My Local Training Route

This season for my marathon training, I find myself doing a particular little route more and more often, because part of it goes through some woods and it feels a bit like a hike (other than it is usually pitch dark when I am training). But the other day, I got in some rare daylight training and took a bunch of pictures, especially of the little wooded section.

You can read about it and see the photos here.

This morning, I started before 5AM and it was so dark that I had to slow down on the trail part. But when there is a moon shining, there is plenty of light to pick my way along the trail with pretty good vision. As spring gets nearer, I know I will hear birds, frogs, and toads on this part of the route, and even see a rabbit run across the path in the predawn darkness, so it will feel even more like a mini-hike!

Two Short Winter Coastal Hikes

I was back to the coast for the weekend. Saturday, the weather was so nice that I couldn't resist a short hike, even though I had run and walked 9+ miles that morning for Team in Training.

The Back Bay refuge dike trails are closed until April 1 to protect wintering waterfowl. So other than walking on the beach, one can only hike a few miles. It was nearly spring-like Saturday afternoon and we had a nice hike. Out in the bay, we could see hundreds of tundra swans - very pretty. We also saw a nice group of mallards in a pond. The sun striking the green heads of the drakes was striking. Here are a few of the sights:

Small fresh water pond. In warm weather, I often see bitterns and large turtles here.

Back Bay

Dead tree along the path through the marsh. There is a huge "widow maker" hanging from the top of the tree.

Dunes and the Atlantic Ocean

On Sunday, I returned to hike a few miles more, although the weather was at least 20 degrees colder, with a breeze. The large flocks of swans were not in evidence, although I did see some of these majestic birds. I hiked to a large blind overlooking the marsh, and there was a flock of several hundred Canada geese to be seen in the distance.

One unusual find was a dead nutria, nearly submerged but partially visible above the water in an impoundment. These large rodents are an exotic species, and like many exotics, are destructive to marsh habitats in North America. I found a branch and fished him out of the water - until then I couldn't tell if it were an animal of a big ball of vegetation. He was close to three feet long from the nose to the end of his tail. I was wondering if he could have been shot by refuge personnel, as he looked in good health (prior to death, of course) and clearly would not have drowned, being aquatic. Nothing had been feeding on him, so he had not been killed by a bobcat or a coyote. He had large bright yellow incisors. I did take some photos, but decided not to post them because maybe someone would find them too morbid.

Much prettier than a dead nutria were these tundra swans and the start of a sunset over Back Bay:

Correction!

I am pretty sure that my post that I called Snow Geese should have been called Tundra Swans. I got a good look, in good light with binoculars, at big flocks of similar sounding white birds, and they were clearly swans, not geese.

When I asked a refuge manager about it, he said that the swans there are tundra swans. In a few months, they will be migrating a couple of thousand miles to the Northern Canadian tundra. He told me that anecdotes from the 1950's say that the flocks of swans coming into Back Bay were so huge that they darkened the skies. That certainly tells some grim tales about wetland habitat loss.

14 Miler in Charlottesville

Today, part of our marathon team joined Team Charlottesville for a hilly and tough 14 miler. Enough of it went through scenic and rural areas that I decided to link the description and photos in my racing for a cure blog.

It was a fun outing, but tiring. It was nice to meet teammates from other parts of Virginia.

Hollywood Rapids

Our 11 mile team run today felt like a hike at times, passing on to Belle Isle and past the impressive Hollywood Rapids.

So I am linking to that post from my hiking blog for the many photos I took during this fun outing.

Gray Day at Back Bay

Despite yesterday’s cold 12+ miles marathon training, my legs were only slightly fatigued today. I guess I am slowly getting back in shape. So I decided a short hike in Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge was in order.

It was a cold, gray day there, but not nearly as cold as yesterday – probably 20 or more degrees warmer. Even so, sleet spit at times, and there was a bit of a wind chill. I didn’t bother to bring a camera or binoculars, figuring that I didn’t want to mess with the former, and really not the latter either. Most of the trails, especially the dike trail to False Cape, are closed through March, and there are limited chances to see wildlife. Turtles, snakes, and frogs are hibernating deep within the mud. Many of the more exotic birds have migrated for the winter. So I treated this as a hike for a little bit of exercise, with a remote chance of running into interesting animals or great scenery.

I could hear the haunting calls of hundreds of snow geese well out into the bay. Even without binoculars, I could see all the white dots in the distance. The distinctive calls of Canada geese blended in, along with some ducks quacking in the icy marshes. I spotted a belted kingfisher flying over one small pond, hearing its rattling call before I actually spotted the bird. I marveled that an animal could survive in this weather, solely on being able to catch small fish with its mouth.


