Another Warner Trail Adventure

Warner Trail marker. 

So I FINALLY got myself back to the Warner Trail to work on completing another section on Thursday. This section is what I would have continued on to during my failed attempt at doing the full trail at once. Now, I am even happier I chose to stop there at mile 20 that day because I would never have made it more than a mile before calling it quits. This next section was probably one of the most difficult sections to follow of the whole thing. Why? Because it's the Warner Trail! Cracks me up every single time I've been out there on a new section thinking it should be straight forward only to find myself running randomly off course and using Google Maps just to see where I am vs where I'm supposed to be. You get the same fuck-yeah feeling when you see a trail marker (like in the photo above) as you would after being lost in the desert for days without water. Ok, slight exaggeration, but during today's adventure, after being off trail for so long and finally seeing a marker, I did in fact yell out loud, "I found the motherfucker!" And the proceeded to text that exact same thing to my former Warner Trail running survivor partner. Pretty sure the trail broke him, though. He may never come back. Haha. 😉  I've never had a trail be so unrelenting in frustration. But it just makes me love it more!

Today was supposed to be 8 miles total, out and back from the Wrentham Senior Center. After I got lost within the first 3/4 of a mile, I decided to cut it short to 7 miles. I would end up running 9 miles!! Not one single attempt at a new section hasn't led to added miles.

So today, I brought Phoenix along. We had gone down to Rhode Island to test drive a car. I've been looking for a very specific make/model car with a certain number or miles and a strict price. Of course it was in Rhode Island. I talked the guy down from $10,995 to $10,300 and agreed to buy it (Picking it up tomorrow!). After that, I was super psyched to have dry trails to run on down there so I thought it would be the perfect day to do another section so we drove north to Wrentham.

Selfie in the new car at the stop light.

Phoenix was excited to get out of the car and into the sun

The trail looked like it could be well-marked from the first quarter mile, but nope. Right after that began the constant stopping to check the map. This section was cool since it went right up the old J-bar lift slope of the former Sweatt Hill ski area. This was actually super steep and still had all of the lift posts. The view at the top normally has the Boston skyline in it according to the guidebook, but I couldn't see it.

This is called Knuckup Hill. From the top I immediately headed the wrong way towards the water tanks before realizing I was going up and not down. Fortunately I didn't go far. This next section ran down the service road and around a really pretty pond. The trail then ended at Beach St which I was supposed to follow for .2 miles. This part sucked because there was absolutely no shoulder and the traffic was scary with Phoenix. I had her leashed at first but then finally just picked her up and ran with her.

So the directions for the trail were to go .2 miles and then the trail veers off the road just past the mailbox for 170 Beach St. So I'm watching the mailboxes on my right. They're all on the right hand side so it was even and odd numbers, so it went like this: 156, 163, 169...175, 178. WTF. There was no 170. There was no HOUSE with 170. I did find trail markers on a post indicating that I was still supposed to continue down the road, but I was standing in between mailboxes 169 and 175, and there were woods behind there. So I figured something must have changed since the guidebook was made in 2009 and just ran into the woods figuring I would run into the Warner Trail if I veered left. Nope, ended up in someone's backyard so I went back, found a wide trail and then a huge sign with the name of the trail on it. It wasn't the Warner Trail, but I figured it would run into it at some point. So here I am, .75 miles into the run, and I'm already lost. Haha.

I got to a point where the trail split in two different ways.

Two trails diverged in a wood- and I

I took the wrong fucking one, 

And that made all the difference.

Thank you for the inspiration, Robert Frost. So, anywho, had I gone right, I would have run right into the Warner Trail with HUGE sign pointing me south. However, I would have cut off nearly 2 miles of the trail. I wouldn't have cared because I would have done it right coming back. But instead, I found myself following all sorts of mountain bike paths through the Wrentham Town Forest assuming I'd run into the Warner Trail eventually. I kept stopping to check my map to see where I was so I started taking any trail that went right in the direction of Wampum Corner, my next destination. Due to absolutely zero trail marking here, I ran right across the Warner Trail and didn't know it. Ended up in backyards so back I went following trails that I wasn't even sure were trails until somehow I took a turn and there was a marker!!! From here the trail down to the road was easy. I figured I'd have no problem staying on the trail on the way back. I was wrong. Haha. 

So unfortunately, we had a .3 mile section on the road. At this point, I'd already run an extra half mile so I decided to turn around a the I-495 underpass, but it still meant running the road with Phoenix to the abandoned railroad. I couldn't tell where to cut over to the railroad bed so we bushwhacked through some tall grass. On the way back, I realized I literally had only 10 more yards before I could get on the trail without bushwhacking.

Funny stretched face. I took it fast because I was self-conscious about taking a selfie in front of people.

Bushwhacking through the tall grass

The rest was very straight forward. .6 miles straight and flat to our turn around at I-495. Except it was strong headwind to get there. Haha. But a tailwind coming back!

