Mon-Tues - 0.
Wed - 2+ - Salem unmarked trails and roads. A roadside bushwacking adventure! Slow pace but fun checking out some new trails in Salem.
Thursday 4 - Case Mountain trails, Manchester. Oh Hell yes, great trails and I'll be there again!
Friday - 0
Saturday - 6 - Newport fun. Cruised out from our fancy B&B to the Tennis Hall of Fame, then down to the corner of Bellevue, past some of the fabled mansions and onto the Cliff Walk for the return!
Sunday - 5-ish - More Newps! I slid down to the beach, angled up through the residential 'hood to the commercial strip, and down Bellevue to 'Gansett, where I ran the Cliff Walk again, So much fun there!!!
Sunday, August 30, 2015
Monday, August 17, 2015
Slacker! Worker Bee Blog, Week of 8-17 to 8-23
I've been quite lax about updating the blog, but here's the latest: I'm working and fitting in runs where I can, and have registered to run in the 3rd annual "Shore 2 the Pour" 3 mile beach race, put on by one of my favorite CT breweries, Two Roads brewing. Suggested by friend and rival club member Bob Jackman, this promises to be a great day trip. And there's beer afterward, duh! Can't wait!
Monday - 0 - HOWEVER, I am officially registered for the "Beast of the East" half marathon scheduled for Sunday, 9/13 in New Hampshire! This looks like a great prelude to the Cat's Tail...
https://www.facebook.com/kismetcliffruns?sk=timeline&app_data
Tuesday - 0
Wednesday - 4.6 - Gay City State Park trails. New jobsite means new trails to explore! This job takes me to Manchester, CT, known back in the day (which, by the way, was a Wednesday) as "Silk City," and it was well-earned. My boss (and neighbor and friend) was born and raised in Manchester, and had the lowdown on the city. The Cheney family were icons in the silk industry, and virtually made Manchester in its early days. The house we're working in was built in 1899, and most likely a duplex built for employee housing, as were many homes in the area. Some reading here:
http://textilehistory.org/CheneyBrothersSilk.html
So I'm planning a run in town, and I want to include some of the historic sights of Manchester. Nothing like getting a taste of the town by running it!
Thursday-Friday - 0 - Got a fantastic workout by deconstructing a second floor bathroom in the hot, humid air for two days, ripping out walls and floors and hauling the debris down to the truck. I changed out my shirt every time it soaked through, and went through 4 shirts each day, sweaty bastard that I am...153 pounds and counting...
Saturday - 4 Miles - Warmup, and Shore 2 the Pour 3-Mile Beach Run (Or, "Runs With Turtles for Beer"). What a fun event! As friends Beth and Jeff noted, they'd be hard pressed to drive 90 minutes to run a 5k, but damn was this worth it, and it's a fundraiser for an Audubon Preserve, which was part of the course. I left the house at 8, and rolled up to the beach/park in Stratford an hour early. Plenty of time to get situated, and check out the setup that Two Roads had going on. Picked up my race bib and tech shirt, and ran into the TNT crew for the race, which consisted of Bob, Jackie, Mark and Scott, who was running his first race of the year! He's usually on the other side of the lens, but jumped in on this at the last minute. Great call.
We ran a short warmup of the last half of the course in reverse, noting the wind direction and rising heat...
At 10:45 the race started, and there were nearly 400 runners ready to rock (I'm guessing it was the beer?). The first mile was as expected: with the breeze, hot and crowded and very soft, gravelly sand. I stayed with Scott, and as we reached the dirt trails near the point, we hit the loop part of the course and I passed a few people. Bob had opened up a fairly sizeable lead over the #2 dude (who I think was the guy who passed us in the parking lot and said something about "there's my competition," but I may have misheard that). I stayed close to Scott, and dodged runners coing the other way after the loop. Back onto the soft sand, there was a brisk headwind, but it felt really good. I took a higher line than Scott, gained some ground and passed him at around mile 2. The last part of the race involves more beach but firmer sand, a turn onto a really soft and uneven stretch of sand along an inlet, and some short dirt singletrack before a sprint to the finish across grass and sidewalk. I passed a couple of kids 1/4 mile from the finish, and one of them came charging past me in the last 100 yards. I sprinted alongside him as fast as I could, but realized he had faster legs and the advantage of youth...so I finished 29th out of 360+? Totally happy with my race, too!
