After two weeks of nursing the ankle I decided to hit the trails yesterday given the morning was perfect with moderately warm temps and plenty of sunshine. I'd head to Martha Deering first and turn around immediately as the trails are still a sheer coating of ice. Plan B was Brierly where the trails were wonderful which is funny considering both trails are in town so interesting to see how conditions differ and guessing it's because Brierly has less tree cover so more melting. Much of the trails were as free of snow as the photo above. Sure you'll all notice the cute little pink flamingos on my T shirt which is another addition to my bird collection and got it for $3.00 Win/Win!
Much of the water at Brierly is still frozen but did flush a couple of Hooded Mergansers near one body of water.
Bird song would be everywhere along the trail with many singing cardinals, juncos and of course chickadees. Highlight around here would be hearing some singing Brown Creepers which is always welcome given the beauty of their song.
Snow and ice was still found in many spots including the one above. Did make for a pretty pic though and the ice really made the green moss pop so of course I had to take a picture!
Some of the trails were really muddy with standing water. Love this spot here and became very familiar with it as it was one of the best trails to snowshoe run on given the snowmobile rs kept it up. Also a good place to flush a Ruffed Grouse which I did earlier in the year.
The melting snow made the rivers swell making music to the ears with that and the long song of an American Tree Sparrow nearby. Hearing them sing is such a treat as we don't have them during breeding season so when I hear it I always stop and listen.
I'd be at 4 miles by the time I got here and realize I got myself good and lost (an annual tradition at Brierly for me). The lack of snow makes following the trails a lot more difficult so decided to try the trails I remember from last spring which made it worse and wound up in one of those continuous loops I've been known to do.
So had to humble myself to find the local road and call my son to come pic me up! While waiting there'd be birds everywhere including quite a few Eastern Bluebirds like the one above.
All in all I'd get in 5.5 miles of which most was running and have no ankle issues at all so thinking all the rest I gave to the ankle has paid off and can go back to running again which was indeed missed.
Besides that the rest of the week was rather uneventful which is why I didn't bother with a blog post as there's only so many posts you can do about the stair well. Speaking of which I'm back to my 80 flights a day and have increased my speed considerably. Have yet to time myself but have that planned within the next two weeks to see if my new techniques are paying off.
Sleep's been a challenge which stresses me out as I'm now neurotic about getting in at least 7 hours a night as it's one of the best things you can do for recovery. You see my son brought home a dog who goes by the name of Barney. He's still a pup and in the process of being crate trained which he hates. He also hates it when Brandon isn't home and barks in protests. My son just started working the overnight UPS shift which means occasional barking from Barney at 2 o'clock in the morning which gets me up of course. The first night I put on meditative music to drown him out which seemed to have worked but the 2nd night it was much worse and stuffed toilet paper in my ears hoping that would work and all it did was make more muffled barking.
So plan C was carefully planned on my part as you all know how much I can complicate even the simplest of things. I got myself some ear plugs, dug out my anti stress meditation mask as it only seemed appropriate with my meditative music! Now back to 7 hours sleep a night even if the ear plus seems to fall out of my ears in the middle of the night.
Now for another boring work week. Hoping all the rain we are having this weekend gets rid of the remaining ice on the trails so I can get back out there next weekend. Spring is waking up the earth and I want to be out there as much as I can to welcome it back.
Take care all.
No comments:
Post a Comment