Training Log Archive: Bash

Bruce Trail hike with 'Bent and the pooches. The snow has softened enough that it's really unpredictable now. Sometimes it holds you up but every 3-4 steps, you plunge in - sometimes knee-deep. Parts of the forest were still mostly snow-covered - perfect for snowshoes if we'd thought to wear them but it would have been too difficult for the dogs. Other areas were mostly bare, including the hillside in this photo, which I've entitled, "Spring Skiing Conditions". Yes, that's the trail.

'Bent, BazingaDog, AdventureDog and I hiked around 3 Stage, the upper part of Pretty River Valley Provincial Park. It's still quite snowy up there but some bare ground is beginning to show. The dogs went crazy with all the new smells.

Amber and I wanted to have an Orienteering Ontario discussion so we decided to talk while hiking to Duncan Escarpment Provincial Park on the Bruce Trail. It was a bluebird day but there weren't many people out.

I decided to kill two birds with one stone by doing the Waterfall Wonders badge in the CMTR Spring Scavenger Hunt. This loop passes near the top of a pretty waterfall. We needed to do a steep, icy scramble in Kahtoola Microspikes to see water actually falling.

Because it was an orienteering discussion, naturally we missed our turn onto the Bruce Side Trail and ended up hiking back on 9th Sideroad, half of which is snow-covered and closed for the winter.

Spring skate ski at Scenic Caves on a bluebird day. At this time of year, the snow changes texture and speed constantly but on average, conditions were fast. Remembering Hammer's crash on unpredictable snow yesterday, I kept my speed in check. Except for the areas closest to the chalet, the trails were almost deserted.





From the lookout, you can see there's no snow in town and no ice in Georgian Bay.



They're claiming a 50 cm base and it looks like that's accurate.

I prefer classic so I switched but today was made for skate skiing. The tracks softened as things warmed up and got crusty in the shade. It wasn't bad - not by a long shot - but sometimes it felt like harder work than usual.

Chatty 4-dog hike to Metcalfe Rock with 'Bent and Darcie. Some hard snow, some post holing and some bare ground. Darcie baked us fresh challah - yum.

If you're a fan of the Barkley Marathons, you're probably watching already. But just in case, the race started at 3:04 am. It's mostly Americans this year, all of whom have either been vaccinated or recovered from Covid-19. As always, they started with 40 runners and as of 11:25 pm, they're down to 10 runners on Loop 2. Courtney Dauwalter, Jared Campbell, Jamil Coury and Maggie Guterl are still out there. Unfortunately, conditions are nasty - mud and cold rain - and the first loop was so slow that an official finish is unlikely this year. But maybe some of them could complete a Fun Run.

Follow @KeithDunn on Twitter for the closest thing to official updates.
https://twitter.com/keithdunn

There is additional info on Twitter under the #BM100 hashtag.

"You do NOT choose the vaccine. The vaccine chooses YOU! With help from this Sorting Hat."

I'm putting this here because AP is my journal more than Facebook is. We posted this on the Elm Tree Dental Clinic's page today:

One year ago today, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the Elm Tree Dental Clinic in Palgrave to close except for very limited emergency care. We donated most of our masks and gloves to Headwaters Health Care Centre in Orangeville and went home to bake bread and follow the news.

As more was learned about COVID-19, new provincial protocols were developed to keep dental offices safe for patients and staff. Infection control has always been a key part of dentistry so we already had a strong foundation to build on. We've worked hard to make the Elm Tree Dental Clinic one of the safest places in our community.

The clinic re-opened after 12 weeks with updated protocols in place. As the case numbers in our area have risen and fallen, we have continued to limit the patients we see and the treatments we do, focusing on preventive dentistry, essential treatments and emergency care.

Recently Dr. Ehrlich and Susanne, our longtime dental hygienist, received their first doses of the Moderna vaccine. The other members of our dental team all have their appointments booked. We're thrilled that some of our patients have already been vaccinated and that most will be offered their first dose by early summer.

We couldn't have imagined the events of the past year or the speed with which vaccines would be developed. We anticipate that many of our new clinic protocols will remain in place permanently. Although our lives won't return to normal in the near future, we are so happy to begin this new chapter. Like all of you, we can't wait to hug our friends and family.

Thanks for your support in these difficult times. Stay healthy and we look forward to seeing you.

Jill, Caron and I took on the PJ Party challenge in the Spring Scavenger Hunt today.

We warmed up in their driveway by dancing to "Pajama Time" from the Sandra Boynton book.



Here's the full song in case you ever want to boogie before bedtime - especially if you have kids.



We had a chatty run on roads down to the rail trail, which had some long patches of glare ice that made us tiptoe since we hadn't worn spikes. We waved at hikers, dog walkers and passing drivers.







Yesterday's challenge was a test of my portable speaker so I could make a playlist for today's run and play it at a decent volume.

Pajama Time - Adam Bryant
Dreamer - Supertramp
Mr. Sandman - Chordettes
The Lion Sleeps Tonight - Nylons
Dream On - Aerosmith
I Can't Find My Pyjamas - Al Simmons
Dreamin' Again - Jim Croce
Dreams - Fleetwood Mac
Sweet Dreams Are Made of This - Kevin Fox (I didn't have the Annie Lennox version on my phone)
Tired as Fuck - Tragically Hip



When I went home, I figured I should get a photo of my pyjama running outfit.



I went into the house. Two minutes later, the doorbell rang. WTF? Our doorbell almost *never* rings - especially since the pandemic started. I ripped off the pyjamas (long underwear underneath) and tore the elastics from my pigtails. I rushed to the door and just found an envelope on the ground after all that, lol!

For the people who don't know Coco Love Alcorn from my Ontario playlist, she lives in Owen Sound. I first heard "Intellectual Boys" when she performed at the first Bruce Peninsula Multisport Challenge post-race dinner with JayXC (male champion), Ang (female champion), their friend Vincent and 'Bent. This is a very old, low-tech video and I dedicate it to my fellow nerds and the people who love them.

This was my first run in 8 weeks. I've been skiing a lot so I don't feel unfit but it definitely uses different body parts! I've been hoping that my right heel pain might magically vanish if I took a break. I kept it short today and we'll see how it goes. The heel is sore but not that much worse than my usual day-to-day soreness. At least that's been "usual" since just before the pandemic - bad timing.

Now that the snow is mostly gone in Caledon and it's too early for mountain biking, it's time to do more challenges in the CMTR Spring Scavenger Hunt. I did the Listen Local Musical Interlude badge, making a playlist of artists who live in or were born in Ontario: Bryan Adams, Barenaked Ladies, Tragically Hip, Les Stroud, Gordon Lightfoot, Coco Love Alcorn, Bruce Cockburn, Stan Rogers and the Cowboy Junkies. Yes, I am that old!

Based on the small amount of snow in our yard, I'd imagined that I could run along Finnerty Sideroad to the north entrance to Palgrave Forest and return home on trails. Ha! Not a chance. I bushwhacked up a hill to a trail, hoping it would be OK but it was rock-hard glare ice - a job for Kahtoola Microspikes, not Spikecross. So I bushwhacked back down and made it a gravel road run.