11/17/2014 to 11/23/2014

November 19, 2014

I did 4 miles at Upper Campus today. It was bitterly cold (22 degrees with windchill) and already getting dark when I set off. Still, it turned out to be an okay run, and as usual, I warmed up after the first few minutes. I started off on the loop around the soccer fields. This time I skipped Hospital Hill since there was a trail I wanted to check out before it got dark. And the end of the loop around the soccer fields, I headed off to the grassy XC trail. It wasn't dark yet and I could still see where I was going. That gradually began to change though. I kept imagining that I saw deer and other animals out of the corner of my eye, but they turned out to be nothing. I did eventually see a couple of real deer bounding in the field ahead of me near the end of the XC trail. When I got to the end of the XC trail, I turned left instead of straight or right, which is something I have only done a couple of times before. The terrain was worse than I thought it would be: there were tufts of knee-high grass everywhere and the trail was full of bumps and dips. I half-wondered if I was really running through a trail or just a field. Still, I pushed on, eager to explore a trail that I can see from Pennsylvania Route 487 (but have never explored) that I thought would connect to the trail I was on. I eventually got to a point where the "trail" dead-ended into a wall of forests and hedges and further progress downhill was impossible. I did spot another trail that headed east, but it soon arrived in what appeared to be someone's backyard. Out of options, I turned around and headed back to the main part of Upper Campus. The climb was pretty steep and wasn't made any easier by the terrain and the darkness. Once I got out of there, I went straight and followed the XC Trail until it looped around to its starting point and then returned to the main part of Upper Campus. By the time I got back to the soccer fields, I had almost hit 4 miles, so I ran a bit on the upper fields until I  reached the 4-mile point.

My total pace was 7:28/mile and my time was about 29:50. My splits were something like 7:08, 7:19, 8:22, and 7:02. The third mile was the one where I had to navigate the steep trail that was not really a trail, hence the slow pace. A few days later, I learned that that wasn't the trail that goes down to Pennsylvania Route 487.

November 20, 2014

4 miles at Upper Campus again, but on a slightly different course than last year. I thought the temperature would be milder than yesterday, but it wasn't and there was a furious wind. My mom (who was walking there with the dog) admonished me for wearing shorts in such cold weather. Still, I eventually warmed up. I started with the soccer fields, but did Hospital Hill this time. After doing the loop around the soccer fields, I headed off towards the XC trail. The sun had set, but there was still some light and I made it to the end with the trail without incident. I decided to loop back to the other trailhead like last time. At the beginning of this segment of the trail, there were three deer standing maybe ten yards away. Thankfully, none of them attacked me as I ran past. Indeed, they mostly ignored me. The going was slow as I headed back to the the trailhead. It was getting very dark and the trail was a bit uneven, so going was slow. I sped up a bit once I got to the power line right of way that led back to the main part of Upper Campus. It was pretty much completely dark by that point, although a dim orange post-sunset light still lingered on the western horizon. When I got back to the soccer fields, I still had three quarters of a mile remaining. I followed the loop around the soccer fields, heading a short distance down into the lower fields before taking a sharp turn onto a short trail that connected with the Hospital Hill trail. I ran on that for a few moments before returning to the upper soccer fields. I had a fast finish and reached the four mile point and stopped a couple of minutes later.

My shins hurt a bit on this run, but it was nothing too bad. Perhaps it was caused by running on the frozen ground, which was harder than normal. Anyway, the run was pretty fast. My total time was about 29:20 and my mile pace was 7:20. My mile splits were also extremely close together. Normally my fastest and slowest miles differ by 20 to 40 seconds, but this time they differed by three seconds. My first mile split was 7:20, my second was 7:21, my third was 7:18, and my fourth was 7:19. It was probably a pure coincidence; I doubt I could have kept such a consistent pace if I had been trying to.

