I Think I Can, I Think I Can....

My miles yesterday brought me just 16.8 short of 2000 for the year. If I look just at the amount of time I've run these last few days, I'd say I should already be there. I just couldn't make myself not work at packing a trail in the snow. Yesterday I did almost 2.5 miles in the fields with my snowshoes before dropping them off and getting an easier 1.25 more on the road. Then when Rick came home from work we did a 3 mile run on the road. It seemed like we were flying. This time it wasn't just the effect of running in the dark, but we were still getting a good amount of slip between our shoes and the road.

More of the Same

Tuesday's run was very much Monday's run, just 1.2 miles longer. First I strapped the snowshoes on and headed to the field, thinking I could at least get the main path packed. At least there were stretches that were nearly bare; the winds were really redistributing the snow. The areas where the snow was deposited were incredibly deep. After heading back to drop off the snowshoes, this time I headed back to the field to see if my newly "packed" path was runnable. Nope. I was able to run where the wind had cleared, not my snowshoed part. I was still sinking into too much sugary snow to even go at a pace the Garmin considered jogging. After one loop, I abandoned my efforts and headed back to the roads. I'm hoping the warmer weather that's on the way will be just enough of help pack down the snow without melting too much of it.

Breaking Trail...Sort of

Bethany and I planned to be out at 2:30, then 3:30 when we missed that time. So, it was nearly 4pm by the time we actually stepped out the door. I was wearing snowshoes. The idea was for me to pack down the snow to reclaim our trail. Well, I was sinking pretty deep, past my knees in long stretches. Beth said she felt like she was running the tire-drill. We did a lot of laughing for two people struggling to breathe. One sort of loop was all we managed before I dropped off my snowshoes and we ran the snow-covered road. In 57 minutes we did 3.8 miles. Yikes!

Christmas Weekend

Friday's run was pretty much a repeat of Thursday's difficult run through the sugary snow. It was made slightly easier by Rick and I snowshoeing most of the course on Spot's walk. The problem is that sugar doesn't really pack. I only ran 4.5 miles and won't even say how long it took.

Yesterday, after all the presents were opened and before the cooking, I headed out for a run. My calf was still tight from running in the snow and perhaps from favoring the knee. I decided not to run just fields. Instead, I headed out King Rd, sticking to the unpaved shoulders where I could. When I reached the Packard's field, I was happy to find the snowmobiles had been out. To my disappointment, the snowmobiles had no more success packing the snow than Rick and I did with the snowshoes. Still, I ran about a mile before heading back onto road. I was about a mile short of my intended distance when I reached the driveway. OK, I could do another mile in the field. It's amazing how high a heart rate can climb while going so slowly. Finished with 5.2 miles.

Heading to Bradbury this morning, I was a little worried about subjecting my calf to a long trail run. Luckily, the conditions there were way better than home. Some of the trails were actually packed well. Those that weren't at least had less snow and so there was less spinning of the wheels.

Randy and Nate were already in the lot when I pulled in. Ian, Emma, and Kip came next. Allen came just in time to join up. We did the start of the Scuffle up till the Ginn meets up with Snowmobile Trail, there we stayed on the Ginn, essentially doing the Bruiser start in reverse.

I stayed with the group for about a mile, but then dropped off the pace. I didn't want to stress the calf that much. They all waited for me at one spot, but I assured them I was fine by myself and not to wait any more. Here, Emma stayed with me for a mile or so. Then we hooked back up with the group, maybe Ian was stopping to de-ice Kip's paws; I'm not sure. Then Emma rejoined the faster people and Allen dropped back to run with me. It was nice to catch up; I haven't talked with Allen or Karen in a while.

Everyone was in the parking lot when we finished. Tammy informed Ian that Edna and Lucy's didn't open till 10 a.m. Rats! A hot cup of coffee and warm doughnut was in the back of my mind for most of the run. I joked we should run longer, but think my calf was happy with the 6 miles we did and didn't really want to do much more. Next week.

Slow Going

I ran five minutes longer than yesterday, but ran almost 1.5 miles less. It was very slow going. The mowed sections of the field had drifted in; the snow was a foot deep in sections. The screws couldn't bite anything to get traction - the ol' running in sugar thing. Oh well, good work out.

Snow And RICE

Today's/night's run was very similar to last night except that I didn't have Rick's company for the first half and the snow gave me more light. It would have been even better to have some moonlight to illuminate the path, but, the snow was fun anyway.

Not long ago my brother came up with some different words to the standard RICE advice. I've revised those, too. Now I like to think: Rationalize, Increase mileage, Complain, Evaluate....repeat. Of course, you can start with any letter you want/need. I bring this up because the knee I hurt when I fell the Saturday before this last one is hurting. The fall was painful, but besides the bad bruise, I thought everything was fine. My elbow actually hurt more. Then I ran at Bradbury again this past Saturday. It hurt a bit. During the final lap of Sunday's TWMiH it really hurt on the steep downs and then remained cranky throughout the day. I woke to have it painful to the touch. As I moved around, it seemed to feel better. The run last night didn't hurt it any more. However, when I woke up today, it did. Here's my Rationlization: I think it's either just pain from the contusion with inflammation or a sore tendon. Either way, I don't think running will cause any more damage. It's no sorer after today's run. I did ice it though.

Almost Six

Rick, on vacation this week, and I started our run a bit late. I thought the fields would be muddier than they were. Even though the temperature made it in to the 40's, everything was still pretty frozen. We did the loop on this side of the road and the hill across the street. Rick and I chatted for 3.5 miles then he headed back up. I continued on with a total of six in mind.

The darkness came quickly. The run changed. It was a bit exciting. Over the hill across the street is a path into the woods. I started in, but, the creaking trees made me a little nervous; I'd seen all the branches hung up in the tree tops when there was light. That, combined with the fact I couldn't see the footing, made me abandon that trail and head back to our field. Too bad the clouds were blocking the full moon.

I finished up with 5.93. Good enough.

'Till We Meet in Hell

I was injured last year when Blackstrap Hell was run. I envied all the Monsters their fun. This year Hell was canceled. Out by myself on a Gorham run, I was thinking how all the TMs would love these trails, but there really isn't enough of them to host a group run there. It was on this run that 'TWMiH began to crystalize.

Jeff's Hell had been a handicapped race based on time, with a staggered start based on a predicted time for the couse. Theoretically, everyone should finish at the same time if the handicapping algorithm was correct. So, whoever came in first, was the winner. OK, my 1.25 mile loop would be over before we knew it...BUT what if we fixed the time and handicapped the distance? Hmmmm.....An hour and a half seemed like a good work out and enough of a run to draw people to Gorham. The short, but challenging loop could keep everyone feeling like they were in it. AND it was a perfect way to have a party after since we'd all finish together!

To say I obsessed over the details would be, um, correct, perhaps an understatement. The logging that started a week before the event wrecked my usual loop. So I raked the new part of the course. Rick and I headed over early to put out ribbon to block any possible wrong turns, rake any stray leaves, and put out tenth markers. Blaine nicely agreed to come early to learn the loop; I figured if a front runner knew the course, he could lead the way. He met me up near the .8 mark and said he'd found his way without me. Good.

After I placed the last of the tenth markers (people without garmin could keep track of laps, then note the tenth they made it to in the time allowed), I headed back up to the parking lot where almost everyone was already assembled. Twenty-four of us headed down the trail to the start of the loop. I gave pre-race instructions and we were off!

