mountainFrugal Journal

Where are you and where are you going?
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Married2aSwabian
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Re: mountainFrugal Journal

Post by Married2aSwabian »

That sourdough looks fantastic! Can you share your recipe?

Thanks for sharing the Cocoon V1.0 experiences…I’ll have to check out Plotkin. Looking very much forward to extended time in nature this year. Agreed, the best psilocybin adventures I’ve been on (all 35 years ago or more) have been outdoors in the woods with right group of people. Worst adventure (LSD) was last one - stupid decision to do during huge frat party that lasted all weekend with a thousand people crowding in for beer, with no mycorrhizal network or trees for shelter. Are you familiar with Paul Stamets? He’s a mycologist and has done some pretty cool Ted talks.

mooretrees
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Re: mountainFrugal Journal

Post by mooretrees »

I read through your journal this weekend and it was really enjoyable. The fun drawings add a big amount of information and are a neat visual. From some of your entries it seems like you're flirting with being FI? Once this current gig is up you might not 'have' to work again? I am digging the Plotkin references, just put one of his books on hold at the library. I really admire how you've crafted your lifestyle to get outside and do cool stuff, that's a direction I want to head full steam.

Have you made any progress with the acorns? I have a batch of ground acorn flour that needs the tannins leached out hanging in out in the pantry. I tried it before with cold leaching and when I thought it was ready to cook it was still bitter after I made an acorn polenta. The cold leaching was the most hands off but it seemed like it took waaaaay longer and still I gauged the bitterness incorrectly. Anyway, I'm still curious about acorns and think they could be a fun and relatively easy food source so I hope you have some success whenever you try them out.

7Wannabe5
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Re: mountainFrugal Journal

Post by 7Wannabe5 »

one of the first suggested exercises is to make a list of memorable nature encounters so you can then draw connections between them. Rationally, I know most of this is just in my head and I do not think that I can actually talk with nature. However, the search for one's mytho-poetic identity leaves the rational behind for more sensual explorations of your own imagination interacting with the world.
This makes me want to read Plotkin. However, it has been my experience that these experiences are harder to seek than to find. For instance, flying in a helicopter over the Alaskan wilderness was not a transformative experience for me when I was 38, but following the creek behind my affluent realm suburban subdivision house into the storm drains under the newly constructed roads was a transformative experience for me when I was 12. I would peg it as the moment when I realized that consumer culture was crude and meaningless.

I like to think that my mytho-poetic identity is the Good Witch, but that's probably not quite right.

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mountainFrugal
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Re: mountainFrugal Journal

Post by mountainFrugal »

Married2aSwabian wrote:
Tue Feb 08, 2022 7:46 am
That sourdough looks fantastic! Can you share your recipe?
...
Are you familiar with Paul Stamets? He’s a mycologist and has done some pretty cool Ted talks.
My partner is pretty into it at this point, but she liked this video the most because it shows all the steps, includes the sourdough terminology, and shows DIY options for all the important steps.
She thought that 310 g water was too much and has dropped it down to 298 g.
She also thought this presenter was annoying at times for her taste, but he has the best intro video.
https://youtu.be/VEtU4Co08yY

I have not heard of Stamets, but will check out!

mooretrees wrote:
Tue Feb 08, 2022 9:31 am
I read through your journal this weekend and it was really enjoyable...

...From some of your entries it seems like you're flirting with being FI? Once this current gig is up you might not 'have' to work again?

....that's a direction I want to head full steam.

Have you made any progress with the acorns?
Thanks!

Technically I am FI now even with recent market corrections because of further insourcing of skills. I do have an aging parent that I was banking some extra money away for to help in case of an emergency, but in reality I would be fine going back to work if I had to (worst case scenario) support them. I want to fulfill my current contract because I am mid-project on something that I really have been enjoying with a good set of colleagues. In the past I have been the domain expert and the technical code/pipeline/model/infrastructure person and a manager leading multiple projects. Currently, I am only the technical person working with a great domain expert. There is only two of us working on this so this lightens the cognitive load quite a bit and frees up a lot of time to explore other things. By "have" to work I mean that I might still like to if my contract could be easily extended, but not because I have to. Although putting full on effort into this Freedom-To project is getting more and more likely by the day. Thanks for pushing a little.

