Sunday, February 12, 2012

Frozen Celery Fields 2-12-2012 by addickens at Garmin Connect - Details

Frozen Celery Fields 2-12-2012 by addickens at Garmin Connect - Details

When I got out of bed this morning our thermometer said 53 degrees and I thought, HA, it didn't get as cold as predicted. When Deb got up a short time later, she said it was 51 degrees. A little after that, when I started getting ready to go for a run Deb said it was 46. When I dressed to go for my run, I wore shorts, a sleeveless compression T and a dri-fit short sleeve T. I grabbed a light windbreaker and got in the car to drive to the Celery Fields park, my new favorite running spot. Not once during this time did it occur to me what direction the temperature had been going since I had gotten out of bed.

When I got out of the car to run I realized how cold it had gotten and how strong the wind was. I got back in the car and called Deb for a current weather report. She checked weather.com and reported that it was 37 with a "real feel" of 26. I had a fleece vest in the car so I put it on under the windbreaker and decided to try to get a couple miles in.

I headed east on Palmer Blvd. from the parking area and at the end of the park boundaries crossed Palmer to the section of the park that is on the south side of the road. After crossing the road, I headed west on the gravel trail alongside the road to the eastern park boundary and then south. The pond on the south side of the road has a lot of wetland mitigation plantings and appears to be a more desirable habitat for birds. I was a little surprised how close the big gray one below let me get.




In the photo below he decides I have gotten to close.






At the south end of the park, I hit a dead end with a flood control gate. Due to the dry winter we are having, I could have probably made my way across the nearly dry gate but turned back to see the rest of the park. 



 I worked my way around to the east side of the park and headed north to my starting point and the warmth of my car. I was pleased that I was able to explore the part of the park on the south side of the road and get nearly 3 miles in on a day when I was clearly not dressed right. I now know my way around the park well enough so that I can do longer runs that will encompass both sides of Palmer Blvd. when the weather improves.





No comments: