Five Squirrels

Late Sunday Post

2012-01-30T17:00:00.001-05:00

Yesterday I finally got myself out the door for a run. It looked like it was going to be a bit windy, but sunny. After the previous days' 21 mile excursion, I figured 8 easy on the roads would be good. I mapped out a loop from my house and set off. The legs felt pretty good and I decided to just not look at my garmin as I went and just run at what felt comfortable. When I have run on roads, I've been wearing my inov-8 flyroc's, which are getting more and more comfy. The loop took me on part of the Mid-Winter Classic route and along my old bike route. I fell into a comfortable pace and it actually felt good to be moving. Since this was an old loop, I knew what was coming up, so I focused on one point at a time (blinking intersection, gelato place, christmas tree farm, marsh) and soon they ticked away. When I uploaded my run it was slower than it felt, but it was a recovery run, so I guess that was to be expected. I ended up with about 8.1 miles. Off today and then the PBR tomorrow after several weeks away for various reasons. I'm finding myself trying to perceive whether it feels light out longer yet...so far, not really!

We're Gonna Need A Bigger Boat

2012-01-29T13:38:00.000-05:00

Sometime last week Ian posted his plan for a 20 mile Beautiful Loop plus Lunchbreak Hill repeats adventure. Sounded badass. Then a few days later I must have emailed Scout about Saturday long run plans. I think we both just assumed we'd be doing the 20 miles, it was more a matter of what the conditions would be like. We had a plan B, which was "bring road shoes just in case and we'll hit the animal loop a few times plus the hills". Ian thought the conditions couldn't be any worse than they have been and even had a few detours mapped out for crossing "the river". Saturday morning a group of hungry Monsters showed up ready to take on the challenge: Fezzik, J-Rock, gIANt, Crux, Scout, and Tenacious-Z and 6-Pack (I think these last two should stick as named by gIANt). We geared up and headed out, hoping for the best. The boys cruised ahead as expected. It's always pretty cool to see the pack of Monsters chomping up the snow ahead. Scout and I commented on the much improved conditions and caught up since I was in PA last weekend. We were moving along better than last time for sure. Following the boys' tracks was easy (and fun) and we promised ourselves a bit more self-restraint than usual in that we would not stop and identify every wildlife track or sit in recliners (however brief) along the way. It was clear there was quite a bit of melt and the usual frozen places were barely frozen. I can't remember how many water crossings we encountered, but it was definitely fun to see how the group in front of us maneuvered it. Some tracks went around, some through. We did our best, but eventually the first freezing cold submerge of a foot or two happened. Luckily with running, you keep moving, and with the temps that we had, our feet stayed wet, but warmed up with our body temperatures. I think the way in which Pete describes how wetsuits work in that they keep in some water, but it warms to your body temp and keeps you warm. The sky was sunny and we moved along. We finally came to the big electrical transfer station on the powerlines where the water crossing looked pretty sketchy. I tried the edge where there looked to be some thick ice with my foot. As I pressed down, my leg submerged to my knee and I hadn't hit the bottom yet. Before I knew what happened, Scout had grabbed my elbow and snatched me out before I really went in. It was there, I think, that we decided to try to find another way around (although now I'm thinking we did cross there, but not without a big jump). It must have been right after that they we reached yet another crossing that was pretty wide. Based on the broken ice and shoe-sized holes in the water, it looked like the boys just headed right through. Hmmm. What to do. Here, we thought we'd take a left and look for a better place to cross, but it just kept getting boggier and boggier and wider and wider. We kept making our way left and then saw we could reach a little road that went back out to Allen road, where the trail would have met up anyway. We hit the little stretch of the Animal Loop and said a (very) quick hi to the Heeland Coos and threw the tennis ball for Zoe the Border Collie once or twice before continuing. After passing what we thought was the turnoff to the snomo trail, we found the true crossing and headed down the snomo trail to the cemetery. I loved this part of the run - it's one of the most beautiful parts and it was perfectly groomed from the snowmobiles. We crossed Elmwood and headed for the school - the fun was just about to start... At the base of the hill we saw the familiar tramplings of Monsters on Hill Repeat. I may have voiced out loud to Scout that I hoped we'd run into the boys on the Hill because that would mean we weren't ridiculously far behind and it would be fun to overlap and get a surge of TM community. First trip up, we followed the footfalls and realized that there was going to be even more wet feet (on a hill - wtf?) as we tried to avoid getting too soaked through the various puddles along the way. We climbed steadily. At some point as we neared the top (we went all the way to the summit) I saw a flicker of movement - CRUX! He was flying down and we were all stoked to see each other and said quick hellos and cheers as we each continued. We wondered if that was his last lap. We didn't see the others right with him, but not soon after, gIANt came flying down with J-Rock and Tenacious-Z right behind. gIANt let out a "YEAH!!" which sounded in my mind more like a FUCK YEAH! when he saw us and we cheered each other along. What a boost. Team warm fuzzies all around. At the top, we took a second on the summit and then headed down. Here we saw Crux again heading up - he said it was his last one. We weren't sure how the route went from there (the old BL way?) but he said it was Terrace down and done. Awesome! We continued down and that was where my glutes started to be unhappy. Up until then, I felt fine other than a bit of hip flexor tightness, but on the downhill, but ass was hurting. At the bottom I did a quick stretch, we refueled, and headed back up for the next one. It was hard, but I kept moving, I didn't want to walk. Again on the summit. Scout said "was that two"? Yes. Back down, quick stretch, then up again. It was getting harder and I was starting to lose an edge of resolve...two more of these? At the summit, Scout re-iterated our plan for the finish. I confessed...I don't know if I have two more of these in me... Without hesitation, she said "There's only one more up, that was our third one, we can do it". As we ran down I did the math, oh yeah....I guess I'm losing it. We passed all the familiar landmarks on our third trip down, giant boulder, big step, skunk tracks, view of cemetery. Last time up. We hit it and said to each other "we can do this" and both knew we would. Summit! I think I had over 20 miles on my garmin at that point and we switchbacked down to reality and civilization. I hit stop at 20.84 miles and when I uploaded it later, it came out to 21.03. Quick shoe/sock change and then over to E&L's :) We had missed the boys and Sabrina told us that they were pretty chilly with some nearing-frostbite hands. A perfectly awesome soup (barley and sweet potato) and a chocolate chip cookie set me right and we relished our epic run. Same next week?

Sigh

2012-01-22T17:04:00.000-05:00

Well. Not a great week. I had 3 unintended days off from running and now I'm beating myself up for it. No excuses. I'm in PA for a few days and ran on the roads from my parent's house. The best part is that I discovered that the farm less than a mile down the road has Highland Coos! And I saw two cute sheep there, too. I'll have to try and get some pictures. Run tomorrow, back to Maine tomorrow night. Hope to get a little more regulated.

Using The World Around You

2012-01-18T13:12:00.000-05:00

Met up with NJ Dave this morning for a tour around Portland and to hear more about his plans and ideas for X-City Running, an organization he is putting together to "strengthen the running community while strengthening the community we run in." We slid around the sidewalks and streets of the city and chatted and traded thoughts and ideas about how to create opportunities for those who may be challenged to find them. Dave has some fantastic ideas and plans and more importantly, is actively working to push them forward. I am hoping to be able to donate mental health counseling in some way and integrate it with the mission of using running to find and build a center for oneself. We ran the periphery of the city and ended up with about 5.5 miles. It was windy, but not nearly as bad as I thought it would be.
I am forever impressed by our Trail Monster friends who grab onto what's important to them and make it happen - either in ultras, personal life, hobbies, goals, whatever - it's always an inspiration.

Snowshoe Trail Without the Snowshoes

2012-01-17T19:43:00.000-05:00

I wanted to get some hills in this week, especially since I'm back to school on Thursday and internship next week. I considered Lunchbreak Hill, but thought it might be icy postholes from last weekend, plus I figured it would be fun to hit a different place. I settled on the Bradbury Squall Snowshoe course. I'd be hitting some hills and could scout out the condition of the trails for Sunday. Danielle joined me and the plan was to run in screwshoes as we had no idea what the conditions might be for snowshoes. Armed with a map, we made our way through the course and even broke trail on Krista's loop. I thought the conditions were pretty darn good, but since I know nothing about what makes snowshoe courses good, I probably wasn't the best person to proclaim the trails satisfactory. The concern is underlying roots that aren't buried enough to keep the snowshoe cleats safe from breakage. After the course loop, we decided to head over to the East side for a few more miles. The conditions were SO much better than Saturday. It still wasn't super well-groomed, but the snow had set up a bit and was firmer and easier to run on. We cruised out for a mile or so and back for a total of about 6.5 miles. The weather was gorgeous and it never rained as expected (until much later). Tomorrow is supposed to be a windstorm...my last official day off before school and work start up!

Toasty

2012-01-15T20:17:00.000-05:00

Roads seemed to be the choice today. I figured going out early afternoon would be the warmest of the day even though it would still be pretty frigid (it was -5 with wind chill). I bundled up and headed out. Two pairs of gloves, hat and buff along with the usual tights and tops kept me pretty warm the whole way. I went out Blackpoint Road almost to Prout's Neck and turned around. A little windy on the way back, but I was happy to be out and running and feeling ok. Got in 8.4 miles as planned to round out the week at 40.1 miles. Day off tomorrow :)

Stacks of Tracks

2012-01-14T20:25:00.000-05:00

I wasn't sure what today's run would bring. We had a big snow a few days ago. I figured the singletrack would be out of the question and maybe we could put something together on the snowmobile trails. Jeremy and I carpooled up to Bradbury. Ian, Nathan, Zak, Ben, Alan, and Valerie were gathered, too and everyone was pretty much planning on about 15 miles. From the recon of Ian and Alan, it sounded like the snomo trails were not groomed, but might be further out. The plan was to run the Beautiful Loop and see what happened. The boys set out and Val and I hung back at our own pace. We slogged through sand-like snow, the ground sucking up all our forward momentum. It was tough going and I was not feeling "in" the run 100% mentally. After awhile we stopped briefly for a drink and I looked at my garmin. 1.7 miles. It was going to be a long day. Val really kept me going and since there were many road crossings, we know there were several points we could bail if need be. Somehow as always, the miles stacked on each other and we just kept moving along. We inspected animal tracks along the way big and small...and including those of the Monsters ahead of us. Thankfully, the trail was broken ahead of us, and though it was still tough going, we could find the turns (although few) if needed. We saw a bald eagle! And we stopped for a photo op on an abandoned old recliner right on the powerlines. The footing was sketchy in spots with mysterious ground beneath and ungroomed trails. Then we finally crossed a road and picked up some fantastic tire treads from a big truck frozen into the snow - this was the best running of the day. Luckily, we were able to follow it for quite awhile before it changed back into the icy postholes of the Monsters ahead (I said postholes, jeez, what did you think I said?) My feet were wet from the snow, but not cold. There was the occasional breeze, but for the most part the temperature was manageable. Even though the run had started tough, I felt that as we went on, I felt stronger and stronger and got into a good rhythm where possible. We decided that in the interest of time, once we hit Elmwood, we'd take the road back to the park to likely get in close to 15 maybe. We cruised back on the roads and made it back to the parking lot for about 13.8 total. I was hoping we'd get closer to 15, but the effort on the run was surely worth a couple extra karma miles. Soon we met up with the boys at E&L's for hot food and drink, a recounting of everyone's run experience, and congratulating each other for sticking it out. A great TM day all around.

Like a Freshly Un-Lidded Oreo

2012-01-12T22:49:00.001-05:00

When I was a young squirrel, my sister and I would carefully take the tops off our Oreos, drag our two front teeth across the icing, and proclaim the result looked like tire tracks on a snowy road. We never grew tired of this activity (or the Oreos). I'm guessing this fascination is something only unique to us or kids in northern climates...or stoners. Today's snow brought roads of Oreo tracks. It was close to noon when I headed out, hoping to beat the changeover to rain as predicted. I figured I would stick to the roads as the trails would be too deep to be easily passable and I wanted to get in at least 5 miles. Snowshoes were an option, too, but I knew it would be slow/rough going and planned to take a spin in them once I got my run in. It was still snowing pretty hard as I headed through the nearly six inches of snow in the driveway and onto the semi-plowed roads around our neighborhood. When I was out of the wind, it was great, when I was in the wind, there seemed to be a little bit of sleet mixed in and it stung my face as I ran. For some reason, it was a fun distraction from the needly pins of sleet on my face to have my tongue out to catch the tiny bits of snow and ice. I ran mostly in the tire treads on the road with plenty of time to see any oncoming cars, whereabout I could just jump into the shoulder which was snow-covered, but flat. There were more cars out on the road that I thought there would be. I had an "F-off" chambered in case anyone decided to yell to the girl running in the middle of the road with her tongue hanging out that she was crazy to be out in this weather. Never had to use it, though. Once I turned out of the wind, it was very pleasant and I got into a decent rhythm on the road. I kept looking over at the pristine white of the shoulder thinking it looked like the perfect place to be testing out my snowshoes, but I had plans for that when I got home. My out-and-back route got me just over 5 miles and it never started raining after all. Back at Squirrel Labs, I quickly changed into my snowshoes and headed out into the back yard for a test run. I walked a few steps....cool. I ran a few steps....oh, very cool! I ran a lap around the back yard and got the interesting experience of kicking up a constant plume of powder all the way up against the backs of my legs. I tried two more laps around the backyard and proclaimed the test run a success. I may head out tomorrow for a slightly longer jaunt with the snowshoes. I may also dream of Oreos tonight, too...

Squirrel on Tour

2012-01-11T19:18:00.000-05:00

A better title might be my week of awesomeness. Yesterday I ran with Jeremy at the Brad, today I got to run with Danielle in Brunswick on the famed Commons trail that she and Ryan often traverse. We met up a little after 10 and it wasn't nearly as frigid as I was anticipating. It was also great to know that the start place was just a few blocks away from where I work for my internship at Bowdoin - I was hoping to learn a local trail that I can do after work when I'm up there. We headed off across a field and into the woods. The trail was a tiny bit icy in some places, but didn't seem slippery even without screw shoes. I tried to pay attention to the turns and Danielle showed me how the trails all kind of come back on each other so it's not too terribly hard to get too lost out there. We chatted and caught up and it was nice to be out on a sunny clear late morning run. Back at the parking area I had about 6.6 miles on my garmin. I recently changed my settings so it no longer does the "auto pause" when I'm stopped as Val suggested that might be what's making my mileage so short. Afterward we headed over to Frontier for a super yummy lunch that included one of my all time faves, the sweet potato french fry, yum! Word has it that I might be able to try out ye olde snow shoes tomorrow...

School to Summit

2012-01-10T18:54:00.000-05:00

Jeremy and I hit Bradbury today to tackle some hills. His plan was to run up easy and down hard, mine was to run up at a consistent pace and try to get in a bunch of repeats. We decided to run up the hill by the elementary school since it's a fairly long climb and you can continue to the summit also. It felt like spring and we both commented on how it felt like March or April instead of mid-January. At the top of Lunchbreak (named by Jeremy for 1) it's near the school, so lunch break 2) it's kind of like Heartbreak Hill and 3) Jamie lost his lunch running that hill) which is about .5 miles up, we decided to keep going to the Summit, about .3 miles further. We were talking on the way up and of course I wasn't paying attention to exactly where we were going, so on the way down when Jeremy took off on his speedwork part, I (are you sitting down?) made a wrong turn onto South Ridge and then ended up at the lower parking lot, so I just made my way back up and met Jeremy at the summit. That trip down, he showed me where the turnoff were that I missed. Of course, my next trip back up and down I still started down South Ridge, but then realized I was wrong and found my way down correctly. One good thing is that I now know the route (without snowcover). It was a great workout and next time I'll work the hills a little harder. This was a good baseline for me to get used to a comfortable "hill pace" climb so I can have a better sense of when I can push it more and when I need to back off. All in all, I got in about 6.2 miles. School to summit is definitely a great hill training route.

