A Bit Of An Update And Something New!

   I haven't posted anything on Ragged Cap Runner now for about the last three weeks.
   Basically, this has been because there's been very little to post about---no running, no hiking. This has been due to a couple of things---Christmas and what seemed like a month-long chest cold. On top of everything else, winter descended with a vengeance and I was not quite prepared for it. 
   At some point, about a week ago, the lungs began to cope a little better and mentally I felt like I was ready to get back into a more athletic existence. Co-incidentally with the arrival of winter, I was given a wonderful opportunity to try out the new snowshoes my son, Ben, had given me for Christmas.
   I've never had the snowshoeing experience before so I decided just to head for the backyard and give it a go, no-one else around to watch me flounder. Although I didn't actually flounder, my inexperience with tightening the bindings properly led to one of the snowshoes falling off and me being unable to get it back on securely. Lesson learned. I then ended up spending a few days before another opportunity to try them again presented itself. 
   I headed to Springbank Park here in London, determined to give them another go. I'd thought long and hard about putting them on properly and finally was out there, snowshoeing about, for the first time. Unfortunately, in the meantime, we had had a bit of a thaw and the deep snow was mostly gone. After the thaw, it had gotten really cold again and so there was all this crunchy shallow snow to walk on. It was still fun, though, and I learned a lot in a short amount of time. Almost fell once or twice because one shoe was on top of the other as I was attempting to take a step but I imagined that this was the kind of thing all first-timers likely experience.
   The other thing I started doing once I felt better was return to the gym. Before Christmas, I had "re-activated" my extremely under-used Goodlife Fit4Less membership and had been  going somewhat regularly. This fell by the wayside for the same reasons the other things did. Feeling better now, though, and I'm right back at it, at least every other day. I'm now at the point where I really look forward to it so today I headed there even though I was just there yesterday! Unheard of!
   

Finally (and this is sort of big news), I've taken the step of joining the Ontario Masters Athletics (OMA). This is a provincial association which runs track and field events in Ontario for athletes who are over the age of thirty and all the way up to people in their nineties!
   Why I've done this is that one of these days I want to sign up for a short sprint, like, say, anywhere from fifty to a hundred meters. I've always wanted to do this (almost desperately) and joining OMA will give me this opportunity. As much as I enjoy distance-running, there is something about running real fast for a short distance that has always appealed to me. With this membership, the chance to do so will be right there. If I decide to take it. This has given me a little more impetus for getting in shape, hence part of the reason for hitting the gym more regularly.
   Now, having said all this, I have a bum knee. I injured it street-running back in April and I've been working on it ever since. I'm able to run through the forest pretty quickly and it feels quite structurally sound but I'm just not sure what might happen if I went full-out. We've had quite the thaw lately and today I stopped back in at Springbank to try and test it out. I was certainly able (after a warm-up) to run at about 75% but was afraid to go any faster. The legwork at the gym has been somewhat irritating it so I've at least momentarily eliminated that part of the training. I have a physical next week and will talk to my doctor about the whole process and see what he suggests.
   In the meantime, there is an OMA mini-meet coming up on Feb. 11 in Toronto which I would really like to enter, as they have a 60 meter sprint division. This would give me a bit of an idea where I'm at, sprint-wise, with all the other guys in their sixties and also tell me just how much more training I still need to do. As long as the knee holds out...

P.S. I wrote this post a couple of days ago and, after that little bit of running I did, things are now not well with my right knee. Positions I was once able to get it into comfortably are now no longer comfortable and entering athletic events any time in the near future is likely not too feasible. This has me understandably frustrated and depressed. However, I know people who are unable to walk and who would be extremely happy to be getting around with a sore knee like mine. I salute those people and know that my little knee problem is really nothing.  BB
   
   

My 2017 Year- In - Review!

   

It's been a long time since I've done one of those "year end reviews" that are so popular this time of year. It never really seemed as though I had anything terribly interesting to tell people about and I don't really set goals for myself so it never was possible to tell people whether I actually achieved them or not. So, this year, once again I wasn't going to bother with the re-cap process.

Medway Valley ESA

   Then I stopped and thought about what kind of a year I'd had. It occurred to me that, for a change, I had done some things I'd never done before and I actually had set some goals throughout the year and then attained them! Because of this, the thought of going back and doing a little rehashing seemed more enjoyable than it usually does. So here I go!
   I spent most of the early part of 2017 getting acquainted with the trail systems right here in London, Ontario. At the end of 2016, my interest in trail-running was piqued and I promised myself I would spend as much time out on the trails as I possibly could, as soon as I could. 

