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.

 

 

 

 

 

October 2013

October was a good month with lots of short runs in New Jersey with my dog, Sparta. He finally behaves well enough to take him off his leash. He loves when we run in Whites Bog because he can take mid-run swims and soak me when he comes out. I worked on stretching also with yoga 2-3 times per week. High points of the month included running a couple legs of the 53 mile Batona Trail and restarting our Wednesday night Cranberry Trail runs.

 Sunday, October 20 I ran the Batona Trail leg 2 with roughly 30 members of the Pineland Striders. This section covers 13.5 miles from Pakim Pond, Brendan T. Byrne State Forest, traversing around the village of Chatsworth, passes over Apple Pie Hill and finishes at the Carranza Memorial south of Tabernacle in Wharton State Forest.  This section is beautiful and thanks to a reroute last year, now includes a technical section of narrow foot bridges through a cedar swamp and much to my liking some mud! Temperatures were 26 degree at the start and 30 at the finish with a constant cold wind all morning. We enjoyed warm wine and deer jerky at the finish thanks to Jim Pate and Trail Dog Danny. Carranza Memorial is a 12 foot Aztec design monument on the crash site of Captain Emilio Carranza, a Mexican goodwill pilot whose plane crashed July 13, 1928 while returning to Mexico.

Carranza Memorial

Pakim Pond

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday, October 27 I ran the Batona Trail leg 1 with Jeremy Helm, Mike Bialecki, and Sean Toohey. Leg 1 covers 8+ miles of rolling hills, through hardwood forest and cedar swamp from Ongs Hat to Pakim Pond in Brendan T. Byrne State Forest. While Sean and I called it a day, Jeremy and Mike continued on including leg 2 as well totaling roughly 22 miles. The temperature was a comfortable 35 degrees at the start with no wind, a great morning to run! 

Wednesday night trail runs are back! After my long break due to knee surgery, I finally started running my usual Wednesday night Cranberry Trail runs. It’s a mostly flat combination of single track and hard-packed dirt road with very few roots. Head lamps are a must this time of year as we start at 6:30 pm at the Brendan T. Byrne State Forest welcome center, run to Pakim Pond and back. Choices include a 2.3 mile short loop, 6 mile Cranberry Trail (actual), and 7.2 mile Cranberry Trail (extended).