A Good Last Before the Start

2012-01-08T21:41:00.002-05:00

This past weekend was the unofficial last weekend before "official" training starts for the Peak's 50. Saturday, I ran the Connector with Val and Emma - it's really a tough route and I was feeling it. Granted, I'm still getting over my cold, but just underscored my need to keep working at the hills and my endurance. I have no designs about racing hard at Peaks, but I also don't want my goal to be "just finish". Ultimately, I'd just like to feel relatively strong the whole time, which was pretty much my goal for the 40. But back to the weekend...the Saturday run was awesome. We ran the Connector and then over to visit the Heeland Coos with some hello's to the pigs and chickens (under the very watchful eye of the rooster, I can't remember his name). To add on some miles, we ran the rest of the Animal Loop back to the powerlines and then back to the park. I had been studying the maps the day before to get a better sense of where I am on the trail in relation to where it is on the map. I think I had a good idea of where we were in my head as we went along. Oh, we also added in a small detour to see some of the trails that Ian and I had scouted earlier in the week. Val and Emma got some great pictures - the water crossings and the powerline trail covered in a dusting of snow is really beautiful. We also saw tons of great animal tracks, turkeys, coyotes, squirrels, and some unidentifiable stuff (not big enough for Bigfoot) and even imprints of turkey feathers in the snow. We ended up with about 16 on the nose, though my garmin is still acting weird (I think Val found the cause, though). Unfortunately, E&L's was closed for a funeral and we couldn't complete our day there. Today I was tired, the cold is not yet over, but tolerable. Pete actually got me out of the house and we went over to try and link up two Greenbelt trails that I've been looking at. We ran the Great Pond route over to the outer Gull Crest and over towards Scott Dyer Rd. Out and back is about 5.3 miles; I want to add on a short piece of road to link up to Winnick's Woods. I believe that whole lollipop would be about 10ish miles. I have to say, I'm really not minding the lack of snow, though I know it sucks for all the skiiers and for the snowshoe races. The winters are so long here, it's been nice to kind of have an extended Finter (between Fall and Winter). When it does snow, though, my snowshoes are ready...

Exploring Tryon Mountain

2012-01-05T18:00:00.001-05:00

Met up with 3 of my 4 favorite Parclay's this morning to do some scouting around Tryon Mountain in hopes of discovering some untapped singletrack. We started at the little parking area on Lawrence Road and headed up the main trail towards the quarry. We may or may not have flagged a few trees to mark the way to hopefully retrace our steps on the way back. I was glad to be along on the scouting mission, but if I could have one superpower (after invisibility), I would pick having a legendary sense of direction. That's right, legendary. I think the dogs were more helpful in finding the trail than I was, but I did spy one of the key pink flags later on that led us to one of the best parts (in my humble opinion) of the recon. We found a great straight up hill climb that went along a high ridge and then back into the woods, the route there was dark and mossy and flanked by some huge trees. Ian seemed to know where we were going or what we were close to much of the time. We cruised out and around all the tracks we could find to see where things met up and eventually made our way back to the "switchback-y" part to see if we could find our way back through and back down the mountain to Lawrence Rd. Only a few small wrong turns on some O-Trail-like portions and we were back to the main trail. Lots of fun. Hopefully I'll be able to recreate some of the path on Saturday when I head back for a long run with Scout and Gnarls.
p.s. Ended up with 5.6 on my garmin, but 6.1 when I uploaded it and it corrected itself.

"Did you mean Winnick's Woods?" - Google

2012-01-04T21:49:00.001-05:00

Where the hell did I get the name "Winnock's Neck"? I'm going to blame Pete, because he makes up names for things he can't remember the real name for. At any rate, we hit the trails with me leading so I could learn the outermost loop, which is just shy of 4 miles. Surprisingly, shockingly, I made almost all the correct turns and enjoyed the trail just as much as I did last time - will definitely add this to the menu of local trail recipes. 3.9 for today and still recovering from the cold, but much better each day.

Couch to 5k

2012-01-03T20:31:00.000-05:00

There aren't too many people I would leave a nice cozy warm squirrel nest to run with at 5:30 on a Tuesday night in 10 degree weather. But, keeping with our history of running in ridiculously cold temperatures together, Val and I hit the Back Cove for 3.6 mile jaunt. Since I'm still on break from school, the PBR was a little far for me and it was more convenient for Val to stop at Back Cove on her way home from work. My cold and my attitude are better after a few rough days. I wasn't sure how I'd feel, but I think the cold kept us moving around the cove especially since we started into the wind so it would hopefully be at our backs by the end. It was definitely one of those "re-setting" runs and I feel like things are a little better on track. Hoping to keep feeling better so I can get in some nice runs while I have the time off.

Chillin and Illin

2012-01-01T20:01:00.000-05:00

Another quick update. I have a horrible cold. Ran at Ceres Park in NJ on Tuesday - a great trail. Winnock's Neck on Thursday, I'm not sure why I've been avoiding that trail, it's pretty awesome and not as hard to navigate as I thought. Ran Saturday with Ian and Val on various Bradbury trails. Crappy mileage for the week and year, but hope to change that in 2012.

Christmas

2011-12-25T19:30:00.000-05:00

Hit the AT late this afternoon for a solo Christmas run. I wanted to get out early, but it didn't happen. I've been fighting some kind of cold/allergy nonsense and my ear has been closed for several days now. But enough of that.
The trail was muddier than it has been. I came upon a young man hiking and we exchanged waves. Further down the trail, I saw an older woman walking her older dog. She wished me a Merry Christmas and a good run - the folks on the trails are almost always really nice here. Otherwise, I was on my own and got into a nice cruise pace and just truly enjoyed the trail. Legs felt good and I got in about 7 miles. Not as long as I hoped, but still good miles for the week and more base for when the Peaks training starts...

Stocking I made for my niece

Briellen's first Christmas! (underwhelmed)

Two-Way Switch

2011-12-24T17:04:00.000-05:00

Today was a switch in two ways - first, we got a late start, so I ended up swapping my Sunday run for today and hope to do my today run tomorrow. Second, we went South on the AT this time instead of North, which is the way I've always gone. There are (very) small bits of the AT that jog along a road before it jumps back again into the woods, or field, or wherever. The Southern direction from where we usually park is a bit of road - so we just drove a little further and got to a larger parking lot where the trail picks up again. Luckily, it's really well marked (yay, white blaze!) In the parking lot, we were getting our packs on, etc and a trail runnery looking guy came up to chat - he asked if we were heading north or south - we said south. He let us know that he'd be heading north and then told us for the next several minutes how hilly the southern part was that we were about to encounter. He was a very nice guy, though and welcomed us from Maine and told us about his trail running group - pretty cool. We set off over a rickety bridge, around a tiny patch of forest, over some railroad tracks, then a hundred yard jog on the road to a cornfield (the fields say hello, Triffitts!) where we wound around the edges toward the mountain ridges ahead. I could tell it was beautiful in the summer, but even in winter (no snow) it was still inviting. We were soon climbing up the first hill and I realized that this is exactly the type of training I should be doing for the Peaks 50 in May...At the top, we saw the midpoint place that our parking lot friend had mentioned - the official halfway point on the trail between Maine and Georgia. We continued on several more miles, up and down hills and ridges and across a little brook. Pete was using a GPS app on his phone that accounts for elevation/distance gain which my garmin does not. We turned around roughly 4ish miles in and headed back. I was glad to get some climbing in, but discouraged about whether I'll be trained enough for May. I know it's 4.5 months away, but I already feel behind leg-strength wise. Below is a map of our route and the elevation. Not that impressive, but a start for the hard work ahead of me. I ended up with 8.15 miles on my garmin, 8.45 corrected, and Pete had 8.76 on his phone.

Southern Trails

2011-12-23T16:22:00.000-05:00

The Tour de Christmas is underway. Monday-Weds we were in New Jersey visiting Pete's dad. We got in two nice trail runs at Brendan Byrne State Forest. The trails don't have a lot of elevation, but they're beautiful and unpopulated and usually blanketed with pine. In the summer the trails are surrounded by low bush blueberries. In the winter, they're lined with beautiful green moss. The first day, we hit one of the singletrack trails. It was covered in leaves, but still passable and not wet or slippery at all. I think we got in about 5+ miles. The next day, I went back by myself and did the main trail, I think it's called the Cranberry Trail for about 6 miles. Both days were mild and shorts were very comfortable. I may have mentioned it before, but one of the trails that runs through this park is called the Batona Trail. It's ultimately a 50 mile trail point to point (!) through the New Jersey Pine Barrens that starts (or ends) at the Brendan Byrne State Forest, passes through several other state forests on it's journey north (or south). I have designs about running this trail in its entirety sometime. The downside is that in the summer it's really, really, tic-y and buggy. But it's also really green and beautiful and looks like a sweet little trail. The best time of year to do it would probably be spring or winter, but maybe with a healthy dose of bug spray and deet, it could be managed in the summer...
Yesterday, we hit the Appalachian Trail for about 5ish more miles. Weather was great, trails were in good condition - a little muddy here and there. Tomorrow I head back out for a longer run on the AT, hoping to get in 15 or so. Tonight I'm seeing my best friend from high school - hard to believe we have known each other almost 30 years. She's a wonderful writer and has a blog about the creative process and how she works through dry spells, creative spells, and what inspires her. Check in out, why don't you?

Perfect

2011-12-18T22:53:00.000-05:00

Still behind on my updating. Last week was a bit sucky as I was finishing up all my final papers and whatnot. I caught the PBR run on Tuesday - it was much less wet, but just as dark. I won't make it this week or next as we're going to be doing the Tour de Christmas. Saturday was one of those fantastic runs. Val, Dora, Tim, Alan, and I set off early on the Connector. On the way up to Bradbury, the snow started to fall and by the time we reached the park, there was a wonderful steady snow. We were hoping it wouldn't change over to sleet or rain. The trail really looked beautiful, especially the water crossings where the snow was dusted over the bridge and rocks and moss below. Soon we popped out on the powerlines and started on the next segment of our journey. Not long after, Val did a sort of a slidey genuflect on some ice that was hidden under the snow and whacked her knee hard. We walked a bit and in usual Val fashion, she rallied quickly (she rarely falls or even trips) and we forged ahead. At West Pownal Road where Alan was going to bust off and head home we paused, did a little trail math, and concluded the that Highland Cows were JUST DOWN THE ROAD. So of course, we had to see them. As our little pack cruised up to the farm, we saw the owner (I missed her name) and Val called to her to ask if we could visit. She was so generous and next thing we knew, we were talking with the pigs, learning about what the cows eat, and throwing a ball for their Border Collie, Zoe. Even better, we were met by Ian, Zak, and Darrin, who had followed our tracks and knew exactly where we had headed. With the blanket of snow, our excitement of being on the farm, and having another part of our team cruise up to meet us, it felt as though all was right that moment. Our cold feet, however, were not all that right and had to set off again to warm up. The boys headed back to the park, Alan headed home, and Val, Dora, Tim and I headed back to the powerlines toward Pineland. When we reached the railroad tracks, we paused again. To our right was the tracks to Pineland, straight ahead was the twisty, turny, snow dusted trail up the powerlines. We were deciding what to do and I said something like "I wouldn't be all that upset if we didn't do the train tracks" and everyone immediately agreed, so we were all on the same page. Onward. I know Val's knee was getting pretty stiff and sore, but she plugged on. There were multiple bog crossing that we could fairly easily navigate until we finally came to one that was just too big and seemed like a good place to turn around. The way back was just plain fun. We made little snowmen, threw snowballs, chatted, tried new trails, commented on how beautiful it was, and occasionally sent some power to Ryan and Nathan who were down in TN running their first 50 miler. Back at the parking lot, we changed out of wet shoes and socks and headed over to E&L's. As usual, we were welcomed into the little chapel of a place and got warm with coffee, tea, soup, and hot sandwiches. I think we ended up with 14ish miles, a good and proper journey for the first snowfall of the year.

Pinebury

2011-12-10T14:11:00.000-05:00

I've been bad about my regular updates. The end of school is taking priority over writing time. This would normally warrant a nice long post, but I'll just post a shot of what we did today - which is something I've been wanting to do for awhile - run Pineland then the connector over to Bradbury. There are a million variations on how to do this, but for today, we just stuck with running the Pineland race route until Gloucester Hill, then the connector over to Bradbury to finish. In other news, I got in a few other, less exciting runs this week, except for Pratt's Brook on Tues, that was exciting (rain, dark, group pee break (lights out!).

Bunk x 2

2011-11-27T17:26:00.000-05:00

It was the Kennebunk trails today. Tim and I both wanted to get in a longer run and Pete wanted to ride, and we all love those trails. After a post out to the TM site, Jeremy was interested in joining, so we picked him up on the way down. We planned for 2 laps of the 7.7ish mile course to hopefully get in about 15 miles. Pete was coming down later and would meet us for the second lap. The weather was bizarre - mild and cool when we started (I was comfortable in shorts and long sleeves) but the clouds never cleared. The first lap was fun - we all chatted away about training, planning, planning for training, and some more talk about training. But it was all good. Jeremy and I tossed around lots of great ideas for hill and snowshoe training this winter in prep for McNaughton. I was psyched to show Jeremy the Bunk trails and glad he enjoyed them. We wrapped up the first loop and came back to the little parking area, which was now packed with cars. Pete arrived about 5 minutes later and we refilled our water bottles and had a quick snack before setting out on the second lap. We all agreed we got a little chilled during the stop between laps, but as we set out again on the trail, it was noticeably colder, darker, and weirder. It was too warm to snow, but the sky seemed to want to. Things were quieter on this loop among us, but we cruised along together and just enjoyed being out. We saw Pete periodically as he wound around the trails in front of us. We finished up with about 15.4 miles, perfect. Then decided to head to the Golden Rooster for brunch - a perfect little diner-type place in downtown Saco where we had some yummy omelets and made fun of the patrons. It was really a great day and I got in almost 33 miles for the week. Now back to reality and finishing up some homework.

Updating, Finally...

2011-11-26T19:30:00.000-05:00

What with papers due for school and prepping for Thanksgiving, updating of running has been lagging. I last updated about the Scary WNR run - which wasn't really all that scary looking back, but I do want to try the fancy headlamp that Jeremy recommended...

Let's see, after the WNR, I did a neighborhood run and a medium run around the Mountain trails at the Brad for a weekly total of only about 20 miles. Right now, I'm trying to just get in at least 20-30 miles a week and a long run of 10+.

Last week I got in an evening run on the Eastern Trail (yes, in the dark) for about 5 miles and then 12 on Saturday with Val and Tim (Animal Loop plus one lap of the Breaker).

Sunday, Pete, Tim and I did a hike on the Wright Trail in honor of Tim's brother Chris - it was the one year anniversary of his passing and we were honored to accompany Tim on the hike.

Weeping Elephant


Hidden Icicles

Tim and Pete near the summit of Goose Eye Mountain

It was a tough day, but a great hike. Tim found a suitable spot near the summit where we stopped for a rest. He had prepared a few words and left a tribute (giving of food and drink to the land) to Pachamama, as Chris would have done. There were tears and hugs and relief that one milestone had come and gone. All together, we traveled about 10 miles.

This past week, we ran from our house to the Wohelo trails for a lap and back for about 7ish miles and then on Thursday, Pete, Tim, my dad, and I ran the Thanksgiving Day 4 Miler together. We ran with my dad, who I may have mentioned, has lost nearly 100 lbs in the past 2 years - this race was one of his big goals. We were psyched to run it with him. Of course, in typical runner fashion, we crossed the line and he said, "I think I could have gone faster...". The race was great, but it was once again sad and disconcerting for me to see so many people running with headphones (4 miles, folks, come on) ignorant of people around them trying to pass politely and run/walking while they adjusted their music in total oblivion.


Turkey Trotters

Today, Tim and I ran the Eastern Trail for about 6.1 miles - great discussion as we attempted to fix the ills of the world. Tomorrow we're heading to the Bunk for a few laps and hopefully about 14-15 miles, which will give me close to 32 miles for the week, which is great for now. From now until the end of the year, I'll be slowly ramping up and then in January starts official 50 miler training. I don't know if I mentioned here that I signed up for this race in May. I'm looking forward to it, but I have to say, I've been spoiled by Trail Monster race directing and organizing, so far, this race hasn't matched up even close. I'll spare the details for now.

Only a few more assignments left for school this semester, which ends in a little less than 3 weeks. Hoping to try out the snowshoes for the first time, soon...

