Training Log Archive: bl

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BB, Saturday Brown X retry. Warmer & no falls/blood to distract. Accurate, constant contact - went different ways when I could. Saw no one - had Hayes Field to myself. Will try a Sunday green next chance I get.

Found another French Creek map - this time USOC '92 on French Creek East, still 1/15, much more detail and difficult.

C • Good for 2nd place overall 3

Brown X - Splits

Concord's West End Trail, north to south. Dropped car off at Stickney Hill Rd. exit with Beth taking me to other end. Clear, fine day, chilly in shade per November. Didn't see anyone - a few cars in the one road crossing. No hunters - not sure of rules. This trail feels quite remote. Maybe the 4th time. Some attention to follow it in places - have to have 'heads up' as there are other trails near Carter Hill & leaf cover is quite significant. Missed once, entering a familiar field. Stopped a bunch for photos & ran-walked a bit, too. An agreeable November day is hard to beat, mostly due to increased vision. Nice to be done before noon, too.

Field today

Last February.

Marsh today

Last February.

Summer's ghosts

Event: NEOC: Powissett
 

Went to BB to run a Saturday brown (start 2p) & then to an UNO celebratory dinner in Salem. The day had cleared completely. It was clear blue & warm enough in the sun at Hayes but quite chilly in the shade. Tripped on deadfall on way to #2, cut my thumbing thumb and had to deal with blood on the route at hand as well as compass for just about the rest of the course. Also, every direction I turned, it seemed the sun was in my face - strange as that sounds. The white woods were so open & subtle. Rusty, bloody & distracted, watch stopped (distance/elapsed time a guess) - will try again another time. Beth walked over to Hayes marsh dam.

Very nice UNO dinner after at Deb & Bruce's place in Salem with the usual core members.

I look at this photo & say "wow, I can run forever here!" Wish I'd been there.

Another pleasant, warm day. Needed a close-by loop which became Dean, Knox, thru forest, back on BBR. Legs tired, couldn't beat 10'/mi. Met 5 hunters, 2 at trail head & three returning to their trucks (latter group more in the Billy Goat gruff MO). I thought hunters hunted dawn & dusk. They're as omnipresent as jellyfish today. Second encounter was around 12:45.

On the DP this am, spotted a hunter standing on a knoll under the PL, in the open (8:56, I noted). Changed course to avoid collision. One problem is that the dogs don't like "smoking sticks" & this has caused problems in past. Do need to get out the orange see-me-now outfits. Also open house at the Bow Meeting house with bells ringing, lots of people - feels like a Sunday.

Nottingcook loop via Allen, South Bow Road, Ordway. Day was warm, began gray with rain, then complete clearing, nearly 70F...how nice! Met Beth at end of Ordway with Z&M. Got lost right after Ordway Cemetery due to logging changes & disappearance of a key old, small trail. A sign said "Ordway Cemetery 1834", which was chained off, seemingly to keep recent changes - anything but quaint - at bay. Wandered east & north thru lots of laurel. Finally spotted an old SVT, recognized it & we were on our way. Met one hunter with rifle (not hunting season yet?) and another fellow with a dog, commenting on how nice it was to be in the woods today.

Ran in brand new New Balance shoes - picked, in part, for color (avoid garish) as well as support & cushioning. Cost too little to confess to - so will call it an experiment. Color is black & so not much to show for some of the stuff we encountered wandering thru thickish, wet stuff in search of a way through.

November 1 pix

Ordway lane "lantern"


Woodbury barn, Nottingcook A meet Saturday start bus drop, 6 years, one month ago


Would you let this dog in your house?

Went to SPS around 2:40 - gray day & light rain began about 2:55. Jogged & walked, thinking now that I can enter the A meet, I need to pick up the pace over the next few weeks. Have a few days off & not going anywhere so that should help.

Sad to see October go - sodden & unceremoniously, tho tonight is Halloween. Entered the DVOA meet first thing when I got home. Felt a bit guilty passing up green but so be it.

Out back to PL & along it. Chilly but ok in sun. No energy to speak of.

Funny day - felt like a Monday...chaotic at work at first. Then Beth & I went to an 11a meeting in town a day early.... 41F inside the house when we got home around 1145p last night. (had neglected to turn the heat pump on in early dawn departure haste a week before). Better was when we realized the wind had blown open a bedroom window-door providing a 30" by 6' "hole" to let cold air in (had gone unnoticed due to dark, screen, large plant, curtain & a freezing BR to begin with). Wasn't ready for sleep so when it was time to get up here, it wasn't enough rest.

Asked George W at the UNO A meet what else was on his sked for the fall. He put DVOA on the radar - where it hadn't been. Looked at the web site yesterday: $40/day late fee, which for 2 of us would be around $160 minus USOF $16; that's just the late fee - which is unpalatable. So, shucks, guess no A meet. Wanted to see French Creek again - recall the '82 USOC there. Have call that week (which would have req'd fixing) & something ok to do Sat but did want an O experience outside my own backyard this fall. The Harriman meet would have been excellent in terrain & distance. The good (Boulderdash), the bad (late registration) & the ugly (A meet cancellation). What's next...local meets it seems.

C • Adult (21 years and older):... 12

C • French Creek 9