Weekly Log 2-25 to 3-3

Monday, 2-25 - 3.7 Miles (Road) - After karate class I drove to 'Gansett to check the surf, which didn't really look that good...wandered back toward town and decided to get a short run in.  After settling on Champlin Preserve trails, I quickly realized that without Yaks (left at home), I wasn't getting very far.  Went back to the truck, answered a couple messages and set out again.  Did a quick loop around Tom Harvey Road and 1A at a really respectable pace, only to realize when I got back to the truck that I should have dumped the first part of my run on the Strava app...but I did have some good numbers nonetheless!  Good steady pace for me...



Tuesday, 2-26 - 7 Miles (Road) - Avondale roads with Jim H.  Easy run with Jim, and got to show him parts of this year's Clamdigger course, and part of the Surftown course.  Avondale trails, while short and a bit muddy, were a nice break from the road.  40 degrees and cloudy and a light breeze.  Not bad!



Wednesday, 2-27 - 0 - Bruising Karate class, followed by a dentist appointment, and lack of time and an available parking garage to run around in leads me to a zero for the day.  Although I did find a way to combine two of my favorite things:  running and beer.  Here's another fantastic beer by the Dogfish Head Brewery, the "Barton Baton" Imperial I.P.A., oak-aged, and served in a chilled Bimbler's Bluff 50K beer glass:

Oh.My.God.

Thursday, 2-28 - 13 Miles (Road) - Around NoSto, into Rhode Island and back.  Good run, good hills, and  very happy with the results.  Officially my best 1/2 is the Surftown at 1:56.  Thinking I'm going lower at the Ocean's...

Friday, 3-1 - 0

Saturday, 3-2 - 3.3 Miles (Road) - Short out and back from the house.  In the words of the Dropkick Murphys, "I'm Shipping up to Boston..." (With the wife for a comedy show/weekend).  And I'm feeling Spring-like weather ahead...




Sunday, 3-3 - 0 - Went to Boston to see Janeane Garofalo Saturday night, and stayed right across the street from the theater at the W Hotel.  Very swanky, and very cool.  Great show by Janeane, too, more of a stream-of-consciousness rant about pop culture than a structured act, but great stuff nonetheless.  Walked all over Boston today, had the Strava going for a while and figured it to be about 6 miles total.  Oddly, we had flurries and sunshine???  Great day for cruisin'  around the town, and spent a good deal of time on the Freedom Trail.  I thought it would be cool to run, but found out's only 2.5 miles long?  Maybe an out/back run would work...

Weekly Log 2-18 to 2-24

Monday, 2-18 - 0

Tuesday, 2-19 - 0

Wednesday, 2-20 - 1.5 Miles (Trail)  Salmon River trails.  Rather slow start to the week.  After karate class, I decided to drive up to Colchester and check out another CT Blue-Blazed trail.  This was beautiful and painful at the same time.  I started at the Comstock Bridge (pictured below), with all intentions of at least making it to the Day Pond area...however, with almost knee deep crusty snow still on the ground, I made it 3/4 mile up the hill before I decided to head back.  Here's the covered bridge, and the view from the top of the hill overlooking the river.  Legit initial climb, but slow with the snow.  Can't wait to hit these trails when the snow's gone...

Comstock Bridge, built 1791

View from above the river

Update:  I'm now registered for back-to-back races in April, the TARC 50K on the 27th, and the RISP Foot Pursuit 5K on the 28th...so how the Hell is that gonna go?  Good question, and my WTAC brethren will be there to document the carnage...so we'll soon see :)

Thursday, 2-21 - 4 Miles (Road) - Brisk out and back from the house.  Had to get out of the house, and onto the road - my attempt at a trail run yesterday, while pretty and interesting, was a long drive to get to.  So a good run from the house was what was needed...  

Envisioning a longer run tomorrow, and something on Saturday, although I'm still not quite sure what...

Friday, 2-22 - 10.5 Miles (Road) - The 10 mile loop from the house, with the Jonathan Edwards climb thrown in for good measure.  Good hills today, and thank the Gods the wind has died down.  Upper 30s, partly cloudy, and very quiet on the roads...don't think I'm going to do the Colchester 1/2 tomorrow, if for no other reason than I'm doing a 1/2 in two weeks, and I'd rather focus on getting ready for that...