Get it!

Acorns: sadly no. The acorns are currently sitting in a pile in the yard with their fallen comrades that were not raked up scattered between the melting snow patches. I would like to pick this up again at some point. We just had too many things going on to dry them out right after they fell off the trees (best time according to basic internet research). I will be READY next year! I am also interested in your process or anything that you have learned.
7Wannabe5 wrote:
Tue Feb 08, 2022 10:13 am
However, it has been my experience that these experiences are harder to seek than to find...

...I like to think that my mytho-poetic identity is the Good Witch, but that's probably not quite right.
I think that is exactly right. Putting yourself out there, even in local suburban/wildland/park interfaces you can find meaningful experiences.

The Good Witch sounds interesting. Care to elaborate either here or in your journal on how you came to this?

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mountainFrugal
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Re: mountainFrugal Journal

Post by mountainFrugal »

Image
Rereading the WL 5-6 and WL 6-7 threads there was something that remains an open question to me that I a have been grappling with... if WL7 is fundamentally different and everything clicks into place for integrating various systems... how does WL7 or 7+ actually feel? Not intellectualizing it, how does it feel in lived experience?

The closest thing I could come up within my current mental models would be a "meta-flow" that would allow you to move between activities more freely. Let me explain what I think, but I am not there by any means so feel free to correct.

Flow is generally thought of as focus on an activity that has feedback built in. It has to have a bit of a challenge component as well so that you shut off the thinking part of your brain and do the activity. As an example, it is hard to get into a mental state of flow road running. However, running on rocky trails where every step placement counts immediately puts me into flow. I am not actively thinking, just looking ahead on the trail with the ground beneath me in my lower peripheral view. My trail running background skill takes over. The world drops away and I am just flowing over uneven ground. If one is competent enough to get into a state of flow doing a wide variety of individual activities in your WOG then potentially you could be in a state to switch between activities rapidly and remain in that state for a larger portion of your day. This is what I mean by "meta-flow".

As a short narrative: "I finish a long charcoal figure drawing session and tear up the newsprint paper to use as fire starter to build a fire for warmth. The fire allows me to continue a test different local woods as a source for charcoal drawing material. Once the results of experiment are cooled off I go for a run to a location where that species of wood is likely to be in the forest AND where I have found mushrooms at the same time of year to forage for dinner. Along the route I check out some game tracks and make mental notes of directions and species of animals moving in this part of the forest..."

A slightly different question using an analogy of riding a bike for the first time. You put all the balance, visual feedback, and tactile feedback together when learning to ride a bike. It all clicks together (WL7) and you are riding! Do these things click and then are hard to forget, or is it more gradual?

shaz
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Re: mountainFrugal Journal

Post by shaz »

I get so excited every time I see you have a new journal entry, because there is a good chance it will be another drawing. They are so good. The tongue in this one made me laugh.

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mountainFrugal
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Re: mountainFrugal Journal

Post by mountainFrugal »

shaz wrote:
Thu Feb 10, 2022 10:05 pm
because there is a good chance it will be another drawing. They are so good.
Thanks @shaz. They are genuinely fun to make while attempting to integrate ideas and practice drawing skills. I generally try to put at least one Easter Egg in each sketch.

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mountainFrugal
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Re: mountainFrugal Journal

Post by mountainFrugal »

Image

Feb 2022 WINDOWS

# WINS
* 0 personal spending and 0 booze for over a month (started in Jan). Thanks to @scott2 for inspiration on the booze.
* Some xc ski and running PRs on segments. Also, looking back and plotting data from last year at this time my heart rate per distance/speed/elevation gain has gone down significantly for similar 45min-1 hour efforts.