Rick and I settled in behind Danielle and Randy. The way they chatted, it seemed like it was a walk in the park! By the .7 mile mark, either they pulled away or Rick and I dropped back. I guess Rick and I just settled in to a pace that we felt comfortable holding for the 1.5 hours. I'm not sure where we starting going past some of the runners, but I know exactly when we were lapped for the first time. Blaine, followed closely by Andy, sped past just 35 minutes into the race. Wow! This is when I decided I should start taking pictures to capture the event. I was pretty sure I wasn't in to pushing too hard, so the photos kept me from going too crazy AND I actually got some good shots! I guess I shouldn't have been, but I was surprised when Snowman lapped us next and not all that long after the leaders went by.

I have to admit that I felt really good getting the comments from my fellow Monsters about the course. Yay! I shouldn't have worried so much. The trail went down some very short, steep banks and immediately presented fun footing with water and roots. There was no way I could run one of the downs. The steep ups were a lot easier for me. I really credit running 2x a week here with being able to run the entire Stone Cat Marathon without any walking, even on the hills.

Dora had started the race with her daughter, Kelsey. They planned to just get in a couple of laps; Kelsey had gotten in late at the airport the night before. Dora then met up with us at Sebago Brewing for the post-race fun. So we lost two runners, but sometime along the way were joined by Four and his daughter's new puppy. Mindy stopped after a couple of laps (planned) and hung out at the start/finish taking pictures.

Rick and I more or less stayed together the entire time. We lapped or were lapped by everyone except Ian and Jim (of course I did hear Jim a couple of times!). Wait! We were with Danielle and Randy at the beginning, but that was it. Never saw them till the finish either. I do think the multiple laps on a short course proved to be a fun change. It was good to see the others and exchange banter/encouragement or just smiles.

At the end of the hour and a half, Rick and I were just about at the finish. In fact, it seemed like a lot of the runners were. Of course, a 1.15 mile course with two lobes made it so no one was ever very far from the start. There was some confusion recording the distances, but I think we got it all down in the end.

Blaine was the un-handicapped winner covering 10.9 miles. He never really shook Andy who covered 10.8. Now, Jeff had never seen the course when he was predicting the distances. He based his formula on the Scuffle and Bruiser races and so predicted that Blaine should be able to do 12.29 miles. Rick ran more than Jeff predicted. The handicapping was definitely in his favor. When Rick ran those races, he really was just hanging in to cover the distance and not able to race (recovering from injury (knock on wood), his fitness was never at the point where he could do any more than finish). I really wasn't thinking about that when I conceived the format!

So the fun part was over and the funner part came next. We all headed to Sebago Brewing to rehash the event, have awards, eat and drink, and celebrate Emma's birthday. Never were there so many BADASSES in one place!

The awards:
Blaine got a quart of Allen's Coffee Brandy for outright first
Rick got 3 - 22 oz, "Hell Awaits Imperial Porters" for first
Jeremy got 2 "Hell Awaits" for 2nd
Snowman got a "Hell Awaits" for 3rd *

* I found it very fun that Ryan was 3rd whether using the handicap or not. He was really right on Blaine's and Andy's asses covering 10.5 miles!

So, thank all the Monsters for making this a great event. Big thanks to Jeff for the handicapping algorithm. And, always, a huge thanks to Ian and Emma for giving us the TMs and for the party. We love you guys.

Some of the pictures and note the elevation profile...the hills really did get steeper as the race went on:

More Soon

Yesterday I was too sad to write. Today I'm too tired. I'll try to do a summary tomorrow.

Trial Run

I took Ryan (my Ryan, not Snowman) to Gorham to try out the race loop. It was a good idea. The course seemed so obvious to me, but, to someone who had never run it, it was not so clear. If he wasn't running, he could follow it just fine. Running, there were a few areas where he'd be confused. Now I know where to place some flags. I already knew where arrows would be required. Can't wait!

Running Late...Again

My inability to accomplish any Christmas task has me running in the dark. At least today, I had some light for the first half. Since the moon was out, I didn't bother bringing a headlamp. Probably could have used one, but it was fun without. It's amazing how much faster I feel I'm going when it's dark. I got in nearly 6 miles in the fields and on the hill across the street.

