Valley Forge Loop 1-14-17

It was 30 degrees at 8 am today. 1 degree warmer than predicted but still significantly colder then yesterday. I had extra layers and my Dunkin' Donuts parade hat on top of ear band covering today. It's supposed to precipitate later today - maybe even snow- and I could feel it in the air.

Maggi, Russ, Julius, Jennifer, Sara, Mike and Freya and I met at the lower parking lot near the rest rooms. Mike, Freya and I headed off first. We were walking. They others passed us before we reached the Arch. It's great that we can all meet up together and then do our own thing.

I have not been to Valley Forge in a while. I must go back with Dave sometime. There are new huts, redoubts and new displays to read. I"m sure we'd enjoy the visit together - but maybe in warmer weather. Today was not a wandering around kind of day.

I think this may have been the first time I walked the loop fully intending to from the get go. It's a lot nicer when you accept your limits and just go with it instead of grumbling at yourself in your head because you thought you should be running it or running more. Still not sure I'm done running but I'm learning to be kinder to myself for not running.

Here are a photo from today. For more photos visit my blog's Facebook Page.

Chester Creek Trail 1-13-17

I had vacations days to use up so no work today. It feels like Saturday. :)

It was 49 degrees and breezy at 8 am this morning. I was glad for my hat. I was also happy to be up, dressed, coffee'd up and at the trial head by 8 am. My get up and go has been AWOL for over a month now.

The Chester Creek Trail opened in mid-December 2016. Official ribbon cutting is slated for Spring 2017. According to the website "The trail will follow Chester Creek along the Civil War-era Chester Creek Branch line of the Pennsylvania Railroad. When complete, the trail will run from the former SEPTA Wawa R3 station to Upland, PA. "  Right now about 2.8 miles between Elwyn Road and Lenni Road are open. Click here to see a map of the trail.

On this sunny Friday morning I saw several folks walking their dogs, a few running their dogs, some solo runners, some group runners, one cyclist and quite a few walkers like me. I imagine (hope) that on weekends (and evenings in spring and summer) the trail will be bustling with activity.

I parked at the Knowlton Road parking lot about 1/2 mile past Linvilla Orchards coming off 352. There was only one other car when I arrived but the lot (about 8 spaces total) was almost full when I left. I followed the trail to it's end point at Lenni Road and back for a total of 5 miles. The trail follows the creek and the line between Middletown and Aston Townships. It was a very pleasant walk. I look forward to coming back here for more walks, bike rides and maybe even a run or two.

Here is some information on the abandoned railway that serves as the basis for this trail.

Here are a few photos from today's walk.

Yes we'll walk with a walk that is measured and slow,

And we'll go where the chalk-white arrows go,

For the children, they mark, and the children, they know

The place where the sidewalk ends.” 

― Shel Silverstein, Where the Sidewalk Ends

There Better be a Hawk up there!

Back in late March or maybe it was April a bunch of us went to Hawk Mountain. We climbed to the North Lookout and back on the main trail. We decided that coming back in the fall would be great! Only two of the four who hiked that day could make it today. Life has a way of doing that.

Today we took the River of Rocks Trail to the top. Combined with a return to the visitor center via the North Lookout Trail it's a 5 mile loop. The River of Rocks Trail lives up to its name. Not hard to do given it's found in "Rocksylvania".


The signs claim the River of Rocks trail is a moderate hike to the top. Moderate is relative though. Compared to the Skyline trail which is nothing short of death defying, the River of Rocks trail IS moderate. For us, it was a pretty good workout and as we neared the top one member of our group swore that there better be some hawks up there for all the work we put in getting there. Being the organizer of this trip I did not want her to be disappointed and was determined to lasso one if I had to. Fortunately I did not have to. Although we really couldn't tell one bird from another (except for the Turkey Vultures) there was a man at the top of the calling out the birds as he saw them through a gigantic camera lens.

If we had not seen any hawks, it still would have been tough to be disappointed because the view was fantastic.

After a rest at the top to enjoy the view and the birds and a snack, we began the trek back down to the visitor center.

On the way down, a man on the way up called out to Julius.

And the countdown began. Tick Tock Tick Tock. ...........and Julius won! He recognized his friend Bryce before Bryce introduced himself. Maybe you had to be there or maybe you have to be easily entertained as I am but I thought it was amusing.

Today was a gorgeous day to be on the mountain with friends.

Swimming

I treated myself to a community pool membership. It's at the local middle school so it's only open when school is open but it's a good deal so you take what you are given. Open/lap swims are 7-9 Monday - Friday evenings. There are morning and weekend hours too but I think I will likely go mostly in evenings.

I've been twice now. The first night there were two of us and tonight only 4 - so we each had our own lane. Eventually, I imagine, there will be a need to share lanes. The thought of that intimidates me. I'm a good swimmer but not a fast one. I worry about annoying someone faster. For now, though I can try to get into a routine of going and build some confidence to feel that I belong there. 

The pool is just over a mile from my house.Ideally, I'd like to walk there, swim and walk back. Tonight I just didn't have the energy so I drove. Work has been stressful lately (and will be for awhile) so I'm happy that I even went at all.

I'm swimming 500 meters total for now and I'll build on that through the season. My muscles seem to handle that distance just fine. But I'm having to get reacquainted with the breathing aspects of swimming. It'a amazing how we take breathing for granted until we have to pay attention to it!! 

Stay tuned. 

-Keep smiling and keep moving

Paula 

It's All About that Base

Here is the post I wrote in my head while on the yellow trail at Ridley Creek State Park this morning.

Here we go again! Restart number 6352. Ok maybe a slight exaggeration. It's only 6349. But really whose counting besides me, right? Over the span of my August vacation time I decided that when Labor Day got here I'd try to get back to running.....again!

But this time I would go slow. Build a nice solid base. Hence the title in case you are not paying attention. I would start, I thought, by getting back to "just a mile" runs during the week and a little longer on one of the weekend days. So, on Tues, Wed and Thurs this week I ran just 1 mile around my neighborhood. So far so good. I read several somewheres that a weekly long run should be 35% of your total weekly mileage. So factoring in a "just a mile for tomorrow" I backwards mathed myself into a 2.1 mile run for today.

Today, I went to the yellow trail at RCSP for a change of scenery and because my fitness bucket list includes a trail race. Today I ran by feel but starting next week I will go back to using my heart rate monitor to keep me in a base building zone. I like the concept of heart rate training because it's more or less the same as keep smiling keep moving. If one must walk to stay in the zone so be it. One is still moving. The smiling part is hard though when the walking happens two feet into the run. And given my low level of aerobic fitness I'm sure that is exactly what will happen. :(

Hiking, boot camp and sporadic strength training on my own keep my body ready to go but my heart needs way more work. It let me know this when it went flip-pity flop less than a half mile in. :( :( Flip-pity flop is for the Amtrak Board not for running.

I wasn't going to make this effort public because I have failed so many times in the last three years it's embarrassing. But accountability is important so by sharing I'm hoping one of these times it will stick.

I need new running shoes. I've been alternating between two pair of older ones which are ok for biking or boot camp but not for running. There is a blister trying to form on my right foot. I generally get the blisters and hip flexor pain when my shoes are done. The hot spot made it difficult to do some movements at boot camp this week because I ran before class. The hot spot also caused me to change up my footfall during my trail adventure this morning trying to avoid the sensation and this happened.....

*sigh* I'm an idiot. It's not horrible. I can put weight on it but it's not happy flexing to the right. I'm investing some time in RICE therapy to hopefully speed up the healing process.

Maybe the running gods are telling me to give it up? (Sticks fingers in her ears) I'm just not ready to listen yet.