Hawk's Breakfast 8 miler by fin16 at Garmin Connect - Details

I've been pouring over ever ultra marathoning website I can find about training and any general info.  I have read quite a few articles on B2B long runs, or back to back.  I figured this weekend would be as good as any to give it a try.  Friday, KK, Kevin and I all headed out to do a nice trail run at Kittatiny.  It ended up being an awesome 6 miler.  Longest that Kevin has gone and it was such a gorgeous day for it.  We all talked nonstop, enjoyed the scenery and just ran.  Loved it!
 I wanted to head out each morning of the weekend and get progressively longer each day.  Saturday I also had class at 11 so my time was limited.  I got to the park about 8am and found the parking lot full already!

I started out on the Black/white dot trail.  KK and I always pass this trail and say that we're going to come down that trail on the tail end of our run.  We never do, so today I thought, with no specific trail route in mind, that I would head up there and see where it comes out.  What a great choice!! I found myself heading almost directly uphill, but nothing bad enough to warrant a walk break, and before I knew it, I was at the top heading down.  I ran through a meadow and down another slope to find myself at the trail head for the Blue Trail.  This is a trail that we had been on before with Henry and Niko but it's been a while by myself.  I was about a mile into the trail and I was soaking in the scenery.  I had just come up a hill, on a walk break, and decided to stop and look around for a minute.  I saw a little chipmunk sitting on a log eating a nut.  It was adorable, just hanging out, not doing anything.  I was maybe 3-4 feet from it.  All of a sudden, I hear a "womp womp womp" like the blades of a helicopter.  Then.....BAM!!!!! This red tail hawk comes zooming in from behind me, grabs the chipmunk, snaps SOMETHING off it and takes off!!! Just a small blood spot on the log and that was all that was left of the little guy! Incredible!! I was awestruck at the speed the hawk came in at and made the kill. 


Hawk's Breakfast 8 miler by fin16 at Garmin Connect - Details

I was pretty stoked about the hawk kill so I think I picked up the pace a bit.  I finished up the black/white trail, crossed over the yellow and continued up the blue trail.  I stayed here for a bit. Nice down hills, some technical uphills, which thank God I walked, and then finally out onto the Sussex Branch Trail.  I only followed this trail for about 1/4 mile then picked up the Red trail.  From what I could tell, the red trail headed out to Andover and I didn't feel like going the entire way out there.  I was feeling kinda of isolated and stalked.  With thoughts of the hawk circling above and then the vultures pulling up the rear, I headed back towards the white trail.  On my way back I passed by a mountain biker struggling up the hill I was just about ready to head down.  After wishing him good luck I headed out. 

As I was coming up the backside of the white trail, heading for the car, I saw a mountain biker taking a rest at the bottom.  As I got closer, I realized it was the same guy from the Red trail!  He greeted me with "You again?" "Yep, YOU again!"  Very cool!  Have a good day!

I like the fact that there are still nice people out there : )

The Best Socks Ever

 

 Ok, so today's run was, I think all parties involved would agree, was ill-fated from the get go.  Besides our county getting 7 inches of new snow overnight, we thought it would be an excellent idea to go out for a run!  Generally it would have been but today was different.  Today, we fought a loosing battle against fluffy powdery snow.  Not to mention some inconsiderate cross country skier that laid down some tracks for us to follow......not the easiest thing to do when they are narrower than your running shoes.  Anyway, we get about 1/5 mile into the run when KK's ankles start collecting more snow than a snow plows....by her own admission it was a rookie mistake by wearing ankle socks but thank god that I had on 2 pairs: )

So at the first trail junction, we stopped, I shed a pair of pink knee socks (see above picture)and handed them over to KK.  From here we both tucked our pant legs into our socks (yes yes, we were hot so we figured we had to run fast to fend off the admirers) and got going.

About 2 miles into the run, the calf deep snow was taking it's toll on us.  Just trying to run in it was exhausting.  We decided, after the sock exchange, we would settle for 4 miles and headed back to the car. 

Here's the explanation to the above sock picture.  KK and I were in Marshall's, a.k.a our favorite spot, looking for some shoes and other running odds and ends, when I found these socks.  They are from Teko .
They cost me $7 (Marshalls has discount name brands) and they are worth so much more!!  I keep going back to the store in hopes to find more but haven't had any luck.  These socks are life savers and if there's one thing (other than the dark) that I can't stand, is cold shins.  I hate the fact that you spend a ridiculous amount of money on running tights in the hopes of them keeping you warm.....and then you put them on and find our that your ankles are COLD because someone forgot to leave some extra material at the bottom.  WTF!  I want the old fashioned long tights that could practically tuck into your running shoes.

Anyway, enough on that issue.  Stay warm and get out on the trail....live a little; you may like how you feel.