Later, Darker, Colder

Another day of little success in Christmas prep/shopping . By the time I got my running clothes on, it was dark. At least I remembered new batteries so my headlamp worked. When I got down to the fields, I saw three other lights bobbing along in the night. I had actually heard the giggles before seeing the light. Bethany and her friends, Sunshine and Tina, were running the fields, too. I might have run along with them, but I was pressed for time. It was still fun seeing them out there. I passed them at about the same point in each lap.

In non-running news, I had a bit of a scare this morning; Spot fell through the ice on the second pond on the way back from her walk. I was busy trying to get my kitty who had come to find me. Bethany, walking with us, saw Spot first. I ran back to her, but she'd gotten herself out as I arrived. My heart was pounding! The water froze on her instantly. She had icicles everywhere. She went crazy, running around like a pup. I could even dry her for a while; it took time for the ice to melt. From now on, I'll bring a leash till the pond's frozen solid. She seemed fine the rest of the day. Phew!

Muddy Five

I was running late, literally. I tried to get some Christmas shopping done in Portland. I wasn't very successful. I did manage to find a couple of stocking stuffers, but that was it. By the time I was ready to run, it was nearly dark. So it was the very wet, very muddy fields for me. I got in five before it was too dark (my head lamp's battery went dead).

A Working Day Off

Today while Sam was in Gorham for a final, I raked 0.6 miles of what I had been calling the alternate route for the race. I'm just going to call it the course now. I was sweatier after than if I'd been running the entire hour and 20 minutes. I'm pretty sure my arms, abs, and shoulders will be complaining tomorrow. I hope it doesn't need too much touching up before. I want to get Linda back over there to see if she can follow it without any additional marking.

Good Timing

Rick and I headed to Gorham for our run today. He wanted to get in around seven miles. I wanted to run slightly less, but work on the trail. We'd planned to leave the house around 8am to ensure we'd be back in time for the Giant game. That turned out to be a non-issue because the Minnesota stadium's roof collapsed with too much snow so the game had to be postponed. The weather forecast made us push to get out even earlier; heavy rains were on the way. The dark sky spit on the car's windshield on and off during the ride down, but, when we parked at USM, it looked like the sun might come out.

My idea was to show Rick the race course by running it with him a couple times and then head back to the car to get the rake. The course is easy enough to follow that 2x through and he should be good on his own. The logging made it impossible to run for the portion of the course where they're working. It was even hard to walk over. Rick said, "There's no way you're gonna get this cleaned up." I didn't disagree. My only hope for that loop is for the logging this week to clear this up a bit. I don't hold out much hope.

So, I took him on the alternate course for our second lap. Since I'm less familiar with that, we got a little off and had to climb over more crap and cross more water than I wanted. I could tell Rick wasn't impressed with this section; he wanted to get in a good run. So when we got back to the start, I showed him a very runnable short loop (still fun with a good hill). I went back to find the better path for the alternate. I think I have it. If the weather lets up tomorrow, I'll go over it a few more times while Sam takes a final.

Then I headed back to the car to get the rake. I raked a stretch of trail that is hard to follow because it is twisty, single track (very), and leaf-covered and is in both possible courses. Rick headed through; he just had one more lap and he'd join me. I was nearly done by the time he got back. Good timing; the sky started to spit again. Back to the car, the rain started in earnest.


Between the 1 and 2 is the profile of my favorite loop (still a remote possibility). Between 4 and 5 is the alternate loop.

Oh! And my mileage for the year is now 1900.9!

Bradbury Got Even Better!

So Bradbury was probably already my favorite place to run. After this run, it got even better...

I was the first one in the parking lot today (highly unusual!). I was looking forward to new Inov8s. Ian pulled in next with my shoes. Unfortunately, I told him the wrong size. My model has been discontinued so I hope he can get some leftovers in my actual size.

