England! Getting caught up, and the calm before race season officially begins...

Since my last post, a few things have happened.  Here's a recap of the first couple of events, with a look forward to the next few to get this thing caught up!  We went to England again!

The week before we left for England, I was hurriedly trying to finish up a tiling project at work, but was able to get it done midweek, and give John P. a shout about a short road trip out to Hubbard Park in Meriden.  I hadn't been there in some time, John had never been there, and I wanted to get him some of the hill training he was asking for!

I figured on multiple up/downs from the main lot, and we were able to "tag" all three of the main high points at Hubbard, and run twice down my favorite section of trail there, the "Kamikaze Trail Descent" segment, which is a mile long, technical, and totally runnable straight shot from the top of the middle peak near Castle Craig down to the reservoir.  It's quintessential New England trail, and exactly the right pitch to just open up on...John loved it.  We covered 13 technical miles at Hubbard with about 2400' of climbing.  Great day!

Me and JP

Castle Craig

From the "Other" peak

Looking across to the "Castle"

England:

The next day?  Packing, getting the beasts situated, and a redeye flight from Boston to London, to kick off a 10-day family vacation, see the country, possibly get some running in, and attempt to source some decent craft beer there (I did succeed!).  Our trip would take us from London to Bath, the Cotswolds, Oxford, and back to London for one more day before our departure.

Our first hotel directly faced the London Eye, was a few blocks from Trafalgar Square, Covent Garden, and Buckingham Palace, and kicked ass.  Our first day was just dealing with fatigue, mostly mine as I can't sleep on planes and the girls slept the whole flight.  Oh, and London has shit for decent beer.  There, I said it.  Good restaurants who offer Budweiser, Heineken and Guiness as their premier beers need a clue...

Trafalgar Square

The view from our first hotel, just awesome...

Day 3?  A tour of the actual studios where the Harry Potter films were made!  So cool...

Strive to be Number One!

Day 4!  A morning run in London, sunny skies and crisp air, and many streets around Buckingham Palace closed for the Commonwealth meeting!  Ran through St. James's Park, Green Park, and along the river for a bit.  Next, a drive to Bath with a pit stop at Stonehenge...cold on the hill, but humbling to stand there...for a few minutes, then back into the car.

My kind of town!

Never saw anyone gardening, they just appear this way :)

Nice place...I mean, palace!

Early a.m. in the parks is glorious...

Perfection in St. James's Park

COLD.

     I loved Bath.  It's a gorgeous little English village tucked into the hills, everything's extra green and there's history galore.  It's also where, lo and behold, I found the Nirvana of all craft beer shops!!!  One block from our mediocre hotel, where I had to store my newfound score in their coat check mini-fridge, and ask for it like a beggar.  Like a beggar!  And then get a bucket of ice from the bar to keep my fancy craft beer chilled.  Five stars?  I think maybe not so much...

Bath Abbey!

Greenery!

Craft Beer!!!  From all over Europe, no less.  They had NEIPAs from Finland that tasted as good as Treehouse brews.  Not even kidding.

Day 5.  Walking tour of bath with Mrs. Norris (same name as Filch's cat in Harry Potter, I'm sensing a theme here...), where we hiked up to the Royal Crescent, toured their place, as well as the Jane Austen Center (where I got dressed up as Mr. Darcy, WTF), the Fashion Museum, and the Roman Baths, which would have been cool if not for the 40,000 teenagers running amock throughout the baths.  My daughter, an American teenager, HATES American teenagers.  I can't blame her, hahaha...

The Roman Baths, overrun with teenagers taking selfies, as it was in ancient times...

Lord Critchlery does not approve.

Day 6 dawned with a glorious sunshine, crisp air and my chance for a run.  I immediately headed uphill, and up...some hills in Bath!  I got to the top of one of the 7 hills of Bath and saw a "Cotswold Way" sign on a gate.  Wait, what???  I thought it started in Chipping Campden and went North, but apparently it starts there and ends in Bath...so I got some small time on it inadvertantly.  I continued on, and ended the run with a short jaunt near the river.  Picture perfect.

The Cotswold Way.  It's gonna happen at some point.  Follow the acorn!

Gorgeous parks on the hillside

Found this in a small neighborhood park.  Sweet fountain!

Along the river, early a.m.

Bath from below.  Really liked this town...

