Training Log Archive: BillD

The results posted for Saturday's O at Westmoreland shows Charlie was the only contestant. And he led the whole way, too. :)

I suppose the event administrators are still having computer problems that were evident when I downloaded. They deserve better in view of their having set fine courses and having handled such a large crowd on the beginner courses.

C • limited patience 4

Hike around Simsbury WMA on warm, clear, windless day with great foliage seen on the mountain.

Event: Explore the Sanctuary, Westmoreland Sanctuary, HVO event
 

Brown course at Westmoreland Sanctuary in Mount Kisco. Put aside Control 1 and it was a great day. Nice open woods, running pretty well for a greater portion of a course than I normal run, good contact with map except 4 where I explored one wall too early. Went up and over on 9 to 10 and survived reasonably well, but I wonder if my time would have been as good going around the south side of the hill. Failed to notice trail north of my traverse 10 to 11 that would have probably cut some time off--on the map it was partial covered up by the course line. Interviewed by course setter Gregory Balter afterwards who was inquiring whether some climbs were too dangerous for typical Brown-coursers (polite way of saying "old folks"?). I didn't think so. Told him I hope he'll use the venue again soon--I thought the woods were fabulous to be in.

BTW, I grew up in the '50s on a dirt road the town didn't even show on its official map about 4 miles to the east and used to roam alone as a 5-to-12 year old extensively in the undeveloped woods without a map and never worried I would find my way back home. Now the terrain is covered with gazillion-dollar residential estates that probably have state-of-the-art intrusion detectors and beefy turtle-necked thugs to eliminate me with extreme prejudice.

Pleased I could run as much as I did and that the hip/groin was not an issue. Much better endurance than in prior years.

Nice ride to site and home with Rhonda and Charlie, sharing stories of fabulous meals while in Italy earlier this month.

My route. The Start and Finish are a bit messed up due to early (start) and late (finish) mal-attention to button pushing on the iPhone.

Out to Winchester to walk the Norfolk Land Trust trail from Grantville Road up Pine Mountain. Very pleasant walk on a day that the foliage was just past peak (and a lot duller in color than a few days ago when I passed by here) with leaves freshly covering the ground. The land trust provided maps in a container at the trailhead. The map shows a single trail winding up and around the mountain counter-clockwise and ending at the summit.

The first 1/2 mile is along the Mad River along what appears to be an old railroad bed. The trail then crosses on a bridge and becomes an old wagon road for about a mile. It becomes indistinct at this point but I detected a foot path for about 50 yards that then became a distinct, maintained footpath with white blazes. The trail terminates at the flat no-view summit in very pleasant open woods. I sat for about 15 minutes to enjoy the dappled sunshine, breeze in the tree tops and solitude.

I determined to shortcut the way back off-map by using a compass due east, and immediately found that there was a well-blazed-in-orange (but not shown on the map) trail leading n.e. then e. I followed it down the hill to the level patch and s. through a sappling forest. It was one of the most beautiful trails without a long view that I have encountered. Joyful. After a bit the trail seemed to veer w. at a point that I detected an unblazed trail going e. I opted for this e. path expecting to soon come out on the trail I had come in on. That happened within perhaps 150 yards.

Tried a light jog for the half mile along the railroad (?) bed back to the car and had no problem.

Posted track is the ascent. I'll post the descending track as a separate session.

C • Nice hike 3

The descent from Pine Mountain.

6 RTs of driveway. Walking. Nice that on the uphill I wasn't breathing hard until the 5th lap. Some soreness in right crease, a suggestion of soreness in back, but not bad at all.