Saturday, 2-23 - 0

Sunday, 2-24 - 8 Miles (Road) - Easy 8 loop from the house.  The rain finally let up, and I was able to get a run in the light mist that was coming down.  Started raining again just as I was getting finished.  Now for Pixar movie marathon Sunday with the girls...

Week of 2-11 to 2-17

Monday, 2-11 - 4 Miles (Treadmill) - Treadmill run.  With copious amounts of snow and slush still on the ground, and a steady freezing rain coming down for the better part of the day, I decided to grab a surf movie, throw it in the dvd player, and bang out a few miles at an easy pace.  I chose Sipping Jetstreams, the very artistically done Taylor Steele flick.  Great locations, cinematography, and above all else great surfing.  Choosing visually stunning and unusual locations such as Morocco, Japan and Italy also helps keep a viewer interested, especially when they're slogging through a few mindless miles...here's a taste:



Sipping Jetstreams intro from Sipping Jetstreams Media on Vimeo.

Hopefully will get some outdoor action tomorrow...

Tuesday, 2-12 - 0 - Waited all day for my truck to be finished, with the plan that I was going to gear up and run the 8 miles to the shop.  They didn't call until friggin' 5:30, and blew my plans to shreds...

Wednesday, 2-13 - 0 - Went to Point Judith and surfed Conant Avenue for two hours this morning.  Light winds, 38 degrees air and water, waist to chest high waves...really nice to get out there.  Me and one guy on an SUP traded waves with nobody else out.  Unbelievable.

Small set right before I paddled out.  Great day...

Thursday, 2-14 - 13.5 Miles (Road) - All over the damn place in North Stonington...bright sunny day, 42 degrees, snow melting, perfect day to get some miles in...even did two really good hills in my town, Chester Main Road and Boombridge Road, and PR'd a whole bunch of stuff.  I also signed up for the TARC 50K today, because I'm an idiot and, well, that's what we do...

Friday, 2-15 - 3 Miles (Road) - A.M. Run in Westerly with Jim.  Town loop, with two stops to chat.  And a Mike B. sighting!  Has he mentioned he hates winter?

                       6.4 Miles (Road) - P.M. Run in Watch Hill with Jeff and FiveK.  Late afternoon run through some of the nicest streets in Rhody, good casual pace.  Great day in New England to be a runner, or to be anything outdoors, for that matter...



Saturday, 1-16 - 0

Sunday, 1-17 - 3 Miles (Treadmill) - Going along at a pretty good clip (8+ MPH on the meter) when the power abruptly went out to the entire house.  Glad my reaction time was good...power's now been restored.  To those who ventured outdoors to put in some miles, I salute you!  It's a bit breezy out there...either way, I got to surf this week and logged 30 miles, so I call that productive!

Brrr-lingame Week (Week of 2-4 to 2-10)

Monday, 2-4 - 0 Miles - Karate class, some light weights and stretching and a zero day!

Tuesday, 2-5 - 8 Miles (Roads) - Chilly but not windy 8 mile loop from the house.  Not too bad out, 28 degrees but no wind whatsoever, some flurries, no traffic and felt pretty good.  Got a nice shot of the falls at Spalding Pond along the way:

Glad to get some miles in early this week, now going to give that whole "taper" thing a try before Sunday's race?

Wednesday, 2-6 - 4 Miles (Trails, some road) - Champlin Park and Westerly Roads.  After karate this morning, a small window before the kids' early dismissal, and 38 degrees?  Sure, and trying to be smart about my mileage going into this weekend's race...although Winter Storm "Nemo" might bury us all...

"Just keep running, just keep running, what do we do? We run..."

Don't forget your Yaks!!!  (P.S. I just wish I had a picture of Mike B. on Saturday morning, standing in two feet of snow, all "I Hate Winter," getting ready to shovel his driveway.  Mike, if Julie could make that happen, that'd be awesome...)  See you Sunday!

Thursday, 2-7 - 2+ (Trails/Road) - Narragansett Trail maintenance and short run.  I needed to get out to the Wyassup part of the Narragansett Trail to check the condition of the trails, do some minor clearing, and possibly get a short run in before my trip to the gas station/supermarket.  Found out I should have stayed in the woods, as the market was insanely crowded with people stocking up for "Nemo" (see above).  Cleared a lot of downed branches on the first half mile in, headed back to the boat launch, then did a couple of exploratory out/backs.  Not enough time to get a solid run in, but I got some work done on the trail and felt pretty good.

