Friday, June 29, 2007
After a fairly lazy week (0ne ride, on Wednesday) motivated in part by a legitimate need to recover from the very race-heavy last week and in part by the hot and humid weather we've been having, I headed over to Five Rivers Environmental Education Center for a (relatively) easy run this afternoon. It was a perfect day for it - temperatures in the 70's and little humidity - and it definitely felt good to be back out in the woods again, even if that meant fighting off deerflies for much of my run.
Started out with a warm-up on the service road around the old field, then headed into the woods - first on the Wild Turkey trail (where the only turkey in evidence was the one running) and then along the North Loop, which was every bit as technical as I remembered it to be (lots of roots, but at least the mud had mostly dried up.) Then it was time for a run along the Vloman Kill (creek) which is probably the most scenic part of the run. Came out on the access road along the shore of the northern part of the Beaver Pond, where I got to briefly watch a mallard and her ducklings, as well as a number of small painted turtles moving around in the weeds and algae (much like the ones in last weekend's trip to the Turning Point Park boardwalk.)
After crossing the road, I took a break on the long bridge across the Beaver Pond to watch turtles and fish. Saw a number of painted turtles, and as I was watching a fairly large snapping turtle came cruising by - I think I snapped two pretty good pictures of him before he disappeared. After five minutes or so two fairly noisy families came along, so I gave up and continued my run along the trail around the pond - spotted another larger snapping turtle haging out in the algae at the far end of the pond, and when I crossed back over the road there was a smaller one in the northern part of the pond, right near the dam.
Then it was time to run along the creek again, and out on the North Loop... I headed off on an old doubletrack instead of going back through the technical section, and finished the run along the service road and then along a grassy path down to the Sunfish Pond and through the old orchard.
Legs are definitely still feeling the effects of last week's races - my knees are a bit sore, and I'm feeling some strain in my left calf where I injured it two years ago and ended up taking two weeks off from running in late July/early August. So I'll probably do another easy run on Sunday, and then maybe a longer run either up at Thacher or over in Massachusetts on Tuesday... have to see how I feel.
JMH
