The Need for Speed: Week of 1-12 to 1-18

With no races scheduled until the Narragansett Super 5k on Super Bowl Sunday, I'll be working on getting faster!  I'd really like to obliterate my course PR here (21:35), and my overall 5k PR.  I started off the year right with a great race at the Resolution 5k, and I want to continue having fun and trying to improve at the same time!

Monday, 1-12 - 0 Miles - Workin' Wolcott...Castle Craig calls again...anyone looking for an outing, let me know because I'm gonna do it...

Tuesday, 1-13 - 2.3 Miles (Trail) - Wheeler XC spin, waiting for basketball practice to finish.  Peppy pace, almost dark, and cold!  Although the trails were frozen, crusty mud that my feet punched through on parts of the trail, I still banged out some pretty decent numbers, including a new CR on the straightaway trail.  Yes, I'm the only one who's ever run the segment on Strava, but out of 17 attempts, this was my best at a 5:52 pace.  Not bad!

Wednesday, 1-14 - 3 Miles (Trail/Forest Roads) - Pachaug Forest run.  Found myself cruising through Voluntown, after a successful search to find my wife 1 more skein of a particular yarn she needed to finish a sweater...and with little time to spare, I quickly hit the trail and got moving.  Increasing pace throughout, although I had to use the forest road for a bit as they're doing some cutting on the Nehantic Trail and had a section blocked off.  Cold, and icy on the roads.  Salomon shoes were perfectly grippy though, and I didn't wipe out once!  Thought I might have seen a black bear far away down the road when I got off the trail...not sure though.  Need a longer run this week!  The short stuff is fun, but I'd like to log some miles...

Thursday, 1-15 - 4 Miles (Road) - Short, "dodgy" run in Westerly.  Flurries flying and an overcast 28 degrees in Westerly.  I originally wanted to cruise around in Watch Hill, but just couldn't block out enough time for it.  Instead, I fit a progressively faster 4-mile run in, and only almost got hit by cars twice.  Does anyone even stop at STOP signs anymore???  Not in Westerly!  Have to be on high alert when running in town.  Was just finishing my run when somebody across the street called out my name...hey, it's Steve S., head honcho of the WTAC!  I was able to grunt out a hello but couldn't stop, as I had to get home.  Good run, and I purposely didn't try any segments, that's for another day :)

Friday, 1-16 - 8 Miles (Trail/some Road) - 2 runs.  #1:  3 Miles - Dog trail run with Henry.  I decided to up the distance with the dog, and we did three miles in the preserve across the street.  He had fun in the streams breaking through the thin ice, and the cold water didn't affect him at all.

Henry, deciding whether to jump in the water.  He did.

Pendleton Hill Brook

On the longer, upper blue trail that I rarely run on, I noticed the fiber optic line trail and marker #122...which connects the preserve to Pachaug...so that opens up a whole new section to explore, and the only road I'd really need to run is the 100 yards from my front door to the trailhead!  Sweet!  #2:  5 Miles - Lower Lantern Hill trails and Foxwoods trails/roads.  Before Soph's B-Ball game, I hit Lantern Hill, but the upper trails were icy so I stayed to the lower stuff.  Easy pace, slowly increasing but kept it reined in.  Chilly and windy if I wasn't in the woods...

Saturday, 1-17 - 1.6 Miles (Trail) - Dog jog!

Sunday, 1-18 - 10 Miles (Trail) - Arcadia run with George Ross.  George had floated the idea of doing a 10-miler on trails earlier in the week, and I said I'd be up for 10 in Arcadia, which turns out to be a halfway point for us.  Pulled into the lot, and a bunch of Stedman's biker dudes were gearing up for a ride.  Good to see lots of people out and enjoying some winter trail action!

George and I got moving, and he informed me that this would be his longest trail run...ever?  Pretty cool to be a part of that!  Service roads were totally iced over, but once we got on the trails, everything was good.  I opted to take George on the loop I'm most familiar with, which runs along the stream and around Breakheart Pond, where a bunch of people were ice fishing, and then on to Penny Hill.  I mistakenly turned us onto the service road after Penny Hill though, and we were winging it at that point, but had a great time getting lost and cruising around on unmarked trails for a while, until we finally emerged onto the Midway road at just under 10 miles, and finished up a bit over.  Great run, and the rain only started up for a bit, and then we were clear!