Friday, 2-8 - 4-ish - (Road?) - Hilly out/back from the house.  As I couldn't get my act together early enough this morning, and get my morning stuff out of the way in time, I missed the group run at Grills/Woody Hill with the crew.  And, timing being everything, the starter on my truck decided to go this morning as well, so no 4-wheel drive today!  Once the snow really kicked in, I decided to suit up, throw on the YakTrax, and get out the door.  Four good, hilly miles, and ice-covered eyebrows by the time I got back to the house.  Is it still a road run if there's so much snow your feet never touch the pavement?

Saturday, 2-9 - 4-ish again - (Road) - Cold run from the house.  Late afternoon, after way too much shoveling, finally got motivated for another short out and back from the house.  Sun was just dropping below the treeline, Yaks were digging in nicely, and the brisk breeze was at my back for the last mile:

Did I mention I'm 27 feet tall?

Will be waiting to see whether tomorrow's race is on, or postponed to next week...only Mike G. knows the answer to that burning question...either way, I'm going to try like Hell to be there, even if I have to drive the VW (no heat), as the truck isn't getting fixed until at least Monday...

Sunday, 2-10 - 1.5 (Trail) - So the race was held today...about 40-50 intrepid souls showed up for the Brrr-lingame Trail race, including the WTAC crew, with another great turnout.  During the race instructions, Mike G. warned us that this wasn't going to be an easy run (I think he used the term "Quad burner"), and that even with some snowshoe tracks already down, two feet of snow is still two feet, and it would be slow going.  There'd be two options:  first, a shorter 1.5 mile option, and second, the full 5 mile course.  I don't think anyone did the full 10?  After turning into the woods, which were beautiful (seriously, just incredible), I quickly realized that the Yaktraxs were pointless with the deep snow, and that I was going to enjoy the shorter distance option and bail out onto the road.  Upon getting back to the start, I got a text from my wife that our power had gone out, and could I please haul my butt back home ASAP to start the generator.  Five minutes after I start the generator, the power comes back on...classic.  Good to see everyone, even if only for a few minutes!  Weird, though, the next scheduled race I have isn't for another month, might have to start shopping online for something (Colchester 1/2 on 2/24 maybe?) to fill in the gap...

Narragansett Super 5K, 2-3-13

Here's how it went today:

Picked up local legend and all-around cool dude Colburn from his place and we took off for Narragansett.  Seriously, Colburn is 79 years old and runs as many races as I do, what an inspiration to keep at it.  We talked running on the drive, and told me some really cool stories about races he's done, and some history about the town we live in.  Definitely made the drive time go by quickly.

Ran into Jonny, the Walker clan, Tom, Mike and the other 15 or so WTAC'ers who made it to the race.  Very impressive showing.  Geared up, and went out for a warmup with some of the crew, and of course 1/4 mile up the street we veered off into another set of trails I knew nothing about.  Cool stuff in Canonchet Park, right across from Narragansett Town Beach.   Stepped in a muddy spot coming out, and ended up running the race with one wet sock.  Isn't the first time...

With 10 or so minutes to race time after the warmup, I had a choice to make:  Change socks, or last minute pit stop.  I voted pit stop (right call).

Race starts, and I get into a good rhythm right away.  Lots of WTAC jerseys out there, it was awesome.  300+ runners.  I'd set my GPS thingy to call out every kilometer, but it wasn't doing anything.  No problem.  Nice flat course, with one baby hill.  Usually the winning runners pass me at the top of the hill at the corner on their way back, but this year I'm way past the corner before they fly by.  And who's that in third?  Mike G.?  And here comes Tom, Jonny, Jeff, and more of the crew.  Make the turn and pick up the pace, and kept edging it up all the way to the finish.


I've run this race the last three years, in times of 25:57, 26:57, and 25:12, respectively...and my best 5K ever is 22:40.  When I came around the last turn with 100 or so yards to go, I realized I had a shot at coming in under 22:00!  Ultimately, my official time was 22:03, and I couldn't be happier.  We had a great time there, and this is still in my top 5 favorite races.

Did I mention there was a raffle, and I won 2 tickets to the Newport Storm brewery for a beer and rum tasting???  How awesome is that!

Did I also mention that the WTAC team won the team division, which got us a $100 gift certificate to the Mews Tavern, and two cases of Narragansett Beer???

Loving this beer theme...

Buddha approves...

And here's the breakdown on the run.  I PR'd everything up to a 5K distance.  Coolness...next stop, the Brrr-lingame 10 mile trail race next week!