# IMPROVEMENTS
* Slow boozin' only enjoying each drop. Along the same lines working on mindfully enjoying each bite of food.
* Set out old sketchbooks with only a few pages in them all over places I spend time. Finishing these out and contributed to my drawing streak below. Minimizing that friction even further.
* I have been waking up early without an alarm because I am stoked on getting after my day. I must be doing something right. :).

# NEW DIRECTIONS
* Visited neighboring watershed for a trailrun and some botanizing. Scoped the creek for troutie water for our next visit.
* Went down the paper making and charcoal making youtube hole. Will try this in March to turn drawing into an infinite game if I wanted (will update other threads).

# DRAWING
* At least 1 full page of drawing every damn day! BOOM!
* Edited final draft of comic script and finished basic layouts and thumbnails.
* PROKO YO! group with @analyticalengine - focus on figure/anatomy drawing based on Proko online courses. Super fun!
* Started spin recovery rides on the trainer while consuming comics making youtube.

# OUTDOOR ADVENTURE
* Local Ground Hog Day Hill Repeat Race + Self Action Portrait. It was fun discussing after...all participants looked at their watches around the 20 minute mark and all felt like FML this hurts and I still have 40 minutes. Lol.
* Lot's of movement over the hills and through the woods.
* I got commissioned (not signed yet) for a trail race poster design for next year.

# WORK
* Same, same, same, but moving forward on projects.
* Support on turning work data blog into more adventure based data posts. Vision alignment.

# SOCIAL
* Meal train for friends with elderly parent. Thanks to @hristo for his insights on helping people in this way and not just dumping food on them. We thought a lot about storage containers (broken up in smaller ones for cramming in fridge), ease of reheating, etc.
* Traded some of partner's sourdough for fresh eggs. Will likely continue this exchange.

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mountainFrugal
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Re: mountainFrugal Journal

Post by mountainFrugal »

32 deep week projects prioritizing local exploration, nature, and skills. These all align with my yearly completion goals, but are more specific examples of each category (MAKE, THINK, LIVE, EXPLORE). They also align with activities outlined by Plotkin for going deeper into local nature as part of the ecological spirituality side of my ERE vision to compliment the zen ascension spiritual side.

Image

MAKE
Script, character designs around a 1800's naturalist character. I want to play with making some pigments, ocres, and charcoal based inks.

THINK
Natural history, topography, climate, and climate change layers for the watershed hosting the race I signed up for. Exercise visualization for before, during training, and the event itself.

LIVE
Putting in some new raised beds, a hoop house, and modifying the drip irrigation system. Our current outdoor cooking setup is a gas grill the previous owners left us. We want to make a wood based oven for bread and pizza. I am designing a battery pack/charging station that can can be used in the house with a small solar setup or rolled to our van for additional emergency capacity.

EXPLORE
I want to work out the details of combining running and biking with other activities by having focus weeks where I specifically do the overlaps everyday. Design 2 minute starts for each and practice them.

Western Red Cedar
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Re: mountainFrugal Journal

Post by Western Red Cedar »

Very cool to see all of your projects laid out like this @MF. I'm curious about your thoughts and strategies for balancing paid work with a lot of extracurricular activities. I think you mentioned you went part-time a while back and took the gas pedal off of your career as you got closer to FI.

What is your approach to balancing work and other interests? Did you notice a limit to the amount of energy you had for all of these projects while working full-time? Did your mentality change over the course of your career? Any suggestions for the salary folks with their nose to the grindstone M-F?

I've been thinking about this a lot over the last few months. The MM group and my new habit tracking system has given me an extra boost of motivation to work on projects outside of work. Sometimes it just feels like there isn't enough time to do everything I want to do though while investing a lot of time and energy into work projects (which I'm fortunate to also be personally interested in).

theanimal
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Re: mountainFrugal Journal

Post by theanimal »

The way you detail out all the things you want to do is very admirable. I imagine it serves as a good reminder of what you want to do, a la the "Freedom To," and helps keep the end goal in perspective.