Post race, I found out that Bob had won handily, by over a minute. Jackie finished 16 seconds ahead of me, Mark a second ahead, and Scott just behind. We replayed our race recaps over a couple of pints (5 available, I sampled the 'Lil Heaven Session IPA), served to us by the Two Roads crew out of their vintage Airstream trailer! They also showed up with a "Beer Bus," a restored vintage school bus, and a restored VW panel van, circa 1961-ish? Much better shape than mine, for sure...need to address that.
Bob's 1st place got him a growler trophy, good for a free fill at the brewery, and a tasting/tour for 10. Awesome. As I was anticipating a long drive home (95N, summer, Saturday), I said my goodbyes and headed toward my truck, but not before being stopped by the kid who sprinted with me at the finish, who thanked me and said it was the highlight of his race. Very cool!
Great race, and I'll be back next year!!!
Monday - 0 - HOWEVER, I am officially registered for the "Beast of the East" half marathon scheduled for Sunday, 9/13 in New Hampshire! This looks like a great prelude to the Cat's Tail...
https://www.facebook.com/kismetcliffruns?sk=timeline&app_data
Tuesday - 0
Wednesday - 4.6 - Gay City State Park trails. New jobsite means new trails to explore! This job takes me to Manchester, CT, known back in the day (which, by the way, was a Wednesday) as "Silk City," and it was well-earned. My boss (and neighbor and friend) was born and raised in Manchester, and had the lowdown on the city. The Cheney family were icons in the silk industry, and virtually made Manchester in its early days. The house we're working in was built in 1899, and most likely a duplex built for employee housing, as were many homes in the area. Some reading here:
http://textilehistory.org/CheneyBrothersSilk.html
So I'm planning a run in town, and I want to include some of the historic sights of Manchester. Nothing like getting a taste of the town by running it!
Thursday-Friday - 0 - Got a fantastic workout by deconstructing a second floor bathroom in the hot, humid air for two days, ripping out walls and floors and hauling the debris down to the truck. I changed out my shirt every time it soaked through, and went through 4 shirts each day, sweaty bastard that I am...153 pounds and counting...
Saturday - 4 Miles - Warmup, and Shore 2 the Pour 3-Mile Beach Run (Or, "Runs With Turtles for Beer"). What a fun event! As friends Beth and Jeff noted, they'd be hard pressed to drive 90 minutes to run a 5k, but damn was this worth it, and it's a fundraiser for an Audubon Preserve, which was part of the course. I left the house at 8, and rolled up to the beach/park in Stratford an hour early. Plenty of time to get situated, and check out the setup that Two Roads had going on. Picked up my race bib and tech shirt, and ran into the TNT crew for the race, which consisted of Bob, Jackie, Mark and Scott, who was running his first race of the year! He's usually on the other side of the lens, but jumped in on this at the last minute. Great call.
We ran a short warmup of the last half of the course in reverse, noting the wind direction and rising heat...
At 10:45 the race started, and there were nearly 400 runners ready to rock (I'm guessing it was the beer?). The first mile was as expected: with the breeze, hot and crowded and very soft, gravelly sand. I stayed with Scott, and as we reached the dirt trails near the point, we hit the loop part of the course and I passed a few people. Bob had opened up a fairly sizeable lead over the #2 dude (who I think was the guy who passed us in the parking lot and said something about "there's my competition," but I may have misheard that). I stayed close to Scott, and dodged runners coing the other way after the loop. Back onto the soft sand, there was a brisk headwind, but it felt really good. I took a higher line than Scott, gained some ground and passed him at around mile 2. The last part of the race involves more beach but firmer sand, a turn onto a really soft and uneven stretch of sand along an inlet, and some short dirt singletrack before a sprint to the finish across grass and sidewalk. I passed a couple of kids 1/4 mile from the finish, and one of them came charging past me in the last 100 yards. I sprinted alongside him as fast as I could, but realized he had faster legs and the advantage of youth...so I finished 29th out of 360+? Totally happy with my race, too!
