Road with a Field Finish

I cranked out my 10 miles running mainly on the gravel roadside.  I still coughed a lot.  I wouldn't want to run with someone who sounded like me.  I hope I'm not so annoying for the group run on Saturday. 

I saved 1.5 miles to finish up in the field.  I wanted to see what the conditions were like.  I'm glad that's all I saved.  I hope the weather forecast is wrong.  We don't need any more moisture out there.

Sloppier

Ran another five in the fields.  The fields have lots more standing water.  The snow is now unable to hold me up.  I think to get in my 10 in a reasonable time (so I can pick Sam up from lab), I might have to run the road tomorrow. 

Photos Help

Yesterday's run wasn't much fun even though it was beautiful out.  The wind and my cold conspired to make me grumpy even though I was outside running.  Since today's weather pretty much is a carbon copy of yesterday, I wasn't looking forward to doubling my mileage.  Then I came up with what turned out to be a great idea.  I brought my camera with me.  Instead of being frustrated with my labored run, I used the camera to justify breaks.  It help me focus on the beauty of the day.

I got in 10.25 and had fun the entire way.  Here are some of the shots:

Lots of snow remains in some spots

Just missed the beaver

Hardly any snow in other spots

Beaver lodge

Snow makes lots of places runnable that aren't otherwise

Caterpillar was alive!

Five in a Fog

Being mostly over the worst illness I've had since I was 18, I planned to try for 10 miles today.  At first I wanted to join the TMs at Bradbury, but decided it was more important to be able to get into a shower pretty immediately to avoid a chill.  So Rick and I set out from the house into the fields.  I'm still pretty much in a fog.  I think my inner ear is affected a bit and, so, my balance.

The stiff wind not only blew me back, but drove the breath I was struggling to take back down my throat.  The first mile was not enjoyable.  Rick didn't mind listening to me cough and gag or walking when I needed to catch my breath.  I told him he could just go, but he didn't : )  After the 2nd mile, I was feeling a bit better (didn't hurt that we were running with the wind).  The footing was mostly knobby, frozen field, but we did have stretches of snow that we could run on. 

I decided about 3 miles in that 10 was way too ambitious for the first day back.  I settled for 5 miles.  The hot shower help me cough up lots more.  I'm hoping to actually push through tomorrow to make 10 my minimum.  Next week, I'll resume my 50 mile schedule.

Perhaps

I'm not going to write about how rotten I felt these past few days.  I'm beginning to feel human again.  I'm not even going to fret too much about going backwards on what should have been a high mileage week for me.  I decided that I'm going to believe that my many miles in the bank count for something here.  Hopefully, tomorrow will be a totally fever-free day and I'll get back out there on Saturday.

The Best of Times, Then, You Know...

When I first saw the snow falling Saturday morning, I figured it was one of those quick things where the big flakes fall for 20 minutes and then stop.  The forecast hadn't called for snow and it had been in the 60's on Friday.  Rick and I headed to Bradbury for the group run, still expecting the snow to stop.  It didn't.

Ian, Emma, Mindy, and Jeremy were already in the lot when we pulled in.  Not long after, we had Erik with Django and James.  The plan was to head out the BL backwards till we ran into the way to Pineland, adding a dirt road in one stretch to avoid a water crossing.  Erik and Django turned back at 5 miles to get in 10.  Mindy had 12 on her schedule; Rick and I decided to go the extra distance with her.  The others were continuing to Pineland and then finishing up the BL or something like it to get 16 to 20 miles.

The running itself was much better than I expected.  The trail was still firm.  Most of the post-holing areas were sort of obvious, especially since the front runners found most of them for me : )   The icy spots benefited from the slight snow layers giving something to grab onto.  A pee break put me behind the group.  Rick waited for me.  We weren't very far behind, catching glimpses of the others  in various spots.  Then we see Mindy and Emma flagging us and pointing right.  Nice of them, but the footprints were pretty easy to follow.  They even waited for us.

It was a Highland cow sighting!  I don't think I've seen them around here before.  Maybe it made Emma feel like she was on a run back home.  I wanted to go pet them, but that would mean walking through the people's yard.  Oh well.  They are the cutest of cows.

The last stretch before we turned around was on a railroad track.  I was surprised how much the footing was making my legs hurt.  Right where the runners going long turned of the tracks was where the 6 mile mark was.  If any of us were thinking about stretching out the 12 for a little more mileage, the post-holing of the others into deep slush convinced us 12 was good.  Not long after turning back we met Kevin on the tracks.  Guess he'd gotten a late start.

So it was like most of the Bradbury runs with the Monsters, great!  Back in the park, I immediately changed out of my sweaty clothes, hoping to ward off a chill.  Of course, we'd be heading to Edna and Lucy's for post-run refueling.  Very leisurely, we enjoyed our sandwiches.  We decided the others must of opted for 20.  I was surprised to be feeling some aches in my back and legs still.  It wasn't that hard of a run.  Then the others showed up.  Nope, they'd gone 16, but I guess the route they took back was one of post-holing hell.  Being the Trail Monsters they are, they were all smiles and fun stories about it.

Oh, the only one not to do E&L's was James.  He probably wanted to see his family, having just returned from a trip to Africa.  I was lucky to hear some of his stories in the first few miles.  Wow!

From there, my day went steadily down hill.  I just couldn't seem to get warm.  The aches persisted.  Sometime during the evening, I realized I was sick.  I was awake most of the night with chills and aches.  By morning, I had a high fever and hurt everywhere.  My eyes hurt to move, my teeth hurt, yup everything hurt.  The one bright thing was that I decided that aches during the run was the start of this not the run itself.  I slept on and off all day.  By evening I was feeling slightly better.  A degree drop in temperature and I could sit up a bit.

