Thursday, May 21, 2009

Fox Trails


I felt fresh. It was Monday…and it was the first Monday in awhile where I felt fresh. I attribute this to running long on Saturday. Hmmm. Maybe there is something here? I explored some more trails (specifically the Battery Bailey* trails along the CTT/Mass Ave). I hadn’t run some of these trails for over 5 years (when I first discovered/explored the CCT area). I also ran down some muddy swamp paths. I am actually quite bored with the CCT. Back and forth, forth and back. Run north/east, or run south/west. Not many options. I am desperately trying to spice these runs up and doing things like this definitely help do the trick. However, this is a very small area and this is ALL going to get boring - quickly. I only ran 7 miles and then scampered back to work to round up my stuff, head home and catch 24. I was 15 minutes late …which, in 24 time, is like missing an hour of action.

On Tuesday morning I woke early and ran my cliché Rock Creek 10 mile loop. The trek includes a nice hilly section of Parklawn Road…the same hilly road I ran repeatedly last winter when training for Boston. The good news is I never felt any hills. Either I was too tired to notice, or I am feeling good/strong…I hope it is the latter.

I am trying to NOT taking any days off until July, unless of course I physically/mentally need one. However, I find myself missing TWO days this week. One, to have dinner/drinks with a friend who is here unexpectedly from out of town (Wednesday) and the other to go camping (Sunday).

I’m having a brutal week of work where things keep going wrong. Sometimes it’s my fault, sometimes it’s not. Either way, it’s been a burden to say the least. I will welcome the Shenandoah this weekend with open arms. Fresh air and stress free.


*Battery Bailey was a man-made hill, constructed during the Civil War, to support cannons aimed at protecting the reservoir of water for Washington, D.C. It was located between Fort Sumner and Fort Mansfield as a part of a circle of forts to protect the city.

This Civil War fortification was one of a series of forts, batteries and entrenchments constructed at half-mile intervals around Washington, DC. President Lincoln established the defensive perimeter of military works that was 34 miles in circumference. Its purpose was to defend the city from Confederate Army attacks.

Battery Bailey is Montgomery County’s only remaining fortification. The C-shaped battery sits atop a north-facing hill, overlooking Little Falls Branch. It contained six ramparts, which were earth mounds with platforms for field guns. Embrasures or openings in the parapets (earth walls) permitted firing of the weapons. Despite these features, there was no action at Battery Bailey during the Civil War. Therefore, the battery was unarmed and unmanned for its duration.

The site was named for Col. Guilford Dudley Bailey of the First regiment New York artillery, who was killed on May 31, 1862 at the Battle of Seven Pines. Battery Bailey is located in Westmoreland Hills Local Park, which also features a playground, softball field, multi-use field and two tennis courts. The 10.1-acre park was acquired by the Maryland-National Capital Park & Planning Commission (M-NCPPC) in 1951. The M-NCPPC restored the earthworks and interprets the site with a series of historical markers.

5 comments:

RM said...

Beetle Bailey was a cartoon

Scott said...

I'm confused. Isn't the concept of 24 that it takes place over 24 hours and, thus, missing 15 minutes of the television show would be like missing 15 minutes of what is happening in the show? Or are you saying that because missing 15 minutes is like missing an hour of action, there is a 4:1 ratio for amount of action to length of episode. So a typical episode is 1 hour but it packs 4 hours worth of action? A season of 24 has 96 hours of action? one:four::episode::action

KLIM said...

Yes Scott...but my point is that things are very unrealistic. It takes them "5 minutes" to drive from the Mall to a parking garage in NW. In reality it takes 5 mins just to get out of a parking garage.

Scott said...

You don't have Chloe O'Brien monitoring the traffic cams and uploading them to your PDA.

KLIM said...

Nah...I wish.