Post race, I found out that Bob had won handily, by over a minute. Jackie finished 16 seconds ahead of me, Mark a second ahead, and Scott just behind. We replayed our race recaps over a couple of pints (5 available, I sampled the 'Lil Heaven Session IPA), served to us by the Two Roads crew out of their vintage Airstream trailer! They also showed up with a "Beer Bus," a restored vintage school bus, and a restored VW panel van, circa 1961-ish? Much better shape than mine, for sure...need to address that.
Bob's 1st place got him a growler trophy, good for a free fill at the brewery, and a tasting/tour for 10. Awesome. As I was anticipating a long drive home (95N, summer, Saturday), I said my goodbyes and headed toward my truck, but not before being stopped by the kid who sprinted with me at the finish, who thanked me and said it was the highlight of his race. Very cool!
Great race, and I'll be back next year!!!
Monday, August 10, 2015
New Jobsite, New (Old) Trails to Explore: Week of 8-10 to 8-16
I'm working in Voluntown this week, which means some Pachaug State Forest action! One of my go to places which I'd not made it to for awhile. Nice to get a chance to hit it again, as it's a wealth of possibility and unlimited trail mileage!
No scheduled races. Other than that race in RI this weekend that I got laughed at by my family for wanting to attempt...not happy about that, but I'll turn it around with something fun on the weekend :)
Monday - 3.3 - Pachaug Trails & Forest Roads. Post work session, nice to get some trails in so close to work! Should be a fun week!!!
Tuesday - 2.5 - Copp Property, Groton. On the way to pick up the dog from daycare and hadn't run these trails in a long time. I remembered them as unspectacular, but I was wrong! Once I turned off the wide gravel path onto singletrack, it got really fun. Cool climbs past the restricted area, some short rope-assisted climbs, and lots of twisty trails to explore. Most of them are blazed yellow, so I got sort of lost, but not really. And it was raining! Love running in the rain :)
Wed-Fri - 0
Saturday - 4 - Barefoot Beach Run. Too hot for the "Taylor 10," so I opted for a progression 4-miler, starting at a 9+ pace, and finishing sub-7. Felt good!
Sunday - 4.3 - Green Falls run w/Jim. Hot, muggy and buggy, and we checked out some unmarked trails (they weren't), and cruised around the pond and over through the Dinosaur Caves section. I was up for more miles, but Jim was tapped out. Sorry, dude!
No scheduled races. Other than that race in RI this weekend that I got laughed at by my family for wanting to attempt...not happy about that, but I'll turn it around with something fun on the weekend :)
Monday - 3.3 - Pachaug Trails & Forest Roads. Post work session, nice to get some trails in so close to work! Should be a fun week!!!
Tuesday - 2.5 - Copp Property, Groton. On the way to pick up the dog from daycare and hadn't run these trails in a long time. I remembered them as unspectacular, but I was wrong! Once I turned off the wide gravel path onto singletrack, it got really fun. Cool climbs past the restricted area, some short rope-assisted climbs, and lots of twisty trails to explore. Most of them are blazed yellow, so I got sort of lost, but not really. And it was raining! Love running in the rain :)
Wed-Fri - 0
Saturday - 4 - Barefoot Beach Run. Too hot for the "Taylor 10," so I opted for a progression 4-miler, starting at a 9+ pace, and finishing sub-7. Felt good!
Sunday - 4.3 - Green Falls run w/Jim. Hot, muggy and buggy, and we checked out some unmarked trails (they weren't), and cruised around the pond and over through the Dinosaur Caves section. I was up for more miles, but Jim was tapped out. Sorry, dude!
Monday, August 3, 2015
Another Road Race? Week of 8-3 to 8-9
Opted for family time in lieu of the Bobby Doyle race. Time well spent!
Monday - 5+ - Lantern Hill area mixer. Hot and sweaty run, but I got 5 in, with some roads and some trails. Good run!
