Weekend Afternoons

Didn't get out on Saturday until around 2:45, as I was too lazy to get out of bed and run in the darkness before Ryan headed over to the Brad to do course marking, and he ended up being there for way too long shoveling much more than he'd ever want to admit. With warm temps, the snow is disappearing quickly.

When I did head out, I figured I'd just wander and see what I could find. I wore my screwshoes, hoping I'd be able to get onto the trails, and so with that, I took the low road through the highschool trails and out onto the golf course. Portions of the golf course were nicely packed and the rest was a slushy, sloppy mess ;) I considered running the cart paths, so stayed on through holes 4 & 5, where I found a porcupine off on the fairway, eating grass and completely ignoring me. I stopped to watch him for a while, because, well, porcupine! They really are cute ;)

I turned off on the Heath trail, where I found a Pileated Woodpecker, calling up high on a tree and a mixed bag of conditions from straight up bare ground to soft snow to soft ice to a thin layer of slush atop the ground. But it wasn't terrible so I figured I'd head across the street into the Cathance to see what I could come up with. The screwshoes seemed to be working well on a day when things were pretty soft and not too slick, so I took the high trail out into the woods and then turned down toward the river. There had been some recent snowshoe traffic but again, a total mixed bag. Still, it was warm and nice out and I was having fun tromping around on the trails with no real agenda and no pace goals. Very pretty ice patterns along the rocks near the falls. 

Got in a lovely 6 miles for the afternoon.

Sunday morning was more of the same, with the alarm going off and me almost immediately going back to sleep for another 1 1/2 hours. Oops ;0 So, once again relegated to the afternoon for a run, this time after the snowshoe race, which meant a full stomach from a late lunch and tired legs from being out in the air for 3 hours helping during the race. Always fun though, and a great turn-out too! In any event, it wasn't until around 3:00 that I finally headed out. I knew I was unlikely to have much pep and I didn't want to think much, so I just figured I'd wear my road shoes and stick to the pavement. I took the path out, and found some ice in the shadows, just enough to slow me down a bit, then crossed over to Highland Green Road. I went out and back and returned via the powerlines back, slow again but mostly clear. Certainly not the best 5 miles, but I got it done ;) 30.3 miles for the week - I'm getting there....