Week of 12-2 to 12-8

This week's weather looks pretty reasonable, with daytime temps averaging in the mid-40s.  Looking to get out and try a few different things, including a mix of trails and interesting roads, and possibly a group run again on the weekend.  No races this week either, but I'm possibly going to ante up for 2014 and enter a 50 mile trail race.  Still not too sure about that, though - I know the one that I want to do, just have to make the commitment...

Monday, 12-2 - 2.5 Miles (Roads) - Short run in Westerly.  After karate class, I decided to sneak in a run during the very short window I had, before picking up the dog from the groomers.  Decent pace, 7:30 average, and felt pretty good.  Heart monitor had me capping out at 197 bpm, right at the end of the run.  Fun to look at the data after the download, cadence, vertical oscillation, all that stuff...short run, but productive.

Tuesday, 12-3 - 8 Miles (Roads) - Unexpected run home from the mechanic.  I'd received a nice fat gift certificate to Kelley's Pace for my birthday, and decided to cash it in on some swag today.  Got off the Mystic exit and realized there was smoke coming from my engine compartment!  Pulled into Mystic Village, popped the hood and saw a light plume of smoke coming from the lower part of my engine...and incidentally, the Mystic FD was there for something else, and I soon had a half dozen firefighters huddled around my truck assessing the situation.  Cool dudes.  I decided to have AAA tow it to my mechanic, and I caught a ride there with the tower guy, but not before I went to Kelley's and grabbed some gear, and had a nice conversation with local legend Mary Camire.  Long story short, I had running gear with me, so I ran the 8 miles home from the shop, walked in the door just in time to get the call that my oil pan is rotted, and will cost around $1000 to fix, including parts and labor.  I'm at 245,000 miles with the truck, so it's time for a change...

My run home?  I kept a steady pace, didn't push too hard, and felt good.  Looks like I'll be running quite a bit for the next couple days if I want to get anywhere!



And for the record, I had offers for rides, but it's only 8 miles...would you expect any of us to do anything different?  My wife was like "How are you getting home?", and I'm all "I just walked in the door..." HA!  Why?  Because we can :)

Wednesday, 12-4 - 3.5 Miles (Road) - Short out and back from the house.  50 degrees in December, I can live with that.  As I'm pretty much going to have to run or ride anywhere I want to go until this weekend, I decided to fit in a short run.  The weather couldn't have been better, and my sympathies definitely lie with the people out west, who are just getting pounded by that storm.  Crazy...



Thursday, 12-5 - 0 Miles

Friday, 12-6 - 0 Miles

Saturday, 12-7 - 0 Miles, but I had two things happen today:  first, I bought a new truck!  Pictures below, and I love it.  Spent the whole day at the dealership, but the deal's done and I can drive to places again.  The people at Flood Ford in Narragansett were awesome, so if you cats need a car, I highly recommend them!  Second thing that happened?  I registered for the Cayuga Trails 50 Mile race  (http://www.cayugatrails50.com/), so I have a six month window to get ready for this.  Good Lord.  Almost 10,000 feet of elevation gain, and some really good climbs/descents...I've attached a link of some video footage of the race as well.  Should be an interesting shift in my training, but what the Hell, going to give it a shot!

OH YEAH...

Here we go!

Sunday, 12-8 - 5 Miles - Glacial Boulder Train rock hop with Jim.  I wasn't sure what the Hell I was doing this morning.  Ended up making a last minute decision to drive over to Ledyard and run/climb the Boulder Train, a field of car sized boulders in the middle of the woods.  Very strange and very cool.  Part of the trail goes over the boulders, and it's slow going for most of it and sort of dangerous but a great workout.  Took roads to the Kettle Hole trail, a short but interesting trail with another cool geological feature, sort of a reverse of the boulder train.  Good workout, but the boulders are not runnable by any stretch of the imagination...