Spring is springing!

I had to do some rearranging last weekend when my foot blister turned out to be deeper than expected and is taking a while to heal.  Planned for several months was a 50-mile race at the NJ Ultra Festival, but that just didn't seem like a good idea.  The weather being nice and warm, plus needing to start bike training for some upcoming adventure races, indicated that I should go biking instead.  The blister placement in my instep was fine for biking, so I set out to ride 50 miles instead of running them.

Riding felt great, and I only had moments of regret when I saw other runners out that day.  Darn it, I should be running.  Stupid blister.  I can try to be flexible, but I don't have to like it  :)

Anyway, it turned into an interesting journey while I spent time training my butt to be ready for hours in the saddle.  I had forgotten that my neck gets tired of looking up while biking, so it's good that I'm working on that too.  I decided to explore the bike paths along the Hudson and Mohawk rivers, so I rode down to Albany and then up to Watervliet and over to Troy.  From there I went back and forth on several paths and roads, across Peebles Island, and around Waterford and Cohoes.  There are a bunch of little paths near canals and I was excited to discover one of the locks along the Erie Canal:

You can even walk along the top of it (narrow walkway on the upper left of the photo):

More exploring, and further up the Erie Canal (above a lock with water in it) was this barge that doesn't seem to be going anywhere anytime soon:

I couldn't resist the name "Cohoes Falls Overlook Park" and was amazed to be rewarded with this view of the Mohawk River:

The rest of the bike trail toward Schenectady will have to wait for another day, which is great because I've got more bike training to do.

I rode back down to Albany and through Washington Park where there are starting to be signs of spring!

All day the birds were singing and I noticed buds on the bushes and green sprouting here and there.  Yay for spring!

That evening I drove down to the NJ Ultra Festival race for an overnight volunteering gig so I have my 8 hours for the VT100.  At least that part of the preparation for July is ready.  Whenever I can run again, I can work on the rest of it  :)

Seeing the 100-mile runners overnight was inspiring - so many people in good spirits and moving well.  Congrats to all of you!

Next up = only 3 more days until John arrives!