We ended up with a fairly large group. Besides Ian and myself, there was Mary Beth, Erin, Blaine,Jeremy, Erik, Stephen, Brian, and Four's cousin and two of his friends (sorry, I know him either as Four's cousin or Zeffie's dad). There were also four lively dogs in the group.

We headed out on the East side on what appeared to be the Bruiser backwards (O-less). I was sticking with the main group but needed to drop off for a bio-break. I knew there was no way I'd catch them. I had doubts that I could have even have stuck with them. So I ran by myself for a while. When I came to where the Ginn (west side) crosses the Old Tuttle Rd, I decided that I might be able to meet back up with the group if I took Tuttle to the snowmobile trail. Well, when I got there, I saw some of the group on the east side Ginn. I ran through the woods to join up with them. At first i thought I could hang with their pace, but I was too cautious where ever there was ice or even where I thought there might be ice.

A little after I let the leaders go, I heard a couple of other voices. Stephen and Brain joined me from behind. I was psyched to have some company. Again, when there was the hint of ice, I started to lose them. When there turned onto the Bat Cave Trail, I kept going on Fox East. From there I went down the Link to the parking lot. I wasn't done. Just behind me, Erik and Blaine came in. I don't even know what trails they took. Erik needed to leave, but Blaine said he'd run more with me.

We decided to stay on the mountain side. There were more slippery patches. Not too long in, even being very careful, I fell. Hard. I think I felt it harder just because things hurt more when you're cold. Blaine gave me the option of turning back, but I always think, if possible, it's best to tough it out. My right knee and left elbow were immediately sore. Turns out i whacked my left knee pretty good to (judging be the bruise). We headed up the Northern Loop. I suggested that Krista's loop thinking it might be less slippery. Blaine agreed. Aside from two obvious icy spots at the start, it was great. In fact, when we got to the end, Blaine suggested turning around and running it backwards. Yay! Then we headed up to the summit and took the Switchback Trail down.

Ian, Jeremy, Mary Beth, and Erin were waiting in the lot. Ian said they were heading to Edna and Lucy's for coffee and goodies. Huh? Turns out, just down the street from the park is a great place to refuel post-run. Wow! Bradbury running with yummy food close by, does it get much better?!

So I got in close to 7.7 miles today and did 4 miles yesterday evening in the fields.

Getting Better

Since Snowman hasn't been providing us with our music of late, I'm gonna put up a tune for you all: Getting Better by Bob Schneider. I was back in Gorham today. I ran my loop twice before the logging started up again. This time I realized that out of the 1.25 miles only just over .3 miles was impacted. I cleared some of the fall out. It seemed like some of the debris from the previous days work had been cleaned up some. Who knows what the next days of logging will bring? I plan to head there on Sunday to do some more reconnaissance and clearing. Still, I had time to run and wanted to work on a loop away from the logging. Fortunately, I think I found just the trail! I hope I can find it again. I'll make sure on Sunday.

I also checked on parking with the USM cops and alerted Sebago Brewing to a hoard of TMs heading their way on the 19th. Things are shaping up.

Ended up with just over 6 miles.

Thorncrag Loops = Slightly Sore Quads

I am pretty certain the event of the 19th will be held in Gorham. That said, I still wanted to have a back up. I went to Thorncrag to find the perfect loop. Out of five that I tested, I'm really psyched about two of them. If TMs like the loop concept of the race, I'd definitely like to have another one at Thorncrag.

I wasn't even 5 minutes in to today's run, when three deer came bounding towards me. They were really moving and making tons of noise in the crunchy leaves, broken branches, and hoar frost. What a good way to start out a run!

My first loop turned out to be a bit too short. My second was an improvement, but still not what I wanted. The third one was the perfect distance and difficulty. The fourth was a little too long. The fifth was another fun one, a course that could be run at a slightly faster pace than the 3rd.

It was a great run. I'm surprised to find my quads slightly sore. That hasn't happened in a long time.

