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Happy Trails
Jul. 15th, 2022 06:32 amThis past week or so has been very interesting.
Last weekend we picked up and drove over to Mississippi and bought a camper. We've been discussing a camper for a while, and Fox tracked down a Rockwood A-frame one with the solid sides and stuff, at Paw Paw's Campers and Cars. Formerly Paw Paw's Camper City, whose ads I used to see all the time on TV when I lived in Louisiana. So I was pretty stoked to actually be there, LOL. I'd really been smitten with the idea of camping, and I think Fox had decided that if we're going to camp we might as well be somewhat comfortable while doing it. So we brought it home and are almost done checking everything out. We popped it up and hooked it up to the house power, the AC works fine, got the fridge running, and basically made sure everything is really in good working order. It's very new - built almost exactly a year ago. The people who owned it bought it, decided they REALLY like camping, and moved almost immediately up to a larger RV.
So my first real camping trip ever will be coming up next month. It's at Disney's Wilderness Lodge, but camping is camping and I don't see why my first experience shouldn't be a relatively easy one. If we didn't have this coming up our next idea was to reserve a spot at Gold Head for the weekend and, yes, literally camp out ten miles from the house.
We've also decided (I think) to try running a 100-miler this February. Registration opens Monday, and I'll see what Fox thinks he can manage, since they have a 45 mile option and a 100 mile distance, though the 45-miler looks harder because of the terrain it's run on. The 100 spends a lot of its time on the Florida Trail. Anyway, I actually have enough time to go through a specific 100-mile training plan with a couple of weeks to spare, so I'm kinda sorta confident I can be ready for it.
Yesterday morning, I coated myself in Backwoods OFF and trekked over to the state forest. I need to bug Fox about mowing a trail through our property some time. But after getting through our fence, there was a maybe quarter-mile walk over some rutty, jank as hell "roads" to get to the trails in the forest itself. These are access roads of some sort, but the one I went down had several large holes in it - real axle killers. One was about the size of a washing machine. Since we're now using washing machines to measure sinkholes. I averaged something like a 16 minute pace per mile, which is slow for me normally, but seemed appropriate on rough trail. I've been reading some ultra bloggers and know that there's zero shame in walking, and it's actually expected and a realistic ultra strategy. Honestly, some stretches were about what I expect from the road I live on and run routinely, and some were really rough - lots of big rocks and chunks of concrete, or very rutted with awkward holes and unsure footing.
If I do a much longer run in the state forest, I'll either really want Fox to bush-hog the path back there and offer to help (though I have no idea what I can do to help, other than offer moral support) or drive. Which seems stupid, because driving, it's fifteen minutes or so to go around to the state road, then back off onto a sand road again for several miles to the official trail head. Although the benefit there is being able to loop around and use my truck like an aid station.
Anyway, once I know what I'll be running in February, I'll adjust my training as needed. I don't know how much detail folks would be interested in seeing but I can post some basic Garmin data, distance, pace, that sort of stuff, along with my normal run reports. (I saw a bear, lol)
I barely got five hours of sleep last night though so I'm going to eat breakfast, try to not be a total zombie today, and get the Dutch oil on my hiking staff so I can take some pics. I got it whittled and sanded down, and I have some hiking medallions on order for trails and places I've already gone.
Last weekend we picked up and drove over to Mississippi and bought a camper. We've been discussing a camper for a while, and Fox tracked down a Rockwood A-frame one with the solid sides and stuff, at Paw Paw's Campers and Cars. Formerly Paw Paw's Camper City, whose ads I used to see all the time on TV when I lived in Louisiana. So I was pretty stoked to actually be there, LOL. I'd really been smitten with the idea of camping, and I think Fox had decided that if we're going to camp we might as well be somewhat comfortable while doing it. So we brought it home and are almost done checking everything out. We popped it up and hooked it up to the house power, the AC works fine, got the fridge running, and basically made sure everything is really in good working order. It's very new - built almost exactly a year ago. The people who owned it bought it, decided they REALLY like camping, and moved almost immediately up to a larger RV.
So my first real camping trip ever will be coming up next month. It's at Disney's Wilderness Lodge, but camping is camping and I don't see why my first experience shouldn't be a relatively easy one. If we didn't have this coming up our next idea was to reserve a spot at Gold Head for the weekend and, yes, literally camp out ten miles from the house.
We've also decided (I think) to try running a 100-miler this February. Registration opens Monday, and I'll see what Fox thinks he can manage, since they have a 45 mile option and a 100 mile distance, though the 45-miler looks harder because of the terrain it's run on. The 100 spends a lot of its time on the Florida Trail. Anyway, I actually have enough time to go through a specific 100-mile training plan with a couple of weeks to spare, so I'm kinda sorta confident I can be ready for it.
Yesterday morning, I coated myself in Backwoods OFF and trekked over to the state forest. I need to bug Fox about mowing a trail through our property some time. But after getting through our fence, there was a maybe quarter-mile walk over some rutty, jank as hell "roads" to get to the trails in the forest itself. These are access roads of some sort, but the one I went down had several large holes in it - real axle killers. One was about the size of a washing machine. Since we're now using washing machines to measure sinkholes. I averaged something like a 16 minute pace per mile, which is slow for me normally, but seemed appropriate on rough trail. I've been reading some ultra bloggers and know that there's zero shame in walking, and it's actually expected and a realistic ultra strategy. Honestly, some stretches were about what I expect from the road I live on and run routinely, and some were really rough - lots of big rocks and chunks of concrete, or very rutted with awkward holes and unsure footing.
If I do a much longer run in the state forest, I'll either really want Fox to bush-hog the path back there and offer to help (though I have no idea what I can do to help, other than offer moral support) or drive. Which seems stupid, because driving, it's fifteen minutes or so to go around to the state road, then back off onto a sand road again for several miles to the official trail head. Although the benefit there is being able to loop around and use my truck like an aid station.
Anyway, once I know what I'll be running in February, I'll adjust my training as needed. I don't know how much detail folks would be interested in seeing but I can post some basic Garmin data, distance, pace, that sort of stuff, along with my normal run reports. (I saw a bear, lol)
I barely got five hours of sleep last night though so I'm going to eat breakfast, try to not be a total zombie today, and get the Dutch oil on my hiking staff so I can take some pics. I got it whittled and sanded down, and I have some hiking medallions on order for trails and places I've already gone.