Big Scary WNR

2011-11-11T16:53:00.000-05:00

OK, I've been avoiding the Twin Brooks runs, because they're in the dark (yes, still with a headlamp). I'm not exactly sure where my fear of running in the dark comes from - maybe it's the time I was running around Julie Hayman's house outside at night when I was 8 and instead of running through a shadow in her backyard, I ended up jumping into their concrete cellar stairwell. Or maybe it was the time all the neighborhood kids played hide and seek outside in the summer and I always found myself running around by myself either looking for someone or trying to catch up to someone else (I was an anxious child). Hmph. No connection there, right?

Because I had made her run through electricity on our Animal Run the other week (there may or may not have been a few downed electrical wires that we ran around on a blocked off street), I agreed to embrace my fear and join Val for a Wednesday Night Run at Twin Brooks. It was pitch black at 5:45ish when we met and I had to borrow a headlamp since I still haven't gotten a new one yet. The moon was almost full, but there was a thick mist blanketing the fields and our headlamps were useless. We all know that I'm directionally challenged, so it was up to Val to guide us. She really is pretty amazing when it comes to navigating trails, even at night, so I knew I'd be safe. We set off and immediately I was transported back to Frost Road, circa 1978, running in the dark after the big kids so they wouldn't leave me. Except Val wouldn't leave me. We sploshed through giant puddles and mud fields (almost made more fun when you can't see them) and once we got into the woods and the fog dissipated, our lights worked better and we could actually see...for the most part. We wound around trails, made a wrong turn at some railroad tracks, and then I just followed Val's instructions like "well, it's all just trail, we'll just keep following it" and she navigated us through every turn and across every field. Pretty impressive. Back at the cars we ended up with 5.3 miles and called it a pretty good WNR.

The Bunk

2011-11-06T16:07:00.000-05:00

Headed down to the Kennebunk Trails today with Pete and Tim. Pete on bike, Tim and I on foot. It was a fantastic day to be in the woods. This was Tim's first time on the Bunk trails so it was fun showing him around. We did the usual lollipop route (counterclockwise) and made it through making most of the correct turns :) Great day to be outside and we got in about 7.7 miles. I feel like my stamina is coming back, so hopefully this will be a good week getting in some runs.

Pineland Half Marathon - TM Masters (Cougar Division)

2011-11-05T15:34:00.000-04:00

Since most of the Monsters were down kicking major ass at Stonecat today - Dora and I held down the fort and headed to Pineland to get some miles in. The day was crisp and clear and there was a perfect view of a snow-covered Mt. Washington. We knew we wanted to get in at least 10 miles so we headed out on the normal race route and started chatting and catching up immediately - so many topics to cover! Periodically, we thought out loud about our trail family and agreed that it was a perfect running day for them. I was having another one of those runs where I feel like we've been cruising for quite awhile - but then I noticed we were just reaching the Yurt. WTH? I guess all the running on flatish terrain is taking its toll. Dora was supportive when I had to start walking some hills - ugh. At any rate, we had a blast and soon we were back at the parking lot with 8.2 miles. We decided to head over to "the other side" for some more. Naturally, there was no loss for words and we cruised around the Oak Hill side before coming back to the parking lot with about 12.97...a few hundred feet more brought us right up to the perfect view of Mt. Washington and 13+ miles. I even made myself stretch a little after - still dealing with some lingering adductor nonsense. Back in the car, I couldn't wait to check my phone (i.e. facebook) to see how the Monsters were doing (they were rocking it) - thanks Jamie for the updates! Tomorrow Pete, Tim and I are going to head down to the Kennebunk trails for a nice loop, should be a perfect day for it!

Not Quite As Planned

2011-11-04T19:09:00.001-04:00

For some reason, my running took a nosedive this week, I'm not quite sure what happened. Today I managed to get out for about 2ish miles and planning on running long at the Land of Pine tomorrow with Dora. The place will likely be deserted as most of the Monsters are running Stonecat tomorrow - we'll be thinking of you all - good luck!!!

Quick Update

2011-10-31T21:12:00.000-04:00

Two good runs and LLL is behaving, although some lingering adductor issues from a few weeks back (may have to ring up Julia). Ran 12 on Eastern Trail on Saturday. I ran out 6 miles then back. On my way back, I ran into a gentleman taking pictures - I stopped to talk and he said he was from the Eastern Trail Association (or whatever it's called) and told me a little about the expansion plans. I mentioned something about it being nice if it was a four season trail (it's not kept up in the winter and near impossible to run on even with screw shoes) and he mentioned that there's a good deal of momentum behind having it groomed in the winter for skiing and running (!!!!) so that was cool. For Sunday, Danielle and Val and I had some grand plans for running Bradbury...but the roads in the early morning and condition of the trail brought things to a halt. Later in the day after hemming and hawing about where to go for a run I connected with Val who was feeling the same way and we ended up at Bradbury - but I just couldn't deal with the several inches of freezing cold slush (take away some badass points) and we hit the roads instead to do the Animal Loop - 8.6 miles that pass llamas (who hilariously bared their teeth at us and raised their ears up and down), Highland cows (but I like saying the Scottish "coos" better :) one of which is expecting a calf, a few dogs, and a friendly-looking white goose (part of the llama farm). All-in-all a success, except that E&L's didn't have power (gasp!). Hoping to bust out the headlamp for a few runs this week at the TNR or WNR.

Road and Pond

2011-10-28T16:05:00.000-04:00

Two quick miles on the road the other day - crazy tempo run. I felt like someone was chasing me. Now I remember why I don't really like racing. What is that?

Four miles today around Great Pond on the Greenbelt with Tim. The weather was perfect for a mid-Fall run. LLL is working well with a few small complaints here and there. Looking forward to hitting Pineland tomorrow and the Brad on Sunday.

Twenty-One

2011-10-23T18:45:00.000-04:00

Miles for the week, that is. Feeling good. A little stiff and sore, but all systems go. Ran 4 miles today on Eastern Trail, pace felt great, negative splits for each mile. Now, back to the schoolwork....

Back to the Brad

2011-10-22T16:08:00.000-04:00

I was nervous for today's run. LLL has been feeling fine, but somehow 10 miles seemed so short and so long. I met up with Val for the last half of her last long run before Stonecat (she's going to kill it) and Dora. A big pack of Trail Monsters were in the parking lot having finished up the 8am run. It was great to see everyone. It was the first Brad run in long sleeves for me. I had even brought a hat and gloves just in case, but didn't need them. Val, Dora, Steve T, and I headed out to find 10 miles of trail. We headed down the Scuffle course and were chatting away as usual. I was definitely feeling the time off cardiovascularly. I dared to look at my Garmin after what seemed like 17 miles and it read 3.38.....After another mile or so, I hinted around that I might have to cut it short. Val helpfully suggested we keep looping back to the parking lot and then make a decision about more. This gave me a boost and we rolled into the parking lot at about 6.8 miles. Kate was there stretching and trying to decide where to get in a few more miles. I offered to run with her for a few miles since I knew she was out for a long one and starting to feel pretty done. We set off on the Boundary Trail and Dora and Val cruised ahead to get in a few more. It was great to catch up with Kate and we splashed through the West side trails - it was so much wetter and muddier on that side today for some reason. A little tour around the Mountain brought us back to the parking lot again and my Garmin read about 9.4....hmmmm. Close to my goal and I was about to call it, but Kate urged me to finish it off to 10 and that sounded like a good idea especially since Val and Dora weren't back yet. I headed back over to the East side and ran down the Bruiser course "a piece" and then back to get in 10.1. Val and Dora headed in soon after, Val limping in a little with a sore back :( Sore enough to skip the trip to E&L's (for someone who never complains or gets injured, you know she's not feeling good when she skips E&L's!) and head home for a hot shower.
Happy I got in the miles I had planned...even stretched afterward. Hoping things keep cooperating!

Updates

2011-10-21T16:50:00.000-04:00

LLL continues to be a champ, so that means I'm slowly getting some miles in. Quick update: Last week was pretty slim miles-wise, but I got in about 13 miles for the week. A few of those miles were around Eagle Lake on MDI, which is always a fantastic run. We were there to cheer on the TM's running the marathon as well as our friend Tim, and I can tell you it was incredible to see everyone in their element and rocking it out. Jamie, Ryan, Blaine, Jim, Shauna, and NJ Dave all did amazing. Kinda sorta made me want to run another road marathon someday. HAHA! I kid.

This week I got a few short runs under my belt and tomorrow will be my longest since the 40. I'll keep ramping up my miles slowly and am looking forward to an actual race in 2012 if all goes well...

Suck It Pes Anserine!

2011-10-14T20:40:00.000-04:00

Big run today for the Squirrel - almost 4 miles on the Eastern Trail. I know, almost a belt buckle. Parts seem to be holding up. Ran with Brother Tim, who's back in Maine (yay!) and who will be running MDI on Sunday. He's decided to follow that up with a 50 miler the next weekend in PA. Distance runners...sheesh.

Hoping to get a few trail miles in at MDI when I'm not cheering for the TMs!

And some more...

2011-10-11T20:35:00.002-04:00

2.7 on the roads today. Weather was beautiful and the pace felt great - I guess I have had a pretty long taper...
Iced afterwards and will stretch some more... So far so good. Still a bit of discomfort, but I think I'm coming around to the other side.

Three More

2011-10-10T18:57:00.000-04:00

Hit the Eastern Trail this afternoon with Pete. I was thinking 2-3 miles to see how the knee bursitis was doing and it managed to hold up pretty well. We ended up with about 3 miles not including a little walk in the middle. Hopeful for the knee and psyched that Pete joined me. The marsh continues to be gorgeous this time of year. Now I have to ice and stretch....

5K

2011-10-09T12:01:00.000-04:00

After a visit with Dr. C last week, my instructions were to keep stretching, rolling, and icing, take several more days off, then do a 30 minute run to see how things go. So yesterday was a "test day" for the old knee bursitis. Pete and I headed over to Twin Brooks to meet up with Rick and Val who were volunteering at the Craig Cup put on by Trail Monster Jeff. The plan was to join them after the race for a short run. It was fun to do a double date run :) and we set off on the trails that basically none of us knew that well, but we figured we'd figure it out. I knew a few parts of the trails from running there before, so we kind of pieced together a 3.1 mile run. There was mud, grass, bugs, deep puddles and hills. We all chatted away and even though I was sucking wind from so much time off, it was still great to be out. All the fine ingredients of a good trail run and a whirlwind tour for Pete, who is doing pretty awesome with getting into trail running. The LLL seemed to hold up fine, but I knew the real test would be later that day and evening, when things usually tighten up and get sore. That afternoon I iced and stretched and it seemed a little better than last time I ran. Today, things seem to be holding up, a little sore, but I'm hopeful the ole bursitis is on it's way out. I'll try a short run again Monday.

Last night was a fun night out at Novare Res with the Trail Monsters - great group of friends on and off the trail :)

Fingers Crossed

2011-10-01T15:09:00.000-04:00

Ran at the Brad today with Val and Blaine. They were out for a long run and I met up with them towards the end to try 4 miles to see how LLL was doing. I ended up with 5.8 and things felt great during the run. However there is a distinct sore area afterward that seems like the pes anserine bursa. Of course, that's also a common stress fracture site, so who knows. Going to ice and stretch and see what happens....*sigh*.

Release the Squirrels!

2011-09-25T21:13:00.001-04:00

After 14 days completely off, I took LLL out for a spin today on the Eastern Trail for a test run. Ran 2 miles and felt slow and heavy, but all the parts seemed to be cooperating. Hoping that the time off won't have taken too much of a chunk out of any conditioning I had before. The real test will be to see if things tighten up tonight or are sore tomorrow. Going to ice and stretch and cross my fingers that I can get back to regular running.

Meantime, here are some pictures from the marsh!

wild rose hips

my favorite colors all layered...

fall arriving

marsh colors

monarch

seagull hanging out

some yellow flower

wavy marsh grass

many different colors


marsh grass close up

cool marsh shot


an eagle scout project added several nice wood benches to the trail

fall!

Squirrel at Rest

2011-09-16T19:34:00.000-04:00

Since LLL is still being whiny little beeatch, I decided to shut it up for good and take some time off as recommended by Dr. Carey. He says it should be completely asymptomatic for 2 weeks before resuming running. In the meantime, he says stretch and roll. While it is feeling better, I'm still not feeling 100% and want to be smart about healing up until I embark on the next training cycle. I was hoping I'd bounce back faster after the 40, but as we all know, nagging injuries going into a long run don't magically heal themselves (plus, I'm old now). So, there you have it. Hopefully the Squirrel power will be back soon...

Baconus Interruptus

2011-09-10T14:22:00.000-04:00

A few things were at play with the decision of where to run today. Ok, mostly it was bacon. And the fact the E&L's is closed while they're on vacation. But there was bacon to be found...at the Pineland cafe and that is where we decided to run. To be honest, I was also feeling a wee bit Brad-tired and wide rolling paths of the Land of Pine somehow seemed easier to navigate than the roots and rocks of the usual trails.

I met up with Dora and Val and got some good consultation on LLL. We all agreed it was some kind of tendonitis thing that I could totally run through. Dora did have sage words by reminding me to just let my body be the guide for today's run. Val did her trail computer magic, where we say how far we're thinking of running and what kind of terrain and she instantly computes a mental map for it. We walked a tiny bit to warm up (my request so LLL could get it's act together) and then joined up with the trail that links up to the Campus Loop that we were going to use to cut over to the field that goes over to the Oak Hill side. I gimped along briefly and then as things warmed up there was just a dull ache and then I felt fine. We launched into great conversation right away and covered major topics as usual. It was nice to be at Pineland. The weather was cool and fall was in the air. The miles ticked by quickly and we ended up with about 6.9, I think. I was hoping to get in 6-8, so that was perfect and Val didn't want to go too far since the Bruiser is tomorrow, so I think it all worked out well.

Back at the Visitor's Center we got some drinks and headed over to the sandwich counter. They have a really good BLT on the menu. Val ordered it and the woman said something ridiculous like "Oh, we don't make sandwiches until 11". It was 10:15. We stared at each other like groupers. "I'm sorry, I don't think you realize who we are", I said. Ok, I said that in my head. We pretty much didn't know what to do with ourselves at that point and wandered aimlessly around for awhile before gravitating over to the baked goods. Val got a yummy-looking pumpkin scone, but I had lost interest. I did pick up some meat though from the freezer section for a future meal. I've gotten meat there before and it's really good.

At home, I iced my leg and it felt surprisingly good. I'll keep that up the rest of the day. Looking forward to tomorrow and the Bruiser. I hear the course is a bit wet and muddy, but I have the feeling it's going to be a pretty awesome TMR day with some well-fought battles. Can't wait to see the Badass shirts though I did get a peek at the Bruiser shirt and it. is. awesome.

ET

2011-09-09T19:51:00.000-04:00

Four today on Eastern Trail. Julia worked on my legs earlier today and it was much needed - she did a fantastic job as usual. I'd say most of the parts are working fine. LLL is still giving me a few problems and I'm just going to keep an eye on it. Seems like it may be some kind of tendonitis, but I'm going to leave it to the running gods for now.

So...what's next? Got my eye on some future, ahem, races. Yeah, I said race. But nothing where I'd have to run fast or anything, that's just krazytalk.

First One

2011-09-07T20:40:00.000-04:00

Back at it. Running, school, and internship. Ran this evening two miles on the treadmill. Not ideal, but just what had to happen with my schedule, mood, and the weather. I've mostly felt good since the 40 - it's been hard getting back into a structured day and not being able to run whenever I want. I am looking forward to running with Team Snowplug in Brunswick though :) and finding some running routes around BU on Thursdays. LLL is still bothering me as I guess I expected. It's no worse, but it's not any better either. Getting a massage from Julia on Friday - yay!

That's about it for now...still recovering mentally and physically.

40

2011-09-04T19:40:00.002-04:00

I can't think of a better way to close out the Summer of Awesomeness than with a 40 mile trail run with friends. I think I'm still processing everything, because I just don't know what to say. I know it was an incredible experience, I know I'm overwhelmed by the kindness of friends, I know there is nothing more powerful than a team working together on the trails.

