When KK and I run together, whether it be on the road or on the trail, one thing we never want for is conversation. We talk about everything. Kids, husbands, arrests (me doing them), Pinewood Derby Pickle cars and so much more. I feel like if there's something on my mind during the day or night, I can always work through it on a run. It is so refreshing to get someone else's point of view on issues.
Yesterdays run was great. I was supposed to go to work with Phil and do some training but was comatose at the 4am alarm ; ) So I stayed in bed and kept it warm. When I did eventually go out, I was running errands and shopping with such energy that I thought I would hurt myself if I kept going. I shot KK a text message to see if she was up for a run.......SHE WAS!!! Awesome, so about 3 hours later we were climbing out of our warm cars at the parking lot in Kittatiny. We decided to head up the White Trail and do about 5 miles or so. We got all the way to the airport and decided to head back and take a side trail. We ended up on the Black/white blaze trail. It was beautiful. Very cold but awesome. We circled around a bit before deciding to head back to the cars. We both had things to finish for the day but I was thankful that we got a chance to head out. My Garmin had a dead battery so we relied on KK's. The track is so squiggly it's funny.
Untitled by runmyrun at Garmin Connect - Details
We met at Kittatiny and took off on the White trail. I was so excited to show KK my awesome new trail map of ALL the trails in Sussex county. Man, this map is cool! And then........I find out she already has it
: ( Oh well, at least it was mutually agreed upon that it was indeed as cool as I thought it was : )
We went all the way past the old chimney, past the boat dock and out to the airport. We decided to turn around and back track for a bit and then hit a side trail that we hadn't been down yet. As we get to the crossroads with this new side trail, we slow for a breather and then stop to asses which way to go. "Well" says KK, "if we go down that way we will end up over there and if we go down this way, we'll end up closer to the parking lot"! Of course we'll end up over there if we go that way!! I was almost wetting myself laughing so hard! I guess you had to be there to get just how funny this moment was : ) Run therapy, wahooooo!!!
As we chose the right hand side trail, we realized that we were growing short on time so decided to cut up a hill and over a meadow (not towards grandmother's house, though) and headed to the parking lot. We finished with husband chatter, upcoming Pinewood Derby hopes and the upcoming snow storm. All is well on our home fronts and we part ways. Our next mission, should we choose to accept (which we OBVIOUSLY will): Snowy Trail Run....hmmmm.....
Monday, January 23, 2012
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Untitled by fin16 at Garmin Connect - Details
Untitled by fin16 at Garmin Connect - Details
Today was an awesome day. Very cold out but clear. Good running partners are very hard to find. I am so very fortunate that mine is game for pretty much everything. So when I text saying something like " What do you think about exploring for a 2 hour run tomorrow morning?", she always says "What time!?". So fortunate : )
We figured that we would start out at Kittatiny State Park and just go......and go .....and go. In my prep for the 3 Days at the Fair, I am learning that time on my feet is the only way to successfully complete this event. Slow running is hard for me. I have psoriatic arthritis, and I have found that walking fast and slow running actually stiffen my knees more than faster tempo runs. Running a 12 to 14 minute mile is going to be tough, but this is what this event needs. For me at least. When KK and I run together we are constantly checking our pace on our Garmins and making sure we're not flying, and just running a sustainable pace. This was my plan today, to make sure we keep our pace consistent and doable.
We decided to head over to the red/blue/green trail and pick up where we left off last week. My goal was to take 2 hours and just explore. We did just that! It was awesome coming across a new trail and being able to say "let's see where it goes!". When KK and I first started running together, we had a tough time keeping up a constant conversation going. Now we have a hard time NOT talking! It's awesome. We cover so many topics there's never a lull. Runner's World recently did an article on this phenomenon. Ever wonder why we sometimes tell our running partners more than, say, our spouses or even our best girlfriends? KK had a thought on this. She said that since the majority of the time you're looking straight ahead and there is no actual direct eye contact. Interesting.
