Monday, December 9, 2019
Way back in 2007 I signed up to run the Eastern States 20 mile road race, which starts in Maine, runs along the New Hampshire seacoast, and finishes just over the Massachusetts border. One of the biggest challenges to getting ready for it is the timing, at the end of March. Albany has a definite lack of safe places to train on pavement in the winter, especially if you work for a living and need to do most of your running either before work (bleah!) or in the evening. One place that was available was the 1.9 mile stretch of the Mohawk Hudson Bike Path from Lions Park in Niskayuna to Lock 7 Rd - the town actually plows it in the winter. (As an aside, we now have twice as much plowed bike path, because the Town of Colonie typically plows a stretch of about 2.4 miles from Mohawk Riverside Landing Park over to Forts Ferry Rd.) So night after night that winter I went over to what I quickly dubbed "The Gerbil Wheel" and ran back and forth in the dark. From the park all the way to Lock 7 is about 2.25 miles, so if one does the math - it takes a bit of patience to do 16-17 miles, which is the most I think I ever managed. Especially when one is slow like I am (I was typically wrapping up those long runs after 9 at night and sometimes even later.)
(Another aside - I wrote in my race report for the Eastern States 20 miler that I doubted I'd ever do it again... now I've visited that part of New England often enough that I very much want to run it again, and am just looking for the right time.)
Yesterday I stopped by the Lions Park after my walk to see if the path was plowed and it was, so it was a no-brainer to head over there tonight with temperatures in the high-40's. There was a little bit of rain but that's what rain jackets are for.
I haven't run since Thanksgiving Day so this was very slow going. I ended up going all the way to Lock 7 and then along Lock 7 Rd to the intersection with River Rd, and even did a lap around the parking lot to reach 6 miles before I stopped. Along the way I head a barred owl call, saw a large rodent-like critter twice (initially I thought muskrat but it turned out to be a possum) and spotted the silhouette of a heron down in the small patch of open water under the Ferry Rd bridge.
JMH
