Training Log Archive: PG

Went over to run the snowmobile trails in Montague, not that I expected any snow, but I figured the cold weather the last couple of days would at least have solidified the normal wet spots. And that turned out to be the case, footing was fine. Legs felt good but didn't push the pace, just out to run for an hour. Only downside was the cold, biting wind, which has been missing most of this winter.

Saw one other person, an old guy out for a walk. Saw him from a ways off, he had his back to me so I yelled (I don't like to get real close unannounced in case the person is carrying a gun and does a Cheney on me), but he didn't hear me, so I yelled again as I was getting closer. He turned and saw me and as I was passing he said, "An old man, still running, huh," and then, "Way to go." And of course I had been thinking, he's an old man out for a walk on a cold and windy day, good for him.

Little did he know that I'd be running M21 next weekend because they refuse to put M60 (along with M35) on the Blue course.... :-)

C • Old man 3

Same route as yesterday with Phil, except starting/finishing at the Body Shop, which adds about 3 to 4 minutes. Normal pace at first, then good hard pace for about 30 minutes before easing up at the end.

Interesting weather. A front came through about noon, very dark, winds howling, but by my usual starting time of 1 pm it was sunny but still very windy. Most of the trails I run are on the lee side of the ridge, but the last little loop was along the top of the ridge for several minutes. I'm not sure if the winds were what you would call on-cliff or off-cliff (like on-shore or off-shore at the coast), but had they blown me away, as they seemed quite capable of doing, I would have just tumbled down the hillside to my left instead of off the cliffs to my right. So I quite enjoyed it. The rest of the time it was just another pleasant "winter" day.

Nice run with Phil on the usual trails. Start was set for 1 pm sharp and he surprised me by arriving by 1:05, an unexpected promptness... :-) Trails were mostly bare, a touch of mud, very fine for mid-February. Almost makes things too easy.

Very strange day at work, felt like the few days just before April 15 when all the people who have issues they don't want to deal with show up. Today it seemed that lots of cases didn't get resolved, missing information of one form or another, plus one poor women age 58 who took a bunch of money out of an annuity she had in an IRA because her "financial advisor" assured there would be no penalty, plus taxes were taken out (all of 2.5%!), but the jerk meant there would be no penalty (i.e. surrender fee) from the annuity company, not no penalty from the IRS. So she wasn't happy to have to owe a couple thousand dollars. And with any luck she fired the guy when she got home.

With Dave, a little further than last week, relaxed pace.

Usual trails, a mix of snow, slush, and a bit of bare ground, nice day, fine run.

Thought I was going to get home earlier than usual this evening, didn't have an appointment at 7pm as usual, the ladies figured it was a Valentine's day thing, everyone wanted to be going out to dinner. But then a guy called, said he'd come in. He wasn't going anywhere on V-day, turned out his wife of 45 years died two weeks ago after a painful battle with cancer. He was in tears much of the hour -- we spent maybe 20 minutes dealing with the taxes and the rest of the time talking about "life." Interesting evening.

C • wow 3

Usual trails on Greenfield ridge. About 3" of new snow from the storm (they got over 20" about 30 miles south of us, we got the better part of that deal!), more slipping and sliding in places than I expected but still just fine for running.Spent most of the run thinking about tax issues, which is not what I usually do -- the runs are great for getting me thinking about something else -- but the hour went by quickly nevertheless.

C • Snow running 3