Breaking in a new pair of Mutant's. I love these shoes still after so many years of wearing them.

So back we went. No tall grass this time. We ran the road section back to the woods. Thinking this is going to be easy-peasy until I took a right thinking that's the way we came since of course this stretch had no markers. I kept running and realized that this wasn't familiar at all! WTF. I hadn't gone a half mile in the woods before getting lost again! But I kept running and came to an intersection with a huge sign that said "Warner Trail" and  the name of that other trail I had followed initially. Sweet! So I followed the Warner Trail...until I see in front of me that right turn (now a left turn) I had taken not to long ago to get lost again. I had just gone in a circle and was running SOUTH on the trail instead of North. AAAAHHHHHHHH! Why me?! Haha. I go back to the sign which is actually messed up and turned crooked so I go left thinking that's the Warner Trail. No markers at all so I turn around and go back to that intersection and go back the way I had come in on the loop. Still no markers, but I read the guidebook and followed it that way. I got to another intersection with zero markers, but chose the correct this way. And finally! I came out to the marked trail I was supposed to be on when I left Beach St at .7 miles. Yay!! Of course it still wasn't that easy since there were other trail options, but I continued to go the way I thought was correct. And suddenly I'm in a backyard, but with trail markers! All of a sudden the guidebook directions make sense, and I pop out on Beach St at...you guessed it! 170 Beach St. But yeah because it makes sense that it was after 178. Grrrr. So close but foiled again! Haha. Not sure the reason for the nonsensical numbers unless that's a town line right there, but I can't tell on the map.

The road stretch still sucked so I carried Phoenix again. John called me on the phone to ask when I'd be home so I stopped running to tell him I'd be really late. I still had beer and pizza to consume. Haha. Phoenix and I continued on, but this time we skipped the run back up Knuckup Hill and just ran the service road back to the car at the Senior Center. Another piece of the Warner Trail in the books with only about 5 miles left to complete it. 9 miles total today in 1:34:32. Elapsed time was way more with the constant stops. 2:16:21! Haha. I had no idea is was THAT much until just now when I looked. Haha. 806ft of elevation gain. It was pretty hilly in this section.

Here's the Strava map. My overlay is terrible, but good enough. The yellow is the actual Warner Trail. The rest is obviously where I went off trail. It doesn't look that bad on the map, but when you're out there and have no idea where you are, it feels bad. Haha.

I have yet to finish a run on the Warner Trail without scratched up legs, although minor today. One time, I had blood all down the back of my leg, all over my sock and shoe without even realizing it until miles later. 

Today was definitely a beer day after having none Mon-Wed so I drove north to Castle Island. I love this place, especially since they always have dark beers on tap. Today didn't disappoint. I had two 10oz stouts then continued north to Whole Foods. I got a few things, two pizza slices then made the long drive home.

Although, I'm going back down to get the car tomorrow, I'm giving the Warner Trail "running" a break and opting for something I can follow mindlessly in Rhode Island. I'd really like to do that last section before my next full Warner Trail attempt, but I don't know if I'll make it back beforehand. I've followed it on Google Maps and it doesn't look overly difficult, but I've thought that even on the well-marked sections so I'm sure I'm in for another adventure. Not sure how much fun it will be 25 miles into the 33 mile run. Haha.

So the Warner Trail run ended up being the only day I ran this week. Even prior to Eastern States, I had planned to zero both Monday and Wednesday and to get on my spin bike Tuesday, but during and after this run, I was still in some pain so I decided to bike the rest of the week. It was the right call. And damn, as always, spinning really kicks my ass. I actually feel like I've gotten way more of a workout than running every time. It honestly felt good to get back on the bike this week. I followed 1 hour spin workout videos from The Gym Box. Fortunately they had 4 different ones so I didn't have to repeat any over the week. I wore my HR monitor because I never have spinning and I found it's a really good tool to have with it. I was able to make sure I was in the right zone throughout the workout. I never have visitors, but without fail, I got interrupted by knocking at the door every workout except the last one. Twice it was Bryan, who never knocks at the door, and the other was the FedEx guy. My hope of not being interrupted on the 4th day was shattered by the iMac freezing up. Haha. It got through the another booting, but then died for good an hour later. I'm so sad since I had that thing working for 12 years, and now I don't have a computer. Grr. Oh well. But, anyway, every interruption, I was like, "Oh COME ON!!" Haha. For some reason I felt compelled to take selfies of my sweat after the first 3 workouts, then finally realized how dumb that was by the 4th one. The only data I have is the HR graph so that's all I can share since my spin bike is super cheap. You can see the interruptions. 

I continued to get my weight lifting in for the week. Chest/Triceps, glutes and extreme abs on Monday. Also walked 30 minutes around the bay at work then sat in the sun in the bay. 

