Training Log Archive: CleverSky

I had always pictured this as too long a loop to be practical, and with the sections on Rtes 2A and 13 not that appealing, but I measured iit the other night and saw that it was completely reasonable, so I figured it was a good choice for a day when the woods were going to be a slushy mess. Nice and warm, low 50s, short sleeve T-shirt. Started out mostly sunny with the kind of clouds that look perfect for flying, but gusty enough that it woud not have been fun. And while I was on Rte. 13, I was running in unforecasted rain. Right calf was tight from the outset, and never improved much.

The town has a P&S agreement (maybe not signed yet) for a big ol' chunk of forest near my house (including most of where I usually go running), and an agreed price per acre, but the exact area isn't known yet because part of the agreed boundary for subdividing the property is an unsurveyed watercourse. I volunteered to go out and get a GPS track of the streams, and late in the evening I finally motivated myself to put on my waterproof socks and go out there.

Road running down to the bridge, then postholing both sides of the streams in question, then road running home. The woods was mostly knee-deep snow with a soft crust, sometimes shallower, sometimes thigh-deep with water at the bottom. At the upstream end, I tried crossing on what looked like a skimpy beaver dam, and ended up punching through into the brook a few times. Shortly after getting to the other side and turning around, I found the elaborate footbridge (there's a bit of a gap on the side I was coming from, hard to spot from that direction if you're not expecting it). On the downstream end, I pretty much crawled across an ice-covered fallen tree. I can't think of many people who would have enjoyed accompanying me on this trip. But I had fun.

Woke up this morning, and between the run on Saturday, smashing my finger, walking into my roof rack yesterday morning and ending up flat on my back in a parking lot (leaving a visible injury on my forehead), flying, and then getting home just after midnight, I'm a complete wreck. Everything that hurts has something else hurting to distract from the pain. A pretty great weekend!

Flew (at Ellenville) for almost as long as I ran yesterday, and I could easily have stayed up for the extra seven minutes or so if I had cared to. It's not proper exercise, but it certainly is tiring.