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mountainFrugal
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Re: mountainFrugal Journal

Post by mountainFrugal »

Western Red Cedar wrote:
Mon Mar 14, 2022 12:37 pm
Very cool to see all of your projects laid out like this @MF. I'm curious about your thoughts and strategies for balancing paid work with a lot of extracurricular activities. I think you mentioned you went part-time a while back and took the gas pedal off of your career as you got closer to FI.

What is your approach to balancing work and other interests? Did you notice a limit to the amount of energy you had for all of these projects while working full-time? Did your mentality change over the course of your career? Any suggestions for the salary folks with their nose to the grindstone M-F?

I've been thinking about this a lot over the last few months. The MM group and my new habit tracking system has given me an extra boost of motivation to work on projects outside of work. Sometimes it just feels like there isn't enough time to do everything I want to do though while investing a lot of time and energy into work projects (which I'm fortunate to also be personally interested in).
As I explained in a recent post response to @mooretrees up-thread I am still working full time. I am now just a single contributor on a small project team. This keeps my interest high in the projects themselves and because I work from home I can optimize in other ways. I came from the academic science world and then worked at a start-up. These jobs (more accurately lifestyles) are 60-80 hours a week consistently to stay competitive. There is always something to do. The only way to keep it up is sleeping well, exercising, eating right and having some way to decompress. That for me was running, drawing, cooking and fly fishing (when I could get away). So the things that interested me then still interest me now. I would do them daily. Now that I no longer do my own research in addition to managing projects and a scientific team, my planning goes into the other things I am interested in. Hence all the detail (thanks @theanimal).

168 hours in a week
56 for full nights sleep
80 hours for work (taking the extreme here).
This still leaves 32 hours left in the week for interests.
(I know this is simple, just pointing it out)

How many hours a month do you devote to planning? My guess is that if you spent a little more time planning and developing more project planning skills that you will be able to get more done outside of work. As an example... want to go camping? Do I have all my gear already in a bin so I literally throw it in the car with some food and water and go? Want to fish... do I have all my fishing stuff in a bin ... you get the idea. Make that barrier to start so small that turning on the TV is harder (not that @westernredcedar has a TV problem, just a general motivator :))

Many of the projects outlined in the "THINK" section I can only now do because I learned additional techniques on the job building large spatial models. I only took this position because I could learn a lot and apply what I already knew about modeling more detailed mechanisms at a smaller scale. For the EXPLORE section we optimize our life around what we are interested in. I can trail run, mountain bike, fly fish (15 minute bike ride) all from the door. I do not have to drive to any of this it is all right here. I am trying to direct my interests to more deeply go into these things in the local area within reasonable biking distance so the barrier to start do any of them is as low as can be. Same with drawing. Sketchbooks everywhere. Barrier to start drawing is next to zero.

I have a great internal drive and deep curiosity to learn something and then apply it towards making something new (to me at least) and then moving on towards other learning and doing goals. After DW died, I decided I would only ever do things that I wanted to that aligned with the general direction I want to head. [Life is short and all those other trite phrases that are true so fill in here]. My attitude towards how I spend my time got even more refined. I wish that (without a similar thing happening to any forumites/readers) I could transfer this drive and new found focus to you. To really know that life is too short to deal with extended periods of bullshit brought on by Peter principle people. We are all dying. Optimize for good sleep first and foremost, get some sleep, wake-up and get after it. Simple to say hard to do.

