WTF - Westerly Town Forest

Truth -  I didn't run today, I got wrapped up in projects early in the morning and just kept going with it.  Do I feel guilty? Not one little bit.  Wait, I do, guilt for telling Mike B I'd be at the Clamdigger and not showing up.  I'm sure I'll hear about it.  

You know that nagging list of to do things, the one that gets longer and longer and weighs heavy on your shoulders?  Yeah that one.  I checked off several.  What is it with spring and cleaning and organizing and purging?  Either that or my maternal grandmother was inhabiting me today, she was the purger, my paternal grandmother was the saver.  They often fight inside of me.  Keep it.  Toss it.  Keep it.  Toss it.  It can get pretty ugly, nothing you want to see, keep walking.

Oh yeah, and taxes, after 16 years of me reminding/nagging Dave about them, he was the one to remind/nag me on Friday morning.  "Um Hon, did you realize taxes are due on Tuesday, I have my Schedule C done."  You could have knocked me over with a feather, this was a first.  Must be the full moon due on tax day?

Saturday I did run from my house to the Westerly Town Forest and around the forest, getting wet, muddy, lost, and scraped up.  Gazelle it may be 'game on' for who gets scraped up more! I studied the map from the route the guys ran Thursday night and made a mental note and looked at the maps as I came across them in the forest, most of the ones in the back were gone.  I got a little turned around and actually ran in a circle a couple times till I figured out I had already run on that section before.  HA!!  Maybe lost isn't quite correct, but for a minute here and there I did think:  "I may never get out of the forest.".

http://www.allpaintings.org/d/151063-2/Akseli+Gallen-Kallela+-+Lost+in+the+woods.jpg

When I left I hemmed and hawed about water.  Oh it's only 10 miles, no biggie, you'll be fine.  Well this is the first I've run when it was over 50F.  Um yeah, it was a biggie.  So the last 5 miles sucked despite the wind being at my back.  Lesson learned.  I told Dave to bring extra water as he was just heading out when I got home.  He rolled his eyes, yet he completely filled his hydro-pack.  When he got home he did mention that he went through the whole thing.  Always good to listen to the spouse, eh?

Sincerely,
Beth, who should have just stopped at what ever house had a hose she could see from the road, that would have been ok, wouldn't it?

Week of April 7th

Me: “The chili was a bad idea for lunch.”
#1 Smart Guy: “It usually is.”

Monday  R: 0 / W: 0 / O:  TRX

I was feeling beat up from the weekend of runs.   Monday as a rest day was so welcome.  I don’t even think I got in all the steps on my FitBit either, and it was raining when I got home from TRX so no dog walk.  I plopped myself down and groaned and was immediately covered in three dogs with Dave in the background muttering something about, me never paying attention to him.  "Well you aren't climbing all over me."  was all I could think to say.  Yeah went over like a fart in a space suit.  

Tuesday R: 4 / W: 6  / O: Spin

The rain all night Monday into Tuesday morning sounded so nice (even the torrential stuff) on the copper porch roof.  I slept like the dead.  What a strange saying that is.  Eventually the rain subsided and the sun came out.  Meetings prevented any pre spin running, perfect time to go out to Bluff Point and take a cruise around the fire road. Before I left spin class Ro made sure I got in my 30 push-ups for the 30 push-ups a day Spartan challenge.  Groan. Bluff Point was a little muddy in spots and a lot muddy in others, I tiptoed around some of them and after a mile or so just motored through the rest.  Trail maintenance continues.   I was sad to not see the tree just before the cut off to go down to Mumford Cove, I always looked forward to that as I was nearly to the top of the fire road.  

Wednesday R: 8 /W: 0  /O: Swim

Blocked off time for a late morning run and off I went for 8.  I've slacked on my hill running, so I ran the bitch and one set of hills in the apartment complex across from campus continuing on the same old same old.  It was windy and running into the wind for the last 3 miles was tiring.  Saw a couple runners coming towards me, looking all free and light, yeah the wind is pushing you along, wait till you get to Shennecosett or coming back up Jupiter Point I thought.  The wind was brutal and I was tired.   Not even a lot of kick for the last ¼ mile of downhill.  