     In the morning we headed toward the Cotswolds, by way of Lacock Abbey (site of a lot of HP filming, and where the first negative print was created, for all you photography buffs!), Avebury and its mysterious, massive stone circle (way bigger than Stonehenge), and some Hobbit-esque shires along the way.  Makes total sense why it's the weekend retreat location of choice for the well-to-do in the UK.  I'd totally live in a thatched roof cottage alongside a trout stream, with footpaths crossing here and there and a neighborhood pub on the corner!  Heaven!

Old Brewing!

Lacock Abbey

Harry Potter scenes filmed here!

Hey, that's a ford!  A ford...

  We checked into our hotel in the village of Stow-on-the-Wold, where all the businesses closed promptly at 6.  Cool!  Soph even had her own room with bunkbeds, and our hotel had local craft beer and a restaurant with delicious food.  Perfect.

Day 7?  A tour of the Cotswolds.  We started in Chipping Campden, the start of the Cotswold Way, where I found the plaque that marks the beginning of the 102-mile footpath.  We then made our way to the Broadway Tower, a "folly" tower that also resides on the path, and climbed to the top!  We also cruised through several really cool towns before returning to our hotel.

This is the beginning of the Way...

There's a plaque here, and one at Bath at the other end.

Alleys in Chipping Campden

A Shire!

Lori at the top of Broadway Tower.  Proud of her, she's afraid of heights and felt surprisingly calm here.

Looking over the Cotswold countryside from the Tower

Day 8 started with a run in Stow, including a short jaunt on the Gloucestershire Way, another national footpath.  Trails!  Lots of gates to go through, but if it's a designated national footpath, private property owners are not only required to allow access, but also maintain the section that passes through their land.  Pretty cool!

Morning mist

Hey!  It's a Way!

Gates everywhere

Short singletrack section!  Saw a red fox!

Alleys in Stow

Serene early morning runs are the best

     We headed out later that morning for a drive to Oxford, by way of Blenheim Palace.  That place was massive.  The grounds are immaculate, I was itching to drop everything there and go for a run around the lake, but played nice and we had a great time.

Enormous place...

Eye see you!

Excuse me, that's quite a large organ you have there...

Landscape Heaven

Here's the only thing about this trip that was awesome and difficult at the same time:  the country is so rich with history, you can't go ten feet without tripping over a historic stone wall, national landmark, Harry Potter film location, etc...and our drivers were all locals to their specific areas, and had/wanted to show us as much as possible during their time with us.  We arrived to Oxford, checked into our hotel and went out to see some sights, but missed our window with a boat ride on the Thames we booked, got to the historic library we wanted to see 10 minutes too late, and opted to do some shopping instead.  I bought Oxford shoes in Oxford!  Ha!  We stayed in a very old hotel with odd hallways, and a "Shining-esque" vibe to it.  Nice...


Day 9:  No run in Oxford, unfortunately.  We were staying only a mile away from the Oxford track where Roger Bannister ran the first sub-4:00 mile, and I just couldn't make it happen.  Next time, then!  Took a commuter train from Oxford to London, and grabbed a cab to the hotel.  Last day in London so we made it count, walked all over the place (including St. James's Park where they were setting up for the London Marathon), had dinner at Covent Garden, and generally stayed out late.

A gorgeous day in London...

The 26-mile mark for London, right next to Buckingham Palace.  Only 385 yards to go, fools!

Day 10 was a rude awakening, as our schedule was off by an hour and our ride to the airport was early, so we scrambled to pack our shit and get going.  I really wish I'd known that the London marathon was held the day we left, as I'd have entered the lottery and maybe capped the trip with the race, we totally could have extended the trip by a day for it!

We had a direct flight back to Boston, great food on the plane, arrived early, and breezed through customs no problem.  Back at the house by 4 p.m.!  What a Hell of a trip.  No real problems to speak of, and damn sure nothing to really complain about!  That's a win in my book.

So there's a capsule version of our England trip, it's a glorious place, they have a robust running scene, and I'm really serious about running the Cotswold Way.  I even popped into a bookstore there and bought a book about the entire route, complete with detailed maps, etc.  They also have some shorter distance races!

My last thoughts:  I may have said it before, but running early in the morning is really the best way to see an unfamiliar city.  I'm not a really early morning runner, but on vacation I get to see miles of a place, where it might take hours to cover the same distance in a cab.  It's been a highlight of my short running history, these jaunts around places we don't go to often, so I really look forward to them!

