December 2013

December was another great month. Besides increasing my mileage, high points were watching my dog Sparta enjoy his first night trail run and his first run in snow. He reminded me of myself, when as a kid, I couldn’t wait to hike or run trails no matter what the Vermont weather threw at me. I finally have that feeling back again. I don’t care how wet, how cold, how windy it is. I enjoy every rain drop on my face, every snow flake on my tongue, every puddle I splash in…I just love to run again!

 

I started the month by running 22 miles on the first. Dee Perkowitz, Jim Pate, Trail Dog Danny and I ran an extended Mount Misery loop. After a quick water bottle fill and snack at the cars, Dee and I ran a second loop. It was a beautiful day to run with temperatures in the mid-to-high 30s and no wind. We saw flocks of tundra swans in the cranberry bogs again and the local dog sled teams practicing for the upcoming race season. This was my longest run in about 3 years and about 9 miles longer than anything I’ve ran since my knee surgery. Although my legs were tired when I was done, my knees were fine and I couldn’t stop smiling. It was a great feeling of accomplishment. It looks like my recovery is finally complete.

On Sunday the 15^th, I ran the Batona Trail leg 4 with 19 other Pineland Striders. This section of trail traverses 9.2 miles of pine-oak forest and a few cedar swamps between historic Batsto village in Wharton State Forest and Evans Bridge on Rt. 563 where the Wading River meets the highway .Ten of us ran an out & back for 18.4 miles. The weather turned out great. Winter Storm Electra passed thru over night with rain washing away most of our snow and leaving plenty of cold puddles in its place. The best part of the day was seeing a bald eagle flying overhead near Evans Bridge. It was the first one I’ve seen in years. They’re such beautiful birds. The worse part of my day was almost impaling myself with a downed tree. Even though my chest hurt for days I’m still glad I ran. It was a great run, great trail, great group… a great day to be running trails!

Photo by Robert Zmirich

Photo by Jim Pate

 

We continued our Wednesday night Cranberry Trail runs. December 11^th was a fantastic night to run.

The moon reflected bright enough off the snow that we turned our headlamps off and ran by moon light. This might not seem exciting to road runners; but, night running in the woods without a light is a rare treat that only happens once in a while.

 

On Sunday the 22^nd I returned to run Fall Mountain in North Walpole, NH.  It was the first time back since August. That time I was just recovering from knee surgery and had to take it easy. This time I felt great and got some good hill work in. The trail down the back side was pretty challenging with lots of snow, ice, and water running over slick leave-covered rocks. Check out the photo of the fog and snow blowing through my hometown of Bellows Falls, VT.

 

My month ended just as it started, with a 22 mile run. About a dozen Striders showed up for Trail Dog Danny’s 10^th birthday run on a rain-drenched Mount Misery white trail. While everyone else ran one loop, Dee and I ran a second loop. Although my toes were freezing from being wet so long it was a great way to end the year!