November 21, 2014

Upper Campus in the bitter cold and dark again. I did 5 miles. This was the first grinder in weeks. I started out on the soccer fields before heading into the Mankiller trails (grass trails that are so-named by local runners due to their length and steepness), which is something I haven't done in weeks. When I got to the bottom of the hill, I continued straight instead of immediately turning right and heading up to the top. The offshoot wasn't as well-maintained as the main Mankiller trail, but it was runnable. In fact, I ran on that trail last winter, but I'm not sure if I went all the way. This time I did go all the way. The trail followed the
prepetually-closed-to-traffic part of Arbutus Park Road and turned north continuing to follow it. I was treated to views of a ravine beyond the road at points. Eventually, Arbutus Park Road veered away and my trail continued up the hill. I saw an even less maintained trail that headed off towards the Jessica S. Kozloff Apartments, but I didn't follow it. There wasn't enough light left. Instead I returned to the top of the Mankiller trails and from there back to the soccer fields. I then went over to the XC trails on the other side of campus. The going was slow here; it had gotten completely dark. When I got to the fields, I turned right instead of left and pretty quickly ended up at the end of the trail. I had nearly two miles left by the time I got back to the soccer fields again and couldn't think of anywhere interesting to run. I wandered randomly around the upper soccer fields for a while. It was pitch black except for a dim orange glow on the western horizon, which faded to dark purple by the time I hit 5 miles.

My time was 39:56 and my pace was 7:59/mile. The first mile was 7:42, which was okay. The second was 8:34. Presumably it was so slow because I was climbing up the Mankiller offshoot on the second mile. The third mile was 8:06, probably because it was dark and I was still running on trails. I sped up on the fourth and fifth miles: 7:53 and 7:37, respectively.

I'm kicking around carrying a flashlight on future runs at dusk, but I really look forward to when it gets warm and light again.

November 22, 2014

4.7 miles at the Myron Hopewell Memorial Park in the late afternoon. My dad and Mike Shepard also ran there at the same time, but we went at different paces and apparently on different courses, so we didn't see each other after the first half mile. This was an epic run. I went there with the dog three years ago and didn't have a great impression of it for some reason. But it rivals the nearby Stewardship Trails in terms of sheer awesomeness. From the parking lot, I headed out onto a trail called "Down and Dirty", which was broad, flat, and not particularly dirty. It wasn't long before I saw a narrower trail heading upwards. Being the adventurous sort of person that I am, I immediately turned onto the trail and check it out. This trail is called "Up and Out". There was some interesting terrain here: a lot of short but super-steep hills. It also curved
and snaked around a lot. At one point I came to a bridge marked "Danger". The bridge didn't look particularly dangerous, just slightly crooked, so I sallied forth and didn't fall into a pit of snakes or anything like that. Later on there was an unmarked bridge and after a bit less than three quarters of a mile, I arrived in an open field with great views of Danville. I was still doing a fast pace at that point, but that was about to change. I soon reentered the woods and began an arduous climb up the nearby ridge. I was now on a trail called "Junk in the Trunk", which is marked "Expert" on the map of the trails. I soon saw why. A 45-degree slope confronted me almost as soon as I entered the woods. I made it up that and the trail switchbacked for about a minute. Then I arrived at an even more difficult climb: a 60-degree (by my reckoning) slope that went up 20 meters. I didn't run that bit; I climbed it using my hands as much as my feet. I almost slipped a few times, but I did make it up. There were two more similar slopes after that, after which the trail reverted to conventional hills as it snaked around the north side of the ridge. Eventually, I got to the top of the ridge. Along the way, I pondered about the fact that there is apparently a bike race on these trails. There's no way in hell that I would dare to take my bike on more than the easiest 10 percent of that trail. I also noticed huge piles of half-buried trash as I climbed to the top of the ridge. It looked like a hundred people had passed by without cleaning up after themselves. There was less trash once I got to the top of the ridge and it was easier
going from there. I had planned to turn around at the 2.5 mile mark and I was getting close to it by that point. I hoped that I could get to the end of the trail before then. About a quarter of a mile before the 2.5 mile mark, I arrived in a clearing and the trail went in two ways. One way went straight and the other went down and to the left. I chose the left turn, which was an access road according to the map. I'd dispute the road part, but at least it was broad and grassy and not too steep. As I drew close to the 2.5 mile point, the end of the trail was not in site. Finally, right as I hit 2.5, I came around a bend and saw a real road about a hundred meters ahead. It was empty and desolate, but it was a road. It seemed like there was no one else within a mile of the place. But I had reached the end of the trail. Distance: 2.57 miles. I stopped momentarily to rejoice and then began heading back.

