Tuesday, 6-18 - 0 Miles - 1.5 hours surfing waist-chest high glassy peaks at Matunuck. Felt good to be in the water, and only one other guy out. Caught a ton of waves in the short amount of time I was out there...
Surf's up, nobody out, just the way I like it...
Wednesday, 6-19 - 6 Miles (Trail) - Mt. Misery and Pachaug Forest Trails, CT. Perfect day, cooler than the last few days, and just enough mud and water on the trail to get good and filthy. Love Mt. Misery, and there were actually people on the trail today! Went up and over, and went up past the Nehantic/Pachaug divergence for a bit. Still thinking about a Nehantic Trail thru run at some point...Hopeville to Green Falls...
The mellow side of Pachaug Trail
PM - Fun Run Mile in 7:20, and 3/4 mile run with Sophia. Brought my daughter Sophia with me for the weekly fun runs in Misquamicut, which she thought was really cool, but did question why somebody would want to be called "Muddy Puddin'?", I had no answer for that...I wasn't really planning on running, but decided to go out anyway, and asked her to do the mile with me. She isn't down with the crowd thing, but wanted to do a run after with just me afterward. I ended up doing the mile portion, and then we drove down to Weekapaug and did a short run together. Awesome! She even said she'd like to "train up" and do the Fun Run with me, which I couldn't be happier about :), so a very successful day all around...
Thursday, 6-20 - 0 Miles - First day of Summer vacation for the kids...great day, packed with my feeble attempts to keep them entertained.
Friday, 6-21 - 3.5 Miles (Trail/Dirt Road) - Narragansett Trail at Green Falls to the Rhode Island border loop. OK, so my alarm went off at 4:15 and I just couldn't do it...and apparently I need lots and lots of beauty rest! I was the tour leader for a beach day for Sophia and three of her friends today, so by 5 p.m. I was ready to get out in the woods for some trail time. This is my new favorite "I have an hour end-to-end" loop; easy to get to, yet totally remote. Water was too high to cross the stream on the first part up the gorge to the dam, so I had to go off trail and take a higher line. The first 2/3 of this loop is gnarly, technical as Hell and so much fun. The last third is dirt road and mostly downhill back to the car, so the pace is a bit faster. Gorgeous scenery, including at least three waterfalls, and the Dinosaur Caves, which I can't properly describe and do them justice. Nothing like taking a trail over massive boulders, and being able to look down 20+ feet into blackness in between them...wonder what lives down there? Below is a picture of the first part of the run. In the background, you can see a huge log across the stream that looks sort of stable, and I've as yet totally wussed out on crossing, even with my catlike reflexes and supreme sense of balance:
Had to stay to the left all the way up this time...
Must get some more trail time in this weekend, and make it good and epic...I mapped out a loop in Pachaug through Hell Hollow that'll come out to 8-10+ miles, and another loop that's going to be a bit more interesting, with a road/trail mix, but from my house and about 16 miles in total. So many options...
Saturday, 6-22 - 3.5 Miles (Trails) - Yawgoog White Trails, RI. Another late afternoon jaunt a few minutes up the road into Pachaug Forest, and just over the state line into the Yawgoog Scout Camp, which is gearing up for the season. I call B.S. on the elevation assigned to this area, as I know from experience that the ups and downs here equal a lot more than what I got...decided on the White trail, as it's technical, involves some climbing and has awesome views. Hidden Lake is fantastic, and I finally found the split to go across to the Dinosaur Caves...nice day though, and I got some more trail time once the temperature had cooled :)
White Trail goodness...
Headed down...
...and back up!
Sunday, 6-23 - 11 Miles (Trail/Road mix) - Woody Hill/Wahaneeta Preserves, and local roads. Met up with Muddy, Gazelle and Mike B. at 6 a.m., much to their surprise, at Dunn's Corners and we set out for Woody Hill. Warm morning, but once we hit the woods it was nice and cool, if a bit humid. Swallowed a deerfly right after Muddy mentioned the notable lack of them so far this Summer; Karma came back for him, though, as he swallowed two bugs further up the trail? Great spot, though, and nice to have a guide as most of the trails are unmarked and I had no idea where we were. I started running out of steam around the 7-8 mile mark, really don't think I fueled properly at all for this run. Totally sucking wind by mile 10, but had a great time. And we came up with a potentially awesome nickname for Mike B., who was ahead of us most of the time and asking "Which Way?" That one might stick...
Westerly? Really?
Morning calm on the lake
Hidden cabin - can't see it from the trail, and I'd have no idea how to ever find it...
Words to live by?
Whatever level your daughter can participate with you is great. Some of my runs with my kids have been my most fun of all, whether it be watching them blossom as teenagers now or the "early" days when they ran a 32 minute 5K and Matthew spent much of his runs falling and trying to run through puddles.
ReplyDeleteAs for the questions about Muddy, yeah, we all have a lot of questions about that guy for which there probably are just are no good answers.
“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.”
ReplyDeleteJeff, I totally agree - trying to ease her into running, as I'd be stoked to have her be able to enjoy it like I do. As for Muddy? Well, by his comments it looks like he may have started celebrating the Summer Solstice early ;)
ReplyDeleteGreat photos! What kind of camera/phone do you use to take them?
ReplyDeleteThanks, Shira! Just a lowly iPhone 4 :)
ReplyDelete