I was trying out a Camelbak that I had purchased about a year ago. Since it was a return and had no bladder, I got it for $12! Couldn't beat that, since I already had a few spare bladders at home. Anyway, it was a kids/women's version so I figured it would fit perfectly. From the get go, I was constantly fiddling with the straps in an effort to keep it from sloshing around. Once I found the right tightness, everythig seemed to fall into place.
We hopped from the White trail to the Blue, to the Green, over to the Sussex Branch Trail and then over to the Red Trail. We just went and went and went! It was awesome. Eventually, we came out of the woods close to 1.5 hours into it, so we figured we would start heading back towards the cars. We came out on the road at about 1:45 minutes. Finishing at this point was good for me and a great start for longer runs to come.
Today was an awesome day. Very cold out but clear. Good running partners are very hard to find. I am so very fortunate that mine is game for pretty much everything. So when I text saying something like " What do you think about exploring for a 2 hour run tomorrow morning?", she always says "What time!?". So fortunate : )
We figured that we would start out at Kittatiny State Park and just go......and go .....and go. In my prep for the 3 Days at the Fair, I am learning that time on my feet is the only way to successfully complete this event. Slow running is hard for me. I have psoriatic arthritis, and I have found that walking fast and slow running actually stiffen my knees more than faster tempo runs. Running a 12 to 14 minute mile is going to be tough, but this is what this event needs. For me at least. When KK and I run together we are constantly checking our pace on our Garmins and making sure we're not flying, and just running a sustainable pace. This was my plan today, to make sure we keep our pace consistent and doable.
We decided to head over to the red/blue/green trail and pick up where we left off last week. My goal was to take 2 hours and just explore. We did just that! It was awesome coming across a new trail and being able to say "let's see where it goes!". When KK and I first started running together, we had a tough time keeping up a constant conversation going. Now we have a hard time NOT talking! It's awesome. We cover so many topics there's never a lull. Runner's World recently did an article on this phenomenon. Ever wonder why we sometimes tell our running partners more than, say, our spouses or even our best girlfriends? KK had a thought on this. She said that since the majority of the time you're looking straight ahead and there is no actual direct eye contact. Interesting.
I was trying out a Camelbak that I had purchased about a year ago. Since it was a return and had no bladder, I got it for $12! Couldn't beat that, since I already had a few spare bladders at home. Anyway, it was a kids/women's version so I figured it would fit perfectly. From the get go, I was constantly fiddling with the straps in an effort to keep it from sloshing around. Once I found the right tightness, everythig seemed to fall into place.
We hopped from the White trail to the Blue, to the Green, over to the Sussex Branch Trail and then over to the Red Trail. We just went and went and went! It was awesome. Eventually, we came out of the woods close to 1.5 hours into it, so we figured we would start heading back towards the cars. We came out on the road at about 1:45 minutes. Finishing at this point was good for me and a great start for longer runs to come.
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Dude, Where's my car?
Sussex Branch Trail by fin16 at Garmin Connect - Details
Today was very cold out. It started at about 17 degrees and increased to 23 by the end of our run. We figured we'd start at the Northern Terminus up in Branchville and finish at Warbasse Junction down in Lafayette. We left KK's car down in Lafayette right on Warbasse. The only problem with that is we couldn't actually find the beginning of the trail! Normally the beginning of the trail or a junction has a small parking area. This one....not so much. So up and down Mill street we drove. Finally we settled on pulling into a local chiropractor's office to see if he knew where it was. Well, he didn't but he did offer to let us park my car in his lot and the give us an adjustment on our return! Cool beans : )
The trial up north was nice. The scenery was gorgeous. Everything was white because some snow had fallen the night before. About .8 miles into the run, we come across a portion of the trail that is washed out. Back in August, our area was hit hard y Hurricane Irene. Whole neighborhoods were washed away and this part of the trail was in one of the hardest hit areas. Local hiking clubs have done a wonderful job in maintaining and the cleanup afterwards. So a wick up and over re-route and we were rolling again on the other side.
The northern part took us through farmers fields and over small bridges. Today was the day that I should have brought my camera but it was just took cold to keep taking my gloves off. Also, the windbreaker I decided to wear didn't have pockets that zippered, so it was out of the question.