I had two general goals going into the run - 1) don't fall (too much) and 2) try not to walk (too much). While I did kick a few roots and rocks, I did stay on my feet the whole time (score!). And while I did walk a few hills and a few short sections toward the end, I would say the running part was pretty consistent, which I was happy with. I didn't even bother with goals like "have fun", because I already knew I would :)

I posted this on the event page on Facebook, but here are the results of the day:
In a span of 9 hours 22 minutes (which includes stops between laps), 37 runners ran a combined distance of 712 miles!! The average distance run was 19.2 miles and 6 people ran the full 40 miles.

I think I will write more as it comes to me - but for now, I'm really happy with how things went and I feel like I pushed through to a new layer of mental and physical challenge. Onward...

Last One

2011-09-01T14:16:00.003-04:00

Last run before Saturday. Val and I started the final bows and encores to the Summer of Awesomeness today with a quick 3.7ish mile spin around some of the trails. She had previously (and generously) scoped out the trails after the storms and reported a few downed trees (that were still there...) and debris. We checked out the downed trees and picked out the best places to run around them, breaking off the branches and twigs that we could that were in the way. We made some final plans for Saturday and checked out the picnic table area and how to set things up. It's gonna be a fun, fun day!

Of course, afterward, we stopped by E&L's where they had (yes) SET ASIDE BACON for us from yesterday in order to make us special TBLT's. It's good to be a regular.

Twin Brooks

2011-08-30T22:32:00.002-04:00

Twin Brooks tonight for one of my last runs of the week before Saturday. Carpooled up with Jeremy and met up with a pretty big sized group. I ran mostly with Ryan, who was kind enough to pretend that the pace was slow for me, though I felt like I was working pretty hard. We talked training and setbacks and how much fun Saturday will be with everyone hanging out and running together. I'm looking forward to it and I'm so excited that so many people are planning on coming out and joining in for some or all of the miles.

Twin Brooks is a good mid-week run. I'd like to try and make it something regular, especially this winter. Speaking of seasons, there is definitely a touch of fall in the air now in the evenings and we're losing sunlight for sure. September is really one of the most beautiful and temperate months of the year here. This week is the final week of the Summer of Awesomeness...I'm working on the mental shift and entertaining some spring running event ideas...

Nervous

2011-08-29T20:37:00.000-04:00

Bunk Bunk

2011-08-28T13:26:00.002-04:00

Tapering is making me tired and grumpy. There may be a few other female biological factors at work, too, but I won't go there.

Since my last post, I hit the Kennebunk Trails twice in two days. Friday was a semi-last minute plan as Val was heading down to Worcester to pick up Sam for the weekend and it seemed like a great time to try those trails. We met up and it was so much hotter than either of us had anticipated. Have I mentioned I've gotten a little bit lost every time I've been there? Friday was no different. But we figured out where we made the wrong turn and now I'm sure I have it dialed in. We went "clockwise" this time instead of how I have previously gone and it seemed harder and hillier for some reason. But that might be the taper talking. It's like the O-trail, just less intestine-y, but the ups and downs are there. Still one of my favorite new trails though. We finished off 8.5 miles and then headed to Run of the Mill for refreshments. Fish tacos and sweet potato fries, yum!

LLL was being a bit whiny and it was getting me down. I stretched and did my exercises. I didn't meet up with the group Saturday at the Brad either. I wanted to get out and get in some kind of run, it was getting late in the afternoon. Nothing sounded appealing. Eastern Trail? Meh. The Church? Meh. Wohelo? Meh. Kennebunk? Hmmmmm. I consulted with Pete and he was interested in going down to bike (yay!) he loves those trails and it wasn't a hard sell. I took some advil before we left. Once on the trail, I gimped a little to start, then warmed up. By the time I was half-way through, LLL had warmed up and things were moving a little easier. The last few miles of the trail is a nice gradual downhill and I flew back feeling good. Stretched a bunch last night and did my exercises.

Today, things are feeling good, but I've also been a little doped up on the advil. Stretching, stretching. Taper, taper...

Hope we don't lose power tonight...

Slow and Steady

2011-08-24T22:27:00.002-04:00

Figured I'd take LLL out for an easy spin today to see how things felt. I've been stretching and with the 2 days off, things were slowly starting to improve. I met up with Val at The Brad. I figured 3-5 miles would be my goal with the option to bail if things went south. We set off and I had my usual 100 yards or so of kinks to work out, but then things seemed good and we continued (I had also taken some Advil earlier and that was helping to settle things down). With my being away last weekend, we had a lot of catching up to do in the chat-department! The run felt good and we invented the course along the way, exploring a new side trail to see where it linked up. We rolled back up to the road with about 4.5 miles done and that sounded perfect to me. E&L's afterward topped off a really beautiful day and run. I also had a massage from Julia and she worked her magic to knead out all the knots and gnarliness of LLL. I felt the relief and continued to do more stretching this afternoon, my strength exercises and feel like things are moving forward.

10 more days. Taper like you shake your moneymaker!

Update

2011-08-23T16:44:00.002-04:00

The good news is that I can abandon my plan to fashion a bionic leg...for now.

Doctor said my calf is just really jacked up and tight. He did some active release stuff and gave me some good exercises and stretches to do. Also said he highly recommends getting one of those night splint sock things to passively stretch the calf at night. I'm to take it easy and he reassured me that my base is there and not to worry too much about miles lost during the taper (as many have already said). It's so hard to believe that just a tight muscle could cause pain like that, but apparently it can. I guess I've just never experienced that type of muscle pain before and especially something that was too bad to continue running on. I feel like I'm always crying wolf here...I know everyone has injuries and I feel like I'm always "Disaster!" and then "Oh, it was nothing". It's not nothing, but I do find that it's helpful to use this blog as both a training log as well as a place to vent my fears and concerns. So, thanks for putting up with me.

That said. The 40 is ON. Taper like a gladiator!

Welp...

2011-08-22T22:31:00.002-04:00

It's been a week. Went to PA on Thursday to pick up the hounddog and then to NJ to visit Pete's mom. Just got back tonight.

My running week was a little wonky due to the travel - I ended up with 1 unintentional rest day, but with some bothersomeness of my lower left leg (foreshadowing) it didn't seem like a bad thing. I moved my long run to Friday and did 21.7 on the Appalachian Trail in PA. Love the trail there. I ran out 10ish and met up with Pete, who drove to one of the crossroads, so I could refill my water and then run back, where he would meet me again. The run went fine, just a little bit of a slog in some places, but good. I used the Nuun (love!) and had honeystingers and trail mix for food. That evening we went to NJ and things were starting to not feel so hot with LLL. It's been creeping up on me and had entered the "this is starting to feel more like pain than an ache" kind of thing. Saturday, I had a planned 10, but only managed about 4.3 - LLL was giving me problems and I didn't want to push it. Sunday, I had a planned 8 and ended up hobbling about 1/2 a mile, then walking another mile. Not good. Today was a planned day off. I'm icing and massaging. I doubt I'll be able to do much tomorrow. I scheduled a visit to Dr. Carey for tomorrow and have a massage with Julia this week. I'm officially tapering, but...worried about the missed conditioning. Will report back. Please send healing vibes :(

Trail Monster Buffet

2011-08-16T15:27:00.002-04:00

As it will be with The Summer of Awesomeness, I had two runs in two days with a smorgasbord of Trail Monsters and trails. Yesterday, I ran the Fore River Trails for the first time - met up with Val, Danielle, and Dora for a nice 4 mile recovery run and to try out some trails that were new to me. Afterward we went to Saigon (outer Forest Ave in Portland) for Vietnamese, which was perfect for the rainy day.

Today, I met up with Jamie at the Bunk (the Kennebunk Trails) for what we originally planned as a 7-mile loop, but what ended up being 10+ miles (wrong turn). Man, I love those trails. Every time I've been out there, I've made a wrong turn (I know, not shocking), but Jamie pointed out that it's a good trail if you lost a little bit - means there is enough terrain to allow for that type of thing. And there really is, it's a huge area of land with no houses in sight. Good times all around.

27.6 Mile Bradburyness

2011-08-14T15:02:00.003-04:00

After the Switchback trail clean up the other week, I was talking with Ian and Val about my upcoming long training runs. With a suggestion from Ian, we hatched a plan to do the Ultra Xtreme - me for my long run, and Val to achieve Badassedness for running all three races since she missed the Scuffle due to a funeral. OK, I wanted to try and achieve Badassedness myself, too. The Ultra Xtreme Badass Run would entail running the race courses of all three races in the Bradbury series consecutively - the Scuffle (6 miles), the Breaker (9 miles), and the Bruiser (12 miles). I also wanted to use this run as a hydration and nutrition test for my 40. I packed a cooler full of snacks and was going to try a few new things I hadn't tried before to start to narrow down what works best for me over longer distances. Up until now, I've really only gone with Gatorade and Gu on long runs and I'm learning I just can't stomach gatorade anymore and I'd like to diversify a bit from the straight sugar of the Gu. I was prepped with Nuun tablets, trail mix, Ensure, and Honeystinger waffle cookies (which I have had before and love). I filled my hydration pack about 40 ounces full and added 2 Nuun tabs to start (fruit punch flavor, I think).

We started early and met up with Dora and her friend Sue as they were going to join us for the first part. Ian, Ryan, Jim, Jeff, and Joe were there marking the course. I was glad Val was there for many reasons, one being that she knows all three courses like the back of her hand and we wouldn't have to constantly consult maps or our memories. We set off on the Scuffle, and cruised around the course, chatting and catching up. I didn't bring any food on this portion as it was a relatively short section and we would be coming back to the parking lot before heading on to the Breaker. I had never tried Nuun before and I did like it, though I could definitely taste the salt in it and it took a little getting used to. I also used blistex blister cream on my feet where I usually get moderate blisters and bodyglide on my lower back where my pack usually chafes. The Scuffle course really flew and I was surprised and how quickly we were back at the lot. I topped off my pack (didn't add more Nuun) and put the bottle of Ensure in my front pack pocket to sip along the way. Dora and Sue joined us for the first trip up the summit and on our way back down we saw the guys marking the course and said a quick hello. I worked on the Ensure - it was good (chocolate) and it didn't upset my stomach, but it did feel kind of heavy and just didn't seem to sit totally right. I can't remember where Ryan and Jim jumped in, but they ran with us back to the parking lot where we quickly refilled again before the second lap of the Breaker. Jim peeled off and Ryan joined us for lap 2. The Nuun seemed to work well and it was getting a little more diluted and a little easier taste-wise.

The Breaker course is just hard. We worked our way around the mountain a second time and I was still feeling pretty good, but grateful for the downhills. I felt good on energy and the weather was actually pretty nice, it was warm but not super hot or humid. Once again, we were back at the lot and done with the first two courses. I ate a Honeystinger waffle and refilled my pack to capacity (2 liters). I also packed another Honeystinger and small bag of trail mix in my pack. It was starting to warm up a little more and I was pretty soaked sweat-wise, but didn't feel like I wanted to change clothes yet. Everything seemed to be feeling pretty good physically and mentally.

We set off on the Bruiser course. 12 more miles to go. We reminded ourselves not to skip the Island by accident, since we leave it out as part of the 40-Loop. Gradually, our conversation trailed off, evidence that we were working on focusing on the trail and getting around the course. I felt like I was drinking a lot, but I was also conscious of rationing my fluids so I wouldn't run out too soon. I said to Val that in the future it would probably make sense if I set my watch to beep at certain intervals to remind me to drink (I used to do this on long bike rides) and also to get an idea of how much I've consumed and what I have left. A smart person would have stopped and looked at the water in their pack right then and there and figured out how to space it out over the remaining miles. Mmmm, I didn't do that. Just about right after both Val and I mentally congratulated ourselves for not tripping or falling yet (we compared notes after), she took a digger. I can't quite remember the next sequence of trips and falls (there weren't many), but the impact and perhaps quickly draining fluid supply was starting to wreak havoc on her calves and toe. So we took it easy and made sure to watch the trail ahead and stop and stretch the calves as needed. We sat for a moment at one of these points and I ate my Honeystinger. The landmarks ticked off and we knew that Rick would be meeting us at the start of the O-trail. Luckily, he was going to be bringing a resupply of water as we were both running low and sharing the last bits between us. At one point, I realized I was suddenly hungry. I actually felt my stomach growl and was so glad I had that trail mix - it was exactly what I wanted at that point and tasted awesome. I guess it was hotter than I thought and I was sweating a lot more than I realized, too. Finally, we heard a cheer from up ahead and Rick was there to get us refilled. Yay! Now we just had to travel the small intestine of the O-trail. One highlight to look forward to on this part was the 26.3 mark on my garmin, which would be uncharted Squirrel territory as I have never run farther than a marathon distance before. The bad calf cramps continued to plague Val, especially on the uphills, which I knew was frustrating to her, because when she could run, she was running strong. No worries, we stopped when we needed. Linda had come out and met up with us about 1.5 to the end and it was nice to see her, except we had to break the news to her (as heard from Rick) that E&L's was going to close early and we would likely not make it there. (Silent gasp). Soon we got to the "rockpile" which indicated the end of the O-trail and saw Rick again waiting (yay!) and plopped out onto Knight Woods and then on to the finish. I hit my garmin and it read exactly 27.0. However, when I upload my data and look at the map, it always reads a little bit more - and this time it showed 27.6. Apart from being soaking wet (I know, gross) and pretty much done with my water, I felt pretty good. Since E&L's was closed, we sat on the picnic tables and rehydrated for a few minutes. Later on at home, I realized that the blister cream worked great, the bodyglide on my back worked great, but I chafed the hell out of my sides and at one of the seams on my shirt sleeve. Ow. I was psyched for my longest run ever (if only by a little bit) and glad that it had gone pretty well. This coming weekend will be my last long run before the taper...

I have a loose game plan right now for the 40, which is to just try and keep each lap relatively the same (basically, not slowing too dramatically from lap to lap). However, in conversing with a few unnamed persons, a few race strategies were proposed. Which brings me to my question to the panel (you may only vote for one): a) Should I just run 40 miles in celebration of my birthday and not worry about pace at all? b) Should I run 40 miles with a loose plan to keep all laps relatively the same pace (but probably a pretty moderate one)? or c) Should I think of it as more of a challenge and push the pace as if it was more of a race (against myself, of course) - I mean, I did train all spring and summer for it...

Fun to run all courses and fun to look at the map with our footprints on almost every trail at the park.

My New Favorite Trail

2011-08-12T22:04:00.002-04:00

I headed down to the Kennebunk trail today that Jamie discovered. This is officially my new favorite trail. Got in about 7.4 and battled a few deer flies as well as coming to a crossroads where the trail markings essentially stopped completely. When I got home I looked on my garmin map compared to the online map to see where things went awry, and now when I go back, I'll be able to do the route I wanted. Nice long run planned for tomorrow...

Rainy

2011-08-10T14:15:00.002-04:00

Bradbury today for 11+ miles with Val. I yammered the whole time dumping out my entire story of the 100MW while we ran through the rain. I was hedging my bets on the TBLT...they didn't have it, but they did have a yummy tuna melt with pepperoncini which was pretty scrumdillyicious.

Thinkin' of heading to the Kennebunk trials tomorrow...

TMR TNR

2011-08-09T22:01:00.002-04:00

Planned to meet up for the TMR TNR, the first I've been to in ages. Cruising down Pleasant Rd, I realized...I had left my shoes behind. Sigh. Turned around and headed back home to pick them up, but I knew I'd be at least 5-10 minutes late. Oh well. When I pulled into the parking lot, I saw the last trickle of runners cruising into the woods. So I took a few minutes to put on my shoes, get the garmin going, and then walked over the to map and picked up a trail map since I don't fully know the whole way myself. I only had 4 miles on my schedule, so I figured I'd just cruise out a few miles and then back and by the time I got back to the parking lot, the rest of the group would be back or heading back shortly. Luckily, I ran into Jim walking Schafer and he pointed me toward a shortcut that might let me catch up to the group. Pretty soon I saw the group and called out to Kate, which I think totally surprised her since I was coming out of nowhere. I ran with her and Chandra and got caught up on her and Jamie's trip to Prince Edward Island. I ran with them back to the parking lot and then headed back out to add on a few more miles. Right as I was heading back to the parking lot, I saw the rest of the group running in, so it worked out perfectly. We all chatted in the parking lot awhile until the drizzle and rain broke up the fun. Got in 4.2 miles and would like to try and get to more TNRs if possible. Running the Brad tomorrow with Val - fingers crossed for the TBLT!