Next up:  Two Ultras and a Mountain Race...catching up from the last four weeks...

Are you there, Spring?

We're gonna go straight from Winter to Summer again, aren't we.

So the weather is still shitty, and I finished my father-in-law's bathroom project!  I spent this entire week setting 8"x48" plank tile in a large kitchen, which is demanding on several levels but I got it done and was determined to get some running in no matter what...

Monday, 4-2 - (Trainer) 8 miles in 24 minutes.  Solid short workout before work.

Tuesday, 4-3 - 0.

Wednesday, 4-4 - 10.  6 miles after work on trails in Mystic in the rain and fog, 4 treadmill.  Great run and I needed to get home, but wanted more miles so I did a quick 4 on the treadmill before calling it a day.

Thursday, 4-5 - 0.

Friday, 4-6 - 17.  (Trainer) 10-miler on the Zwift Richmond course, and 7 on trails in Arcadia.  Fun!  Before work I cranked out a 10 on the bike, with some aggressive segment sections.  Lo and behold, my friend George sent out a message asking for anyone who wanted to run trails in the afternoon.  He just came off a long period of injury, and I said sure!  George is a lot of fun to run with, and I roughly mapped a 4-5 mile loop, but didn't keep to it and sort of got us some bonus miles!  Whoops...7 miles total in Arcadia on a great but chilly day.

Saturday, 4-7 - 5.  Arcadia run with Brian and Rob.  Another chilly day, but Brian is also coming off injury and was looking for 5-ish miles.  We three set out on one of my favorite routes, and I kept it to 5 this time!  Great day.  Again, chilly but not uncomfortable.

Sunday, 4-8 - 4-ish.  Yawgoog Camp run with Jim.  I bagged the idea of a game-day marathon in RI and decided to do a short run on technical trails with Jim.  Saved me $75 and we had a blast, and a beatdown on the Long/Ell trail section.  We extended the run into the Red-blazed Rim Trail in the scout camp, which has a lengthy boulder field to traverse, and we had a great time rock-hopping there.  I really need to complete the loop through the Death Valley Trail around to Yawgoog Pond, and open up more loops here!

Lots of hours spent here, and I still find new things every time!

So a good week, runs with friends, solo running, and some cross-training on the bike.  A slow week coming up, along with a better weather pattern, and we may just be headed in the right direction!  Huzzah!

Back From Outer Space: The Return of Critchlery's Shitty Blog

Whoops!  I believe I've been remiss in updating this...I'll backtrack a bit for some highlights:

Week of 1/15 - 1/21 - 3 runs, 26 miles.  I've been running with Faith a lot, as we're both looking toward ultras on our respective schedules, and have been roping others into our runs.  The highlight of the week was a 9-mile group of 5 run in Pachaug on the dirt forest roads, great pace, conversation and enough climb to keep it challenging.

Bear!

Glorious day for a group run...

Finishing up!

Week of 1/22 - 1/28 - 3 runs, 35 miles.  Did a 7-mile progression run at Bluff with Faith, who was not feeling it, and I subtly increased the pace until she ran her second-fastest Haley/Bluff out and back.  Fun for me?  

     8-mile trail/road mixer on Mystic roads, felt really good to cruise trail, pick up the pace a bit on           some short road sections, and pop back into the woods again.  Local knowledge helps here!

     20-mile treadmill run???  Yup.  I was stuck at home on a shitty weather day waiting on a service         call, and decided to lock myself in our office/workout room and do a long run on the treadmill.           Put on a Billy Yang playlist and got to it... 

Week of 1/29 - 2/4 - 3 runs, 20 miles.  Finally got a solid snowshoe run in at Bluff at 3.6 miles, and averaged a 10:46 pace.  Hard work on those things but it was a great day there!

Perfect for a snowshoe run!

     13.1-mile Narragansett Trail run with Flyin' Brian R. and new guy Rob S.  Gnarly stretch of trail, and with detours around two sections it took a bit longer than I expected, which got me into a bit of hot water with the family, who thought I'd either fallen off a cliff, or been eaten by a bear.  What can I say, we were having a blast and I couldn't hear my cell phone buzzing until the end of the run. #sorrynotsorry ;)

Brian and Rob at High Ledge

Week of 2/5 - 2/11 - 5 runs, 30 miles (and two rides on the trainer).  This week's highlights were getting a trail run in with Mr. Paul Gray, the OMF 5k and subsequent afterparty at the Mews Tavern, and a 12-mile run in Pachaug SF with Faith and new guy Jon!  Oh, and two rides in Watopia on my new trainer!