Trouble in Gotham - er- Gorham

I was looking forward to running the Till-We-Meet-in-Hell course today. I brought my camera to take photos for the invite/info for the event. I was pretty sure I'd regret not putting screws in my Inov8s. It actually diddn't matter since I left them home (put them down to visit Ally Kat). It's a good thing my car is loaded with junk I forget to take in; I found a pair of my old road shoes. Not only are they my least-treaded, they have elastics for the laces, but I was just happy to be able to run.

Not a quarter of a mile in, I heard chainsaws. Ugh! Last week Linda, Beth, and I met up with a logger scouting out the place. I thought he said they wouldn't be to my trail for a while. I kept running. The chainsaws had quieted. I think it must have been lunch break. When I got to my favorite single track, the portion of the course that is so special, it was almost unrecognizable. The natural obstacles had been removed and the loggers' rubble clogged the trail. It look like they'd been in with a bulldozer. My heart sank.

I ran along as best I could. It is a short loop and soon I was on a very runnable section. All I could think was that the race would be canceled. As I made my way towards the once cool section again, the chainsaws started up. I was too chicken to keep going. So I started this figure-eight shaped "loop". As I repeated that a couple of times, I decided to look for an alternate course for the event. My spirits started to rebound a bit; it's fun to explore.

I think I can put together a plan-B. I still hope it won't be necessary. I plan on heading over there on Sunday and trying to save my original course. It could be undone in a day (made obvious by how much damage had been done since Thursday), but I'd still like to try to salvage it.

As I finished up my run, I came up behind a hunter. I announced myself. Though it was a little disconcerting at first, he was very nice. He asked me if I'd seen any of his 3 companions. No. Man, it turns out they've probably been out there with me since the end of regular deer season. I decided to wear orange right through mid-December from now on.

There will be a Till-We-Meet-in-Hell race. It may be on less single track and go through areas with more college-student garbage and, if the logging messes that up, we could move it to Thorncrag and have the post-run festivities at the Auburn Gritty's. I'm not giving up on Gorham just yet.

Oh, yeah, I got in just over 7 miles.

Snowy Run

Normally, I take Mondays off. I really was going to today. It was snowing; I love to run in the snow. I had time that I normally don't on Mondays; Sam's physics lab is done for the semester. I called next door to see if Bethany wanted to join me. Yup.

When I went to put on my shoes, I discovered both of my Inov8s were out on the steps totally frozen. My newer ones were still out there from Saturday's wet run and my older ones were from yesterday's Bradbury run. The socks were also stuffed inside frozen. No way were either of those going on my feet. I dug out some road shoes. Oh well, I ran for years in the snow without trail shoes. I'd just have to be more careful.

By the time we got out there, it was serious dusk. Bethany had her head lamp with her figuring it'd be dark by the time we were done. The footing was mostly fine. I just had to be careful on the downhills. We gabbed the entire time. It was neat how the snow allowed us to run without lights later into the darkness; it reflected any light there was. We got in about 4.7 miles.

I did make sure to bring in my Inov8s. They might not be dry for tomorrow's run, but at least they'll be thawed! I'm pretty sure I'll need them on my Gorham run. In fact, I'd like to have the screws in, but....

A Pair of Sevens...

Maybe a poor hand in poker, but made for a great weekend of running. Saturday I had planned to run for quite a while at Thorncrag while Sam took the SATs. Since Sam ended up coming down with something and opted not to sit for the test, I decided to just run around the house. Wow! The fields were wet, wet, wet. I'd step in grass and find myself up to my ankles in water. So when I got to the little stream, I didn't give a second thought to crossing. Wow! It was SO much colder. For a bit, I had that painful cold feeling in my toes. I ran just short of a mile before I came back to the stream. Well, I had to get back....

Another mile in, I was getting hot (my back was now to the wind). I realized my toes didn't hurt any more. My feet felt fine the rest of the run even though I did another stream crossing. I think it was that the first was too soon into the run. I was really impressed with myself till I saw the streams that the other TMs crossed that day. I finished up with just over 7 miles.