Everything was grey – sky, water, horizon – but not my mood. It rarely is, and especially not when messing around in the outdoors, getting some fresh air and exercise. So while the exotic wildlife was not to be seen and the wind blew a bit, it just was fun to be outside for a few miles.

Snow Geese

I was at the beach for a couple of days, and today dawned cold and clear. After the rain of yesterday afternoon, and a tough ten miles for training Friday morning, it seemed like a good morning for a short winter hike. I was a little stiff and sore from the miles yesterday, and so took it at a very easy pace, hiking about 3 miles.

I was in Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge. I saw a pretty buck on the drive into the refuge - maybe the same one that I watched a couple of months ago. I parked the car - the only one in the parking lot. Shortly after starting my hike, I could hear the sounds of geese in the distance. Their calls got louder and louder. I startled about 20 ducks in the marsh, and they flew off, quacking as they flew.

When I reached an area with open views, I could see snow geese by the hundreds or even the thousands in the distance. They were from a couple of hundred yards to about a half mile away. It was quite a sight, and a beautiful sound to hear them all calling.





After hiking down to the observation blind - two lonely mallards were the only things I saw - I headed out for a little beach combing. Looks like Harry Potter (or maybe it was Lord Vol... er, He Who Shall Not be Named) got there first:

I found deer tracks all over while hiking, including these on the beach itself:

I also found the egg case of a whelk (the long thing that looks kind of like a snake skin or a backbone) and of skates. The egg cases of the later are sometimes called "Mermaid Purses":

Some Really Bad Advice

If you get Backpacker Magazine (highly recommended), you may have seen a little feature in the November 2008 issue whereby different staff members shared “honest-to-God dumb (I would say incredibly stupid) tips we’ve heard.” I thought I would share a few of these, along with my comments. Many of these are good ways to remove yourself from the gene pool, or at least make you wish that you had done so.

Rub snow on cold digits. (Nothing makes frostbite better than more cold!)

Spritz yourself with bear spray to repel grizzlies. (Great idea! Make sure to get some in your face, too! Bears are never attracted to unusual smells. Plus, nothing like a little pepper to make food taste more zesty!)

Swill whiskey to stay warm. (This really helps. Not only will the alcohol affect your circulation in such a way that you will cool faster, but you will get too drunk to notice when you freeze to death.)

Sleep with an axe in bear country. (Huh??? I guess bears really fear the smell of an axe.)

Burn ticks off with a match. (Just make sure you have a high tolerance for pain.)

Store food in tents to frustrate bears. (It is a known fact that bears do not understand how to use zippers, plus their claws are so long that they don’t have much manual dexterity, so this would really frustrate them. If you want to go one better, stow the food in your sleeping bag while you sleep – they will never figure that out!)

Leaves of three, wipe with me. (My guess is that if you try this once, you will never do so again.)

Scratch poison ivy till it bleeds then pour gas on it. (Sure, and if you still have that match from burning the tick off, use that at the very end. The effect is spectacular!)

Pitch your tent next to a bluff for the best views. (That way, when you get up to pee during the night, you can have a great last view on the way down.)

Pitch tent near campfire for warmth. (Great idea, but make sure you have an asbestos lined sleeping bag. An asbestos tent would be even better.)

When waterless, drink your urine. (Wow, what a great idea! Make your stressed kidneys work even harder by recycling all those toxins!)

Follow the trail, not the map. (What do those map makers know, anyway? Do you like being in the wilderness? This is a good way to make your stay there much longer or even permanent.)

Some Walkabouts in Richmond

Between Saturday morning marathon training for Team in Training and just general busy times, hiking in the mountains is a memory right now. But if you want to read about some combined walks and runs in Richmond, some with photos of the miles spent outdoors, you can see my main blog, Racing for a Cure.

Or you can go directly to these posts:

Saturday's (12/20) jingle bell run down Monument Avenue

Seven miler on 12/13 (no photos with this one, forgot my camera)

Training in Spider Land on 12/6

An Inspiring 50 Miler

If you want to be inspired and amazed, and read about an incredible story of human endurance and perseverence, go to this post on my primary blog, Racing for a Cure.

It is the story of my two friends, Holly and Amanda, and their nearly unbelievable 50 mile race done this past November 22, mostly in Maryland.

If you want to read about about an amazing non-human ultramarathoner, go to this post on my other blog.