Cheating a bit with the days, but with leap years and what not I can make my own rules. On March 25th, 2005 (close to exactly 12 wonderful years ago), Paul, Tippi and I continued a tour on snowshoes with a trip to Tannery Falls.
Monday, March 27, 2017
Just a day off, 12-years ago. Pop, Paul, Tips and I figured it was too nice a day not to climb Greylock. Bright sunny day and lots of smiles from all four of us.
The picture below is one of my favorites of all time. Those three plus Greylock are really important to me, always have been and always will be.
The picture below is one of my favorites of all time. Those three plus Greylock are really important to me, always have been and always will be.
Sunday, March 26, 2017
Saturday, March 25, 2017
Friday, March 24, 2017
A day prior to March 24th, 2005, Paul, Tippi and I took on Greylock. Adams and Greylock will always hold some sway. Any suggestion of climbing it, regardless of season, is always met with a "yes". It is one of my magical places.
Pretty special day, we charged up the Cheshire Harbor and then took the road to the Tower. My notes mention 1:20:10 up including pictuers, and only 31:16 down, over 7.5-miles.
Thursday, March 23, 2017
Wednesday, March 22, 2017
Back in 2005, on this day March 22nd, my friend Paul and I took Tippi to Savoy Mountain State Forest to climb Spruce Hill.
Tippi and I from 2005
This was an incredible winter for Paul and I. During the winter season I managed just over 400-miles on snowshoes, which only was bested by my 2003 total of 502-miles. Paul would have had at least that if not more.
Paul and Tips, on top of Spruce
A long, long while ago, Poncho M. mentioned that "... Spruce Hill is where Farmer Ed converses with GOD." The thing is, right before I was going under for removal of a brain tumor in October of 2015, my last thoughts were of Spruce Hill. I was on-top, looking west towards Greylock. The sky was an incredible blue with big puffy white clouds scattered about. Greylock was so close I felt as though I could reach out and touch it. I was feeling a tremendous peace. This was my last thought and vision before I woke 4 hours later.
Pretty much my vision prior to surgery
Tuesday, March 21, 2017
Monday, March 20, 2017
Sunday, March 19, 2017
Saturday, March 18, 2017
Friday, March 17, 2017
Made my way to Shelbourne Falls today for the annual Mahican Mohawk partnership council. I imagine these have been going on for a good bit longer than the three-years I've been attending. It is enjoyable seeing many of the same people each year, and the collective desire and enthusiasm is excellent.
Afterward, rode over to DAR State Forest to do a short run along snowmobile covered roads. 3.2-miles total, map provided.
Thursday, March 16, 2017
Wednesday, March 15, 2017
MISSING AN OPPORTUNITY
(from the archives, 2000)
(from the archives, 2000)
I once kept a fairly detailed
running log, but have drifted away from it during the last couple years. It was never used as a dangling carrot,
forcing me to catch up to my "goal" mileage. Instead I would use it to track events in my
life, easy enough to pull out to refresh my memory over some happening from the
previous years.
As my running become less and
less disciplined (and less and less often), I began to show less attention to
the log. I realize now that this was a
mistake, and I hope to start being a little more orderly. Recently I had an experience that could have
been avoided if I had continued to keep an accurate journal or log. I believe I would have seen this coming, an
experience that I do not wish to duplicate.
It didn’t strike me until this
week, as I have finally recovered from close to three weeks of flu and
bronchitis, that I realized that I should have been able to see myself getting
run down and my resistance being lowered.
As I put together the final touches of the WMAC Snowshoe Series results
and stories, reading over the articles, I was suddenly aware that I pushed
myself too much without resting adequately.
While reading my race report for the Hawley Kiln Klassic and filling in
the gaps mentally there it was looking me right in the face…..
In a period of 11 days I had
snowshoed around the 7 mile Kiln course three times, marking the course and
cutting away blowdowns; snowshoed and readied the 9 mile Moody Spring Course
once; and ran the Moby Dick 16 miler.
While this may seem like nothing out of the ordinary for many
experienced trail runners, combined with all the travel from Connecticut and a
full work and home commitment it was just too much for me.
The real trouble was I had lost
track of what I was doing each day, and didn’t allow for proper rest. It wasn’t the time in the woods so much as
the early starts and all the driving. I
didn’t space things out very well, basically because I had no reference point.
If I had kept a running log or
journal, I think I may have been able to look back over those weeks and realize
that I was burning the candle at both ends.
I had used a logbook in the past for just that purpose while getting
myself ready for events. It makes sense
that I could have seen trouble coming.
So my suggestion to everyone is
to start a journal if you don’t currently have one. It doesn’t have to make you a slave to
mileage; there is no reason to use it that way if you don’t want to. But when things go right or wrong, at least
you will have a reference point to go back to, checking what happened during
that time in question. It is important
to fill it up with not only the running parts of your life, but the real stuff
as well. You never know when it might
come in handy.
March 15, 2000
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