Long Run On The Rail Trail

Another great long run this morning. I met up with Mike, Bruce, Clint and Mark at the Rt. 30 intersection of the Rail Trail in Vernon. We knocked out the first 11 1/4 miles in 1:32 (8:10 Pace). We refueled at a 7-11, made the turn and headed back. When we hit the Valley Falls area, we ditched off the RT onto some single track. We tacked on 7 to 8 miles by completing a loop on each side of the Rail Trail. After the single track, we hopped back on the RT and finished the run back to our vehicles. In the final 5 miles of the run, Mark led us into stupid mode and we pushed it to the finish with an extremely painful sub 7:00 pace. In the end it was a 4:45 run and I'd say at least a 30 miler...

4:55 AM. Mike and the Electric Blue Dolphin Man

Mike, EBDM, Bruce and Clint

Mike picked up some gatorade and pink bunny ears

Hmmm... What to get...

Fueling up for the trek back.

On the Rail Trail

Bruce, watch out for the iceberg!!

Clint, Mark and I at a lookout point along the single track

Trail Run On The Nipmuck Courses

Mark, Bruce and I hit the trails this morning (5:30 AM) for a long run on sections of the Nipmuck Trail Marathon and Northern Nipmuck Trail Race courses. We parked at the Northern end of the Nipmuck Marathon course and ran south (7 miles) to the start. It was dark and it was cold (sub 20 F), but we were having a good time. We then repeated that section back to where we started to complete the 14 mile roundtrip. We reloaded our fuel and then headed north on the Northern Nipmuck course. We picked up the pace a bit and worked hard as we traversed the difficult trail heading north. Once we reached 6 miles out, we turned back and finshed up our run back to our vehicles. 26 miles in 5:10 on some tough terrain. Excellent way to welcome in Spring.

Bruce is rather happy for 5:30 AM on a Saturday...

...and Mark isn't

It was dark

Mark

Me

Bruce

Me...

... Mark

... and Bruce approaching "two pipes"

"Two pipes"

Me heading up the ridge

Lots of terrain like this on the Northern Nipmuck trail

Mark finishing up the run

Heading home

The Wee Mile

The kids ran in the O'Hartford Wee Mile today:

A trail run and a parade

Today's events:

4:30 AM - Alarm went off and I dragged my butt out of bed.

5:10 AM - Met up with Mark, Bruce and Clint at Case Mtn. for a long trail run.

5:15 AM - As we set off for the trail, one of Manchester's Finest pulled up and lowered his window. The ensuing conversation went like this:
Me: "Good morning officer."
Officer: "Hi ya doing fellas?"
Me: "We're headed out for a run. Would you like to join us?"
Officer: "No thanks. I just chased some guys and I'm tired. I'm looking to get some rest. Hey, be careful out there, we had to shoot some.."
Me: "Runners?" I interjected.
Officer: "Ha ha.. last week. No. Some Fisher cats. They were going after some hikers."
Us: "Thanks for the tip. Mark, keep your knife handy."

9:45 AM - Finished up with a 24 mile/4:15 run. Clint guided us through a whole new area for us. Good stuff.

10:15 AM - Arrived back at the house, showered up, changed, grabbed the family and headed out shortly after 10:30 AM for the St. Patrick's parade.

11:00 Am - Got into Hartford just in time for the start of the parade. We went down a one way street that had nowhere to park and the only way out was to drive on the parade route under police guidance. Shannon freaked out. It was pretty funny. We parked, found a great spot and enjoyed the sights and sounds. The weather was perfect and the kids had a blast. Here are some pics and video clips of the festivities:

Cool Alex and his crazy sister...