Training Log Archive: bl

Event: WCOC / US Team A-Meet/WRE
 

WCOC middle distance. Good run, even rate it an "A" for having no mistakes. Numerous hesitations & one or two episodes of confusion resolved sans damage but always steady progress. Was raining moderately just before starting, dark in woods, a mild form of "chaos" a possibility. Went off to #1 in considerably less contact than I thought I was in - to wrong side of open area, not really reading map but land shape suggested cliffs ahead & another runner, seemingly going to same control, appeared & ran into cliffs & confusion was forgiven. Pretty much read map & ensure continual contact for rest of course, be pedantic. Never really able to run for any length of time, risking loss of contact. No ticks, black flies or mosquitoes encountered. 2nd M60, Jeff S 10" ahead, TP 4" ahead; 3rd green X.

Stay at Best Western, very nice setup. Tarrywile proved too inconvenient with appox a 0.4 mi walk to tent area, dogs in car, forecast for rain.

Dinner at the local firehouse with Carl & Ethan Childs. After took a drive along east side of Candlewood Lake - west wind was practically furious, williwaws here & there.

Bubble magic



Tree creature

Green X Day 1: Middle - Splits

AM DP, last 2 controls! Cool, NW breezy, no bugs.

Control pickup at Nottingcook, 5 - two to go. Overcast, tried to rain - one brief bright ray when I visited the "shooting gallery" and found it mostly cleaned up! gave my opinion of HS a nudge upward. All 5 controls present after 2 weeks - on 2, the wind must have untied the lines, seems peculiar but no other explanation....

SPS 2 metric miles: 6:51, 6:55, 400m walk between. Had planned on three but tired, felt warm & wind was ahead 50% of the time - was 5:30pm, had 2 naps today so the conspiracy dictated. No 7 minute stuff for nearly 4 wks. Went to BHS first but must have been 60 kids there, SPS all to myself.

Run to track & back & warmup on track (parked by 89).

Sans Souci CP DP, Holbrook. Flat, sandy Long Island park, many trails, found a clear-running brook, a bit of a surprise. Lots of shade & still early.

From church parking/cemetary in Greenwich, somehow ended up there - at the edge of a necklace of green "trinkets" that kept me occupied, however sluggish. Such gorgeous foliage/trees, flowering azaleas etc., ah, sigh, May.

At a small park near Brad's in Holbrook. 20' complete (=21:00 when one thinks about it) 20" at 4, 40" at around 2 effort times 20, around the perimeter of a baseball field, 302' to left & right fields & 384' at center, around 100m a side, 400m per lap as it worked out. Something approaching honesty - another night absent fm Tu track.

Map walk with Beth on Surebridge map from group camp on Arden Valley Rd. Not easy to park - contemplated entering open gate to camp as I did once before under similar circumstances - but found space for one car, reasonably safe appearing. Good thing, as gate was locked less than 2 hours later. Bit of rain but still really nice. Let Beth lead the way most of the time. Superb forest & map as expected. Part used was from the '07 meet, went to some of the control sites from different directions.

A version of the (rock) Garden of Eden

Zoe surveying


The enchanted forest


A forest denizen




After, went to Liberty Corner to visit CBE, an 'old 92' & an old friendship going back to '66. Then on to Rye & Harrsion & the usual return-visit suspects, incl. Three Ponds and in early May - just as 50 years ago! but the place is a specter of its former self & only 250 yards or so from Rte 95. That road was not present in the late 50s - 3 Ps was for turtles, fish & birds - now overgrown & with a moderate amount of detritus floating around. In fact, Zoe, standing on a bridge maybe 9" above surface of water, thought she was stepping onto something solid & went in, out of sight for a few long seconds, surfacing very surprised. Holed up at a Super 8 in Stamford. had considered Ward Pound Ridge but it rained hard last night, tent is very wet & 3 nights in it deserves a change.

Faraway series, photos from elsewhere, #14:

Old man daydreaming, 1977; Duke, c. 12 years, on the Olympic seacoast.

A 'golden-age mile', pushing CBE around Fellowship Village perimeter walks & drives in her WC, the changing vistas keeping her entertained. One of the more symbolic miles I've covered, perhaps the last time I will see her alive.

Golden-age mile

CBE, a mile brigns a smile

Sunday Classic - hot was one theme. Nice map, good courses. About a B performance. #3 was maybe 110m long, lost nearly 3' to PG - I was 4:42, he was 1;51 as I recall. Didn't read map right & failed to note that control was on the high point in the area. Did not note fence crossings in time each & every time. From #7 to 8, got way off to left, not sure where I was or how I got there but was able to run up a reentrant I'd gone down earlier. Had good energy in spite of heat.

Took a peek at the campus after as, for once, did not have to drive home Sunday eve. Found the Highland Falls RR station at the brink of the Hudson, by the decrepit marina. Met a senior cadet, Paul Caston (team captain), from the O team as we were taking down our tent at Buckner, talked with him for 30' - 19 days to graduation, from east TN, glad to be done, seemed to be the quintessential young military gentleman. Went for a swim in Lake Pop, can't recall doing that but can't recall this degree of heat either.

Drove along mystical Seven Lakes Dr., the green foliage having just arrived at glorious maturity - and the whole place a veritable rock garden of Eden. Went to Beaver Pond campground for night. Sign said "no pets" emphatically. So we left but returned "can't hurt to try." Beth provided me with some decent one-liners " they're our fur children" - "you can come out and interview them" and she'd "swear on the bible (she a decent aetheist) that they had rabies vaccinations". Such machinations worked & we got a remote place in the campgound. Currently in the Bright Star diner in Central Valley. It'll do & has WiFi to make up for the lousy beer on tap.

Nice WP weekend indeed.

Okinawa Mess hall in morning still (seats c. 1400)

Morning moon on Popolopen's surface

Endless play

Barth Hall, thirty years of Saturday O dinners

"To The American Soldier", on the main campus

Green Y Long Distance - Splits