Training Log Archive: Bash

Gary's 11th Annual Trail Run near Milton

Gary Black puts on this fun, informal get-together for Ontario trail runners on the 2nd Saturday of November. I've never been able to attend before, usually because Raid The Hammer has fallen on the 2nd Sunday of November, so I was excited that the schedule finally worked out. We would start in Speyside and run over to the Hilton Falls Side Trail, heading into the park, then joining the main Bruce to return along the escarpment, making it a 25 km outing.

I looked forward to being committed to a loop run and meeting more of my fellow trail runners. My lungs aren't ready for something as intense as the Hockley Loop but this area isn't hilly at all. At this time of year, it's a sea of wet leaves concealing slick, mossy rocks and roots so I knew the pace would be slow in the midpack. You people who live in Milton must develop awesome proprioception! I half-turned both my ankles, even the good right ankle, which rarely wavers.

I was behind about 20 runners, and Gary had warned everyone to be careful at the start to catch both of the required turns onto side trails. I assumed that the runners who led the way knew the area or were watching their maps extra carefully. Damn, I really ought to know better! :) At the crucial turn-off, a gentleman went into the woods for a nature break on our right; the rest of us averted our eyes, which prevented us from seeing the small single track turn-off we should have taken. We were all watching our feet carefully and chatting as we ran past our junction without noticing it.

When we arrived at the white Bruce Trail markers, Steve Hunter and I stopped because that definitely was wrong. I looked at the map and realized our error. We turned back, which added close to 5 km to our run. Steve texted BGY who checked his Bruce Trail app and turned around; apparently, he couldn't convince the rest of the group who were heading straight back to their cars. Apparently, there were other wrong turns by other parts of the group, and only Steve, BGY and I ended up doing anything close to the original plan! I assumed that I was at the very back so I took the suggested shortcut along 6th Line rather than hold the rest of the group up. As it turns out, everyone invented their own run and I was alone for half of it so I may as well have gone into Hilton Falls and enjoyed it!

I did meet some friends near the end and it was a lovely group run on a November day, even though a lot of it was solo. Now to see how I will feel tomorrow...

Caron's Hard Core class is baaaack!

C3 Class.

"Back in 1977, when Peter “Stoney” Emshwiller was 18 years old, he sat in front of a camera and began lobbing questions to an invisible future self, recording what could be called one side of a time-travel talk show. Now, 38 years later, Emshwiller has decided to finally sit down and answer those questions, and the result is an intense, uncanny, and surprisingly moving interview."

Warning: it finishes with a fundraising request but it's still a cool concept, especially if you imagine yourself in the same situation.

Leonard Cohen's powerful reading of "In Flanders Fields" on its 100th anniversary. Lest we forget.

Easy test run in Palgrave West with AdventureDog, keeping my HR low. I think there's some progress because last night's boot camp didn't cause a setback but I'm not improving very quickly.

The Edmund Fitzgerald went down 40 years ago today. You're welcome for the earworm.

I tried Caron's boot camp to see whether it makes me feel worse or whether I continue to feel like I'm on the mend. Over the past two weeks, it seems that any physical activity sets back my recovery by a couple of days. Fingers crossed. P.S. This boot camp is hard!

In bed just before 4 a.m. - yikes. First the plane had a computer problem. (Please, take your time with that.)

Then after 2:30 a.m., I got trapped in the discount airport parking garage, which is conveniently operated without the presence of humans. There are two slots in the new parking payment machine. One says "Insert Parking Ticket" and the other says "Visa, Mastercard/..." and has a number pad above it to enter the PIN. Unfortunately, if you put your Visa in the Visa slot during a couple of failed attempts (because the Visa slot is a mere decoy during a machine upgrade), your parking ticket gets blocked. I seriously considered taking a run at the parking gate but didn't want to scratch my pretty Subaru - or get arrested for failing to pay the $100 I owed them.

Yawn. I still have bronchitis but it's improving slowly. I need to be patient and keep limiting my activity. The Banff Festival was fun and inspiring, and it was great to catch up with Myka, Amik, Flight and Slice.