(Albany Running Exchange Summer Trail Run Series #14)
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Landis Arboretum info
ARE Summer Trail Run Series info
photo slideshow
Tonight I did something I rarely do - I ran two days in a row - and two things I'd never done before - I attended an ARE Summer Trail Run, and I visited the Landis Arboretum in Esperance, a ways to the west of the Capitol District.
Originally I had planned to spend today down at Lake Minnewaska State Park, wrapping the day up with a 5k trail run at the Mohonk Preserve. Between the weather forecast (mostly cloudy, with a chance of rain) and the fact that 5k's really aren't my cup of tea, I decided to postpone my trip south to next week. But since I had already put in to have tonight off from teaching karate, that left me free to attend this week's ARE Summer Trail Run, which was being held for the first time at the Landis Arboretum, in part to test out the course they're planning to use for a 5k trail race Labor Day weekend...
After a day of partly sunny weather, I was a bit dismayed to head toward Esperance and see dark clouds covering the horizon. The drive over was very scenic, once I got out of Albany - mainly farm country, with some nice views as I drove through the valley below the Duanesburg ridge. I also wondered a bit what I was getting myself into, as I turned onto the road to the arboretum and it went up and up and up! Along the way, I passed a yard with a small flock of turkeys wandering through, and managed to snap a couple of pictures before driving the rest of the way to where we would run.
Arrived at the arboretum and could tell I was in the right place because the ARE canopy had already been set up! No one else was in sight - out marking the course, I guess. Changed into my running shoes, organized my gear, and then wandered across the road to check out some of the flower gardens. By the time I got back, the folks in charge had returned and runners were starting to trickle in.
While we waited for the run to begin, it rained lightly on and off, and I waffled on whether or not to bring my camera on the run. In the end, the rain let up, and the fact that I have pictures of the course should indicate what I decided! A few minutes after 6:30, Josh had a few quick words to say about some upcoming events in the ARE and the course we were about to run, one of the folks from the arboretum encouraged us all to sign up for the race Labor Day weekend, and then - we ran!
We started out with a substantial uphill, before looping down through some woods and back across the fields out to the road. A short stretch along the road took us onto a path that followed the edge of more fields, with occasional stretches through woods, much of it level or downhill. At one point we ran around a rather cool pond with a variety of dead trees rising up out of the water, then came out along a ridge with some great views out into the valley. Continuing through meadows and woods, circled around below the barn and farmhouse and then ran a short uphill loop before heading down the road back to the starting area.
The terrain was pretty varied - a lot of it was on mowed grass, one of my least favorite running surfaces (the grass hides too much about what's underneath it, even mowed fairly short) and most of the rest was dirt with a good sprinkling of roots and small stumps. A little bit technical at times, but nothing too challenging (especially compared to the Massachusetts trails I've run over the last few weeks!
After completing the first loop, I dropped the camera and my hat off at the car, then headed out for a 2nd time, both to get in a bit more distance (2.5 miles is barely a warm-up!) and to see how my time would compare when I wasn't stopping to take pictures. During the first loop, I often had the other back-of-the-pack runners in sight... this time through I had the trails all to myself. The late hour combined with the clouds made it pretty dark in the woods, so much so that at one point I tripped on a root or stump and went down for the first time this season. No big deal, but it's been long enough since I fell running that it was a surprise! And probably a good reminder for the upcoming headlamp running season...
Finished my 2nd loop about 6 minutes faster than the first one, chatted briefly with a couple of the few folks still around, changed into a dry shirt (the humidity is back!) and then hopped in the car for the drive home. All in all, I'm glad I went tonight - I met some really nice folks in the local running community, and I got to go for a short challenging run on some trails I'd never been on before. The arboretum is a beautiful place that I hope to visit again sometime (preferably in sunny weather!) though it's a little too far away and the trails are too short for me to run there very often.
JMH
