November 2013

November was another good month. I continued to test my post-op knee and it feels great. Next month I’ll try some longer runs. High points of the month included running the Batona Trail leg 3 and returning to the Mount Misery Trail on Sunday mornings. I’ve been running the Cranberry Trail Wednesday nights for 6 weeks now. One night I forgot my head lamp but rather than make excuses I ran anyways, shadowing close behind Jim Pate and Trail Dog Danny.

Sunday, November 24^th I ran the Batona Trail leg 3 with roughly 30 members of the Pineland Striders. This section covers 12.5 miles of pine and oak forests and numerous cedar swamps from Carranza Memorial in Tabernacle to Batsto Village in Wharton State Forest. This section of trail is one of my favourites as it never crosses a paved or travelled roadway, its complete wilderness. Temperatures hovered just under 30 degrees with a constant wind chilling the air. Jim’s warm glow-wine at the end was much appreciated. Five crazies ran an out-and-back for a cold 25 miles. Hopefully I can join them soon.

The other Sundays I joined Jim, Dee, and Trail Dog Danny on another of my favorite trails, the Mount Misery white trail. We saw flocks of beautiful snow geese in the cranberry bogs resting from their long migratory flight, and dog sled teams practicing with their wheeled-sleds. Thanks to Jim we had plenty of deer jerky at our water stop! Wintergreen berries were ripe for the picking so I stopped on the way home and picked a bag full. They are great to eat raw or soak the leaves into a minty tea.