Urban Adventure

So I'd taken Monday as a planned day off, but Tuesday turned into one also. It was Sam's first day back at USM and I figured I'd run down there. Well, the commute was no fun with all the snow. All totaled we saw four accidents, two minor, two not. His class was in Gorham. I don't like running there in good weather and didn't want to be on the roads in such slippery conditions; I have screw shoes, most cars....Besides, my brother kept telling me I wasn't getting better cause I was trying to run through it. I think he's sick of me coughing in his ear on the phone.

Monday and Wed, Sam has a 9:30am class in Gorham and then a 2:45pm class in Portland that gets out at 4:40. I dropped him in Gorham and headed to Portland; He can take the shuttle bus between campuses. That's a lot of time to spend in Portland with nothing to do. There was no way I wasn't running.

What a run! I think I packed my entire running attire and shoes, not knowing what conditions I'd see. I chose tights, my favorite hooded top, and road shoes. From what I'd seen driving around, the sidewalks were just wet. The Back Cove looked practically untouched. If I'd remembered to include my gaiters, I'd have just run that with my Inov8 screw shoes. Instead I drove to the start of the Eastern Prom trail. I headed out towards Commercial St.

Initially, the sidewalks were just wet. As soon I hit High St on my way to the Casco Bay Bridge, I felt like I was on trails. I was jumping slush puddles, crunching snow, watching out for ice and having a blast. I followed the bridge all the way down instead of taking the footpath down into the park under the bridge; it hadn't seen any snow removal. To my surprise, the walking path out to Bug Light had been snow blown. It looked slick, but even my non-aggressive tread (might even call them pacifists) on my Lunar Trainers seemed to get traction. Instead of following it all the way to the lighthouse, I wandered down streets in the neighborhood around there. I could pretty much run down the roads.

The few people I encountered were digging out cars and driveways. Everyone was friendly and seemed to be, well not enjoying but, not minding the task. By the time I decided I'd better turn back, I'd been running nearly 38 minutes and the snow was falling again and the wind had picked up.

Map My Run says the round trip was 7.8 miles. I was slower on the return, but I was coughing a lot by then. There was just enough time to head to Whole Foods to change. I was on my way to USM when Sam called to say they'd gotten out a little early. So I still have today's NY Times crossword puzzle to do.