Friday, July 20, 2007
Decided I really didn't want to spend hours in the car today and went to Thacher instead of October Mountain State Forest in MA. Besides, I had to make up for missing the Indian Ladder Trail Run this year. :-)
Apparently they're still not charging admission on weekdays, at least not late on Friday afternoon. Actually, Thacher was the quietest I've ever seen it - probably in part because much of the day today was cloudy (and there were still clouds over the Helderbergs when I got there) and between the temperature (mid 70's) and the windchill, it was downright cold up there! Felt more like October than July... not that I'm complaining, I'd much rather chilly weather than the heat and humidity we'll no doubt be suffering through soon.
Parked at the Paint Mine lot and headed off along the escarpment and up into the OSI property, where the latter parts of the Indian Ladder 15k and Hairy Gorilla Half Marathon are run. The trails were the clearest I've ever seen them - brush cut way back and well mowed. I can remember the first few times we raced up there - parts of the trail were barely singletrack!
Along the way I startled a female spruce grouse (at least, I think that's what she was) - she flew up out of the plants on one side of the path into the thick brush on the other side and set to making quite a racket. When I stopped to see if I could catch a glimpse of her, half a dozen chicks flew up from where she'd come from and into the brush after her! I managed a brief glimpse of her through the branches... then decided it was time to be moving and stop disturbing them.
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photo courtesy of Wikipedia
Diverted off the IL course into HG country, and even took a loop trail I don't think I've run before, along doubletrack, the edges of some cornfields, and back onto singletrack. Ran up through the quarry and then back onto the IL course, around the pond, past the Ryan Rd trailhead, and then back down through the Haile's Cave picnic area and along the escarpment to Paint Mine and the car, where I swapped in new bottles of Gatorade and water, changed into a dry shirt and new socks, and then headed up Paint Mine Road.
I was a bit disappointed running up the hill, given that by this time last summer I was able to run up it without stopping and today I stopped several times to walk and catch my breath. At the top the trail runs parallel to Beaver Dam Rd, and at the point where the IL route turns to head down the hill, I went straight to add in the longer blue trail loop, rejoining the IL route a ways down the hill. I diverged from the IL course a little further along, running down to the field just above the maintenance garage and up the hill to the old water tank. I would have liked to run the Hop Field trails, but I was a bit concerned that I wouldn't get back to the parking lot in time and I'd find the barrier locked... so instead I made my way through the woods and down the long hill to the stream. Even ran through the stream, just like during the race - that water was cold! But it felt kind of good on my tired feet...
Overall, a decent run... I got to run parts of the trail that I missed running on Sunday, and parts of the Hairy Gorilla course, but also some trails that aren't in either race. One thing that became very clear during this run is that I need to do more hill work, specifically uphill running - I can't do much to get faster on the downhills (too much risk to my knees) so I definitely need to get stronger at running uphills. I suspect some runs up to Roemer's High Point are waiting in the not to distant future...
JMH