Western Red Cedar
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Re: mountainFrugal Journal

Post by Western Red Cedar »

I'm definitely guilty of watching too much TV. I listened to an old James Clear podcast last week and he reminded me of the importance of behavior, habits, and the physical environment. He said that it isn't a surprise that people watch so much television considering that most people make it the centerpiece of one of their rooms with all of the furniture directed towards it. It is a tacit cue to watch tv. The black mirror as a modern altar.
mountainFrugal wrote:
Mon Mar 14, 2022 6:23 pm
I have a great internal drive and deep curiosity to learn something and then apply it towards making something new (to me at least) and then moving on towards other learning and doing goals. After DW died, I decided I would only ever do things that I wanted to that aligned with the general direction I want to head. [Life is short and all those other trite phrases that are true so fill in here]. My attitude towards how I spend my time got even more refined. I wish that (without a similar thing happening to any forumites/readers) I could transfer this drive and new found focus to you. To really know that life is too short to deal with extended periods of bullshit brought on by Peter principle people. We are all dying. Optimize for good sleep first and foremost, get some sleep, wake-up and get after it. Simple to say hard to do.
Yes! This is the insight I was looking for. I know you've addressed this before so I appreciate you reiterating your perspective.

I do a lot of planning and work with a pretty tight schedule at work. I generally only work from 8-6, but I'm occasionally solving work-related problems while off the clock. In fact, this is when I encounter some of my most important professional insights. My general approach to free time is to have a framework for what I want to focus or work on, but I avoid detailed planning unless it is really necessary. I think my biggest challenge is just feeling mentally exhausted and fried at the end of my work day. I've also noticed quite a bit of free time being absorbed by maintenance activities - cooking, cleaning, grooming, investing time in personal relationships, etc... Some of these are obviously critical to a well-balanced life, and to my own web of goals.

A few of the MM participants have adopted a GTD system based on recommendations from @AxelHeyst. Perhaps that is the next step for me. Simply tracking habits and my activity on goals over the last 10 weeks has nudged me to prioritize more time on things and projects I value. I'm also mindful of a tendency for society (and myself) to focus on hyper productivity, which I don't think is necessarily healthy. I'm not sure I want to get to the place where I am scheduling 30-45 minutes for relaxation :lol:

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mountainFrugal
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Re: mountainFrugal Journal

Post by mountainFrugal »

Western Red Cedar wrote:
Tue Mar 15, 2022 10:16 am
I'm definitely guilty of watching too much TV.

...My general approach to free time is to have a framework for what I want to focus or work on, but I avoid detailed planning unless it is really necessary.

...I'm also mindful of a tendency for society (and myself) to focus on hyper productivity, which I don't think is necessarily healthy. I'm not sure I want to get to the place where I am scheduling 30-45 minutes for relaxation :lol:
If TV is easier than the other things you want to do... then I would say error on the side of hyper-planning your time for a while. There is no need to keep that up for the next 5 years, but at least try it out. Hyper-plan for a while (including down time). Bad* habits and addictions need to have a replacement other than just to stop doing them. You already have a great base of tracking now to do one more turn of the ratchet. :). You want these things to become habituated. That takes work and planning to overcome your default habits. Eventually you will not need to hyper-plan. Also, be reasonable about achievement here. 60/40 over the next year is better than 100% for two weeks followed by 50 weeks of non-compliance.

*Bad determined by you.

shaz
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Re: mountainFrugal Journal

Post by shaz »

Great point about eliminating barriers to the things I want to do. I have things set up really well for a few big interests but now I am thinking about others I could prep better.

As my favorite horse trainer says, "Make the right thing easy and the wrong thing hard "

AnalyticalEngine
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Re: mountainFrugal Journal

Post by AnalyticalEngine »

The way you organize your goals here is really inspiring. Makes me think how much planning can pay off vs just doing things haphazardly. I might try borrowing some of your planning structure methodology and see if I can improve my own project planning structure.

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mountainFrugal
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Re: mountainFrugal Journal

Post by mountainFrugal »

March 2022 WINDOWS

Image

# WINS
I figured out a bunch of week long projects to explore, learn, think, make, and live. I had two excellent date nights with my partner focusing on creativity and exploration. :).

# IMPROVEMENTS
I worked on clarity and separation of some sub-goals in my system. Near daily habit of mobility and stretching my lower body. Lots of hard ball work to loosen up rear chain.

# NEW DIRECTIONS
Met a few times with a small group of MMG/ecology folks. I learned a lot from them already. I would like to find some local folks to meetup with and do some nature journaling. My big plan was to make fliers with my contact info and put them a few places. AKA the most passive non-social thing I could do. One of the members casually pointed out that I might just talk to people on the trail instead. DUH! haha. No nature journal takers yet, but did meet and learn about some folks that I would normally just wave hello and run on by.

# DRAWING
Drew a full page everyday (made this yesterday hence 30/30). I worked on my digital workflow to not only make starting drawing easier, but to work on more comics projects rather than just individual illustrations. I think I am dialing it in with this workflow so that there is always something to work on that is not just a bunch of blank pages. 2 minute starts for each part of the process is what I am shooting for. This will take some refinement, but overall it is good. It has been really fun swaping drawings with @analyticalengine and @bos. Keeping the stoke high!

# OUTDOOR ADVENTURE
A lot of movement. Met some cool folks on the trail including some inspiring elderly ladies getting after it. One weekend I did long runs alone in more remote areas to practice spending time alone as per Plotkin. I have a run I want to do when the higher elevation snow melts to go visit some old gnarly alpine trees and spend an afternoon with them.

# WORK
We have a new team lead and our 1:1 went well. He offered a lot of support for my projects, even the ones that were more "creative" that included some illustrations. I might be able to make some infographics as part of a project. We are writing a white paper for a general audience trying to summarize of the technical work I am doing. This is right in the "science" writing sweet spot I want to be.

# SOCIAL
I started stopping and talking to people on the trail and met a lot of cool dogs/owners that I see out there frequently. I helped on some new trails being built in the next town. One of the guys organizing it is involved with a few different outdoor/environmental groups in the region. Something he said makes a lot of sense... "5-10 hours a month of your time can have a huge impact in this rural county compared to in the city". Our friends hosted a monthly get together. We ate some food, shot some bows and drank some beers. I will let you decide what the safest order of those things is (we likely did the opposite ;)). A friend offered to let us keep his miter saw (currently in storage) at our house for our upcoming wood projects.

shaz
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Re: mountainFrugal Journal

Post by shaz »

What are rogue trails?

mooretrees
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Re: mountainFrugal Journal

Post by mooretrees »

I always have to take some time to look at your WINDOWS drawings, they are so fun! I had to look up what rear chain meant! If you need inspiration, look up painful massage on youtube for folks submitting themselves to extremely painful massages to try and eradicate pain. I just got a hard ball too and it's shocking how tender some areas are.

Seems like you really nailed it with social stuff this month! My nickname for DH and I is the Borrowers. We've got a bunch of people who have different tools/equipment that they don't mind loaning out. Win win for everyone, I hope! We'll loan out our stuff readily, in fact I push it on people to try and create that sharing culture. No need for everyone to have the same set of tools/equipment.....

How long are your long runs?

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mountainFrugal
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Post by mountainFrugal »

Rogue trails are the ones that are not "planned" by either BLM or USFS. This crew of guys literally mountainbike with chainsaws/handsaws on their back. They find some good downhill sections and get to work making a bike width path. They also clear bike sized paths on overgrown forest roads to continue keeping out the ATV and other motorsports people. Pretty cool way to spend their "retirement".

Thanks @mooretrees! The hardest part for me has been asking for help. A life lesson in itself.

The "long" runs are usually on the weekend when I have more time. Currently they are between 25-35 km (~15-22 miles) and 1-1500 m (~3-5000 ft) gain/loss. That window will shift upwards to 35-45 km (1500 - 2000 m) next month for peak training.

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