The Fellowship of the Run: Week 3

[linaelyn]

We have come many, many leagues (please don't ask me to convert leagues - I'm much better at fathoms and knots) from Rivendell. First, we followed the River Brúinen to the south, and then we rose out of its steep-sided canyon and cut across country toward the east. At the crest of a hill, we saw the snow-covered mountains, off in the distance -- the Redhorn Pass on the shoulders of Caradhras. It didn't look so bad from a distance...



Um, yeah. Weather makes a lot of difference, and thundersnow isn't what I call good outdoorsy weather (You are so right, ilanarama). So we didn't get through the pass, and the treacherous conditions slowed us down a good bit. At least the birdwatching was really cool! On the way up into the icy crags, lots of rare Crebain and other interesting birds flew over us. The land around there is called Hollin, possibly because of all the holly trees. Prickly things, but since we are here in the winter, they are covered in lovely red berries. (waaaaaait a minute. Whose idea was it to hike over a mountain pass at Yule?!?! oh. yeah, that was me. my bad.)

So, we turned towards the other possibility for getting past this inconvenient, inclement mountain range: the Mines of Moria. It's relatively easy going...for a dark, dank series of tunnels... and once we figured out how to open the super-seekrit doors, and escape the freshwater Kraken problem in the lake there, of course. (Thanks, ell. All those sword cuts came in really handy! And I don't know what we would have done without ridicully's climbing skills) But finally, we made it here by the end of the week:



The Great Dwarven Kingdom of Dwarrowdelf!

(bonus link to Balin's Tomb for those who want to stop in and pay their respects. I know I did -- he's been my very favorite dwarf since I was eleven years old.)

It really is pretty nifty down here. Unfortunately, we are a little bit behind on our mileage as a whole, so we didn't make it fully out the other side and down to Lothlorien. So let's redouble our efforts this week (health and other distractions permitting) and I'll do my best to give us a boost with our active-hours accounting, and we'll see how far we've come across Middle Earth on our final check-in: Sunday, June 1st.



Distances Run --
linaelyn : 63.3/75 mi
ell : 71/100 mi
ilanarama : 181/200 mi
blnchflr : 24/35 mi
ridicully : 53/150 km
franzi1981 : 16,7/20 km
temve : 61.4/50 mi
liv : 18/25 mi
calico_jane : ?/30 mi
semielliptical : 60/75 mi
meri_oddities : 85/110 mi
cadenzamuse : ?/"go on one run"
shanaqui : to be determined later

Active Hours --
linaelyn : 7.5/20
ell : 18/20
ilanarama : 3/4
blnchflr : 7/7
ridicully : 12/25
franzi1981 : 4/10
temve : 20/20
liv : 15+/30
calico_jane : ?/20
semielliptical : 7.5/8
meri_oddities : 5/8
cadenzamuse : ?/10
shanaqui : to be determined later

p.s. sorry this is late -- I forgot we had a three-day weekend here in the U.S. when I said Sunday night for posting this! It still feels like Sunday night here!

Comments

[shanaqui]

I haven't been able to do much running since my grandmother broke her hand, and I live with her, so I've been taking care of her and the house. *sigh* But I have got in about 6 miles running since the challenge started. (Yeah, not much, I know.)

[linaelyn]

Thanks for checking in here! So sorry to hear that your life's been topsy-turvied by the caretaking, but that's an important, good thing to be doing, too. Go you, for squeezing in that not-palty 6 miles, in difficult circumstances! (And remember to take care of *you* first, so you can still take care of others. Not that I'm very good at remembering that, myself!)

All the best to your grandmother as she heals.