Swimming was good.  Adam pushed us a bit, which I need, I always need pushing, I don’t like it, I do appreciate it, after the fact.   We did drills with the kick-board without it with fins without them with fins and kick-board without fins and kick-board and the last 50 were no fins no kick-board no break.  After both my calves charlie horsed (is that a term) I gave up a little.  Damn that hurts and being in water makes it scary to me.  I think I’m mostly over my fear of water and finally get the order things need to go in, like not breathing out ALL the oxygen as soon as I put my face in the water.  DOH!!  750 yards.  I felt it Thursday.  

Thursday R: 5 / W: 2 / O: Spin

About 2 miles into my run I forced myself to stop thinking about the chili and ponder other subjects.

Spin was good.  Jeff nearly fell off his bike in excitement telling us about Dohertys Alehouse taps all along the wall and turn around and another wall full of taps. He is a pretty even keeled kind of guy this was the first time I’d seen him animated.   Beer does that to people!

This was also the day for my running club, Westerly Track and Athletic Club victory celebration, the winning team for the South County 4th Season race series.  I passed on the pre pub crawl victory run through the Westerly Town Forest and joined up for the tour of Grey Sail Brewing Company.  Very fun evening, for sure!  Thanks Mike for setting it up!!  Thanks guys for being awesome winning runners!!

Friday R: 0 / W: 3 / O: 0

Fiber Fest! Beers and knitting with the gals!  Beer goes with everything, very versatile beverage.  Lots of discussion about the Great Rhody Yarn Crawl happening this weekend.  I did the inaugural crawl three years ago, I'm still working through that yarn.  It is shameful to say I have enough yarn, I do, hopefully this doesn't get me expelled from the club.  I may zip up to one of the stores just to squeeze some yarn.

Saturday  10 on the schedule for the morning, thinking Westerly Town Forest.  Yard clean up for the afternoon.  The crocus have emerged from under a thick layer of leaves, it will be interesting to see what else survived the winter and being buried in feet of snow.   Quite certain this winter did in the amaryllis I forgot to dig up in the fall.  

Sunday  8 on the schedule, I'll get 5 with the Clamdigger race and bike to and from the beach and call it good.

Sincerely,
Beth, who still has to do taxes...

Burlingame - Clockstupid

Sunday:  R: 10 / W: 3 / O: 0
  

Dave was off to Arcadia.  I planned on running Burlingame clockstupid (you know the opposite of clockwise -- opposite of how I usually run it) and continue on my quest to not get side tracked off Sammy C's trail. 

 

Off I went, hard top first, very strange, the little bit of a rise felt tough, my legs felt goodish, way better than when I poured myself into bed on Saturday night. My toes weren’t sore,  always a good thing.  On to the single track and finally on Sammy C's trail.  It was marked with orange tape.  Was this from the King of Burlingame the race the weekend before?  The orange markings were nice because I seem to lose the trail mostly on the ledges/domes.  But shouldn't they have been removed? Right foot left foot repeat. 

 

Enjoyable, not to muddy, teeny technical, I took my time, enjoyed the scenery and the sun. Right foot left foot repeat. 

 

Got to the dome, the intersection of Sammy C's / Secret Trail / Out and Back.  I chose the path I hadn't traveled.  Out and Back. Yeah the whole Sammy C's plan went out the window, the joy of running alone.  Oh my.  Dave rides this on his bike?  “How is that possible?” I though as I scaled up the sides of ledge.  Hmmmm.... I may want to up his life insurance or at least his accidental death and dismemberment.  Here I figured it was going to be me dying first, running more than 2.5 hours a week, let alone at a time...   Right foot left foot repeat. 

 

Running this direction on the Vin Gormley was weird; different and familiar all at the same time.  Wow, it was pretty torn up from the rain and the bikers.  Then I noticed the blue streamer markers on the trail.  Really?   Right foot left foot repeat. 

 

The deer hide was still all over the place, no carcass though. The only people I saw on the trail were two women walking their dogs.  Cute pups.  Got to the massive section of bridges, holy cow the bridges are all over the place.  Last few rock gardens and ahhh, the nice flat even section as I neared the end of the trail into the camp ground and spied an orange marker from the Brrr-lingame course leading the runners into the campground and the sand pit area...  I pulled it and ran with it.  Figured the orange caution "slow moving vehicle" flag in my hydro-pack would be kinda funny.  Right foot left foot repeat.

 

Sincerely,

Beth, glad to make a change from the usual, left foot right foot repeat...