Sifton Bog ESA

   To this end, I made it a goal to visit each of London's seven Environmentally Significant Areas (ESAs) and run the trails there. This past winter was a mild one for this area and getting out on the trails was relatively easy and more or less painless. On the weekends and whenever I had a day off I would simply visit the next ESA on my list---I was already quite familiar with the ones at my end of town and had already run them many times. Eventually, it took a little over a month (parts of February and March) to get all seven ESAs properly run. I even ran a couple of them twice.
   

Meadowlily ESA

It was during this time that I also had the opportunity to try out the new Camelbak I'd gotten for Christmas. At the end of 2016, I'd run into hydration issues while out on the trails (I sweat a lot) and I knew that if I was going to spend as much time running the trails as I really wanted, then I would need a more viable form of hydration. The Camelbak worked just fine and I was excitedly looking forward to the Spring and Summer.

Westminster Ponds ESA....can you spot the teddy bear??

   Spring finally came and early in April I decided I would go out for a street run and see just where all this winter trail-running had taken me, in the way of endurance. I started out from my house and ran about four houses down before I heard a pop in my knee and felt the pain. Thank goodness I was that close to home and was able to limp my way back.
   I was actually able to get into my doctor the following day and was diagnosed with a strained or pulled gastrocnemius muscle. This is one of the long muscles which travels up the back of your leg and connects in under your kneecap. He prescribed a couple weeks of rest, a couple of weeks of walking and then a couple of weeks of light running.

Thames Valley Trail

   I did the resting. Then it was time for the walking. Back at the end of 2016, I had heard about something called the Thames Valley Trail. It was a 110

Thames Valley Trail

kilometer trail which started about 30K southwest of London, worked its way up through the city and then on to the town of St. Marys, northeast of London. I had already been intrigued with the idea of hiking the Trail and when the doctor told me that walking would become part of my knee's recovery process, things just seemed to fall into place.
   I then spent slightly over a month hiking all 15 sections of the trail. Several times I was able to hike more than one section at a time so, altogether, this came to nine different outings.

Thames Valley Trail

   It was quite the learning experience! I learned a fair bit about what my 64-year-old body was capable of (and sometimes what it wasn't) and I walked it entirely on my own, which also made it a very contemplative experience. There are many such trails here in Ontario and I now have the yen to hit more of them!
   September came and, after a couple of setbacks with  my knee, I was finally able to try actual running again. I had tweaked my knee a couple of times while out hiking and playing golf and because of

Thames Valley Trail

this it took me this long to actually tentatively run again.
   My plan was to get out the first time and run 1 kilometer. As long as things were okay, the next time out I would run 1K farther and so on, back up to a respectable mileage. Eventually, through September to early December, I worked my way back up to running 9K. 
   At that point, winter and Christmas hit and, if I had any free time that I could have used for running, I spent it shopping, or some other Christmas activity. 

Thames Valley Trail

    Round about this time, however, I started going back to the gym again! I had had a Goodlife membership for about two years and hadn't used it once. Totally ridiculous, obviously, and so I more or less forced myself to get back into it. Having done so, however, I found I rather enjoyed it and am looking forward to getting back to it in the new year.
   So, this is my re-cap of my 2017. When I looked back at it, I realized that I actually had made several goals and then followed through on all of them.

And ME---at the END of the
Thames Valley Trail!

   I had a goal of running all of London's ESAs and I had done that. I had a goal of hiking the Thames Valley Trail and I had done that. I had a goal of getting back to decent mileage during trail runs and I had done that. I had a goal of getting back into the gym and, lo and behold, I had done that as well!
   I am now wondering what 2018 will bring. For sure, I want to explore more hiking trails in Ontario and I have to admit that the Bruce Trail is high on my list. Part of me even wants to hike somewhere with a tent strapped to my back so I can spend the night and then keep on hiking in the morning. I definitely want to run more, and longer, trails. There are some snowshoeing experiences that await. There are more trips to the gym in my future and, at some point, I really need to get out and play some ball hockey with the younger guys.
   So I guess all of the above are my goals for 2018 and, having stated them here, I will now be able to go back around this time next year and tell you all how many of them I was able to attain. In the meantime, I hope that 2018 brings only happiness and self-fulfillment to you all! 
   Cheers!