Fourth of July traffic surprise

Woke up early this AM to try to miss traffic along the Division / Rt 95 / Rt 4 / Rt 2 corridor. I assumed that traffic at 5 AM on a Monday federal holiday would be pretty close to Saturday or Sunday AM traffic, but apparently not. There were many more cars out this morning, making the navigation of the on and off ramps a little more concerning but just mentally - there weren't any cars exiting or entering as I ran past the ramps, and it was simple crossing Rt 2 in both directions.

Worked my way out west on Division for a little under 10 miles and eliminated the Moosehorn and Westfield Dr areas. Beautiful homes back in the Westfield and Miss Fry areas.

Today's coverage:

Overall map - this morning's completed area is towards the upper left:

And the new "shaded" map:

Totals to date: 257.35 miles covered in 42 runs for an average of 6.13 miles per run. I've got 6 mapped runs left for a total of 87.2 miles.

As a follow-up to last post, I worked with a dwMap developer - very responsive guy named Marcus. He had another report of a bug with the new release and provided a patch yesterday - I tried to recreate the issue on this morning's run but it worked fine! Fingers crossed that we're fixed, as I love the app based on it's importance in literally guiding me on this journey.

East of Rt 2 / 4 DONE!

Got up early again this AM to beat traffic at the construction on the Rt 4 overpass on Rt 2 - no shoulder so I have to run down the median, which isn't too bad because most of it is a full lane wide. Knocked off the part of South Rd east of Rt 2 and the stretch of Rt 2 down to and past Aim High. That means I've now finished all of Rt 2 and everything east of it and Rt 4.

Brutal bugs out this morning - I expected the early morning runs, without the heat and humidity, to be less buggy. I guess their always out in force in the wooded areas. South Rd was particularly bad - pretty sure I'll have a couple itchy spots on the backs of my arms and neck. While heading up Middle near Sweet Peas Village, a reached back to my neck and squeezed a huge bug - didn't even realize I had it, but was very surprised at the amount of blood I had on my hand when I looked at it. Must have been a juicy guy! If I end up with any of those mosquito-borne illnesses, I'll point to this morning's run as the cause.

Here's what I covered this AM:

And the overall map - this morning's run was down to the lower right corner of the map:

Here's another map view I've been working on, where I've shaded the completed "blocks" in a semi-transparent white - there are no roads remaining in any of those white areas. Probably reveals progress a bit better than the above map:

Totals to date: 41 runs covering 247.44 miles for an average of 6.04 miles per outing. And the big news is that I'm under 100 miles remaining to finish - down to 99.4 planned miles to go!

Some unfortunate news... dwMap had an updated version available earlier this week, so I downloaded it. It worked fine Thursday, but it crashed today. I had just reached my turnaround point at the southern end of Rt 2 and was trying to switch views away from the map and over to my stats. BAM, got a nice error screen. It still saved all of the details, but I had to start a brand new running session on the watch. I'll have to report the crash or check to see if it's already been reported and fixed. Not what I wanted to see as I head into my long runs and lots of goofy side streets way out west...

Morning is the best time to run

Ah, the humidity and high temps make for sticky evenings this time of year... not conducive to running distances. So I set the alarm for 4:45 this morning and took advantage of some low temperatures and low humidity, not to mention low traffic as I headed down Rt 2 south to South Rd. The construction on the Rt 4 overpass makes navigating that area of Rt 2 very precarious - there's literally no shoulder on either side of the bridge, so I had to run down the median. Not something I'd recommend during normal waking hours, but not an issue at about 5:30.

Knocked off a portion of South Rd west of Rt 2 - holy hill! It's brutal from Rt 2 up to Tillinghast... I might need to plan on doing that in reverse if I ever head that way again. Finished up the southern leg of Tillinghast too.

Today's route:

Overall progress map (covered area is in the bottom middle of this view):

I have almost completed everything east of the imaginary Shippeetown / Tillinghast line - just a couple stragglers off of Frenchtown, the extreme southern piece of Rt 2, and the South Rd extension (and offshoots) to the east of Rt 2. That's a big accomplishment, but it shines a bright light on that tough western part of town - some really long ventures out there in the next couple months.

