I swung by Misquamicut Beach, ran into my karate instructor Robert and wound up surfing a quick 30 minute glassy waist-high session at Fenway with him...felt good to be in the water.  We'll see what tomorrow brings!


Saturday, 6-1 - 3+ Miles (Trail) - Narragansett Trail 5K course and Host the Race.  Had to run out and check that the banner I hung up was still there (it was), then hoof it back to the boat launch for registration.  Mark and Shira were already there, along with Jim, and we ended up with a small but competitive group that included Gary Hebert, Bob Buckingham (who it turns out I met and ran with for a bit at the Bimbler's 50K) and his daughter, Carol Ann and her kids, and Jonny and his kids.  12 or 13 total, and for such a hot day I was totally impressed with how everyone did!  Our overall winner?  Shira Fuller!  And the only person to come in sub-30 minutes...Nicely done!  I'll be putting together finisher's awards, to go out soon, so keep an eye out!  Thanks again for coming!!!



Sunday, June 2 - 6 Miles (Mixed Trails/Road for warmup, race, cooldown) - 2nd Annual Back Road Ramble, Charlestown, RI.  24:48, 7th overall.  This is my second year running this race, and it's a pretty cool local race with an odd distance, 3.4-ish miles.  Today I had 3.3?  Last year's result was a 28:07 @ 8:16 pace...Anyway, warm morning for an 11 a.m. start, and as I was running late I didn't much of a warmup in, maybe 1/2 mile or so.  A quick chat about the aerodynamic benefits of my new, streamlined look, and we got started...

The very beginning of the race is a quick and narrow downhill to the parking lot, so I lined up almost at the front, so as not to get caught in the bottleneck.  Smart move, and my fastest mile of the race at 7:07.  Steve Schonning passed me on the long dirt road that makes up the first and last chunk of the course, and while I had him in my sights the entire race, I couldn't quite catch him...Not so smart, though?  Knowing that there's a narrow trail section that does the same thing, and I didn't scoot around the three dudes in front of me.  Got past them at the first clearing, and passed one kid in the second mile, and that's where I stayed, right behind Steve.  Figured I was in 15th or so, so I was stoked when I found out I came in 7th???  Awesome!  FiveK was first, Jeff second, Matthew third (and gaining on him...), and Steve sixth, so a great showing by the crew:

#1, 2, 3, 6, and 7 (Photo: Jana Walker)

I'd also like to mention that Colburn Graves gets the award for hardcore racer in this weekend's heat, having run races on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  I'm duly impressed...Great cookout afterward, and a spectacular job by the YMCA in putting on a well-staffed and very well marked race!!!  I'll be back for another ramble next year...

Two races run this week, one hosted, and a lot of time working/running in the woods...I have nothing scheduled for nearly two weeks, so might be a good time to do some TRI training...