Workout: 11-12 miles, team walk (sort of)

Time: ~3.5 hrs.

This morning was my first opportunity since deciding to walk the marathon to meet and train with the walking group. I exchanged emails with one of the walking coaches, got a copy of the weekend walking schedule, and just needed to know the time, since the schedule didn’t list any times. The coach I was in contact with was going to miss this morning’s walk, but she told me that unless otherwise noted, the walks always start at 8am. For directions, I had “Morristown Park off of I-287”. When I consulted Google Maps, the only park that seemed to fit that description was the Morristown National Historical Park, so that’s where I went.

Here’s some things I saw today while walking in the park:

• Several signs describing the historical significance of various places in the park, because during the Revolutionary War, this was one of the places where the Continental Army encamped. (A few miles away in a non-contiguous part of the park, is a site that Washington used as his headquarters.)
• A frozen pond.
• Creeks that were mostly frozen on top, but still flowing underneath.
• Four deer that I never saw until they were already bounding away as fast as they could.
• Two chipmunks, but given the cold and the fact that I’m pretty sure chipmunks hibernate, it was probably just a couple of leaves stirred up by the wind.

Here’s what I didn’t see:

• TnT Coaches or teammates.

I found the park to be a very pleasant and interesting place to walk, so failing to meet up with other TnT people was a little disappointing, but didn’t ruin my walk. By 7:55 am, there was only one other car in the main parking lot besides mine, and it didn’t contain any TnT’ers, so I drove around and found a couple other parking lots, but no one was in those, either. I finally called the cell phone number I had for the coach who was going to be there, to figure out where to go. The first thing she told me was that the start had been pushed back to 9 am. I asked which parking lot they would be meeting at, and she told me the one by the stables. I said thanks, ended the call, and consulted a park map to see where that parking lot was. On the map, I saw the various parking lots I had already found, but no mention of stables anywhere. So, with an hour to go until the group walk, and not even sure I had the right park, I had to decide what to do. It was almost an hour’s drive to get there, so I didn’t want to waste it by just giving up and going home. I had nothing to keep entertained with if I waited in my car for an hour, and I’d have to run it to keep warm because the temp was in the 20’s. I decided to take advantage of this nice big park I was in and just walk alone.

I started out walking on the roads, but then I realized it was sort of like going to Disneyland to walk around the parking lots. I knew there were lots of trails in this park, and even though I didn’t have a trail map, they were well marked and trail maps were posted where trails intersected roads, so I just turned onto the first trail I saw. I kept a brisk pace most of the time, but I also stopped to read historical markers whenever I saw one, so there was a fair amount of stoppage time. Among other things, I learned that the Continental Army spent an especially harsh winter encamped there in 1779-80. I’ve already forgotten whatever else I learned from the historical markers, but they seemed interesting when I was reading them.

I don’t spend much time thinking about the Revolutionary War, but it was sort of neat that the place I happened to be walking was imbued with historical significance. The signs described that winter of 1779-80 as being bitterly cold with lots of snow; we haven’t had much snow this year (yet), but it felt apropos to be walking these trails in 20-something degree whether. I finally got some good use out of my balaclava, and again appreciated the wisdom of dressing in moisture-wicking layers for cold-weather exercise. For the first couple of hours, I stayed warm as long as I kept moving, and when the temperature crept up a few degrees (but still below freezing), I got warm enough to remove one of my three top layers, my balaclava, and my mittens. (I still had a beanie to cover the tops of my ears, and thin glove liners to keep the hands comfy.) I’m guessing the Continental Army uniforms didn’t make much use of moisture-wicking fabrics. Gotta love technology.

There were basically two parts to my walk. The first part was a sort of haphazard route where I just followed my whim and whatever trail I saw, but with a general idea of heading away from the Visitor Center (near the entrance where I parked) and then back. Since I wasn’t on a marked route, I don’t really know what the mileage was, but based on my time and perceived effort, I’d estimate that that first part of my walk at approx. 4-5 miles. By the time I got back to the Visitor Center, it was no longer locked up, so I went in and got a trail map. One of the trails I had walked a portion of already was called the “Grand Loop Trail”, and the mileage for the full loop was 6.5 miles, so I decided to walk the whole thing as the second part of my walk.

If you love long walks in the woods, and seeing frozen creeks and bounding deer, you’d love this walk. There was enough snow on the ground to make it scenic, but not enough to impede the walk in any way. When the trail passed a small frozen pond, I very carefully tested my weight on it, first with one foot on the shore, and then both feet on the ice, ready to drop flat or jump for land if I heard even a hint of cracking ice. I could see a stick frozen solid in the ice a few feet away, which offered enough perspective to see that it was pretty solidly frozen. I stood five or six feet out on the ice - just for the novelty of standing on an actual frozen pond - before retreating to land to continue my walk. A couple minutes later, I had a higher vantage point of the pond from a switchback in the trail, and saw a guy and his dog walk across the full width of the pond. The guy threw something for his dog to chase across the ice, and it was hilarious to see the dog when it tried to slow down go skidding out of control.

I didn’t think the terrain was difficult, but I wouldn’t have wanted to try running on it. For one thing, it was pretty hilly - hilly enough that by the end, my knee hurt (but not as bad as from running). For another, the surface itself had lots of irregularities and rocks and such that were easy to negotiate at a walking pace, but would be more hazardous to a runner. That gave me another reason to appreciate this location - I never would have seen it if I were still training to run.

So, my morning started off with the initial disappointment of getting signals crossed and not getting to meet and walk with other TnT walkers, but aside from that, it was an entirely pleasant way to spend a morning. I look forward to having more like this one, but hopefully with company to share it with.