Right behind CT Valley Brewing!

Week of 2/12 - 2/18 - 4 runs, 19 miles .  High points?  a 5k at Lantern Hill with 1000+' of vertical, a solid 7-mile progression run at Bluff Point, and a winter beach run in Watch Hill in shorts!

Lantern!  My Lantern!

Stupid beach selfie.  In February.

Week of 2/19 - 2/25 - 1 run, 19 miles.  Here comes the weird stretch (from here to April)...So my boss, who'd decided to get his knees done and be dormant for work for two months, had one knee done and then decided NOT to do the other, AFTER I'd started to completely redo my father-in-law's master bathroom, and thereby totally fucking up my schedule.  So I spend the next six weeks splitting my time between the paying gigs and the family job (which came out AWESOME, pics to follow).  WTF.  

     Fortunately, my one run had real value!  My buddy John P., Tuesday Night Turtle badass who got accepted into the Western States 100 race in CA (otherwise known as the Holy Grail of Ultramarathons), needed to get the ball rolling with some long runs.  I met him and his friend Liz M. at Arcadia, and we banged out 19 miles on a glorious sunny winter day!

Week of 2/26 - 3/4 - 2 runs, 10 miles.  Nothing great, except Faith and I explored a new trail system in Groton which has potential, and I did a short beatdown run at Long/Ell with Jim.

Week of 3/5 - 3/11 - 3 runs, 31 miles.  The big highlight here?  a 22-mile group run in Pachaug that started with me and JP cruising up to Mt. Misery and back, then combining a group of 5 for another 9 miles, then Faith, JP and I looping another 9.  Great day in the forest with friends!

Week of 3/12 - 3/18 - 2 runs, 28 miles (and two rides on the trainer) .  22-miler with John, Faith and Colson, who's young and just getting into trail running but is a real trooper!  The kid never complains, and we've subjected him to his longest runs ever every time he meets us.  Awesome.

Week of 3/19 - 3/25 - 1 run, 21+ miles (and a 20-miler on the trainer). - My big loop fail.  I mapped out a 30-ish mile monster loop in Pachaug State Forest, and rounded up JP to tackle it with me.  Friends Liz and Rachel would join for the first part, the Southern 11 mile section.  However, once we hit the singletrack it became obvious that all the recent storms had caused a massive amount of blowdowns and debris to obstruct the trails, and we were reduced to a crawl in places.  Add to that the rather rugged nature of this area, and our designs on completing the big loop were dashed.  However, John and I immediately moved to another part of Pachaug and had a much more enjoyable 10+ mile second half of the long run, and will try the loop another day!

Week of 3/26 - 4/1 - 1 run, 15 miles.  Long-ish run with Faith, JP and Donnie.  Pretty crazy when 15 miles only qualifies as long-ish, but my run was cut short for Easter family activities and I felt like I missed out on a good long run.  We're all crazy here...

     Finished my father-in-law's bathroom project, and it came out awesome!  I'm posting pictures because goddamn it looks good, and I did the whole thing myself.  Took longer than expected but he's very happy with the end result:

Start of demo, and yes that's a cast-iron tub :)

Walls and basin taking shape

Building a step-in curb

Shower walls going up

Done!  12x24 tile walls and 2x2 mosaic tile floors, custom niche, ADA-compliant grab bar and flip down teak bench, 3/8" glass sliding doors, and all brushed nickel hardware.  5x5 wall tile outside the shower, and 12x12 floor tile.  Big job for a small room!  Thank you Spotify for the assist, else I go mad!

So we're all caught up!  I'm gonna say that amid all the ebb and flow of work and play, I have been able to get a number of very meaningful long runs in (and some trainer rides!), ranging from 15 to 22 miles, and those have been very consistent lately mainly due to my friends!  I feel like I've rounded a corner with training/schedule, and as of 4/1 have started an 8-week training calendar to lead up to World's End, of my own design of course...so you know it's going to be "unconventional..."

Beth loves my training schedules, just ask her!

Weekly updates to follow!

New Year, New Goals! 1/1 to 1/14

Finally!  Happy New Year and I can't wait to set some new, attainable but ambitious goals for the next 12 months.  Running-wise?  More miles.  Lots more.  Better training for races.  Some tough goal races that are realistic.  More running with friends!  Not letting my work schedule interfere with what I'm trying to accomplish, on any level.  On that note, here are a few goals for the coming year:

Mileage:  2,000+ - way above any other year.

