The Quabbin

Since I have a dentist appointment tomorrow morning in Amherst, MA, Lauren and I left a day early to hang out with her parents.  Besides their great company and great food (every meal they serve deserves a blog of its own), one of the good things about going out to western mass is running around Quabbin.  The Quabbin Reservoir is one of the largest man-made public water supplies in the United States, and it’s right in Lauren’s backyard.  It has plenty of service roads and hiking trails and the scenery is exhilarating.  For running purposes, it great for training because of the steep rolling hills and clean air.

 

My thought after yesterday’s run was to just get a few miles in to recover from yesterday’s long run. However, the Quabbin and Mother Nature both had different plans.  As I had decided to get ready for my run, it started snowing (again...) pretty hard.  Undeterred, I laced up the running shoes and left for the Quabbin.

 

My run started out over flat stretch overlooking the reservoir from on both sides of the service road.  If it was a nice day, you would be able to see nothing but water for at least a half mile both directions before your gaze moved upwards to consume the panoramic view of the mountains.  Today, it was completely overcast and everything seemed drab.  After the first 3/4’s of a mile, the path turned to a 2 mile climb that seems as steep as Heartbreak Hill (we’ll be discussing this as we get closer to race day).  I don’t know exactly how steep it is, but if I’m working hard to keep a 9 1/2 minute/mile pace within the first 10 minutes of my run, well, it is definitely not flat.  After close to 3 miles and 25 tough minutes, the next 2.5 miles were steep rolling hills.  By now, the snow had already accumulated more than an inch, and had provided a challenge of not slipping or sliding on a slick patch of the road.  After completing the next 2.5 miles, I decided this was far enough and turned around to run back to my car.

 

The run back was much easier, especially the last 2.5 miles where I got to enjoy the fruits of my labor and run downhill  A lot of experienced runners will say to take it easy running downhill because it’s tough on your legs and it’s an easy way to get injured.  I happen to think that it’s always better to finish a workout sooner rather than later, so the faster I can go, the better.  Plus, it’s a good way to work on your turnover and get a little speed work in.  But that’s just me.  On my way down the hill, I had an audience of deer watch me run by.  They, as probably most other people, wonder why the hell I was running in 25 degree weather while it was snowing.   Sometimes, I wonder that myself.  But until someone convinces me otherwise, I think I’ll continue to do it.

 

I finished my run in 1 hour and 23 minutes, and covered 10 miles.  The Quabbin didn’t exactly prove to be an easy recovery run, but it was fun.   Now I’m looking forward to a good dinner, a beer, and maybe even making some catty comments while watching the Oscars....