Monday, 3-30 - 0 Miles. Karate class, and a day off after the Brrr-lingame race.
Tuesday, 3-31 - 5 Miles (Trail) - Sleeping Giant State Park, Hamden CT. Got out of my PT session and headed straight to Hamden. Figured with drive time each way, I'd have about an hour before I'd have to head back. Parked, and hit the first trail. Sidehill and covered in slick, melting ice. I trotted back to the truck to get my Yaks, only to realize I'd shelved them at the house. Screw it, I drove all the way out so here goes. Made my way up the steep, technical white trail, until it connected with the tower trail. I'd wanted to try my hand at the tower trail descent segment on Strava, but it wasn't gonna happen with all the ice on the trail. Got to the aforementioned tower at the top, and took in the view for a couple minutes:
Tower (duh)
Looking South toward the Sound
I decided to give the tower trail descent a go, in spite of the ice. I slowed down just enough to not wipe out a bunch of times, sped up when I could, and still managed a 9th out of 63 runners, and fastest time overall in 2015. I then tried out the violet trail, which descends to scenic Eaton Brook, before climbing up to and around a massive quarry that forms the "chin" of the Sleeping Giant, which got its name due to the way the hills look from a distance. I opted to stay on the violet trail, although there is another trail on the eastern side of the quarry that's truly dramatic...
Eaton Brook, the mellow part of the trail
More Eaton Brook
Once I reached the high point on the violet trail, I turned up the red trail, hooked up again with the tower trail, and made it back to the truck with 5 miles and 1100'+ of vertical gain to show for it. Love that place! Snow is melting, too!
Wednesday, 4-1 - 8-ish Miles (Road) - 3.5/4 Mile runs in Mystic. In Mystic running some errands, and had a half-hour to kill, so I squeezed in a flat progression run downtown. Breezy and crisp. In the afternoon, I brought Soph for her hair appointment (Mystic again!). With another half-hour window of opportunity, I decided to run to Enders Island, at the Southern end of Mason's Island. Another set of negative splits, and I felt like I could have increased the pace even more.
Thursday, 4-2 - 7-ish Miles (Mostly Trail) - 5+ Wahaneeta/Woody Hill trails/1.6 trail/road dog jog. Met up with Jeff at the Wahaneeta Preserve in Westerly for a lunchtime run. Warm and sunny? You bet! 50 degrees counts as warm here. Jeff offered to show me the new Run For the Pumpkins trail race course, which of course I accepted. Looks like it'll be a great race of a fun course, with a good uphill climb at the beginning, and a screaming fast finish, as the last 1/2 mile will be downhill. Nice day! Got home and grabbed Henry for a quick recon of the preserve across the street. Lots of melting there, but still lots of snow tucked into the shady areas.
Friday, 4-3 - 4.6 Miles (Trails) - 3.3 Miles on Mystic trails/1.3 Mile dog jog. The Mystic trails are totally clear of snow! And muddy! I got positively filthy running them, then stopped by Kelley's Pace to give store owner Jeff Anderson (and friend/WTAC member/new KP employee Faith!) a quick trail conditions update. No sense washing the shoes, Big River coming up on Saturday!
Saturday, 4-4 - Big River 1/2. Woke up with a really stiff neck, this should be interesting for the race today... - 12 Miles (Trail) - Short warmup, and The Race. I ran 11+ miles of trail in Big River, getting a look at pretty much all of the new, awesome course designed by race director Mike G. I can sum the day up with this, with Mike G., Jonny and Muddy playing Mike D, Ad-Rock and MCA:
Great course, great vibe, some world-class runners (and one kickass photographer), and a saboteur in our midst, who for the third year straight, pulled flags and signage at key intersections. Almost everyone got lost. I felt fantastic, aside from the stiff neck, which went away pretty quick.
I arrived early, did a short warmup and got ready for the race. Lots of familiar faces and fast people, partly cloudy, warm and windy, ice melted and trails clear. The race started and the first part was familiar, windy singletrack, until almost mile 2 coming down toward the lake...where the first major intersection pops up and...no flags. The previous two years were filled with moments of confusion, but I knew immediately what was going on this time. Sabotage. There was no possible way the intersection wouldn't be marked, so right there I knew this was gonna be a great day in the woods at Big River, and that I'd try to get my miles in and see as much of the course as possible. I ran most of the race with TNT runner John P., and when we'd hit 6 miles and were close to the finishing stretch, I suggested we turn down the back half of the course and run it in reverse, giving us a chance to see the full, redesigned course and get our miles in as well. A small group of us did just that, and I finished the race at just over 11 miles, which seemed to be the right distance for the whole thing. The new section was flippin' awesome, too - ridgelines, twisty, hilly singletrack and lots of mud and water! My favorites!
Turned out, the top 7 runners were the only ones who followed the course correctly, due to Jonny's course knowledge. Everyone had a great time though, and the WTAC took the 4th Season title! Beer was won. Me happy...
#107, a sixer of 'Gansett and a homebrew (courtesy of Scott Mason)! Score!
Great job by everyone who came out for this race, and a huge shout-out to Mike and the crew at Off Rhode Racing. If you haven't run one of the 4th Season trail races, you're really missing out. I've been able to run all 5 series races the last three years, and they are usually the most talked about races of the year...epic!
Sunday, 4-5 - 6.3 miles (Road) - Local roads for Easter. I went out for a short 3 mile shakeout, and ran into another NoSto runner, got to talking and tacked on a few more! Hop hop hop...biggest mileage week since November 2013??? Sweet!
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