Vertical Gain:  200,000+ - again, a goal.

Races:  100k race, 24hr, 100m race...signed up for all three, and spaced out evenly for optimal success.

Places:  New races in new places...so far, World's End is #1.

Speed:  sub-6 mile?  Fastest 5k?  We'll see!

Endurance:  Going long.

So some attainable goals for the coming months, but all within reach.  I'd also like to start taking some day trips to the more mountainous areas in New England, as mountain runs kick ass and I really enjoy them!

1/1 - 5.5.  Treadmill run, just to get something on the board for the New Year.  Put on a playlist of Billy Yang videos and zoned out for an hour.

1/2 - 0.  Worked until dark, figured it would be a perfect day for a zero.

1/3 - 4 Miles.  Crisp and cool Copp Preserve trails.

1/4 - 0.  Shoveled heavy snow for 1.5 - 2 hours.

1/5 - 6.3.  Absolutely frigid 5.6 snow-covered roads in Groton w/Faith, and a deep snow snowshoe slog in Mystic on the way home, about .7 miles before I threw in the towel.  COLD.

1/6 - 0.

1/7 - 0.

1/8 - 5.2.  Pachaug SF trails and roads w/Carly.  Great time slogging through some deep snow on the trails before we bailed onto the forest roads, which had had enough activity to pack them down a bit.  Probably could have used Yaks, maybe might have helped?  Warmer temps felt great.

1/9 - 3.  Mystic trails before dark.  Started out in snowshoes and quickly had a front binding come loose.  After fidgeting with it for a bit, I decided to just get a few miles in as the Sun was quickly setting and I didn't want to throw away a 40-degree day because of a minor issue.  Spooked tons of deer, and cruised along at a pretty good clip given the conditions.  Got home and fixed the binding!

1/10 - 5.  Arcadia Snowshoe Run w/Carly.  A nice warmup, sunny skies and not a breath of wind, and a snow-killing rain on its way for the weekend?  Carly hit me up for a snowshoe run, and I quickly agreed!  We started at the main lot and made our way out to Breakheart Pond, navigating some packed down trails, as well as some untouched singletrack that was just perfect.  Slow, but perfection.  We made our way around the pond, and encountered a lone fatbike rider who, it later turned out, was Beth's "Imaginary Husband" Dave.  He exists!!!  Ha!  I even verified it on the Strava Flyby, so it's official.  After the pond loop I wanted to show Carly my favorite trail out there, an unmarked singletrack trail that rolls along the stream below the pond.  It had seen no traffic since the storm, and was simply incredible.  5 miles in snowshoes is quite the workout!!!  I have to say that a cruisy 5-mile trail run never felt so tough, I compare it to a normal long run as far as effort level, and I've never had to take short walk breaks as much as I did.  Holy crap.  And I loved every minute of it!  Oh, and the Dion snowshoes I have worked flawlessly.  Not one issue.

1/11 - 0.

1/12 - 0.

1/13 - 3.7.  Green Falls waterfall recon.  After a freak warm spell, rain and rapid melt of all the snow, I figured Green Falls would be pretty spectacular.  What I didn't expect was how much water was moving through there.  I've never been turned back at minor stream crossings there before, and it was pretty incredible to see normally dry creek beds turned into raging rapids.  I had a great time splashing down trails-turned-rivers, and bushwhacking through the woods around impassable areas.  Ran into James E. as I was headed down there, and he said he'd never seen the water that high, and I'd have to agree!

1/14 - 3+.  Resolution Beach and Trail race.  The first race in the South County 4th Season trail series, put on by Mike Galoob and his crew at Off Rhode Racing.  Traditionally this has been a 5k, and I found out last minute that the course had been changed to include more trail and less beach, and eliminated the short road section.  Sweet!  I arrived early, grabbed my bib and chatted with friends, and after getting my gear on, ran a short warmup on the beach with Rachel, both of us grumbling a bit about the cold but it wasn't that bad.  The runners lined up facing the old stone ruins, and I was relieved to see we wouldn't be doing the out/back on the beach first, although I couldn't remember there being a lot of trails in the wooded area to make up 3.1 miles...I went out at the gun steady, and kept a good pace, although without any speedwork I was definitely feeling the effort.  At the end of mile 2 I was already at the ruins, and knew for sure that the course was either going to be way short, or we'd be finishing with the aforementioned out/back on the beach.  I was relieved to see that we'd be coming in short.  I splashed through what was probably some raw sewage runoff, ran up the beach and hauled my carcass across the finish line at 2.6 miles in 20:32.  I looked at my previous times, and it's about average for the course/terrain, so my speed (if we're calling it that!) is about the same.