Too Much

2011-08-08T23:16:00.005-04:00

It's been almost a week since I posted last. It was quite a week and weekend. I have no idea where to start, so I'll do a quick update on my running since last post. I'm still experiencing some nagging aches and pains in my lower left leg. I think it is mostly related to a mild ankle roll from several weeks ago that I just keep re-aggravating. It seemed to bug me more than usual last week and I think a lot of it also had to do with 2 long drives in the car to PA and back. Needless to say, with all that was going on, I ended up about 20 miles short of my planned weekly mileage for last week. However, I think the reduction was good overall to give the leg a rest. That said, I'll get to the good stuff, the 100 Mile Wilderness.

I could probably write pages about this event and it seems too overwhelming at the moment to put it all down in words. I'm also still processing everything. I want to say "let's just run together and I'll tell you about it". I know the words and stories will spill out that way better than I can manage here. I'll at least try and put down some highlights:

-Crewing for Ian, Emma, and Jeremy was a total blast. Our caravan of crews wound through the logging roads from checkpoint to checkpoint; we set up camp, prepped for the runners, laughed, danced, rested, thought, swam, navigated, cared for our charges, jumped car batteries, and slept when we could.

-The 100MW is stunning. The thought of such a hidden place in my now home state makes me even more happy to live in Maine.

-Wildlife sightings: 2 moose, a lynx, deer, a pine marten, chipmunks, and snakes.

-At the second checkpoint (Mile 40), I ran out to meet Ian, Emma, and Jeremy. I ran into them about 5.6 miles in and we all ran back to the checkpoint together. When we set them off toward checkpoint 3, I wished I was going along.

-The trail was brutal. It's a hiking trail, not a running trail.

-Trails at night are scary.

-Around 4am, sitting in the car at checkpoint 4, the full weight of what my friends were doing hit me and my heart swelled with admiration and respect, the likes of which I still can't quite comprehend or adequately describe.

-If you're planning on doing a 100 mile race (or ultra of any kind) you should crew for one. You see the underbelly of it all as well as a reality check of the real magnitude of the task.

-At every checkpoint and all during my brief time of running with them, Ian, Emma, and Jeremy were having a BLAST. It is a thrill to see your friends working on their goal and doing it exactly the way they wanted.

-The picture I didn't get to take, but will always remember, is seeing three glow sticks attached to the backs of the packs of three runners winding their way up a steep slope and into the darkness together.

I'm so grateful to have been a part of the adventure.

More AT, Please

2011-08-02T17:16:00.003-04:00

AT again today for a slightly longer run. It wasn't as humid today, but it was still hot and I knew my handheld wasn't going to be enough, so I saddled on the Nathan pack. I've been running so much with the handheld, it was nice to be totally hands free. For the most part, I have the Nathan dialed in, but I do have some issues with my shirt getting bunched up underneath sometimes.

The horses were out at the pasture I run across (up and over the stiles that go across the electric fence on either side) and I saw lots of butterflies and a few chipmunks. Seems like there is quite a bit more butterfly activity here than in Maine. Maybe it is the proximity to fields and farms? As I came up to one of the open fields, I saw one of the trail markers in the distance (where the trail passes through fields or places without trees, there are fence posts in the ground with the white blaze on them) with a bird on top. Last time I was out this way, there was a red-winged blackbird on the same post. This time it was some type of bird of prey and I was hoping he wouldn't fly off before I got close enough to see what it was. As I approached, he still sat there regally and I wasn't sure he was going to move at all. But at the last minute, he took off and I saw it was a beautiful red tailed hawk. Then I saw why he wasn't interested in moving, he had a field mouse in his claws that he carried away to a better lunch spot where there weren't any annoying trail runners to disturb him.

When I got to the 5 mile mark, I reluctantly turned around to head back. There were so many gradual turns in that part of the trail, I kept wanting to see what was around the next bend; even though I've been there before, it's so infrequent that I don't remember which parts lie ahead (hell, I'm still making wrong turns on my 40 loop, so more evidence for my terrible memory).

The way back was uneventful and I was glad I had worn the Nathan pack. Was also glad I got in a nice 10 miles. I head North to Maine tomorrow morning. I really want to get in a run before I leave, but I also want to leave pretty early to beat the traffic and to pack for the 100MW! Very excited to crew and hopefully get in some mileage myself...

Last Minute Trip

2011-08-01T18:03:00.003-04:00

Made kind of a last-minute trip to PA yesterday to visit my parents and bring the dachsie down for them to babysit while we're away this weekend crewing for the 100 Mile Wilderness. Thankfully, the drive down was a breeze and I hit virtually no traffic.

I hit the Appalachian Trail today for 5 miles. It was hot, but there is a good deal of shade on this section of the trail that I frequent whenever I'm home. I was going to bring my camera, but I knew it would just get too sweaty. I went out 2.5 and then back, only saw 2 other people - a father and son hiking. Just love the AT....going to hit it again tomorrow for a slightly longer run. Might bring the camera, I'm hoping to get out pretty early.

Tough Stuff

2011-07-30T16:29:00.002-04:00

Met up at the Brad with Val bright and early to get in 20 miles. There were a few mountain bikers in the parking lot at that hour (7am) and then a little red Smart Car zipped up and it was Nate, who was also looking to get in some miles before it got too warm. What with the Breaker coming up and all, we decided to run one lap of the 40, one lap of the Breaker, then one lap of the 40.

It was a rough one out there today. I slept like crap last night and just couldn't get in the right frame of mind for a long run. We set off on the first lap and while it wasn't miserably hot, it was incredibly humid and we were drenched by the end of the 8 mile loop. I was wishing I had brought another shirt at that point. It was a struggle for me and as we came back to the parking lot, I was thinking the mountain side seemed pretty daunting. I mumbled something about maybe not doing the Breaker lap and Val said encouragingly - don't worry about it, we'll walk the hills if we have to - and off we went. I was glad to have her there, I might have bailed totally at that point. We made our way up to the summit and let Nate go ahead when we stopped to empty some rocks that kept finding their way into Val's shoes. We had seen Joe Wrobleski in the parking lot earlier practicing running with his rig for the 100MW and as we made our way down from the summit, we saw him again cruising down. Might I say, that the Switchback looked pristine!

I wasn't sure if it was the shade on some of the trails or what, but I was getting goosebumps and Val inquired as to whether I had Gatorade or just water...I just had water. I definitely was in need of some electrolytes and sodium and she was generous in offering me some extra Gatorade that I added to my handheld. This really is the time for me to be figuring out my hydration and nutrition, so it was good to note that I really need to supplement on these longer runs, especially when it's as humid as it was.

Back at the car Ian and Blaine came cruising in and we chatted a moment about how freakin humid and deer fly-y it was. Nate was done for the day, so we refueled and set out for the final lap. Again, I was so appreciative of Val's support. We talked about how important this was in training to break through the shitty parts and just continue on, no matter what. I let my feet just take me around the trail and silently ticked off the miles in my head. The humidity did lift a bit and we got a few nice cool breezes here and there mixed in with some weird hot clouds of mugginess. When we finally popped out on the Link trail my Garmin read 19.2 and we knew it wasn't .8 back to the parking lot, so we ran to the road, then back into the belly of the beast and out for a clean 20. I was more cooked than I've been in awhile. We recovered at the picnic tables a few minutes, people watched, and mused about the chances of a TBLT at Edna & Lucy's. It wasn't to be, though. No TBLT, but the Rachel really did the trick. It had cooled off a bit and a gooey sandwich was just what was needed to add back some salt and yumminess.

Thanks Val for getting me through that one!

Clean up and a Short One

2011-07-29T18:46:00.002-04:00

Yesterday I met up with Val and Ian to do some trail maintenance on the Switchback Trail in preparation for the Breaker. We started at the top and worked our way down, raking, cleaning up the trail, and adding log borders where they had been washed out or removed. Val and Ian were regular beavers dragging giant logs and moving them around. I also got to witness a few of Val karate chops (she's a black belt, for those who don't know) of the foot to break some branches - badass! We worked for several hours and the prospects of doing a three mile run afterward started to dwindle for me. Luckily, someone suggested lunch - we were essentially done - and off we went to E&L's. I have to say, the trail looked pretty darn spiffy when we were done, it's going to be a lot of fun for the Breaker.

Since I didn't run Thursday, I decided to just do the 3 miler today instead. I headed out to the Wohelo Trails at Camp Ketcha. I wasn't really feeling all that great and things went downhill quickly - literally - when I tripped on a small stump and went down about 100 yards into the run. I whacked my knee and arm and just sat on the ground a minute to gather myself. Strangely enough, it almost seemed as if the smack to the knee somehow knocked something into place that had been bothering me there. I don't recommend it, though. The rest of the run was uneventful and I was glad it was only 3 miles. Long run tomorrow...

This Side, The Other Side, and then Head Over

2011-07-27T14:15:00.004-04:00

'Twas the Brad today. Val and I met up for 8 miles. We hadn't talked about a route, but Val had a great idea to do part of the Breaker (as that's coming up quickly) and then over to do the little three mile loop on the East Side. It was good to get in some hills as I rarely run on the Mountain side and it always feels so other-worldly over there. The trails were in great condition, just a few small puddles here and there with the recent rain. Back at the parking lot we headed over to the "other side" for the three mile loop. It flew by (we really are professional chatters) and then it was time to head over to E&L's for some important sandwiching. As I was leaving the parking lot, I realized that Ian's car was next to mine, he must have been out on the trail somewhere. We are planning on cleaning up the Switchback trail tomorrow morning, which will be a lot of fun. I'm grateful that I have the time to help out when I usually otherwise wouldn't.

On Road and Trail

2011-07-26T14:48:00.002-04:00

Felt sluggish today and stalled and delayed until I finally got myself out the door today today for 8 miles. I ran from my house down to Eastern Trail a bit and then back. There was a nice breeze, but my legs only knew one slow speed, so I just went with it, no biggie. Not much else to report today!

A Poem

2011-07-25T14:48:00.002-04:00

Today's entry will be presented in haiku form:

two miles on the road
i saw a dead squirrel out there
it wasn't too smushed

More Unintentional Heat Training

2011-07-24T16:58:00.002-04:00

Trying to sleep in a little this morning and watching the end of the Tour meant I didn't get out until 1pm today. Luckily Jeremy was looking to run as well, so we hit the Eastern Trail for a slow hot recovery run from yesterday. I had 9 on my schedule and we set out for an out and back on the ET. Almost halfway through, we took a little diversion into the little Gnome Village off the side of the trail and mused about how all those structures got there and what it might all mean (busy Gnomes!). Thankfully Jeremy was ok with a slow pace and we chatted about potential future races and probably a bunch of other things I can't remember! With the Gnome Village diversion, we came in at about 9.4 and decided the heat wasn't as terrible as it could have been/has been.

This week is a weird week training-wise, my schedule has me doing a short run tomorrow, which I usually have off, and my long run is Sunday vs Saturday. These next three weeks will be the "meat" of my training for the 40 and will contain the longest long run combos. Stretch, strength, stretch, strength...roll, roll, roll.

Total Eggfest

2011-07-23T21:01:00.004-04:00

Jeremy was the only male in today's running crew, so I told him instead of a sausage fest, we should call it a total eggfest. I crack myself up sometimes (Kate, that pun is for you).

We headed up early to beat the heat. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the house had really cooled down this morning and it was actually a bit cool outside - it felt great after yesterday's molten lava heat wave. Jeremy and I met up with Julia and Emma in the parking lot with a plan to run a loop or so of the 40 route. Julia was going to go a little farther and Emma and Jeremy are tapering for their 100. No one else was in the parking lot except maybe a mountain biker and in a light rain, we set off on the trail. The conversation was easy as was the pace and we cruised through the trails. I managed to lead us astray at one point and we somehow did a double bat cave loop, I think and then went a slightly different way back...we ended at the cars with about 7 miles even. After a quick refuel, we set out again, this time I brought my cheat sheet (I know, you'd think I would know the course by now, but I still miss turns....frustrating!) so we could complete a proper 40 loop. There was an occasional light rain shower, but the heat was definitely setting in as were the deer flies. They were probably the worst they've been all summer for sure. At one point Julia took a nasty fall near some rocks and scraped up her knees a bit. We all walked it off together and she rallied like nothing had happened. We chatted about the 100 mile wilderness, planning, and how things might get a little crazy out there after a day or so. Ask Emma to say the word "gorilla" when you get a chance, you won't be disappointed.

In the last several miles, I was feeling good and notched up the pace a tad. Together the four of ran in silence, cruising over rock and root through the woods. I pictured the view from above of a chain of trail running friends, evenly spaced, tiptoeing over the ground and moving swiftly together in our love of the trail.

On the Link trail back to the parking lot, I suddenly found myself rolling on the ground - the reaction from the group was the same collective "Ooooooh!" you hear when your team misses a field goal. I was thisclose to finishing the run without tripping (Emma had also taken a small digger as well, although Jeremy managed to stay upright the whole time) and almost made it back. It was funny that we all had the same reaction. Back at the cars my garmin read 15 (ok, I had to run a little bit around the parking lot to make it even). We sent Julia on her way back out on the Mountain side to get in 5+ more miles and Emma headed home to the doggies. The Scarborough Carpool headed to E&L's (they had the TBLT!) to refuel and then head home. It was a good day.

Kennebunk Conservation Trails

2011-07-21T12:38:00.002-04:00

Met up with Jamie early this morning to beat the heat and to check out some sweet new trails he heard about in Kennebunk. It was only about 35 minutes away from me and I think it must just be right over the town line from Saco/Biddeford, it seemed like a quick drive down Rt 1. I love finding new routes. This one was relatively easy to follow except for one place that looked like it was sectioned off (with a branch on the ground perfectly blocking the trail) so we went straight ahead looking for the yellow markers - no markers...so after saying "let's just check around this bend..." a few times, we agreed the turn off was probably back where it looked like you weren't supposed to go. The trails are technical single track, not much elevation, but beautiful, well-maintained, and fun. You could easily make a 10 mile loop without retracing your steps. Very cool to find HUGE...tracts of land...undeveloped and available for our trail running pleasure. Almost forgot to mention the blueberries we found along the way and had to stop and grab a few as we went - yummy tart Maine blueberries! It warmed up quickly and I was drenched by the end. The only good thing about being freakishly short is that the deer flies mainly go to the taller person, so even though I was pulling a few out of my hair and felt them on my arms, it wasn't as bad as the mass of them that were attacking Jamie's back. I ended up with about 8.1 on my garmin which includes the extra that we ran, which looks to be about 1/2 a mile. Can't wait to go back, it was a great, fun, new trail!

Where The F#@$ Is The Trail?

2011-07-20T14:47:00.002-04:00

Val and I headed out today for 8 miles on the 40 Loop - psych! - we decided to do the Connector instead. While I had an easy day yesterday, Superval had done a hard tempo/hill run on top of a 53 mile week the week before! We set off on Mountain side toward the connector and did our best to fend off the flying buzzing things (even with bug spray). Across the stream (I love how beautiful it is there) and headed out toward the powerlines. The trail was in great shape and the pine needles blanketed the ground and the big trees gave shade. We popped out on the powerlines and saw all the construction going on. It looks like they're replacing a bunch of the big powerline poles and maybe widening some of the roads for maintenance. We decided to hang a left and just run up the dirt/wood chipped road until we hit 4 miles, then turn around and head back the way we came. Somehow we missed the entrance back to the trail off the powerlines...I guess we were chatting...and pretty soon we realized we were way too far toward Lawrence Road. But when we turned around to look for the trailhead back into the woods, it was like it had vanished. After a little bit of careful reconstruction of where we thought it was, some wandering, some retracing, some laughing, some tracking of our footprints...we found the trailhead - which couldn't be more well-marked with stakes and flagging. Essentially, we had just gone too far, but it was like some kind of Platform 9 3/4 going on. Luckily, neither of us suggested running full speed into a tree to get to the other side. Back on the trail we started to feel the heat and Val was feeling a bit depleted from the day before. So we just took it easy and made our way back to the park. Sitting in the shade and refueling helped and then of course, a trip to E&L's where we were rewarded by the TBLT, oh yeah.

