One nice thing about training in the cold is the B&A Trail is a lot less crowded. This stands to reason: the sane people not only have no need to prove to anyone they can run/walk/skip/ride/amble in the cold, but they also know to simply avoid the crazy people who do.
Cold and clear and hard. This is my first ever run on the B&A. I’ve biked on it some, but it’s nice to be able to move slower and actually see what’s around you. On the bike I end up so busy concentrating on staying on Tim’s wheel and navigating around other trail users that I don’t get to see much of the scenery. I also never noticed just how long and steep the hill is that leads from the parking lot to the trail head. Pushing up that half-mile hill right out of the starting blocks, before I’m warmed up and comfortable, is…well, uncomfortable. (One of the reasons for my sub-mediocre endurance athleteness is that I don’t suffer well. Sure, spin me around in an airplane, turn me green in an Atlantic Ocean gale, or ask me to eat the same thing for lunch for a year and I’m fine. Actually with aplomb, as I’ve been told. But push me into the red-zone during a long training session and I’ll get quiet and really, really want to stop.)
Highlights included finding two lacrosse balls, separately (which kept me entertained for quite a while), the new sport of the “bamboo javelin toss” coming to a winter Olympics near you, and a very brief juggling exhibition consisting of lacrosse balls and a basketball. I eventually donated the lacrosse balls to the Williams family sports equipment inventory and no, I did not carry the basketball with me during the run…it was left where I found it.
To quote Mackenzie, “It looks like Glen gained ten pounds on the run.” It’s the camera adding weight, I swear.
