Training Log Archive: X8A7

The snow at the Jack is deteriorating. Its slightly melt-freeze hard track, so even after the grooming today, it was it barely skiable for classic, but I soldiered through. Saw 3rd@Birkie and JH and chatted with them a bit. After last week, 3 hours this week didn't seem like a big deal. Started to get hungry at the end. Given I probably will have to drive all the way to Devil's Thumb and back in a single day to do my virtual Birkie there, I'm now thinking I do it skating at the Jack, so I started to think about what the course would be to avoid the growing dirt patches that render a number of trails marginal, or marginal due to uneven, icy, and sketchy downhills. Legs were tired a bit from running the past two days and got even more tired just trying to keep the darn skis straight.

All of the east trails in the evening, saw hawks, deer, maybe a turkey in a tree (or it was another hawk or an owl, it was off in the distance so all I can say is that it was some big bird in a tree). Not far from the bird was a house cat, who yelped repeatedly at me. I told it that it better hope that the bird I saw was a turkey. I've seen that cat at least a couple times out there in the last 6-8 months, so maybe it knows what its doing. There were other birds too, but geese and herons typically don't mentioned, but they were there too.

Around campus.

Temp was ~18F with a slight, but quite chilly wind and light snow. What did I see driving home? A high school dude out running in a sleeveless t-shirt and shorts, no hat or gloves of course. I'd say the money is on him being really unhappy about 10-15 minutes after I saw him. He didn't look quite unhappy yet, but I could see a touch of concern in his face. Anyway, I went to J-Jones for a change of pace. Just did a run, I wore the trail runners, after the first half hour the neuroma started to act up. I loosened the laces and took the insole out, which helped, but it still wasn't the best. I need to stick to the road shoes for a while yet.