Training Log Archive: bl

Green & brown. There is a solitary house, invisible in leaf but unfortunately visible now.

North of Concord run, similar to one I now see I did on 1/14/13. North from Commercial St parking onto path system by the river, across green fields, onto & under the RR track, turned around around 35'. Lots of signs saying "Keep out, NH State Prison property". Mixed message - at one point there was a marker indicating NH Heritage Tr. Calm & cloudless, reflections on the river were gorgeous. Muted color time of year, a pause before "night" which, interestingly enough, is colored white, ideally.

Watch quit with gps location but cont'd to provide the time so I used gmaps pedometer to figure out distance etc.

Reading AP recently I've read of quite a few "multi-minute" errors & committed two myself on consecutive weekends last month. For me, the solution is conceptually simple, ie, move at a constant-map-contact pace which can at times seem slow but, in the end, provides a faster finish time. It seems such a hard lesson to learn judging by what I read.

C • Of course it's hard to stop 2

Event: NEOC: Baldwin Hill
 

At BHS, late in day. Saw Cathy Parker at the track. Had greater ambitions but rounds, staining then a nap led to 2:30, quickly 3p, too late for a Bow CE wander. For me, a day is like life - as it gets older, energy, enthusiasm too, dissipates. Hunters in the woods at beginning & end of the day now.

From yesterday: "Aim's Woods". No wet spots to speak of - a lake border and a depression with a wet center (which was more than that).

My map which was a soggy mess, dried and spread out. Never such a mess or bog encounter before. Saturday night live:).

Event: NEOC: Pine Bluffs Night-O
 

What the watch did not get etc.

Long day! Started between 1 and 3a with Beth’s baking in the kitchen (for a valid enough reason ) which, in this house, is just about at the foot of the bed, over the balcony - lights on, cooking timer alarm etc. Read from c. 3:20 to 3:50am. Up around 0715, to rounds, home and then to Mattapoisett. There around noon to 5p to work on Rhodora post haulout. Then to Stow on the way home to Aims Cooney’s place for his night O. Had no idea it was at his place or that it was his 61st birthday - nice surprise. Perfect eve, 50F, nice fire at S/F, well-lit garage with loads of interesting stuff for some distraction.

2 maps, 1-13 & 14-19. Had 1/5000 scale in mind per NEOC meet info, the 1/4000 tripped me a bit on distance. I was fine thru #10, don’t think any lost time, except RC to #8 (should have used field). On the way to #11, got a bit too far right (thick stuff) and then a encountered a downed tree (mapped, in retrospect) that took me more to the right. Finally, I was at the end of the tree, could see leafy forest floor w/o obstruction (in a big depression ) and returned to compass - but in just a few steps, I was just about mid-thigh in leaf-covered, camoflauged muck - mapped as marsh but not visible.

It took close to a minute to extricate, with about 2-3 more above-the-knee- steps & some flailing. By that time, my map was unreadable. Who would have guessed a map case might have been a good idea. Don’t think anyone used one. Prior to this, was annoyed by the 305's querying me with "are you indoors?" (after having started out ok) and ceased with route/split etc.. Made my way back to the finish, had some birthday cake & proceeded onward toward home. 260 mi in car, about 12h. away.

SPS wander after work, hi 60s temp, breezy. Trees generally bare. Tired, either some hypoglycemia or hangover from Wed run, maybe both. First 1.3 mi was namely leaf-covered rocks & roots. Stopped at Audubon to visit the raptors & stopped to watch girls’ field hockey.

Black Brook/Purgatory loop, first time since 11/8/14 to my considerable surprise (very first time 11/27/2010). Was’t sure if I was up to it - little more than 5.5 mi in quite a while. Perfect morning, calm, 50F or a bit better. Started CCW but then decided to go CW toward the sun to warm up. I think CW is a tad slower. Legs never really gave out tho I got tired of running. Walked briefly on the first hill - otherwise able to go up them which hasn’t always been the case in the past. Review of past runs reveals slowest yet, not surprising.

I can picture just about every upcoming sight on this nice rural run. Black Brook was closed for paving with some young guys standing in front of traffic barriers & signs stating that. I pointed out they’d made me a fresh route and a red carpet of a black ribbon which at least got me a smile. Saw a long white-bearded fellow coming from the woods to a small, leaf-covered road and then to the hardtop with a 22-4”, 10” diam log, soft on the outside. I commented he must like to work. It appeared to be for burning - he appeared to be carrying it maybe even as far as 80m - just one. We talked for nearly 10’. He was a hired hand, wood supply was nearly gone, the nonresident owner was in fear of cords being stolen etc. He had about 6 such logs already. Friendly/garrulous. I had to get on. Right first metatarsal has been fairly sore and this was irritating. Need new shoes, too. Convertible day, 62F as late as 4p.

Interesting to look at the split comparison. #6 was fine, #11 embarrassing. "Pedantic, Bob - it's that simple". Focus & energy come with pent up adrenalin. Can't get rid of one these, see no delete button.

Had a nice visit with three folks at the office yesterday. Admired their setup, forests and 33,000 acres of potential. They seemed surprised to see the O map, ie, all the black dots.

C • Deleting splits 2

C • 1

Possibly no one here has seen a copy of the original (stuck, post-flood, in a map case). The scale is 1/15 as were most of our maps in those days. Upton was made from 2 base maps as I was not happy with the Kart Janst version & we had the undone portion redone by Bakken & Helgesen. There's an extensive 1980 trail network. I liked Dean Pond and to the NE of it felt remote back then. Luke’s Hill (NW of Dean Pond) was named after my girlfriend’s puppy that I gave her for a birthday. One day he escaped from her house in Concord, MA and was killed on nearby Rt. 2. She had a new chocolate lab puppy before sunset the same day. Maybe Luke’s Hill will continue to live on on future maps.

The A meet was 35 years and one month ago, put on by a fading generation:-).

Saturday - Day 1 - Brown - Splits