One of the things I love about running at Horseshoe Lake is hearing the red-winged blackbirds sing along Fishermen’s Lane. (See my post Where I Go to Start Over.) You can hear them in this video. There’s a cardinal singing in there too.
The song of the red-winged blackbird takes me back to my childhood in rural Warren County, New Jersey. These blackbirds were common sights throughout the many fields, pastures, and wetlands in our area. You don’t find red-winged blackbirds in the woods. They like the open fields like bluebirds do. They like to sit on tall weeds, trees near the fields, electric wires. I remember riding in my mom’s baby blue Ford Falcon past the horse farm on Jackson Valley Road with the sound of Dopplered red-winged blackbird song whizzing by the open windows. Their song has always been one of my favorites. As kids we always felt rewarded when we spotted these blackbirds sporting red and yellow feathers on their wings, so much more exciting than your run-of-the-mill average plain-winged blackbirds.
Feel free to hang out here on this page and listen to the red-winged blackbirds. The video loops automatically. Stay all day if you wish.
My training plan called for 9 miles this week. The plan starts at 6 miles and adds 3 miles each week. I know it’s not the best idea, but I’ve become a bit of a lunatic in my plans in order to get ready for a 50K on April 21 that I really do not want to miss. So I set out for the Gap with 9 miles in mind.
However, there are always things that challenge my accomplishment of all the miles I have in my mind. For one, a nor’easter covered northern New Jersey with several inches of snow a few days before. Also, my family’s schedule has gotten pretty hectic with a toddler in the house, both my wife and I working full time (she working two careers), and both of us needing time to run. The first challenge made the trails harder to run on. The second group of challenges means my time for exercise has decreased, which means my physical conditioning has decreased. I should add one other factor here. My weight has increased. Lugging myself up a mountain is no small feat at this point.
What follows are photos (and a video) and some comments in three sections: The Way Up, The Fire Road, The Way Down.
The Way Up
The snow made for gorgeous scenery. The Red Dot trail up Mt. Tammany was packed with snow, not too hard to navigate. The views were beautiful.
Looking through the Gap down the Delaware River, one third of the way up Mt. TammanyThe view from Mt. Tammany looking over the Delaware River, Mt. Minsi (PA) and the Poconos
The Fire Road
One aspect of my family’s tight schedule is that my wife often works on the weekends. Add a snowstorm into the mix and time becomes even more limited. Due to that snow, I postponed running until Sunday, but had to wait until the afternoon when my wife got home. Well, that added another challenge. By the time I got to the Gap, there were quite a few people on the trails. That just makes it hard to run while maneuvering around folks, something that contributed to badly injuring myself in 2016.
So, when I got to the head of the Tammany Fire Road trail, I decided to see how far I could make it along that route. The trail was covered by several inches of pristine untrod snow. It was irresistible, my pathway to solitude away from the crowds.
I stomped through that snow for 45 minutes making it almost a mile and a half. My toes were getting cold even in their wool socks. My thighs were on fire from marching nonstop. So I retraced my steps back to the Blue Dot trail.
The pristine untrod Tammany Fire RoadThe desecrated trod-by-Snyder Tammany Fire Road
The Way Down
The way down the Blue Dot trail was slushy and sloppy. My thighs were on fire but I had a good run down the mountain.
At the bottom I was surprised by the number of trees that had fallen in the storm along the Dunnfield Creek. It was quite a mess! Climbing over some of these obstacles was a challenge with my spent thighs.
I called it a day at 2 1/2 hours with 6 miles covered. I didn’t hit the 9 mile mark. The effort expended in the snow made up for the 3 missed miles.
View from the Blue Dot Trail looking North to the next ridge upon which the Appalachian Trail traversesThe Blue Dot Trail along Dunnfield Creek looking up toward the ATAlong the Blue Dot Trail near Dunnfield CreekOn the Blue Dot Trail with the bridge crossing Dunnfield Creek in the background
Is that a porta-potty on my shoulder or am I just happy to see you?
Since it has been decided by unanimous executive decision (by me, myself, and I) to prepare for the Hyner Challenge 50K as best as possible over the next two months, today was my first of 8 planned weekly “long” runs. The object of this plan is to build up my distance each week until I reach the goal of 31 miles at the race on April 21. This is the plan of a lunatic, but I won’t get into that now. Maybe I’ll address the lunacy as I move along in the plan.
If you peruse my blog posts over the past year, it quickly becomes evident that one of my favorite places to run is Mahlon Dickerson Reservation. It’s close to home. It has varied terrain. I usually do a 6 mile loop there. So it made sense to start with that loop on my return to training after my latest injury.
Below are some photos from the trail with a few more comments mixed in.
Of course, my ankle was bothersome while running. That’s my new norm. My legs where a bit tired. My aerobic capacity has declined due to inactivity. Weighing 226 pounds now doesn’t help anything.
Beaver Brook
While writing this post I learned that a beaver’s home is called a “lodge.” I guess you could say I relearned it, because when I looked it up I thought, I knew that. But that spoiled a pun I was going to make for the next 2 pictures. I was going to say, “Beaver Dam” for the first and then, “Damn Beaver” for the second. You know, because the damn thing is eating the hell out of that tree. But that bit of wit got “lodged” midstream by my reacquired knowledge.
A beaver lodgeBeaver damage
What is interesting about the next 2 pictures is that one half of the sky was covered by clouds and the other half was perfectly blue. There was a demarcation directly overhead. When I faced the direction of the clear sky, my surroundings appeared more colorfully and the blue of the sky was reflected off the wet trail. (The photo does not do it justice.). When I faced the opposite direction toward the cloudy sky, everything looked bland. If you had seen me at that point, turning 180 degrees back and forth, you would have sworn I was lost. I was simply amused by the color observations.
Facing the blue skyFacing the cloudy sky
And then there is graffiti on a tree. These letters were either sliced long, long ago and have expanded in width, or someone carved them with a spoon. Logic says it’s the former. I hope “JW” is still remembered.
Is that a “J” or a “V”? Did someone’s Volkswagen die here?
That’s a wrap until the next batch of photos from the woods.
These birds were making quite the racket at 6 AM on a Saturday morning! Close to the end they suddenly get quiet all at the same time then pick the noise up again. They did this several times while I watched them. It was almost like someone was conducting them.
I love running on trails. I enjoy the challenge of the uneven ground, negotiating the rocks and roots and mud and the occasional snake. I love the varied scenery, surrounded by trees and weeds and boulders and wildlife, snakes included. For the past 2 1/2 years, this has been my preferred running environment.
But then I tore a tendon in my ankle and had to have surgery. Several months after that I had tendinitis in the same ankle. Most recently I sprained ligaments near that very same ankle. (My whole right ankle has become my Achilles heel.) It’s been a long slow road back to trail running.
That road has begun here after each injury. Pictured is a flat and friendly course at a local recreation area. It loops around a lake and passes ball fields. This is where I go to start over.
Incidentally, this picture is of a section of the park called “Fishermen’s Lane.” I did a little research to find out why it was name that. It turns out that it is named in memory of two local young men who were walking along the railroad tracks to go fishing when they were struck and killed by a train in 1989. (I found this information at this link.)
Starting over here, this road needs to take me to a 50K in Hyner, PA on April 21, 2018. That’s right, just two months from now. The cutoff date to drop out and get a refund on my registration fee is in two days. But I’ve made up my mind to attempt to go the distance. It might not be the smartest thing given the shape of my ankle. But this ankle is going to be with me every step for the rest of my life. I better get used to it if I want to run long races. I’m sure today isn’t the only time I’ll be starting over.