The climb back up the access road was slow and steep, but it was not that long. I returned to the Junk in the Trunk trail and began running back, meandering around the top of the ridge the same way I came. The light was beginning to go and I was a bit concerned about being out on such difficult and unfamiliar trails in the dark, especially since the trail was only a foot or two wide in places. Presently I arrived at the north side of the ridge again and began heading down. I started passing half-buried trash again, at one point seeing a toilet bowl sitting in the middle of the woods (seriously). Eventually I reached the first of the 45+ degree slopes. The light was really going by this point and the trail had a sharp turn beyond which was a steep cliff. My momentum would've carried me right over the cliff if I had run down that, so I sacrificed my dignity (no one was watching at least) and slid down the hill. The next slope was the toughest one (the 60-ish degree slope). There was no way I could've made it down it without slipping, so I left the path briefly and rejoined it at the bottom of the slope. I managed to run down the next two slopes and soon after that I was back in the fields. At this point, I was on the Up and Out path again, but I inadvertently diverged from the route I took on the way out (though I was still on the Up and Out trail). I ran through the fields before reentering the woods. It was almost completely dark by this point, but fortunately I only had about half a mile to go. It didn't take long for me to return to the Down and Dirty trail. Somehow I turned right even though the trailhead was just 50 feet to the left. It wasn't long before I realized my mistake and headed back to the parking lot. I wrapped up with a short distance on the field next to the parking lot.

My total time was 44:51 and my pace was 9:33/mile. My first mile was 8:36 and my second (the one with all the crazy slopes) was 10:21. Either my third or my fourth mile was 9:35 and I don't remember my time on the other mile. I look forward to coming back to this trail. I plan to do an epic run on Thanksgiving, so these trails might be a good place to do it.

Later I learned the explanation for all the trash: the course is on top of a former landfill. The views were superb though. The route was very convoluted and I don't know the trails, so instead of a map of my run, here's a map of the whole trail system:

November 23, 2014.

8.1 miles today. It's the longest I've run since late July. Perfect weather: 51 degrees; I ran in shorts and short sleeves. I did this run out at the Montour Preserve last week. This time I started at the visitors' center and ran up the road to the dam where the Chillisuagi Trail begins. I then headed out along the dam, going
counter-clockwise like last week. I managed to go around the worst of the goose droppings this time, although I did have to walk gingerly for about 20 feet. I then continued on my way, following the trail around Heron Cove and on to the pine plantations. The trail was kind of soggy and I kicked up a lot of dirt behind me. I turned onto the Ridgefield Point Loop around 2 miles in. That trail went down to the lake on a grassy trail before looping back towards the Chillisuagi Trail. Parts were strangely slushy and I got slightly muddy on this stretch. It largely stopped when I returned to the Chillisuagi Trail, where I went down a steep hill and up another steep hill before crossing Middle Branch Chillisquaque Creek. I then began heading back towards the dam and then down the road to the visitors' center. Then I did the little loop called the Wildlife Management Trail before heading across the road to the Goose Woods Trail and the Braille Trail. It was an interesting little trail. Parts of it had a woodchip surface, parts had a grass surface, and still other parts had a dirt surface. I ran alongside a mostly frozen pond for a while before the trail went into the woods. It crossed Middle Branch Chillisquaque Creek a couple of times before turning back and heading along the other side of the pond. When I got back to the road I crossed it and followed a short continuation of the Goose Woods Trail over to the parking lot. I still had a ways to go, so I crossed the parking lot and did the short Hummingbird Trail. En route I noticed a grassy offshoot and followed it. It pretty quickly spit me out on a trail right below the dam. I headed back to the road and down to the visitors' center. Here, I decided to finish up with one final loop on the Wildlife Management Trail. I was beginning to fade by this point and it was still slushy, but I managed to have a fast finish. I stopped near the trailhead.

For once, I actually remember all my stats. My time was 1:00:16 and my pace was 7:26/mile. Strangely that was 11 seconds per mile faster than last week though I didn't feel as strong. My mile splits were 7:18, 7:24, 7:41, 7:27, 7:27, 7:19, 7:42, and 7:13. (I don't know exactly what pace I did the last one tenth of a mile at)