Monday, 6-2 - 2.6 Miles (Paddling/Surfing) - Conant Avenue surf session with my nephew on his birthday. I taught Tristan to surf about 8 years ago, and he's turned into a very good surfer. Driving out, I realized I was still wearing my glasses and had forgotten to put my contacts in. This should be interesting...We checked a couple of local spots but the wind direction was indicating Point Judith was the best bet. The lighthouse is usually bigger, but more crowded and a lot less mellow, so we decided on Conant Ave. 6-8 people in the water, including a few friends, and a really fun session in clean, chest-to-head high waves:
Such a fun break...
Once I got used to everything being blurry, I was fine!
Tuesday, 6-3 - 1.2 Miles (Paddling/Surfing) - Matunuck, RI. A short window of opportunity on a sunny day, so I drove down to Matunuck to check the surf. Lo and behold, there were still clean chest-high+ waves coming in. Suited up and hit the water for a half hour, until the wind picked up. Very few people out, too!
The MTK...clean, empty waves...
Just registered for the Nipmuck Trail Marathon, again! Third year in a row, first marathon I ever did, and I love the course. I highly recommend this race - the price is right, it's a local, established race that draws some great runners, which says a lot about its appeal. Great race!
Wednesday, 6-4 - 3 Miles (Road/Trail) - Brief trail exploration before the bus arrived. My daughter was staying after school and taking the later bus home, so I decided to check out some unmarked trails at the top of the Fowler Road, right up the street from me. It's all Pachaug State Forest from there to Voluntown and beyond. See attached Enduro Trail map:
Awesome double-track trail, basically old unused forest roads, totally runnable...and I was about a half mile into the woods when my daughter calls to say "Oops, I forgot to call you earlier, I took the early bus instead and we're on our street." Shit. Turned around and hoofed it down the trail and down the road back to the house. She's old enough now that I shouldn't panic, though, cause she sure didn't. Going to get out there again tomorrow to continue exploring, rain be damned. Definite potential for some sort of weekend group run from the house, once I get the trails up there wired...
Really runnable
Was heading this direction when I got the call...more uphill!
Thursday, 6-5 - 4 Miles (Road/Trail Mix) - Local roads mixed with short Fowler-Grindstone Preserve and Pachaug Forest trails. Pouring out! I was immediately soaked and wore a hat just to keep the rain out of my eyes, but so much fun getting good and muddy on the trails. Checked out another unmarked trail at the top of Fowler, and I'm starting to piece together where everything leads...
Friday, 6-6 - 5.6 Miles (Trails/Road connector) - Fowler-Grindstone Preserve and MORE Pachaug Forest trails w/Gazelle. This time I had backup. Gazelle met me at my place and we set out to explore more of the unmarked trails up the street. I've been studying maps of Pachaug to decide a course given our time frame, and we went through the preserve across the street first, then made the seemingly endless uphill run into Pachaug, all the way to Wyassup Road, then downhill back toward the road and spied yet another unmarked trail, this one overgrown with ferns, which spit us back out on Fowler Road, and I knew right where we were almost the whole time? Good time!
Saturday, 6-7 - 5 Miles (Road) - Warmup, cooldown, and the Pawcatuck Lions 5K. With no races scheduled for June, I'm in a great place - I can run for fun on the weekend, or jump in to any race I choose! Today's race was local, for a great cause, and is run by local triathlete Melanie D. A bunch of my WTAC friends were going to be there, and I was able to break away from hosting duties at my daughter's sleepover to make the race. Got there early and chatted with everyone I knew, got bibbed up and did a solo warmup. It was already really warm, and although the course is a flat out and back along the Pawcatuck River, there isn't a lot of shade. Going to be a toasty affair. I'd only been running trails at an easy pace and hadn't done any speedwork, so I figured I'd go out steady and see how it went. After the start, I felt OK but not great, and focused on Paul Walker, who was about 100 yards ahead of me. I spent the first half of the race reeling him in, and finally caught him around the 2 mile mark. I had a much faster third mile and finished well, in 23rd place of almost 200 total? No official results yet, but Strava had me at 22:55. My only 2 previous results were a 24:07 in 2012, and a 27:14 in 2011 - good to see improvement over my previous times, but my lack of speed training won't get me any more PR's until I change my routine...fun race, though, capped off with a group cooldown run through Westerly, and the awards, where I found out that due to Gazelle running his last 5k in the 40-49 division, I was one spot out of placing in our age group. Turn 50 already, will ya!!!
Sunday, 6-8 - 3 Miles (Beach!) - Barefoot beach run, 1 mile with my daughter, 2 miles solo. Yeah, she complained...yeah, she had to walk a couple of times...but I was able to get a rare mile run in with my 12 year old girl, and it was her choice and suggestion to come along! Hot day too! Love it, the beach was packed, and although it was a high tide slog, I loved every minute of it. Great beach day with the family, and just missed a run with the crew on the other end of Misquamicut, the riff raff...next week? (Unless I do something stupid on Father's Day...)
Beautiful day to surf! Glad you had fun.
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