Monthly Media: Running 14ers

There is a lot of new stuff in my life I could blog about if I had the time, but, partly because of the new stuff in my life, I will not have time, so here is me being lazy and reposting a video I found embedded in a blog post on The Clymb about outdoorsy dogs.



PS- Part of this new stuff in my life is that I also now have an outdoorsy dog.

Meda: Dragon's Back Race Trailer

Looks like something I want to see. I love this kind of thing.



http://youtu.be/jwp8kY4Z7Fk

Kates Plateau: Back and better than ever!

The last time I wrote about Kates Plateau, I'd reported that spring growth had caused the trail to be overgrown with briars and that recent violent storms had taken down trees and made the first part of the trail very difficult to run enjoyably.

We had some great weather a week ago, and my wife and I really wanted to get out and go hiking last Sunday (2/23/13). We went out to the area to check out Polls Plateau Trail, a trail we'd never completely done before. Polls Plateau Trail is only accessible via Kates Plateau Trail (you're on it for 3 miles), so we went through what was the roughest part of the trail the last time I'd checked it out. I was pleased to see that it looked very runnable. Woohoo! Guess it's just best after the cold has killed back the thorny berry bushes. Also, those giant downed trees and branches that had made running so hard on the first section were gone, and there was obvious evidence that someone had cut and cleared the area.

That wasn't the most exciting news, though...

See that white Honda? That's my car on the OTHER side! :)

That's right, the bridge is UP! No more sloshing through the river, getting wet feet (and risking so much more) on the way to the trail!

As far as Polls Plateau Trail was, it was a great, fun hike, and I'll love to write about it more sometime. For now, I still am working on some other writing projects and also need to get some more running in to get a little back in shape this season. I think doing the Polls Plateau run would be around 10 miles, and I haven't run since, well, the post that was before this one...so, mid-January, and it was only a few miles at Long Point.

Last week, I figured I'd start back up running again soon, but now it's snowing this week again, and I'm just not that hardcore anymore...

Alright have fun out there. Peace.

First run this year

Today was sunny and well into the 60s, and I couldn't waste it indoors. I hadn't run since...I've nearly forgotten, but I am close to positive that the last time I ran at all was the Canary in the Cave. Emily and I had taken a break from running during the winter to focus on some weight training instead (really, I'm just a wimp and didn't want to run in the cold). Oh, about that weight training--I think we may have been about a week and a half behind on that, as well. No matter, today she and I went and did a short workout in the weight room: a few sets of dead lifts and a few sets of preacher curls. After that, we drove out to Long Point to run the short 5k out-and-back. What a gorgeous day! I could feel the effect of my running sabbatical as my heart and lungs were pumping wildly even after a couple miles. Still, I think I could have handled a couple more, but Emily and I had more to get done at the house this evening. Although I feel like a loser because I was challenged by a three miler today, all in all, I am glad I went out to enjoy the sweet weather and get back into a little bit of trail running.

In other news, I found this little blurb on the Rock/Creek blog about one of Salomon's new shoes, the Sense Mantra: http://blog.rockcreek.com/archives/introducing-the-salomon-sense-mantra-trail-running-shoe.html. Looks like something I may be interested in down the road, when I'm in the market for a new pair, but my Inov-8 Roclite 315s are still holding up now, after all that training last year, the 50k, and the 25k+! And they show little signs of wear! I'm very satisfied in these shoes.

Peace,

Tim