Afterwards, a bunch of us met at the Mews Tavern for lunch, and I had a great time chatting with everyone on my end of the table, thinking we'll have to switch seats next time so I can get caught up with everyone else!

Last Week of 2017! Week of 25 December 2017 and Year-End Recap

2017 is coming to a close, and I'm really looking forward to 2018.  Why?  I think it's going to be a great year, for running and everything else.  My 2017 stats, which I'll list below, weren't what I was expecting, although I think given my overall mileage were successful.

For 2018 I should have a clear idea of exactly what races I'm doing after midnight on New Year's Eve, as half the trail races in the country are opening registration at the same time!  Places, everyone!!!  I'm shooting for 4 Ultras, the World's End and three others TBA.  All trail races.  Some gnarly AF, some not so much, but each with their own unique challenges...

That said, here's some stats!

Total Miles:  1,080
Elevation Gain: 96,526
These are two of the stats I'm going to correct in the coming year.  Unacceptable.  Setting a goal of 2,000 miles and 150,000' elevation for '18.

# of Races: 16
Trail Races: 15
Road Races: 1

Ultra Races: 5.  3 completed, 2 DNF.  However, even the DNFs were 27 and 33 miles, respectively. Better than a DNS, anyway!

Best Ultra performance: Goat Hill 50k in 6:53.  Got a goat trophy!

Favorite Race: Run4Kerri 4-mile road race.  Yes, my only road race in '17 and still my favorite.  Had an absolute blast the whole day, from the pre-race warmup with Tommy 5k, to the awesome run with "Team Jodi" (me, George and Jodi), to the afterparty at the Mews Tavern, just a totally memorable day, at a great race put on by a great family for a great cause.  Already on my calendar for 2018.

***Honorable Mention for favorite race goes to Whiteface.  Hands down, one of the toughest (but best) weekends of racing I've ever had.  Vertical K on Saturday, Sky Race on Sunday, total of 18 miles and 10,500' of vertical gain.  Yes, I felt like I got hit by a truck two days later, but damn was it worth it!  The course, the views, Lake Placid...if the Adirondacks were closer I'd be there a lot.  And the Red Newt Racing events are incredible!

Least Favorite Race:  None.   Even the couple races I had issues at and didn't finish, I met incredible people, enjoyed a great day on the trails, and smartly called it a day when injury arose.  Never a bad day out there.



Weekly Update, 12/25 to 12/31:

So overall, I'm running happy, without any pressure to perform, and my mileage, although low, has been filled with quality over quantity!  So it's all good.  Now for the weekly update:

12/25 - Merry Christmas!  No run for me, but I did receive a new pair of snowshoes (my first ever!), a new pair of Salomon Speedtraks, the book "On Trails" by Robert Moor, and various other running-related paraphernalia.  Happy me!

12/26 - 8.4 Miles.  5.3 Mile Pachaug loop with Faith in the snow, and a treadmill 5k at home to bump the mileage up.

12/27 - 0.

12/28 - 3 Miles.  Canonchet Preserve trail run with Jim.  Cold!  -10 with the wind chill, but we cruised through a 3-mile out and back.  Great time.

12/29 - 10 Miles.  Treadmill 10.  Nothing special, other than I settled into a rhythm and watched Salomon videos on Youtube until time was up.  My watch lags on distance, so it was almost 11 by the treadmill's count.

12/30 - 4 Miles.  Nature Center trails, Mystic.  Late afternoon, snow falling, 19 degrees and zero wind, and I was surrounded by silence except for the crunch of my feet on the snow.  Didn't see a single person.  Awesome.

12/31 - 7.6 Miles.  Bluff Point/Haley Farm trails w/Faith.  Ran 35 hours with Faith this year, more than any other friend, so who better to close out the year with?  10 degrees and 0 wind chill, but we opted to hit the singletrack there as much as possible, and the wind was mostly blocked.  Perfect cold weather run with a good friend!

