Training Log Archive: CleverSky

After Rachel's graduation, with Nancy, on the East Bay bike path in Riverside RI, from the Dari Bee to Cranberry Island and back, in part to check out a lighthouse.

Almost since I started working at Autoliv, I've been meaning to check out the Lowell-Dracut-Tyngsboro State Forest, and I finally got around to it. Feeling pretty lethargic, but at least it was a run. I suspect the lack of energy may have been due in part to the pollen in the air, as I was a little wheezy when I was done. I had a map, which was a little dubious, but not altogether terrible once I got accustomed to it.

Pretty nice forest. I stuck to the numerous trails, but the woods looked open, with no rock underfoot, a fine selection of boulders, and overall flattish topography. Reminded me a little of Great Brook Farm. The location would be great for a map, but I think parking might be a problem, unless some nearby parking lot (school or church or business or something) were available. (The lot at my office is plenty big, but not really close enough.)

Wolf's Den (Mashamoquet), Red. Very warm conditions (mid 80s), nice woods, the course used some areas that were very lightly fieldchecked, and the one (unannounced) water stop was pretty late (control #10). Had a nice time, though I was wilting some in the heat and not going uphill very fast. Thanks to Jim H for straightening out the computer so that my result finally showed up and I was able to be in first place - for a few seconds, until Becky downloaded. :-)

Pretty much straight on all legs, no matter what was in the way, even laurel, Charlie got me on #8 (I guess I was just slow on the climb, and looking around a lot since there was a lot of omitted detail on that hillside. I did lose a smidge on #9, stopping a little short because it felt like I was on a knoll already, and I hunted around for a minute or two to find #6, which was one cliff too low (still well within the circle).

Ended up third, behind Carl Underwood and Becks. I apparently lost small amounts of time on five controls, but was second only to Becks in terms of least time lost. No fastest legs, but intriguingly, my best leg was only two seconds out of first, and that was #10, where I went straight at it and fought my way through a tremendous amount of mountain laurel and figured it was a totally screwed up route choice, I expected to be well back in the results on that one. Always more to learn.

I was about five minutes down the road from home when I realized I had forgotten my GPS watch.