Today, Rick and I headed to Bradbury for a repeat of last Sunday's run. Though the temperature was a good deal warmer than last week, today definitely felt more raw.

When we got out of the car, we noticed Snowman in the parking lot, too. He was going to run the mountain side to get the mileage for two of the planned snowshoe races. He figured it'd be about seven miles. Well, even though that's what we planned on doing, we stuck with running on the East side.

We got a lot muddier than last week because the puddles weren't frozen and they were deeper. About half way through out run, a happy dog came bounding towards us from a different trail. I recognized the pup as Four's cousin's dog, Effie (sp?). I gave him a pat and yelled out, "Hi Four's cousin!" as I saw runners on the other trail. Four was among the group and shouted a greeting back to us.

Rick and I both thought we'd run faster this week; turns out we did, but only by a minute over our seven miles. Still felt, good and I think, if I looked at our pace, we did negative splits.

When we crossed the street to the parking lot, we saw Ryan. He was happy with his courses. Each was a little long, giving him a total of 7.7 ish. He looked just as muddy as we were and even wetter. We visited for a bit before I was too chilly to keep talking.



The muddy shoes/legs were from Saturday's run. The picture of Ally is just cause she's so damn cute!

Squeezing in a Few

I'm so glad that my Hannaford is not even a half mile from Thorncrag. Instead of missing out on a run today, I snuck in almost 5 miles before the sun set after grocery shopping. There was another woman there walking. Actually, she was majorly power walking. I think her pace would qualify her as jogging on my SportTracks software for the Garmin.

Tomorrow I hope to get some serious running time there.

------------------- Hell Awaits -----------------

• 

What a day! I've been after Linda and Bethany to come to Gorham with me to run the trails. Today Linda had a rare day off from work and was planning to go to Maine Running with Beth. That, coupled with the fact that The Till-I-See-You-in-Hell race is gonna be on those trails, convinced them to come. It seemed everything was combining to make it the perfect day. After a horrible night of weather, we got a beautiful day.

As planned, I showed them my 1.25 mile loop and then a shorter, easier to follow one (.5 miles) that they could do while I got in my miles at my own pace. We said we'd meet back at the car in 1.5 hours if we hadn't hooked back up before that.

The first loop was fun. I could tell that they really appreciated the trails. And they were even made more fun by all the rain from the night before. My stream crossing (that had it's bridge washed out in an earlier storm) where I normally hopped across a couple of logs was now too deep for that. We carefully used a wet log and the sideways bridge to creep over the water. The subsequent laps I just went through the water; it was well over my knees.

The section right after the stream is the hardest to follow, but with some orange flags will be just fine. It wasn't long after that that we saw a pair of pileated woodpeckers. That's right; Linda doesn't see one for her entire life till her last run at Thorncrag and then sees a pair on her next run! I tried to get a picture, but they weren't cooperative.

Then I showed them the shorter loop and headed off on my own run. On my 3rd loop, I heard some giggling; they'd decided to try to follow the trail on their own. I caught up soon after the stream crossing. They were talking to a logger. The logger was scoping out the terrain : ( I know it's probably a good idea with all the downed trees and many widow makers, but also know what it will look like after all the equipment goes through. I hope we get in the race before it starts; it's too wet for them right now. He was concerned for our safety and told us to steer clear of the area if we hear chainsaws.

I left them again for another lap. I heard the woodpeckers, but didn't see them this time. Then a short loop and then I ran back to find Linda and Beth to finish up the run together.

Linda and Beth headed to Sebago Brewing; I followed as soon as Sam was out of class. They'd only time to order drinks before we joined them. The food and beer were delicious. The funny thing was one of the beer specials listed on the wall was "Hell Awaits Imperial Porter"! I took it to be a sign that the event was going to be a success.