Weekly Log: 11.11.13 - 11.17.13

Li'l Rhody Runaround week is here. After last year's shitshow, I've been watching this race approach through squinty, suspicious eyes. But last year my ankles were a goddamn mess. Now they are strong and mountain goat-like. However other Janky body parts will still threaten to undo me.

Monday - Ryan Park, North Kingstown - 6.4 miles

I took Ezri out to ride her bike on the Quonset bike path yesterday and that same mid-back issue cropped up when I jogged alongside her. I wasn't even sure if I should run this morning but after an early morning dog walk I decided to give it a go.

I wore my minimal MT00s for the first time in a while and they felt good. I stuck to the west side of the park at first, hitting the various trais before attempt to cross the road and see how far I could follow the powerlines (Answer: not far. Briars slowed me down and then a busy stream turned me around.) Back felt good throughout but I started the run with that nagging arm pain (it went away by the halfway point.) Legs felt good with a lot of pop on the rail bed section which isn't surprising since I took the weekend off.

Tuesday - 0 miles

Our first days of cold weather and dry air mean that pretty much our whole household is sick. I'm not too bad off - just an annoying hacky cough.  At least my back seems to feel better from the regimen of pills that the doc prescribed.

Wednesday - 0 miles

I was going to do the P90X Stretch video this morning but I just couldn't drag myself out of bed.  Weary.

Thursday - Smithfield, RI - 5.5 miles

Sometimes a bit of happy chance can turn your whole day around.

It was a shitty drive into work. Just awful. My commute sucks monkey balls on the best of days and when there's gridlock it becomes unbearable. What a bunch of assholes we are, driving these highways everyday in our mobile prisons. Just a waste of so much time. I arrived at work seething with rage and for the first time ever I parked as close to the trails as I could. I didn't want to deal with even half a mile of footpaths before I got into the woods.

I figured the trail run would improve my mood and it did but the real discovery came a half mile in. There, next to some singletrack, buried in dirt and leaves was a green glass jug! With my descent into homebrewing, I've been on the lookout for gallon jugs for small batches and secondary fermenting. This thing is perfect!

Behold my filthy green jug!

I ran my treasure back to the car and then headed back into the woods. Beautiful fall day out there and I hit a bunch of wide powerline trails and twisty singletrack. My body felt good and the neck pain I had on the commute vanished as soon as I started running. I ventured into the office in a far superior mood.

Friday - Connors Farm Conservation Area, Smithfield, RI - 5 miles

I explored this small network of trails once before and this morning it occurred to me that I should run them again. The trails go up and down the hillside and I forgot just how much elevation change there was. There's essentially three trails - a red loop, a yellow loop and a blue trail that connects to the yellow and red trails. The blue trail has some pretty cool rock formations and all the trails have great views of the moraine below. After hitting up all of 'em I decided to put in a hard effort on the red trail to make a Strava segment. I ran it well despite the heavy blanket of leaves. Only a five mile run but it was a workout.

Saturday - Charlestown, RI - 2.6 miles

Took Oliver the Dog over to South Farm for his morning walk.  Walked most of it but we ran a oouple sections so I'm counting this as a run.  The beast is a sprinter - we were running at a 6 minute pace briefly.  I'll probably try to incorporate more running when I walk him in the morning as I think he can handle it.

Sunday - Li'l Rhody Runaround, Charlestown, RI - 12.8 miles

Official time: 52:51.  20th overall.  Report forthcoming.

Weekly Mileage: 32.2 miles

Year to Date: 1,553.8 miles