Touchy-Feely B.S.

2011-07-19T16:26:00.005-04:00

This week is a back-down week, so 4 miles today. I just went on the roads around here. It was hot, but not unbearable. After my run, I headed over to Raymond Chiropractic for my appointment. Talked to Dr. Carey about the lower leg business and he did some active release stuff and talked in general about how things had been going. It's definitely been helpful and I've been very diligent about the glute strengthening. Continuing this, stretching, and also doing some ankle exercises on a special wobble board I got hopefully will keep me healthy for the duration and for the miles ahead.

The summer of awesomeness has also been a good time for reflection. Not over-reflection, but a few pieces of the puzzle have slipped into place. When I think back to the last year or so of ramping up miles, feeling pain, backing off, starting again, etc., etc., I remember how frustrating it was. I just took time off and biked out of fear of a developing stress fracture. This time around was different - I really ramped up slow, seriously addressed the glute weakness, stretched, and actually feel like I have a maintenance plan that is workable for me. I'm not saying I'm injury free forever, but for me I had to start taking care of myself and my running in a way I never did before. I just wanted to run and have it work like it seemed for everyone else. I had trained for marathons in the past without injury, so when I started to get hurt, I took it personally. I want to avoid an eye-rolling "you have to love yourself to love your running" crap, that's not entirely what I mean. But, I can say that I feel like my running, training, and rehab is on my own terms now and I actually care about the machine I'm building and maintaining. Now, where's my spirit animal and my crystals...

p.s. We got a new hamster. His name is Jonesy.

Recovery 10

2011-07-17T15:15:00.002-04:00

Hot miles on the Eastern Trail today. Just took it slow and even stopped to stretch at one point. Definitely something to be said for the old recovery run, I think my legs loosened up. The left calf was fairly tight this morning, but the run definitely helped. 55 mile week, feeling good. Off tomorrow.

Bruiser Sandwich

2011-07-16T13:56:00.002-04:00

That went a lot better than I thought it would. After stressing (no pun intended) all day yesterday about what was up with my lower leg, it seemed to hold up. Not that stressing prevented it, I certainly had evidence for what I thought was going on - and certainly enough of a traumatic stress fracture history to fuel the fire - and certainly not out of the woods, BUT lower leg seemed fine. No pain during the run, no pain after, so for now, we're ok.

I had 21 on the schedule, so I thought a good plan would be to start out with 3ish, then 2 laps of the 40 Route, then 3ish to get in the mileage. A big group showed up at 7 - mostly those who are doing the 100 Mile Wilderness, but others as well. They were doing the Ultra Xtreme Bradbury route and needed to add a few miles to it, so we all ran the initial 3 together, which was great. Val and I branched off then to do the 40 Loop and the rest of the crew went the way of the Scuffle. We ran into them (I can't remember where) where the Scuffle/Bruiser courses overlap (in opposite directions). Everyone yelled hellos and cheers and Ian said "Hey Teammates!" when he saw us, which made me smile the rest of the way - even though I will never be as fast as those guys, at least being on the same team is an honor for me. The miles ticked away and we were back at the cars with a good 11ish down. I refilled my water and polished off some powerbar gel thingies and then we were off for the next lap. As we made our way through the trail, my legs were feeling tired, but never to the point of exhaustion and we powered through. As we entered the Porcupine Overhang en route to the Bat Cave, I pointed out some berry I wanted to ask Val about and in doing so, I think I threw off her stride and she went down - it was a beautiful shoulder roll though and just had a minor knee scrape, but I still felt bad. I'm glad it wasn't any worse. Otherwise, there were just a few rock/root kicks and one time where I almost went down and made a save at the last minute. The second loop ticked away and we were back at the cars. I had 19ish on my garmin and Val had a bit longer - I think mine was acting up. But I figured 2 more miles would get me to my goal, so we ran out the snowmobile road, Val turned around to make her's an even 20 and I went a little farther and came in about 21.2. She had only planned for 18 or so, but ran strong as usual and I was very grateful for the company. I tried to stretch a little afterward and we headed over with Linda to E&L's. Julia met us there as well. No TBLT today, but they did have a very good chicken salad sandwich. Tonight we're going out for a belated anniversary dinner, so when I was pretty full after 1/2 the sandwich, I wrapped up the other half for Pete. Usually I have no problem stuffing it right in, but I gotta make room for mussels and other yummiosity at 555, our favorite restaurant.

Iced my shin when I got home just to be on the safe side and watched the end of the Tour. Mostly my feet just kind of hurt, but we'll see what crops up tomorrow, I've got 10 to do.

We might go look for a new hamster today...

Creakity Crunchity

2011-07-15T10:02:00.002-04:00

Well. The best part of the day yesterday was a run at the Brad with Val. The weather was almost fall-like and even though I felt a bit creakity, it was great to get out there and let the trail do it's thing. We got in about 7.8 miles.

My left calf/lower legish area is feeling weird. That's about the best I can explain it. I went to Julia for a massage and it definitely helped, but I have these horrible lingering worries about a stress fracture. I had a few easy miles on the schedule today, but I think I'm going to take a rest day in preparation for tomorrow's long run, which I'm worried about. I don't want to dwell on it, so I'm just going to see how it goes and if I have to cut it short, then so be it.

In other sad news, we had to say goodbye to our hamster Marshall yesterday. He was our 8th (yes, 8th) hamster - we just love those little guys. He had a really sweet personality and we will miss him.

And some good news - it was also our 11th wedding anniversary yesterday! Pete has been preparing for multiple conferences coming up, so we are just going to celebrate with dinner out on Saturday - looking forward to it!

Ten K

2011-07-13T14:39:00.002-04:00

Six+ miles on the roads today before my dentist appointment. It was a sad day in Squirrel Country. My first cavity got filled today. When they found it at my last appointment, the dental hygienist looked at me, misty eyed, and said "It was a good run". I was hoping I'd go to the grave with pristine choppers, but fate chose otherwise. Luckily these days the fillings are white, match your teeth, and no one is the wiser. The dentist agreed to call it a "pre-cavity" though, which I liked better. When he was all done, I looked at him and the assistant and said "This never happened". We all made a silent pact to never discuss it again.

I've been keeping up with my glute exercises and stretching. Definitely feel that the exercises are getting a little easier, which means I'm getting stronger, which is good. However, I've still been feeling a little sluggish and creakity this week which may or may not be due to the weather, my mileage, and old age.

This weekend is another one-two long/medium run punch. Saturday is 21 and Sunday is 10. The following week will be a back-off week and I'm sure I'll be more than ready for it by then. Planning on getting some extra sleep this week in prep for the weekend. I'll be ready with the nutrition and hydration as well - the Powerbar Gels I was talking about were not the standard gel packs, they were like Clif Bloks (loose in a packet) and sort of like soft gummy chews - I liked them, might bring them along again. When I've done long training runs in the past, I've always gone for my tried and true GU chocolate outrage gels, but I'm branching out this year.

Aaaand of course, I jinxed my boy Chris Horner big time, so I will refrain from making any Tour predictions or cheers. There is one contender I definitely don't want to win, but he shall remain nameless for now.

Twofer

2011-07-11T22:29:00.002-04:00

Sunday was the Scuffle - had a great time volunteering and cheering on the Trail Monsters who put in fantastic performances as usual. I was hoping to get my run in, but there was no way to fit it in before the race and afterward it was just too damn hot. I postponed it for today instead. Again, with the heat and for some scheduling reasons, I decided to break it up into two and did 4 miles on the roads in the late morning and then 6 on the trails with Pete this evening while he mountain biked. I took it easy on both runs, not much to report. My head's been spinning lately with random anxieties and worries in general. Time to shake down some local high school kid for some xanax....kidding! Hopefully, my head will clear, I cannot have the Summer of Awesomeness marred!

A Run In The Woods

2011-07-09T15:11:00.002-04:00

I got a late start today. With not sleeping great, I was tired this morning and just couldn't get going as usual. I got to the park and headed out about 8:30 - saw some familiar TM cars and figured they would be out on the course somewhere. My plan was to run a small 3-3.5 loop and then 2 loops of my 40 route to get in my scheduled 19 for the day. Also made sure I had plenty of water and picked up some Clif bloks and Powerbar gel thingies to try. I packed them in my little lunch cooler with a bag of ice and they kept very nicely that way. I had visions of getting back to my car and having to deal with melted raspberry bloks and general stickiness. The little loop was fun and I was happy with my loop plan. I was also running solo today and while I missed my usual conversation and company, it was one of those days that also suited a nice long meditative run. There were TMs all over the place, though - I saw Jim after my first small loop coming down off the Mountain after having run up and down in about 4 times so far. He looked strong, but it was hot and I couldn't imagine doing mountain laps like that even on a cool day. Once off on my first "40 loop" I ran into Linda, who also looked strong and was getting in some miles before tomorrow's race. I know she'll do better than she thinks :) A short while later I ran into Joe and Zac marking the course. Apparently one of the park workers on an ATV plucked out all the flags Ian had put down thinking they were left over from a bike race and they had to re-do it.... Onward. The route seemed different running it alone, I guess I'm usually too busy yapping to pay as close attention to everything. Every now and then a breeze would blow through, it was nice. Mostly, I was by myself except for the occasional mountain biker (some of which yielded to me and some of which did not, ahem). The forest drew me in and I put it on cruise control. At one point I ran into Ian, Jeremy, Joe and I'm not sure who else running the Scuffle. We stopped to chat briefly and then were on our way - I'd see them again when I got back to the parking lot before loop 2. I refilled my water bottle and tried a few of the Powerbar gel-y things - they were pretty good (especially chilled!) chatted with folks for a few minutes and then headed out for lap 2. For some reason, I always get nervous before a long run- I imagine feeling like crap and it getting worse and worse as I go. Last weekend's long run was kind of like that. However, today, maybe because of the food and water, I felt really good the whole time. Well, appropriately fatigued, but I felt strong, it was a good confidence booster at least for this run. I logged 19 miles as planned and headed back to the car which had been baking in the sun - awesome. I didn't think anyone would be at E&L's but I headed over anyway (no one was there) and got a drink. Also picked up a container of their famous pickles to bring home. Tomorrow I have 10 on the schedule - I'm getting into those back-to-back weekends - but I'll be volunteering at the Scuffle, so still need to figure out when to work that in... Luckily, I don't feel nearly as wasted as I did last weekend (again: food and water = good) and looking forward to El Rayo for dinner tonight!

Insomnia and Some Good News

2011-07-07T16:03:00.002-04:00

Bradbury again today this fine summer for 8 miles with Val. I was feeling the heat and even brought along my handheld water bottle - I had finished it by the end of the run. No complaints about the heat, though, because I have to admit, I've been having disturbing intrusive thoughts about winter. I'll leave it at so as not to invite an early winter through my fantastical mind magic. As usual, we chatted away as we ran. Lots of mud puddles made themselves known with tiny frogs hopping in and out of them right under our feet. At the end, we stopped to talk to Tami and heard a little more about a horrible mountain bike accident that happened there last weekend - it sounded like a bad neck injury, hopefully the guy will be ok. As we were chatting, Val's super animal vision scoped out something I needed to see...I walked over closer to the picnic area and there was a sweet little brown dachshund sitting with its family. Of course we walked over to say hello - her name was Princess and her owner looked like a big mountain man hiker. He was very nice and accommodated my dachsie obesession as we chatted and petted Princess. Then it was on to E&L's for a snack - had my first salad there and it was pretty good. I do like the sandwiches better, though. I cleaned up a bit and changed and headed to my appointment in Portland with Dr. Carey. I reported in that I had been doing my exercises and feeling roughly about the same - no better but no worse. He did his adjustments, did the active release stuff, and tested my leg strength. He said things are coming along really, really well (!) and that my hip and glute feels more loose and he can tell that things are getting stronger. I was really surprised and happy with that news. We left it to keep doing what I'm doing and I go back in about a week and a half. It was very encouraging news, especially to hear that the exercises and stretching are working. Still been feeling a little sluggish on runs, which I'm going to blame on the weather...Looking forward to putting in some solid miles this weekend and volunteering at the Scuffle on Sunday. Oh, and if anyone out there uses RunningAhead, I'm totally digging the new training plan feature, very cool!

I'm Running Out of Blog Post Titles

2011-07-06T15:30:00.002-04:00

After a planned rest day Monday, I hit the Brad Tuesday morning with Val to get in about 8 and jot down some notes on my map (e.g., high bridge, big rock, go straight) because I want to be able to put together where I am on the trail to where I am on the map (in my head)...I don't know why this is intriguing to me, but whatevs. Linda ended up joining as well and she ran the Scuffle while we ran the 40 Loop. E&L's was closed and everyone had things to do, so no after run snacks this time. I did head over to Pineland to pick up some of their meat, which Pete and I been wanting to try.

Today I just did a quick 2 miler on the roads in the afternoon. It was hot, but bearable.

Not too much else to report. Totally into the Tour right now, really hoping my favorite rider Chris Horner will win a stage!

Long and Tired

2011-07-03T14:01:00.002-04:00

Capped off a 50 mile training week with a 9 mile run today. Yesterday was 18 at the Brad. I was totally cooked after the long run Saturday and crashed for about 2 hours afterward. I know I wasn't well hydrated and I think it took it's toll. I'm sure my body is also getting used to longer training weeks as well. Question for the panel out there - do folks try and incorporate extra sleep into training when they can? Or extra naps? I'd love to hear personal experiences with training for longer distances and sleep.

Quick recap: Ran 18 with Val yesterday at the Brad. We ended up doing three loops of bizarrely different lengths, but with the math genius I was with, it came out to 18 on the nose. It was humid and I never felt quite right the whole time, but next time I will definitely focus more on the hydration.

Today I hit the roads (gasp!) and went from my house to Eastern Trail for a few miles and then back, equalling about 9 which was on my plan for the week. Things weren't too tight and I did feel like I loosened up as I went. Just took it easy and brought my handheld and seemed to go well overall.

I've been doing my glute strengthening exercises and stretching so far every day, hope to see the effects at some point, though I know it's a slow process.

Tomorrow is off. Might saddle up Ruby for a short jaunt depending on the weather...

Awesomeness Repeated

2011-06-30T17:29:00.002-04:00

Bradbury today with Val. We met up with plenty of time to get in 8 miles and then hit E&L's and then I had to get back to Portland for an appointment with Dr. Carey from Raymond Chiropractic. First, the run - we did the 40 loop and I'm still figuring out where to make the correct turns. The trail was in perfect condition and I don't think we saw anyone else out there. The weather was great and the flow of the run and conversation was definitely a repeat of yesterday's awesomeness. And by awesomeness, I'm referring to this dream summer I want to enjoy every moment of since it's the only one I will likely have off for a long time!

At my doctor's appointment, I reported that I had been feeling a little of the same adductor soreness after Tuesday's Pineland Run. Whaaaat? Yes, didn't mention that here, but it wasn't until Wednesday after the run with Dora (which felt fine) that I noticed some of the same exact adductor tightness and soreness that I had felt after a few spins at Pineland. I stretched well and it seemed to dissipate a little, but I still wanted to mention it. He tested my glute strength and the pieces of the puzzle started to come together more completely. He said that what I'm experiencing is most likely a result of the muscle fatigue and gave me a strengthening regiment for the ole left glute. He knows I have been putting in some good miles and am training for the 40-40 so he was really positive about keeping me running and strengthening at the same time. However, he said what I had felt after Pineland was a little setback and that the hilly terrain there would definitely contribute to the hip/adductor/glute stuff. I asked about the Baldfaces run on Saturday and he was honest in saying that it would probably set me back and he wouldn't recommend it right now. That is ok with me, but I am looking forward to doing a nice mountain run sometime this summer if possible. He said I can still do a long run this weekend, but just don't make it crazy hills and we'll see how I feel afterward as a gauge for how I might have to adjust mileage going forward. All in all, a very workable plan as far as I'm concerned.

In other news, guess what rolls out Saturday.....Le Tour!!!

