a "dubbel" of sorts

(by fellow runner Anne Manning)

Workout: Tradition Run, Meriden (Hubbard Park; auto road to Castle Craig)

I started early and alone. It was cold and the wind was surprisingly fierce off the water. I was wishing I had my gator. Once I hit the hill, I knew I would be very warm though and sure enough, half way up, my gloves were off.

I made it the whole way without stopping, which was victory for me. I really wanted to walk. After passing one walker early on, I never saw another person. Funny thing though...the last part up to the Castle was not plowed and instead the route went up to the satellite towers (antennae's?). When I saw this, my first thought was, is this going to be easier? And, then my second thought, what if this is HARDER!!! I just kept going, and it went up and up to a parking lot where I could go no further. It was empty, but neatly plowed. I then started back down and decided to take a closer look at the trail up the Castle. Turns out people had been on it and it was packed down well enough to jog on it. So, I took it. I wanted to get to the Castle, which I did, and it was covered in ice. Carefully I walked around it, got my views in (awesome) and headed back down. That's my kind of Dubbel...two peaks without all the work (I've named this after the delicious beer we had at Mikro).

After I got to my car I had energy and it was beautiful out, so I grabbed my Yaktrax to check out the other trail we do sometimes. I figured I would walk/run it, which I did. I walked all the hills. It was very quiet in there except for the ice noises from the trees, and my breathing. I saw a few deer, below me (I was on that bridge in the woods looking down), which was cool....

A successful Tradition run. Only thing better would have been having my friends there with me!