So I close out 2017 with two weeks of consistent, solid running, and a 32/33 mile weekly combo to round out the year.  I'm really looking forward to 2018, have I mentioned that?  It's gonna be awesome, I have no doubt!

Blog's Not Dead!

After banging out two ultra distance races in the last two weeks of October, I decided to shut it down for races until after the new year.  No injuries, just wanted to not have anything scheduled, and be able to do what I wanted when I could.  So I did.  Had a pretty unremarkable November, other than some good trail miles and runs with friends, and a great time spectating at the Li'l Rhody Runaround.  I can count on one hand the number of times I've gone to a race purely as a spectator, and it was a blast!  Got to see/catch up with a lot of friends, and attend a fun after race party at Jonny's place.

So I wrote off November as just a shitty, low-mileage month with a couple of highlights, and was just happy to be running at all.

But here's to a great holiday season of running!  I already have my sights set on a couple of races for 2018, too...

So we'll start off December's fun on 12/2.  Nehantic Trail, Voluntown CT - 13 miles.  Brian R., one of the CT contingent at the Yeti race (and who finished 5th overall in 19:41 for his first 100-miler), has decided to knock off all the CT blue-blazed trails and hit me up for an E2E run on the Nehantic Trail, a rugged in places but totally runnable 13-mile trail in Voluntown.  Of course I agreed, and with a last-minute shout out to the Trailmixers group, we also picked up Scott D. (another badass ultrarunner) to join us!  

After dropping a car at Green Falls, we three set out from the Hopeville Pond end of the trail.  Temps around 30-35 degrees, but very little wind and totally comfortable.  I have to say that my new hydration vest is awesome, with two soft flasks in the front and lots of stretchy pockets around the sides and back, and doesn't shift around at all.  Love it.

We stopped to take a short break at Mt. Misery before continuing on toward Green Falls:

Brian and Scott at Mt. Misery

Lots of chatting during the run, and a great overall pace.  I did the navigation, and I'm happy to report that there were no wrong turns, and I knew exactly where we were the entire time.  Not too many blowdowns, and the trail was in overall great shape.  Took about 2:30 to make the North to South run, but we weren't trying to push the pace, and covered 13 miles with about 1,400' of climbing.

After we finished up, Brian wanted to take advantage of the day, so I drove him to the Northern terminus of the Quinebaug Trail, so he could check that 8-mile stretch of trail off his list, and I called it a day!  Great way to kick off December.

We've started to get snow!  I was getting a bit discouraged about the lack of daylight hours and the turn to cold weather, but the first snow we had, I got out to the Hidden Lake area of Yawgoog and hit some untouched trails, and remembered why winter is pretty damn awesome.

Hidden Lake!  Nobody out there but me.

I've also made peace with the treadmill (sort of).  It's going to have to be a part of my training schedule, and I've found that putting on a Salomon Running playlist on YouTube definitely helps me cope with the monotony...

Not so Dread-mill?

So that said, my mileage is FINALLY coming up!  The week of Christmas I put together 32 miles, including a 15-miler at Bluff Point, a run on Napatree Point beach for the Winter Solstice, a Green Falls loop with Jim where we got lost on unmarked trails and bushwhacked, fells-style, back to my truck, and had an Xmas Eve. run at Bluff with my most frequent running friend Faith!  According to Strava, we've run 32+ hours together :)

Happy running at Bluff Point!

Mother Boulder?

Winter Solstice beach run at Napatree/Watch Hill!

Frozen Hidden Lake!

Faith at Bluff Point!

So heading into Christmas, I asked Santa (Lori) for a pair of snowshoes, as I've wanted to try some for the last couple years, but there hadn't been much snow.  And Santa delivered!

YES!  New Dion running snowshoes, and some extra running-related gear...so excited!

So there we go!  All (sort of) caught up, and gonna try to get back to some sort of regular posting.  I've restructured my racing goals for 2018, and it's basically going to include 1 race per month, not counting smaller local races.  So far, here's the official registration list:

WE100K.  Should be epic.

Return to Kismet Cliff!  3rd time.

The rest of 2018's fun will be worked out once the races have opened registration, but it'll be an interesting list for sure.  Most of the races I haven't done before.  So right now it looks like the Wapack 21.5 in May, WE100k in June, a new NH ultra (maybe?) in July (or Escarpment!), an ultra in August (Undecided, it's between two:  Ragged 50k or ADU 24), Kismet Cliff in September, and one grand finale in October.  To be continued...