Training Log Archive: CleverSky

Great Brook Farm, Red course. Not pushing very hard, mellow enough that I didn't really make any mistakes other than two route choices that weren't very good, split analysis says a little over two minutes lost on those two. Mediocre result.

Digging up Mom's septic tank so that she can get it pumped. Also swept the woodstove chimney, put on storm windows, moved a bunch of pallets, carried stuff upstairs, and other unlogged miscellania.

Stephen came in second on Orange, to Ali. Not bad! And he was complaining ahead of time that he wanted to do Yellow...

Took a stroll to see where all the water was coming from. I went up the stream from the crossing around the corner, very pretty area in there. When I got up to the pond, I figured out what probably happened. There's an access road out of the back of the cemetery that goes to the dam. I suspect it was originally a beaver dam, but the cemetery guys decided to make things more organized and put in a culvert, and bulldozed up some dirt so that it's more like a real dam. I think the culvert had gotten blocked with debris (beaver work or otherwise), and they went down there with a backhoe and cleared it out. Looks like that resulted in about 20 acre-feet of extra water being sent downstream as fast as it could fit through the culvert. I've heard that when that pond gets high, it threatens some of the graves, but I walked through the cemetery, and I'm skeptical.

Since I was out, I continued around the block, so that's a walk of a little over two miles. Got stung on my right middle finger -- ow. It's swollen up so much that it looks like a normal person's finger. Can't remember the last time I got stung, it's been quite a number of years.

Mystery Blazes loop, felt like I was going a bit harder than last time. The marsh on the Lane trail was really full, water pouring through the culvert and over the trail a little bit. I wonder if somebody blew up the beaver dam behind my house. I should wander down the street and take a look.

Mystery Blazes loop. Clearly too tired for exercise today, so I did it anyway. Not breaking any records, but at least I kept running. A few branches and things have come down here and there, impeding progress just a little. Ran without glasses, as has been typical lately. Very nice day to be outside.

Pawtuckaway Red course. Pretty pathetic effort. Calling those nine controls "spikes" is being quite charitable. Moving slowly, and when I screwed up, it was typically for a substantial time loss. Still good enough for first place, apparently.

Picked up the controls on Big Island. Ran up the trail to the dam, and that used up all of the energy that I had remaining, the rest was a slow, pathetic trudge.