So the plan was to do about 5.56 miles to the car. We knew at some point that the Sussex Branch Trail and the Paulinskill Rail Trail crossed. The maps that I was able to get were crappy copies at best. So we got to the crossing and stayed straight, THINKING this would bring us out right behind the car. Yeah....no. We came out of the woods and PRESTO::::: NO CAR. Interesting. I asked, " Hey KK, where's your car?" To which she responded "Umm I don't know." So after a few moments of reflection and trying to get our bearings, we figured we had just come out too far up the road and by turning left up the road, we would be at the car in a few moments. No biggie, I say, because between the both of us, we have 4 strong legs and a cell phone. So off we went. We got about a 1/4 mile up the road and KK says "We went the wrong way, I'm pretty sure the car is back the other way". Ok, I say, let's go. So again, off we went. We pass right were we came out of the trail and we crest the hill. That's when we see the top of the Parking lot pavilion and TADAAA!!!! The car, the car! As we approach the car, I look to the right and guess what I see? You guessed it, the trail junction that we crossed as we THOUGHT we were continuing onto the parking lot.
After we were done laughing and composed ourselves, we figured out what had happened. When we crossed the junction, we should have looked 20 feet to our right and we would have seen the car. What we didn't think was that we had to actually TURN onto the Paulinskill Rail trail and then to the car.
Both our husbands, after hearing our funny story, were surprised that we were actually allowed out unsupervised and with homing devices attached to our shoes : )
Another run done, no casualties and all is good. Time on our feet is what we are looking for not pretty runs where everything goes well. Well , it did go well but funny is always better : )
Today was very cold out. It started at about 17 degrees and increased to 23 by the end of our run. We figured we'd start at the Northern Terminus up in Branchville and finish at Warbasse Junction down in Lafayette. We left KK's car down in Lafayette right on Warbasse. The only problem with that is we couldn't actually find the beginning of the trail! Normally the beginning of the trail or a junction has a small parking area. This one....not so much. So up and down Mill street we drove. Finally we settled on pulling into a local chiropractor's office to see if he knew where it was. Well, he didn't but he did offer to let us park my car in his lot and the give us an adjustment on our return! Cool beans : )
The trial up north was nice. The scenery was gorgeous. Everything was white because some snow had fallen the night before. About .8 miles into the run, we come across a portion of the trail that is washed out. Back in August, our area was hit hard y Hurricane Irene. Whole neighborhoods were washed away and this part of the trail was in one of the hardest hit areas. Local hiking clubs have done a wonderful job in maintaining and the cleanup afterwards. So a wick up and over re-route and we were rolling again on the other side.
So the plan was to do about 5.56 miles to the car. We knew at some point that the Sussex Branch Trail and the Paulinskill Rail Trail crossed. The maps that I was able to get were crappy copies at best. So we got to the crossing and stayed straight, THINKING this would bring us out right behind the car. Yeah....no. We came out of the woods and PRESTO::::: NO CAR. Interesting. I asked, " Hey KK, where's your car?" To which she responded "Umm I don't know." So after a few moments of reflection and trying to get our bearings, we figured we had just come out too far up the road and by turning left up the road, we would be at the car in a few moments. No biggie, I say, because between the both of us, we have 4 strong legs and a cell phone. So off we went. We got about a 1/4 mile up the road and KK says "We went the wrong way, I'm pretty sure the car is back the other way". Ok, I say, let's go. So again, off we went. We pass right were we came out of the trail and we crest the hill. That's when we see the top of the Parking lot pavilion and TADAAA!!!! The car, the car! As we approach the car, I look to the right and guess what I see? You guessed it, the trail junction that we crossed as we THOUGHT we were continuing onto the parking lot.
After we were done laughing and composed ourselves, we figured out what had happened. When we crossed the junction, we should have looked 20 feet to our right and we would have seen the car. What we didn't think was that we had to actually TURN onto the Paulinskill Rail trail and then to the car.
Both our husbands, after hearing our funny story, were surprised that we were actually allowed out unsupervised and with homing devices attached to our shoes : )
Another run done, no casualties and all is good. Time on our feet is what we are looking for not pretty runs where everything goes well. Well , it did go well but funny is always better : )
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