Goose Duck 10 Miler

Goose Duck
Originally uploaded by toadshade

Spring was in the air today, or at least in the mouths of songbirds. Most notably Cardinals and Chickadees were doing their mating calls. Heard the joyful burst of a Carolina Wren also. Took this picture of some geese on Sunview Lane. The run was good even though I was a little dehydrated and had some stomach problems. Fortunately there are plenty of places to duck into the woods for an emergency bathroom break. That's one reason I like running in more suburban rural neighborhoods. The Violets along the route have put out fresh green leaves and the crimson blush of the Red Maples is showing at the edges of the woods. Wild Mustard, Speedwells, Bittercress and Chickweeds were beginning to show up everywhere. I never tire of these yearly Spring visitors.

toadshade

The HeronWay Standard 6

Didn't have any wildflower or nature pictures so I thought I'd show this one of the birth of Aphrodite.  Pretty much decided to do the half marathon on April 10 out at the Village of Sandhills.  It will be an inaugural run so maybe I can start a new tradition.  I like Spring half marathons.  Rock Hill used to do one years ago that was just beautiful around the Winthrop Campus.  Lots of flowering Dogwoods and wildflowers and the temperature was just great.  Aiken used to do a 10 mile run in March through some of the more horse pasture areas.  Pretty muddy but beautiful.   Need to stay with my program of more weekly faster tempo runs and 10-12 miles on the weekends.  Ran a decent 6 mile tempo on my standard Heronway course.  Time was 58:49 at 9:49 per mile.

toadshade

Winter Birding Walk

Live Oak In Setting Sun
Originally uploaded by toadshade

Was a little sore today from the last two days run so I decided to do a 4 mile hike down at Southeast Park. Haven't walked this in a while and was pleasantly surprised by the number of birds out there. The huge flocks of Robins and Grackles dominated creating quite a racket. The Red-shouldered Hawks were calling pretty loudly too. The Yellow-rumped Warblers were out in numbers also and I've never seen as many Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers at one time. It was a great walk in 63 degree weather. Spring is just around the corner. Full list of birds is below:

Location: Southeast Park
Observation date: 2/21/10
Number of species: 21

Red-shouldered Hawk 1
Ring-billed Gull 3
Mourning Dove 2
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 3
Northern Flicker 1
Eastern Phoebe 1
Blue Jay 3
American Crow 5
Tufted Titmouse 1
Carolina Wren 1
Eastern Bluebird 2
American Robin 80
Northern Mockingbird 2
Yellow-rumped Warbler 11
Eastern Towhee 2
Chipping Sparrow 3
Song Sparrow 2
Northern Cardinal 2
Red-winged Blackbird 2
Common Grackle 300

toadshade

The Return of the Pansies 3 Miler

Pansy Rebirth
Originally uploaded by toadshade

Wanted to run a quick 3 miles to loosen up my muscles from yesterday's great interval run. I was a little tired and sore but did a decent tempo run at 28:00 minutes at 9:20 per mile.

Snapped a picture of my Pansies who bounced back stronger than ever after being buried under 5 inches of snow. It should be warmer for the next few days and hopefully I'll get some decent runs in for my half marathon training.

toadshade

The Pansy Snow Coffin 8 Mile Interval Run

This pic was taken during the snow last Friday night.  We don't get snow very often so I thought I'd include this picture of my Pansy planter covered with 5 inches of snow.  The slow melt the next day totally soaked the Pansies and actually did them good.  Ought to see them today!

Today is 1 hour and 12 minutes longer than it was at the Solstice and so I had plenty of time to run a tough hilly 8 mile interval run in the Ulmer Road Reflections area.  I haven't done intervals in a while and was surprised at how well my overall time was.  1:15:30 for 8 miles at a 9:26 pace.  Felt good too!!  I think I have the distance down pat if I can fine tune with more short runs and some tempos.  It warmed up to almost 60 degrees and I ran my intervals on the straightaways and downhills.  Was running strong til the finish.  As a result my left leg is pretty sore but that's a good thing.  Need to do an intense 3 or 4 miles tomorrow and I'll be back in the swing of things.

toadshade

The Snowy 10 Miler

Well we finally got a decent snow.  It started Friday night and fell lightly all night.  Absolutely beautiful.  I ran the next day in the afternoon when it had mostly melted.  Did a pretty quick 10 mile run the next day stopping to take pictures of places I've seen so many times but never like this.  I especially love the snow rows.  Pipits, migratory frozen tundra birds were out there along with Eastern Meadowlarks.  The melting snow had the field good and wet and should help the soil with the coming Spring.  Hope they let the field lie fallow this year so the Toadflax, Henbits and Wild Mustards will take over and cover it with color.  Then we'll probably get more Dickcissels and hopefully they'll have a little wheat out there to attract the Bobolinks.  I need to get more regular with my running.  They're having a new Half Marathon out at the Villages of Sandhills on 4/10/10.  I have that distance easy, but I need to tighten up on speedwork and drop a few pounds.  Always good to have a goal!

toadshade

I Forgot All the Details 5 Miler

This is Bob the squirrel, connoisseur of anything that happens to find itself on the ground.  This was not taken the day of my run which was a 5 miler out at Henbit Fields at 48:28 at 9:42 per mile.  It was taken on 2/12/10 at the start of a beautiful snowfall which plopped about 6 inches of snow on the ground which mostly melted by the next day.  Bob is enjoying my sunflower seeds on the ground before the snows covered everything and he's sorta cute with snow on his back. If Bob could talk, he probably wouldn't.

I really can't remember anything about the run since it's such a late entry.

toadshade