Runs to date: 40 (!) runs covering 237.3 miles for an average of 5.93 miles per run. As currently mapped, I have about 111 miles spread across 8 runs remaining until I reach my goal.

Rt 2 north is finished

Decided to follow the advice in my last post and went for a short one tonight - just under 5.5 miles, to knock off the northern part of Rt 2 and the little road behind CVS and by NE Tech. Humid night, so I'm glad I didn't venture out for a longer run. Also, we did a bunch of work Sunday at my Mother-in-law's lake house, so I was still recovering a bit from putting in docks, A/Cs, etc.

Tonight's run:

Overall map:

Totals to date: 39 runs totaling 226.65 miles, averaging 5.81 miles per run. If I follow the courses laid out, I'm down to 122.3 miles.

Uh-oh

Last night was the first sign that I'm going to have to abandon my approach of long run followed by long run. I did a 10+ mile run after two 8.5 mile runs earlier this week and I just didn't have it. My pace wasn't bad, but I was feeling some aches and pains during the run that weren't normal - knee and hip pain on the right side. I might have to abandon my approach and go with the more traditional approach of shorter runs surrounding longer runs to both strengthen and recover. Not what I wanted, as that will lead to this effort stretching longer than I had hoped, and will also lead to unproductive runs. I only have one sub-10 mile run on my list of planned routes, but I'm not doing myself or my goal any good if I hurt myself and have to reset my mileage / endurance - in order to complete this, I'll have to work my way up to a 17 miler so being careful now is key. Anyway...

I ran the Shippeetown stretch between Middle and Division, including some REALLY nice neighborhoods - the Blueberry Hill area had the nicest houses I've seen thus far, and there are a handful of lots for sale in there for anyone who's looking ;)

Yesterday's coverage map:

Full EG map (the area completed yesterday is in the upper left corner):

Totals to date: 38 runs totaling 221.16 miles for an average of 5.82 per run. That leaves 127.94 productive miles left (more if I change my approach and mix in short runs for the good of my body). On a personal note, 4.5 more miles and this will be the farthest I've ever run in a single month - my prior max is 86.11 and I'm sitting at 81.69 right now.

East of Rt 2 and 4 almost done

Yesterday, I ran through the mobile home neighborhood across from Flood Ford on Rt 2. I also knocked off the Davisville road snippet. Nearly 8.5 miles, leaving only the southern portion of Rt 2 and the South Rd portion to the east of Rt 2 until the entire eastern half of the map is done.

Yesterday's run:

Complete map:

You can see way down in the very bottom right corner the area that is outstanding to the east of Rt 4... There's construction on the Rt 2 bridge crossing Rt 4, bringing it to 1 lane on each side, so I'm a bit hesitant to run that area outside of early weekend mornings - I have 2 or 3 runs planned down that way, so I'll probably have to slot them in for the next several weekends.

Totals to date: 37 runs and 210.9 total miles for an average of 5.7 miles per run. I also combined multiple runs into last nights route and eliminate "to go" mileage - if I don't combine or redesign future runs, I've got 138.2 miles remaining.

Surpassed 200 total miles!

I ran a few of the small neighborhoods east of Rt 2 and south of Frenchtown - the roads behind Pizza Heaven (our favorite local pizza joint) as well as the neighborhood behind Di Mare / Harrington and Rhodes / etc. Overall, an 8.81 mile run on a warm, humid evening (I'm getting to be able to judge the humidity based on how wet my shirt is when I return from a run). That put me over the 200 mile mark for runs dedicated to this goal. I'm pretty sure I'll have to hit 300 before I finish this exercise; if not, it'll be pretty close.

Last night's coverage:

And the map in full:

Progress to date: 36 runs, 202.51 miles, 5.63 miles per run on average.

Update... I mapped out some routes to cover the remaining roads and it looks like I have over 150 miles to go. Nice that I'm over halfway there, and much of that 150 will be retracing my steps, but there's still quite a ways to go. At 25 miles a week, I'm looking at more than 6 weeks to complete; if I jump up to 30-40 miles per week which is certainly in the cards soon, I can bring that down slightly (4-5 weeks). Injuries and weather permitting, I'll be done with this thing before the kids go back to school. Then what will I do? October marathon, anyone?