Training Log Archive: blairtrewinIn the 1 days ending Oct 20, 2014:
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Monday Oct 20, 2014 #
3 PM
Run 36:00 [3] 5.3 km (6:48 / km) +200m 5:43 / km
This was a "tourist run", good for the views but not good as a run - which was predictable, as I hadn't slept much (thanks mostly to a 5am OA board meeting) and 2.30pm is usually a flat spot for me if I haven't slept enough. The run itself was to the summit of the Stony Man in Shenandoah National Park, the park's second-highest peak (I think) - good views as you'd expect (in a park which has plenty of them). The peak has a lot of rock on it but the track wasn't rocky (although with reasonable climb - you can hide a lot in 100-foot contours). Back didn't enjoy the initial climb but settled after that.
This also gave me a bit of a taste of the Appalachian Trail (almost invisible in places because of fallen leaves - could easily imagine losing the trail), though still a few hundred kilometres short of the amount of it that feet has run (let alone the whole trail, which is about 3500km). Saw a few people out with packs although it's presumably too late in the season for people to be walking the full distance (anyone doing that would be closer to either the north or south end by now).
The park itself (my afternoon destination after a morning at Monticello, the Thomas Jefferson residence) was fairly similar to the Blue Ridge Parkway - a road along a long ridge without too many especially dramatic features, but lots of great views along the way (and as the closest significant natural space to quite a few big cities, I imagine it gets swamped on weekends, but was quiet on a Monday). The park's best-known major walk is to Old Rag Mountain, but that was a bit longer than I had time for (14-22km, depending on the route), and also involves, according to the park notes, some rock scrambling which requires upper body strength (fail) and a good head for heights (fail) - suspect not being able to bend a knee past 45 degrees without pain (something which doesn't affect running) would also be unhelpful.
Experienced the delights of American talk radio later in the day. I have actually come across a rabidly left-wing talk radio station in the US (in Miami, of all places), but none are to be found here - the options seemed to be Michael Savage and Sean Hannity (the former managed to get himself banned from entering the UK for inciting racial hatred, the latter is a Fox News regular).
(They seem to be getting very excited about Ebola, and finding ways in which Barack Obama can be held responsible for it).
This also gave me a bit of a taste of the Appalachian Trail (almost invisible in places because of fallen leaves - could easily imagine losing the trail), though still a few hundred kilometres short of the amount of it that feet has run (let alone the whole trail, which is about 3500km). Saw a few people out with packs although it's presumably too late in the season for people to be walking the full distance (anyone doing that would be closer to either the north or south end by now).
The park itself (my afternoon destination after a morning at Monticello, the Thomas Jefferson residence) was fairly similar to the Blue Ridge Parkway - a road along a long ridge without too many especially dramatic features, but lots of great views along the way (and as the closest significant natural space to quite a few big cities, I imagine it gets swamped on weekends, but was quiet on a Monday). The park's best-known major walk is to Old Rag Mountain, but that was a bit longer than I had time for (14-22km, depending on the route), and also involves, according to the park notes, some rock scrambling which requires upper body strength (fail) and a good head for heights (fail) - suspect not being able to bend a knee past 45 degrees without pain (something which doesn't affect running) would also be unhelpful.
Experienced the delights of American talk radio later in the day. I have actually come across a rabidly left-wing talk radio station in the US (in Miami, of all places), but none are to be found here - the options seemed to be Michael Savage and Sean Hannity (the former managed to get himself banned from entering the UK for inciting racial hatred, the latter is a Fox News regular).
(They seem to be getting very excited about Ebola, and finding ways in which Barack Obama can be held responsible for it).