Summer of Awesomeness

2011-06-29T17:20:00.002-04:00

This is truly the Summer of Awesomeness. This morning I ran the Scarborough Trails with Dora. It was great to be able to show someone those trails. I was glad she was into an easy pace and we just cruised along and talked and enjoyed the trails. We got in about 6.8 and then did a little cooldown walk and chatted some more. There looked to be some storm clouds rolling in, but the rain never materialized. I was on cloud nine heading home - there is something incredibly therapeutic about good trail running, good friends, and good conversation. Hoping to repeat the awesomeness tomorrow at Bradbury.

Meh Run, But Great Friends

2011-06-28T12:33:00.002-04:00

Headed to Pineland today to run with Jamie and Val. The original plan was to meet up with Jamie after he did a lap of the course (minus fields) on the non-Oak Hill side, do a lap with him and then head over to Oak Hill for 4 more. Lots of little things seemed to impinge on this plan from the get-go. By the time we were all gathered in the parking lot at the Y, it was pretty warm out and the humidity was high. We headed out and I just never felt like I could get in a rhythm. They were also haying the fields, so we had a few small stretches of running through ankle-deep hay. The bugs were out, the heat was up, and each of us seemed to be struggling with something different. I just never felt right, Val was having some side stitches, and Jamie was feeling the heat and bugs and lack of sleep from some life-stress issues. We ended up all agreeing that we felt like crap and in a selfish way, I was glad that at least I wasn't holding up Val and Jamie. We slogged through, though. Walked the hills, chatted, swatted bugs. Back at the parking lot after 8 we all decided to throw in the towel and try again another day. Jamie headed home and Val and I stopped at the visitor's center for a cold drink and the cupcakes we've been eyeing up (turned out to just be ok...I have pretty high cupcake standards). So, the company was fantastic and it was great to be outside, but it was just one of those days.

Almost forgot to mention my gait analysis. It was mostly how I expected, but a pretty interesting process. I brought trail shoes and road shoes, but started with the road shoes. After a warm up, they had me run at "cruise pace" and filmed me from behind and then from the side. Then I looked at the recording on the computer with Dr. Carey and Denise (who I actually knew from road running and triathlon days, so it was nice to catch up with her) and they broke it down frame by frame. The resolution is really good and it's pretty fascinating to look at the foot strike, hip position, arm swing, everything. The big takeaways for me is that my right arm was swinging out a bit indicative of compensating for my left hip and my left foot seems to go a little too close or past center when I land. My cadence was good at around 90-92 steps per minute. Essentially, it seems that some glute strengthening exercises will go a long way to keep things together, plus lots of hip flexor stretching. Sounds like maybe just one or two more times with Dr. Carey and they'll release me into the wild. Onward, onward.

Solo Flight

2011-06-26T16:10:00.002-04:00

Although there were a host of TM's running at Bradbury today, I opted for a solo local run to save on some gas as well as check out the new extension to the Eastern Trail. Legs felt a little heavy, but loosened up a bit as I went. I wasn't sure how much farther the trail had been extended, I was hoping I could at least go out 5 and then come back 5. Typically, the "trail" "ends" at about 3.7 miles. You used to be able to continue on to a kind of unkempt dirt road with lots of old concrete and rocks or just turn and run on the pavement. Jeremy had investigated a few weeks ago and discovered that they have started to grade that unkempt part and continue the trail on. So I crossed over past the 3.7 mark onto the new trail, which is essentially a graded dirt road...I hope they don't have plans to pave it. There are tons of little offshoots that I had explored before that go down to a stream and into the woods. They aren't very long, but fun to get off the main path here and there. The new trail just kept on going, it was great. At the 5ish mile mark, there was still trail ahead as far as I could see, but I had planned to turn around, so I made myself do so even though I was curious to know how much farther the trail had been broken. I'm guessing it just stops when it hits Route 1, which I'm estimating is still about a mile further based on what I saw on the map after I uploaded the run. There was the occasional biker and walker, but the nice thing about Eastern Trail is that it's just not as overrun as Back Cove and much prettier. You could really get in a nice long run if you go all the way out and include the side trails, which is essentially what Jeremy did, I think. All in all, it was a good flight, I ended with 10.3 and a marathon weekend. Tomorrow morning is my gait analysis. Like I said, not expecting anything startling, but I'll report back on the exciting details...

More Rain, More Miles, Good Mud, Great Company

2011-06-25T14:54:00.003-04:00

Bradbury early today. Val and I met up at 7:30 with the goal to get in about 16. We didn't really have a route planned, so we ended up doing the 40 Route to start. After the storms of yesterday and last night, the trails were wet and puddly and muddy. It slowed things down a tad, wasn't too bad. Part way through we thought we were coming up on some bikers, but lo and behold, it was a small crew of runners - Martin, Brent, Jeff, and I can't remember who else - they must have been running the Scuffle course. I still need to study the maps so I can associate all the turns I can picture visually with where that location is on the map - I really have a hard time putting those two together. Luckily Val is an expert at knowing exactly where we are. Even with the rain and early hour, we found a million things to talk about and for all the miles we've put in and have yet to run, I honestly don't think we will run out of topics!
Back at the parking lot after the first 8 mile loop, we ran back to our cars and moved them up to the parking lot since we had to park outside the gates that early. There we saw the earlier running crew minus Jeff - he was going to get in more miles. Val devised a reverse run that would hopefully allow us to run into Jeff along the way, but unfortunately we never found him. We ended up approaching the parking lot at about 15.8, so I suggested we just run a little down the Northern Loop a bit to make it a clean 16. Good miles today. Going to try and get in about 10 tomorrow either at Bradbury or perhaps just closer to home to save a little on gas. I might check out the extension that was put on the Eastern Trail, hopefully in some better weather, it sounds like the sun will finally be shining a bit tomorrow!

Rain and Mist

2011-06-23T12:31:00.003-04:00

Ran the Connector today with Linda and Val. It was rainy and misty, but it made the trail otherworldly. We met early, so had to park outside the gates and run in. It seemed to work best for Val and I to run ahead and then circle back to meet Linda and make sure she knew the twists and turns of the trail. She's amazing and much stronger and faster than she thinks! It looks like there are lots of new markings out there - I don't think I could quite navigate it by myself yet without making some wrong turns. On the way back we ran up to the summit and even the cloudy mist looked beautiful sweeping through - plus there was a little breeze that kept the mosquitoes away. We got in a good 7.2 miles and then headed over to E&Ls for a snack.

Yesterday I had an appointment with Dr. Carey - right now I'm to work on stretching and then we'll add some strengthening and hopefully I'll be able to stay relatively problem-free (relatively). Hip flexors are still a bit tight, but I'm getting in some good stretching. Next Monday I have a gait analysis. I don't expect any surprises, but will be curious to know what they tell me.

Bradland....Pinebury...

2011-06-21T14:56:00.002-04:00

Met up today on another beautiful day with Linda, Bethany, Val, and Dora at Bradbury. The plan was to run the Scuffle course. We all started out together and then split up (not sure how far in) when Linda and Bethany decided to take a slightly different route; Linda had run hard winning her age group (and a pie!) this past weekend and her legs were still feeling it a bit. Did I mention how gorgeous the weather was? Dora, Val, and I chatted away and it was great to catch up with Dora, who I hadn't talked to since the Winter Fat Ass, I think. The trails are in great shape. Afterward we all headed over to Pineland (well, the cafe part) for lunch as E&L's is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. Tomorrow I have another appointment with Dr. Carey to see how the hip is - so far, so good. Hoping to get a good set of exercises to keep things in shape.

Muddy Good (and...do I smell bacon?)

2011-06-20T15:02:00.004-04:00

Ran at Twin Brook today with Emma and Kip. Some minor excitement on my drive over. I got pulled over for having an expired registration...from September 2010. Oops. According to the cop, it's a criminal offense subject to arrest since it's been so long and I also shouldn't be allowed to drive the car once it's identified as being expired. So, Squirrel almost got tossed in the clink (AND missed a ride in a cop car!), but luckily it turned out mostly ok. I'll have to show up in court and will probably get some kind of fine, but he let me continue on (told me to have a good run!) and to just get it registered as soon as I got home (which I did). The weird part is that I was almost certain that my car was registered (didn't bother to notice the sticker) so I was pretty surprised to learn it wasn't. We do the registration and inspections at the same time for both cars, so I guess ole Lou slipped through the cracks after we took care of everything else and it took Officer Friendly on the beat in Cumberland, Maine to finally bring me down.
The run, however, was a blast. The weather continues to be gorgeous and we hit the trails with Kip. It was nice and muddy as expected, but only in certain spots. I really like Twin Brook, but it's going to take me a few more times to get the route down. I have it in my Garmin now so I can study the map ;) Emma cruised around with her backpack chock full in training for the 100 Mile Wilderness, she's going to kick ass. Tomorrow, I hit Bradbury with Val, Dora, Linda, and Bethany. It's a dream summer!

Cathance and Pancakes

2011-06-19T14:40:00.002-04:00

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful day today for a trail run with friends up in Topsham at the Cathance Preserve with the Trail Monsters. Was originally planning on the shorter run as I wasn't sure how long the long was going to be - plus, I was planning on running with Emma tomorrow at Twin Brook and wasn't sure how the hip would like more miles. Since no one was really planning on the short loop it seemed and the longer loop was going to be more of a mellow run, I just stayed on the train for the whole thing. The trails there are beautiful and the weather was perfect, low humidity and clear, sunny skies. Pete came along, but brought his mountain bike and got in some great miles on the powerlines. I was especially great to run and catch up with Danielle and Jamie whom I haven't gotten to run with much the last few months due to everyone's differing schedules and locations. As usual, we came back to pancakes and goodies and hung out chatting and sitting in the sun. All in all, the perfect day. My garmin read 8.92 miles, and the map on Running Ahead says 9.06. The hip felt great and the only thing I really noticed was still some tightness in my calves, so I stretched them whenever we stopped to let the group catch up and it seemed to loosen things up a bit. Made for a nice 46 mile week. Things are feeling strong (knock on wood) and I'm loving getting in all these trail miles. Hopefully, I've cracked the code a bit to getting toward my goal of running lots, getting injured little.

Summer Miles

2011-06-18T14:26:00.002-04:00

Thursday I got out for a quick 3 miler on the roads. I was in the midst of working on my research project for my little summer job for a professor from school and just cruised around the block-ish. Felt pretty good, no issues with the hip. My calves were kind of tight though...might have been that mini hill workout up the Summit Trail for the Bill Green's Maine shoot...that's pathetic...I should run more hills.

Anyhoo, I went to see Dr. Carey yesterday (Dr. Jamie's partner) at Raymond Chiropractic and I think I got a pretty good report. He said things looked pretty good in general. I do overpronate on my left, which affects the calf and hip and there was also an issue with my right ilio-sacral joint. I got some stretches and will go back next week to check in and then schedule a gait analysis to look at things in a little more detail. He didn't seem to think I was developing a hip stress fracture (yay!) and in fact, the hip is almost totally fine now, so I'm guessing that with some good stretching and strengthening things will swing back more toward normal.

Today I met up with the TMs at the Brad. I was hoping to do 2 laps of the "40 Route" and play around with small variations to nail down the distance. Val, Nate, and I hit the 40 Route and another crew was planning on doing the Mountain side and Connector. Nate had already been out for about an hour, so just joined us for the first lap. When we came back to the parking lot, Val and I decided to check the distance from the 40-40 Camp Site that I reserved as that would be the starting point. I still don't fully know all the turns of the route and where to add/subtract where needed. I'm going to study my garmin map of where we went to really nail it down. Total mileage came in around 16.5 and the weather was great and not too humid in the woods. Tomorrow is Cathance and Pancakes, I'll probably opt for the shorter route so I don't go too far over my planned mileage for the week.

Good week of running. Gotta go stretch and roll.

Update of Sorts

2011-06-15T19:29:00.002-04:00

Went to New Jersey Friday though Tuesday for Pete's high school reunion and to visit his dad for his 81st birthday. We had a great trip and also got to hit some pretty awesome trails down there. Who knew there was good trail running and mountain biking in Southern Jersey. The hip situation is still a bit troublesome to me...essentially, it's not getting any better, but it's not getting any worse. It doesn't hurt when I run (but I do feel some tightness, dull ache) or walk around, but there is still something up or brewing or fixing to get worse, I can tell. After navigating the choppy waters of my student healthcare plan, I determined that indeed, I would be able to see Dr. Jamie without having to sell crack to little kids (which I haven't totally given up on as a second income). So I have an appointment this Friday, but I will see his partner instead unless I wanted to wait until after he gets back from vacation (which I didn't). So....we'll see.

Due to the less than hip-tacular way the hip had been feeling, I attempted to take it easy and reduce my mileage last week. So Saturday, I did a relatively easy 4.3 on the trails in Jersey at a place called Ceres Park. The trails were technical single track and quite a bit of hills and rolliness. There were ridge-type trails and a pretty beautiful forest. It was also super hot and Pete was biking as well. Fun, but we had to cut it short. Sunday I did about 6.4 on a little mile-long nature trail near my in-laws. It was pretty much 6+ loops around, but not entirely boring. Monday, I wanted to try and go a little longer, because I never really did my long run in the previous two days. We headed to another park near Pete's dad's place which I loved. There wasn't a lot of elevation, but it was just a beautiful single track on pine needles through the woods and low-bush blueberries. We didn't see another person the whole time and you can basically run a huge 10 mile loop without crossing your path. I'd run there every day if we lived there. I got in 10 miles and was glad that the hip held up ok. Tuesday we drove home and I figured it would be a good day to take a day off and let things recover without pounding in more miles. My hip was aching and acting up from the long car ride and I hoped that today's planned run at Bradbury would go ok. Even better, Bill Green from "Bill Green's Maine" was going to be there to interview Ian and James, talk about the 100 Mile Wilderness run and take some footage of some Trail Monsters running the trails. Val, Jeremy, and I ran beforehand and did a lap of the "40 Route" which was just shy of 8 miles as we had to get back to the parking lot for our big tv appearance. Bill Green interviewed Ian, James, and Val and then we ran up and down the Summit trail (partially) for some additional shots and then up to the summit for some more. James coordinated us in a very professional manner (which impressed Bill and his cameraman). The show airs Monday June 20th at 6 on NBC - check it out!

A few pics:
From the trail in Jersey:

Pete and his dad, Gleb

Ian getting interviewed:

James getting interviewed:

Val getting interviewed:

At Least It Was Only Three

2011-06-09T15:30:00.001-04:00

Ran the roads in the heat of the day today. Why? Because I'm STUPID! (maniacal laughter)

Better and Better

2011-06-08T14:16:00.002-04:00

Hit the trails today at Bradbury with Val. I was eager to get back on the Brad trails after a few weeks at Pineland. The weather was beautiful and the park was mostly empty except for a handful of mountain bikers. The hip felt great, but I think (hope) the heat and humidity was making me huff and puff a little more than usual. We opted for the Scuffle course and it was clear that it's been awhile since I've run it since I had to pause at a few turns to make sure they were correct. As usual, we never ran out of topics to discuss. We also dissected the hip issue and ruled in my favor that my plan of attack would work. Now, to make sure I stretch and roll and then tonight, my PT exercises. This weekend we're heading to New Jersey for Pete's high school reunion - there are some great trails we've found down there that I'm looking forward to running and hopefully I'll also remember to bring the camera along on the run to get some pictures of some NJ trails. Almost left out the best part - we hit E&L's afterward and....yay! there was the turkey BLT on the special menu! I think we made a big enough deal about it for them to consider putting it on the regular menu. The owner (blanking on her name) brought out our sandwiches and said something about how would it be with cranberry sauce....YES! Oh, and I also checked out the camp site I reserved since I wasn't sure exactly which one it was - it's a nice big site in the shade and a path that goes right to the trail, so I think it will work out nicely for the 40. Let's hope that my strengthening stretching exercises will pay off and superhip will live to fight evil for another day.

Proceed with Caution

2011-06-07T11:40:00.002-04:00

Just back from the test run. Three miles out on Eastern Trail. Adductors a little sore from the deep massage, but loosened up as I went. Took it easy and will see how the afternoon progresses. I've basically surmised that this is roughly the same path (no pun intended) I went down before that resulted in the fracture. So, it's critical that I strengthen my left side - Pete did a strength test on it and said it's much weaker than the other side. I dug up my list of PT exercises from before and will start them up again. Also got to stay on top of the stretching and rolling. Wish I wasn't so lazy about this stuff - I just want the parts to work, but there's a price to pay for it, so I need to bite the bullet here and get down to business. So...proceeding with caution.

