Thursday, March 25, 2010

Group a Couple of Runs to Average things Out

Wednesday, March 24, 2010
A Sunny and Cool Standard Six-Miler Stint

I decided to brave the truck traffic and head up the blacktop to Sherman Road. It was just a mile on the blacktop, and during that time eight trucks went by (during about 12 minutes of time). I only had to take to the ditch once as most of the time the drivers move over for me. It is just when there are vehicles in both directions at the same point that some problems arise. The turn onto Sherman Road was a welcome one.Today, I was early enough that the gravel was quite firm with frost. Plus, a bit of drying is taking place and I did not have to run with four-pound mud shoes during the 4-miles on the gravel. It was a good run up and down the hill with just an occasional slow down for photo opportunities. Carr's calves, were all lying in one location along the road, so they scored another photo today. Also, one of the mailboxes caught my attention and merited a click. All was well back down the blacktop with no truck VS truck or truck VS runner problems for the blacktop-mile back to the ranch.


Monday, March 22, 2010
How Far Can You Run when your Battery Dies?

Even before I got out on the road, I was beginning to think this was a medieval kind of day (I should probably have done the Castle Route again today!). I felt like I was a drag-on. Back into the work week, so, the semi-gravel trucks were running on the main road. Avoidance of conflict in my mind, I decided to go up the trail hill to do the back-roads run. I went down the Danielson Road hill and took Managhan to Highway 2. After crossing the highway, I headed west, young man or not! (Not!). Weather-wise, today was a mixed weather day, too. Some sun, but not much. As I ran down on the bike trail, snow showers and virga streams lined the hills in all directions. The run/jog continued on as I was planning to do a six-miler for today. At about 2.5 miles on the GPS the signal was dropped when the battery died. I then decided just to keep heading out the bike trail until the Cottage Inn restaurant near Kila.

It looked a lot closer than it was, and when I turned around, my trip timer showed more than 50 minutes had already expired. (A six miler should take only about 70 to 75 minutes, even on a slow day). But, it looked like I was going to be doing a longer run for today. Granted, since I was feeling tired I did a mix of jogging and walking. On the way back, instead of climbing the hill on Danielson Road, I decided to cut through a farm at the bottom of the hill. This farm has not had anyone working it for the last couple of years (since the owner died). It is interesting what you can see when crossing unfamiliar ground. I came across this machine and wonder what it did when it worked. (I couldn't tell what it was, but it was quite and interesting looking collection of gears and such). I finished the run/jog/walk by crossing through the fence between the old farm and the ranch and walked across the winter pasture back home. In summary ... It was a fair run/walk combo. Just a little slow. I would estimate the total was actually 7.5 miles. (I'll have to measure it on another outing).

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