Tuesday, 3-ish - Wyassup Lake trail run. Cut short by the two sketchy mofos (who I know of) at the boat launch, who were clearly hammered (early afternoon), bathing in the lake with shampoo and generally looking like they'd get up to no good, given the chance. I did a couple of short out and backs on the Narragansett Trail, a short road section, and in between made sure my shit was still secure. I also took a cruise up to High Ledge and ran the uphill/downhill segments, and got my fastest time on the downhill. Hot. Sweaty. Buggy.
Wednesday, 3 - Canonchet Peserve, RI. A rare (these days)Wednesday off meant shuttling the kids to and from the beach, pet to the groomers, etc...I finally got a small window of opportunity this afternoon and hit the Canonchet trails up the road. Great trails, well marked, and as it was still really warm I opted to do a 1.5 mile out, 1.5 mile back run. Had a big buck bound across the trail 50 feet in front of me and that was awesome! What wasn't awesome? Having a huge bug fly straight into my mouth and bury itself in the back of my throat 100 yards from my goddamn truck, Fucker was fluttering while I tried to hack him out, as I'm doubled over and trying not to puke. Finally got some of it out, and washed the rest of it down with water. Gross. I think I could still feel a piece of it lodged back there an hour later. Those bastards all need to die...
Thursday - 0
Friday - 0
Saturday - 10 - Another run to Ms. Taylor Swift's place and back. My chair at the beach club to the rocks at Taylor's is exactly 5 miles, on the nose. So I did the full Taylor run, and negotiated the state beach traffic like a boss! No kids run over! No chafing, either, considering I opted to splash through the low tide sand bar for quite a while. Love the beach, love the run!
Sunday - 0 - Shit to do at the house day. Chainsaws and tractors were involved. I floated the idea of attempting the Anchor Down 12/24 Ultra to the family, and was mocked mercilessly for my idiocy. Guess I'm an Ultra island at this point? How dare I attempt to run at night???
Monday - 5+ - Lantern Hill area mixer. Hot and sweaty run, but I got 5 in, with some roads and some trails. Good run!
Tuesday, 3-ish - Wyassup Lake trail run. Cut short by the two sketchy mofos (who I know of) at the boat launch, who were clearly hammered (early afternoon), bathing in the lake with shampoo and generally looking like they'd get up to no good, given the chance. I did a couple of short out and backs on the Narragansett Trail, a short road section, and in between made sure my shit was still secure. I also took a cruise up to High Ledge and ran the uphill/downhill segments, and got my fastest time on the downhill. Hot. Sweaty. Buggy.
Wednesday, 3 - Canonchet Peserve, RI. A rare (these days)Wednesday off meant shuttling the kids to and from the beach, pet to the groomers, etc...I finally got a small window of opportunity this afternoon and hit the Canonchet trails up the road. Great trails, well marked, and as it was still really warm I opted to do a 1.5 mile out, 1.5 mile back run. Had a big buck bound across the trail 50 feet in front of me and that was awesome! What wasn't awesome? Having a huge bug fly straight into my mouth and bury itself in the back of my throat 100 yards from my goddamn truck, Fucker was fluttering while I tried to hack him out, as I'm doubled over and trying not to puke. Finally got some of it out, and washed the rest of it down with water. Gross. I think I could still feel a piece of it lodged back there an hour later. Those bastards all need to die...
Thursday - 0
Friday - 0
Saturday - 10 - Another run to Ms. Taylor Swift's place and back. My chair at the beach club to the rocks at Taylor's is exactly 5 miles, on the nose. So I did the full Taylor run, and negotiated the state beach traffic like a boss! No kids run over! No chafing, either, considering I opted to splash through the low tide sand bar for quite a while. Love the beach, love the run!
Sunday - 0 - Shit to do at the house day. Chainsaws and tractors were involved. I floated the idea of attempting the Anchor Down 12/24 Ultra to the family, and was mocked mercilessly for my idiocy. Guess I'm an Ultra island at this point? How dare I attempt to run at night???
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