Had to change windows because the other one got too hot.

Wednesday was Back/Biceps, glutes and Ab Attack 10, followed by my first outside walk on the trail since early last fall! It wasn't quite melted, but it was enough to get out there. Walked 2 miles. It was too nice out.

Soon enough, it will be clear and I can run at work again!

Friday, I did a shoulder workout at home, followed by extreme abs again. During my workout, I heard something sigh so I turned to see I was being watched.

Walks/Hikes

Tuesday- It was SO nice out. Conditions are always questionable this time of year since the snow can be super soft and post-holey (not a word) or totally solid. So it's always a guess. I picked right this week. Today, I took Chill and Phoenix on a 2-mile walk on the Conway Rec Path along the Saco. I love this trail. It was snow-covered but solid enough walk on it. Had it all to ourselves.

Friday- A nice thing about getting on the spin bike is that I don't procrastinate getting on it like I do getting myself out the door or on the treadmill to run so I got my workout in with plenty of time for walks. Today, Phoenix, Chill and I walked up to the top of Hurricane Mt Rd. Nice mild day, and it felt good to be walking uphill. We only ran into one person, Dave McDermott, with whom I stopped to chat for a bit, then again had the rest of the walk to ourselves. 4 miles total.

Saturday- Thanks to Paul Kirsch's Strava post, I knew where to find solid trails to walk. The Tamworth snowmobile trails. It ended up being totally solid so it was a perfect walk with John and the dogs. Only ran into one other person today, so again, the rest was all to ourselves. Unfortunately, this won't last long, since the tourists will soon be flooding our town and trails again so it's nice to have some solitude while it lasts. 2.4 miles total. Can one really post too many photos of her kid? Yeah, I didn't think so either. 😃

Spotted this purple box in a tree and knew it had to be a geocache. It was! I threw it in the brook. Just kidding!

Drinking water. This is how we do things in New Hampshire, y'all. Haha.

Sunday- The only walk I took was to take the dogs to the bathroom. It was raining and gross. Instead we went to the grocery store and Starbucks then I spent about 5 hours in the kitchen making brownies for John's school, banana bread and lentil soup. Helped me not get bored since we skipped walking.

Random Stuff

Walked Phoenix before I left for work on Wednesday morning and found Bryan's ice ax had resurfaced from the driveway. It was still frozen solid in the ice, though. Looked pretty funny having a frozen ice ax in my driveway. I won't get into the rest of the crap he's dropped in the driveway that has resurfaced in the last week, though. Grr. 😐

This peanut butter jar kept her occupied for awhile...

Typical morning when all I want to do is get back inside to my coffee. They just want to play stick. Haha.

Pretty decent week despite not running or was it because I didn't run? Very likely the latter since I didn't run through pain. It was definitely the right move to take the time off. I'm still not pain-free, but it's diminished. I'm thinking Boston will just a fun run for me this year. Maybe I'll grab beers handed to me along the way. Ok, well, maybe not the beer offered at the biker bar, TJ's Food & Spirits, at mile 2 in Ashland. You guys know which one I'm talking about. If you've run Boston, you have to remember this one. The beer is a little meh for my taste. However, if they were at mile 24, it's possible I'd take a swig of Miller Lite. Well, now that I think about it... maybe not. Haha.

Speaking of Boston, who's all excited and pre-ordered their Boston Marathon bib frame?!

Yeah...me neither! But $149, that's a steal! Sarcasm.

Also speaking of Boston, I stuck to my plan to cut back on the beer and the sweets. It's so weird how when I really set my mind to it, I don't crave sugar. Didn't want any of it all week. Didn't crave it. My planned one day to allow it ended up just having one small brownie from the batch that I made for John's school. It was good, but one was enough. So as of this writing, that's the only sweet I've had in 1.5 weeks. And as far as beer goes, I only had that beer at Castle Island on Thursday and then two beers on Saturday. So I've done really well. I can't say for sure I've lost any weight, although my stomach is a bit trimmer. My weight fluctuates too much to really say what it was definitively before I cut this stuff out, but I was 121 yesterday. My ideal race weight is 116, but I did no weight training then and had twig arms. I'd say I'm probably 2lbs heavier in just muscle so ideally 118 would be prime race weight now, but that's not happening this go-round. I'd be happy at 120. Honestly, it doesn't really matter what I weigh, though. I wanted to get rid of that extra flab and that seems to be happening so I'm happy alone with that. And hopefully this will jump start me into keeping the sugarholic in me at bay for awhile. 

So...back to Boston. 1.5 weeks away. WTF! At least I have Doyle's Emerald Necklace coming up this weekend to take my mind off of Boston for a few more days. Not looking forward to my slow time at Doyle's, but it is what it is. It's the speed I'm at right now. It will be all about the effort then having fun afterward. That's what Doyle's is really about isn't it? I was triple-fisting in 2016....