Bullet Dodged?

2011-06-06T15:58:00.002-04:00

Visited Julia today for a workover. I described the aches and pains I was dealing with and she got to work, quickly finding all the spots that were giving me trouble. I was fairly terrified (and certain) there was another hip stress fracture in my future. While she certainly can't tell me what's going on inside my bones, she did say that everything she was feeling soft-tissue-wise was making sense with the symptoms and activity I described. And the other good news was that the muscles were responding to the deep tissue massage and loosening up which she said was a very good sign. So, I'm going to try a test run tomorrow after that last 2 days off and see how it goes. It's already feeling better, but I'm still pretty nervous about it. I'll update tomorrow...

Sunny and Blue

2011-06-04T15:46:00.002-04:00

Took a rest day Thursday, was feeling some glute, hip pain. Friday I hit Eastern Trail for 7. I felt great, no pain, and the pace felt great, too. Today I went to Pineland for a long run. I ran into Jeremy who had come early and was on his way out and Julia who also was finishing up. I had no qualms running by myself and was hoping I'd see Ian out on the course as he was going extr-y long. I never did run into anyone else! It was a beautiful day, hardly any humidity. Too bad we didn't have more of this weather last weekend for the race. I got in about 15.3 which is what I had planned. Pete and my parents met me afterward and we headed to Edna & Lucy's for lunch - yum. I was getting some adductor complaints along the run which worry me because of my past hip stress fracture. I would roll myself under a bus if I had to go through that again. It does seem to feel a little different than before, so I'm hoping its just tight hip flexors from running long last weekend. I'm making an appointment with Julia though to hopefully work out any kinks and will continue to monitor things. Next weekend we're going to New Jersey for Pete's high school reunion, so I'll miss another group run :( Hopefully, we'll hit some of the good trails down there, though. Fingers crossed hip-wise...

6 and 6

2011-06-01T12:42:00.002-04:00

My schedule for Monday was a day off. Much needed after Sunday's long run. Tuesday I had 8 on the schedule. This week is a weird transition week in my training schedule. I cobbled together a few different plans and this week transitions from my old cobbled plan (ramp up to decent mileage) to my new cobbled plan (training for the 40). Lots of cobbling. Mmmm cobbler.... So it's a kooky transition week that doesn't really take into account the long Sunday run. Long story short, I just did an easy 6 miles instead and felt better than I anticipated. I was even able to run progressively faster miles. Today, I had 4 on the schedule, but changed it to 6 to account for yesterday. I figured I would just take it easy again and see how I felt. My parents are visiting for the week, so I brought my dad and his new garmin out to Eastern Trail. I've been trying to encourage him to try running outside a little more since he's been pretty wedded to the treadmill and he really loved Eastern Trail. I felt pretty good on the run, legs were a little tired, but my pace was a little faster than yesterday. There is definitely some hip flexor tightness going on and some other soft tissue stuff that I need to roll out and work on. Maybe I'll plan a trip to see Julia, too...

Pacing the Pineland Farms 50-Miler

2011-05-30T12:58:00.011-04:00

I love how every race is a story. We write it as we run, we retell it with our friends afterward. Sometimes we embellish years later, but it only makes it better. Kind of a primitive re-enactment around the campfire about the kill for the day (ok, maybe that was a little too Dances With Wolves). This weekend was the Pineland Trail festival. Almost all the Trail Monsters were running at least one event and those who were organizing, working, or recovering, were there with added support and encouragement.

This was Val's race, not mine, so I can't claim any credit for the kill, my job was to help track. So I will just retell a small part of the story. The plan was for me to join about 9 miles into the 2nd loop at the Valley Farm Road aid station - after that it was about a mile back to the Grove where camp was set up and then we'd cruise around for the final loop of the 50 miler. It was hot. Watching folks run by while I waited was good information about how hot and humid it must be, people were drenched after their first lap. I cruised over to the aid station around 11am which was a rough calculation of when I thought Val would be coming by. While standing there, I saw Jeff, Danielle, Julia, and Randy come through looking strong for the 25k race. Blaine and Emma cruised through as well looking strong and shortly after, Val headed to the station and did a quick refuel. Her ITB was starting to grump a bit and she was feeling the effects of the heat with some muscle cramps, though still running strong. Back at camp she was met by cheers and we loaded up for the final 25k lap. I decided that my main job would be to push fluids with sodium and potassium and do whatever else was needed to help out along the way. We refilled bottles, Val rolled her legs, and Rick had potatoes and salt at the ready. With cheers from other TMs, we were off on the next lap. The heat was a definite challenge. Val seemed to work out a perfect mix of walk, run, stretching the piriformis, and getting in enough fluids and food. I just hung along for the ride and tried to keep things light and tell stories. We hit highs and lows, but her running pace was strong. I was just in awe of her consistency, persistence, and ability to laugh, smile, and just enjoy the surroundings the whole way through. She is perhaps one of the most mentally (and physically) strong runners that I've met, it's quite something to behold on the racecourse. No complaining, no whining, just getting the job done, dealing with whatever was going on, and also relishing the whole challenge of it all.

I will leave all the race details to Val, but just want to say again how I am always overwhelmed with Trail Monster camaraderie in general, but especially during races. Cacky, Sara, and Karen at various aid stations were incredible. When we were about to cross Valley Farm Rd to the aid station Jeff was there waiting for Val to cheer her on and run a few steps with her and provide encouragement and congrats and high fives. During the final stop at Camp before heading to the Oak Hill side, Val was met with and surrounded by cheering Trail Monsters. Jim handed her a beer, Ryan held a bag of ice on the back of her neck, and everyone else joked and got her what she needed and provided a tremendous boost. In the last 2 miles, Alosaurus ran out and met up with us which was a huge boost. He ran with us to the last aid station and was so positive and encouraging. As we came around the final field on the Oak Hill side, Emma ran out to us cheering like crazy, Jamie and Rick were at the top of the hill by the road cheering (and maybe others, I might have missed them), George, Ann, and Kate were taking pictures as we crossed through the woods and into the final stretch. I peeled off to let Val run across the field and through the chute to a horde of screaming Trail Monsters - I think James, Bethany, Linda, Ian, and others, it was just totally awesome. At various points through the day I watched both Ian and Ryan provide incredible support to the TMs - running them in to the grove, running with them heading out over to Oak Hill. There's something about having a very talented runner run with you a few steps and say just the right thing that adds an unspeakable aspect to the whole experience. Afterward, we all sat around together and recounted the day, got the highlights from others' races. Emma worked out some knots in Val's shoulders as she sat down and everyone had some food and beer. It really was like a family picnic complete with all the good-natured teasing and jokes and laughter that I love about our group.

Pacing for Val yesterday, I got in 22 miles for a nice long training run. I'm feeling good today. My back is a little sore from my hydration pack, but all in all, things are fine. I'm now moving in to the next phase of training which will be longer back-to-back weekend runs in preparation for my 40 miler in September. Emma suggested a run at 50k before then to work out my nutrition and hydration which was a brilliant suggestion. So I may be planning that as a training run sometime in July/August if anyone wants to join in preparation for their own upcoming long races or ...lemme know...!

Clifford Park 4.8 Mile Wander

2011-05-27T16:50:00.017-04:00

Headed down to Clifford Park in Saco yesterday with Petey McPete for some running/mountain biking and investigating of the trails down there. The weather was gorgeous, but just a tad humid. Remember when I said I loved my Nathan Hydration pack? We'll, we're fighting right now and I can't seem to get it adjusted comfortably. I wanted to get it all dialed in for Sunday so I brought it along to see if Pete could help me adjust it as we went. I never got it quite right and I think it might be the design of the pack so I'm going to read some reviews and see what other options are out there. I really can't stand the handheld bottles, fuel belts, or waist packs, so hopefully I'll discover something that fits me. This one seems to sit a little too low on my back and keeps sliding to the left no matter how I adjust it. It's a women's pack, too, so I feel like it should fit better somehow. At any rate...we hit the Clifford Park trails to explore the options. The trails are part of a park there, the terrain is mostly technical single track with a lot of rocks and roots. It's slightly hilly and there are areas that traverse large rock faces and a huge open old quarry. It's nice, but it's also a park...so there was a bit of trash around and some spray painting on some of the rocks and definitely areas where kids come in to drink and build campfires. It's a shame it's not cleaner, it has that "used" feel to it in places that I have to admit I really dislike. We did see some good wildlife though - spotted a porcupine cruising up the trail in front of us, a ground hog, heard a bunch of woodpeckers and evidence that they had worked on a tree. There were some great flowers in bloom, too - those little white ones (don't know what they are), some red ones (don't know what they are either) and a lady slipper (took a pic of that for Danielle!) We also came across as whole bunch of ramps and jumps that some very experienced mountain bikers had built - there was one that was at least a 15 foot drop, I can't imagine riding my bike off it... We basically just tried all different routes of the trail to see where the loops went. There was more that we didn't even get to, but we did a lot of retracing our steps. Afterward we headed to Run of the Mill for lunch and sat out on the deck overlooking the Saco River. Good times!

It was great to get back on the trail after my week of road running in Georgia. Can't wait until Sunday! Here are some pics from the day...

porcupine disappearing over the rocks...

Pete biking ahead

white flower...early blackberry?

Pete biking some more

view from the trail

another trail view

Lord and Lady Slovinsky

red flowers...???

Pete pondering one of the bike jumps

ladyslipper

Map of where we went

Six More

2011-05-26T16:22:00.002-04:00

Got in my last Atlanta run yesterday. It was a slight bit easier than the previous sun runs. I went even earlier, so maybe that has something to do with it. At any rate, I'm eager to get back on the trails. Not much else to report today, I'm on the bus heading back from Logan Airport after a wonderful visit with my niece and the rest of the family. I also got to see my best friend from graduate school (the UGA version) yesterday and it made the trip for me. She's a runner as well. We plotted out her next marathon, graced Target with our presence, and solved many of the world's problems. Quite a productive trip, I'd say.

Sun Run

2011-05-24T11:38:00.002-04:00

Another blister popper today in sunny Hotlanta. I can't complain too much, because it sounds like it's still a bit cold and dreary up north. Went 6ish miles and maybe the humidity was better or something, but it did seem a fraction better than the other day. Still insanely hot, though.

Six tomorrow and then I head home Thursday, y'all.

Cross Badwater Off My List

2011-05-22T20:19:00.006-04:00

Not that I had any plans to do it, but now I'm pretty sure I never will. I've been down in Atlanta since Thursday. It's hot. As I type this at 8:22pm, it's a balmy 87 degrees. Positively frigid by Death Valley standards, but the last few days running have been a deathmarch. Plus, I've just been road running so no relief from the cool(er) woods. Friday I headed out knowing it would be hot, but not remember exactly HOW hot since my previous Georgia running days when I lived in Athens. I went about 6.3 miles (I had 6 on my schedule) and it was pretty rough. I'm amazed at how the heat and roads just take your breath and energy away. Later that day, I went out with my dad for a run/walk. It was even hotter, but I wanted to accompany him. He's lost nearly 100lbs in the past 2 years and got a new garmin so he could start running outside a bit more. I helped him set it up and showed him how to work it and then how to download all the info when we got back. All in all, Friday ended up being about a total of 11 miles. Luckily, Saturday was my scale-back long run day - I had 12 planned. Even though I went out early, it was like running with weights tied to my legs and breathing through a straw right in the first mile. I figured I could always just turn around if I had to and cut it short...or maybe some kindly southerner would find my heat stroked yankee body in a heap and roll me out of traffic. From somewhere, I decided that I would just keep plugging even though I was going 2+ minutes per mile slower than usual. At the 6 mile mark I was near a park and thankfully found a gardening hose to re-fill my water bottle. That was my turnaround and I headed back, but it was no easier. I have no idea how people train in hot weather down here, I guess you get used to it. I would take running in sub-zero temps at Bradbury any day over a broiling road deathmarch, there's no comparison. My tired little garmin bleeped at 12 miles as I finally staggered in to my sister's driveway. Glad I got in my long run and so glad it wasn't longer. Today I had a recovery 3 on the schedule and even at 8 in the morning it was already warm and getting warmer by the second. I really should have gone earlier. Three miles was still a slog and was dreaming of everyone running cool at Pineland and going to E&L's after. Tomorrow is off and I'm actually glad for it. Really looking forward to pacing Val next week at Pineland and all the general kickassery that's going to occur by the whole TM team.

So did I mention I'm down here visiting my 3 week old niece? She's absolutely adorable and the most chill, happy baby I've ever seen. She must have gotten some tips from the expert, Lady Samantha. It's really been a great trip other than the part where they live on the sun. Thursday I'll be heading back to Vacationland and then we're on to Pineland!

Pineland Recon

2011-05-17T16:12:00.002-04:00

Another gray and rainy day at Pinetropolis, but our heroes were not deterred from their mission. Val and I met up to run 8 miles and go over a gameplan for the race. We ran part of the 3.5 mile loop that starts the 50 miler and then went over to the Oak Hill side and ran that. We added the last field after Oak Hill and came up right at 8. Luckily, it didn't start raining until after we were heading to E&L's (and then realized it was closed and headed back to P-Land to their cafe). It was a great run and I forgot how awesome the Oak Hill side is. Truly a break from the unrelenting roller coaster of "the other side". Thursday I head to Atlanta to visit my new niece, Briellen, and family for a week. Looking forward to exploring some trails down there, but I'm guessing I won't really be able to go too far, since I'm supposed to be visiting, not finding new and awesome trails to run that may or may not be a long drive to/from. Looking forward to meeting my niece!

Topsham Trail Day...and a Fellow Squirrel Shuffles Off His Mortal Coils

2011-05-15T14:20:00.005-04:00

Headed up to Topshizzle this morning to join the Topsham Trail Day run(s) led by Ryan and Scott. My drive there was a little interesting. On Pleasant Hill Road on my way to Rt 1 a squirrel appeared in the road right beside my car out of nowhere and as I was thinking in slow motion "I wonder if he'll [thunk]...make it..." Well, you know the rest. I looked in my rear view mirror and saw the evidence on the road behind me. Nothing good can come of this, I thought. I just flattened my namesake. What could this mean? What kind of horrible karma have I unleashed? I might have to make amends at the site. One time I ran over a chipmunk on my bike. I got two flats in the same area not long after, so I carried some seeds with me and left them at the spot next time I rode by to appease the little guys. The following summer I ran over a huge snake on my bike. I didn't see it, it was as I was coming around a corner heading to Prout's Neck and by the time I recognized there was something [bump] in the [bump] road, it was too late. I told Pete it was a huge snake and wasn't there when I came back by it so I figured it was ok. He told me I had likely crushed its delicate reptilian peristaltic system and it was slowly dying of starvation in a ditch somewhere. Sometimes it's not good to have a smart husband.

Once I reached Topsham, however, I had recovered. Danielle, Ryan, and I set off from Casa Triffitt to the school parking lot and met up with Scott Ellis, Erik B, and several other townsfolk who were there to experience Cathance Trail magic (Sam was in the care of a babysitter). It hadn't started raining yet as we set off up a huge hill and into the trail system. I think at least one of the trail newbies had never run more than 4 miles ever and she wasn't scared off from the rain or terrain, a Trail Monster in the making, perhaps. We ran bit by bit, led by Scott and stopped periodically to let everyone catch up. It's a fantastic system with what seems like an endless number of trails and routes and terrain. At points it follows a fairly wide creek where one Jim Dunn got nekkid and went for a dip at a past Trail Monster Cathance Pancake Extravaganza. We thought of putting up a plaque at the spot, but no one volunteered to get the butt/back sack mold from Jim. After about 6 miles, Danielle and Scott turned off to get in a longer run and the rest of the pack headed back to the parking lot. Ryan and I ran back to their house and cooked up some pancakes under Sam's supervision for when Danielle returned. We were all soaked and cold from the rain, but it was still a very fun morning. Well, for most of the animal world...