After sleeping most of the day, I still slept all night.  This morning I just have a low-grade fever and a cough.  My rule is no running with a fever.  Hopefully I'm back on track (trail) soon.  This is a high-mileage week for me.

St. Patrick's Day Fun

For Bethany's birthday (March 13th), I promised her lunch at Edna and Lucy's with a Bradbury run thrown in.  St. Patick's Day was the first that fit our schedules.  Then I was reminded about the run Jim organizes starting at 5:30 am at the Back Cove and ending up at Ri Ra's for a celebratory pint.  Knowing Bethany, that sounded like something she'd be interested in.  I let her pick.  I don't think she even needed a minute to think about it; we'd be leaving the house at 4:40 am.

I was surprised to find the car needed a lot of scraping in the morning; it was icy.  That and needing to be a bit careful on the back roads leading to the highway, left us just minutes to spare before the 5:30 start.  I was glad I'd picked a light fleece instead of a jacket; I could run with it over my short-sleeved, green running shirt.  Brrrr!  The group, maybe 20 runners, headed out at a relaxed pace.  A few smart runners had on headlamps.  Oh, yeah, of course it would be dark at that hour!  There were patches of ice strewn about the path, but were mainly avoidable.

It was fun to run along discovering who was in the group.  Along the Eastern Prom, we saw lots of TV crew from channel 8, there covering the people taking the ocean dip (who were also headed to Ri Ra's after).  There was a pretty long line to get in, but before too long, everyone had a pint of Guinness in hand and were yakking and laughing over the din.

Lots of people had to quickly quaff and run.  People have jobs.  Bethany and I were staying.  Erin said she had the day off and would have another pint, too.  Blaine didn't have the day off, but did have some time.  So we had fun exchanging stories of all sorts before we headed out on the 3 mile run back.  From there Blaine was off to work, Erin to extend her run, and Beth and I to find breakfast.  We ended up at Brian Boru : )

So, instead of the 4 miles on the training plan, I got in 6 very leisurely miles fueled by an interesting carb drink.

Road Trail Run

Jeff joked that he was gonna run the B2B on the side of the road so it'd be a trail race.  Well, today I ran a 10k road loop from the house, but stuck to the unpaved shoulders.  I didn't have a chance to get out before the precipitation and kept waiting, thinking it would let up.  Finally, at 4 pm, I just had to go for it.  Since I'm getting up very early tomorrow to run to Ri Ra's for a pint, I didn't want to wear my road shoes; they'd still be wet for the St. Patrick's Day fun.  I opted for my oldest Inov8s.

Maybe a mile into the run, the top of my left foot started to hurt, nerve kind of pain.  I had tied the laces kind of funky because one of the loops for the lace had broken.  I think the way it crossed my foot was striking a nerve.  I started to unlace them to just skip that spot, but realized the ends of the lace was too frayed to rethread through the holes at the top.  I just left the shoe loose.  If I wasn't afraid of glass and crap, I'd have taken them off.

The road side was pretty trail-like.  There were puddles with some ice still.  There were mini-streams taking some of the gravel with them.  There was mud that wanted to grab my feet.  I was glad to have my Inov8 cap on...the rain was running off the visor like it was a roof.  Pretty fun stuff!

Despite, maybe because of, the conditions, my road trail run was fun.

A Day of Bonuses

Danielle and I had planned to run today.  We went over the options on where.  She'd had a decent trail run on her snowmobile trails the day before.  Even though it was a warm day yesterday, the night time temperature had gotten down to 15.  We decided to at least give it a try, knowing that there was convenient plan B, nearby dirt roads.  Hurray!!! The trails were fantastic.  I hoped for runnable, at best.  Instead, we had a gorgeous day with firm footing.  It wasn't just good for this time of year; it was good.

It was also a treat to run with Danielle.  I think we've only a few runs together this entire winter.  We bopped right along, on the faster side of a training run for me, probably pretty pedestrian for her.  The 6.6 miles flew by (only partly due to the faster pace, mainly cause of the fun chatter).

After the run, Danielle gave me water and time to visit with Ronnie and Gigi. 

Very Solid 28

Saturday, I headed to Bradbury afraid that the trails would be un-runnable (we'd had a lot of hard rain the day before) and that I'd be pounding out all 18-20 on the road.  At least Mindy, who had 10 miles on her schedule, volunteered to join me for my last half.  Emma had given me a road loop to do, but I was more worried that my body might not like going that far on pavement given that I'd only done 6 total on the road in the last 5 or 6 months.

I was the first TM in the parking lot at 8 a.m.   Soon after Zak and Lenka drove in followed closely by Blaine and Erin.  We yakked a while thinking others might show.  All of a sudden there was Allen.  He'd run there from his house on the snowmobile trails.  He told of a couple near plunges into icy water.  As it was, he was pretty wet.  My heart sank a little, but then he said that was mostly just the trails from his house; the ones in the park seemed in better shape.  So trails it was!

I was the first to post-hole, not 200 feet into the run.  Erin immediately followed suit.  Hmmmm....That was just getting to the main trail.  Then it was pretty decent running.  Oh, yeah, there were some stretches of post-holing danger and water running under the trail, but mostly good.  We met Pathfinder on his way back in; he'd started at 7 am.  Lots of chatter for 4 miles out until we got to the field.  There it was almost constant post-holing.  I'd gotten a text from Mindy saying she'd be in the parking lot around 9:30.  That was a good excuse to head back.  I told everyone to keep going I was heading back, but they were fine with the distance and, I think, getting back to the better footing.

Erin and Blaine both broke through the trail in one spot.  I thought they were able to stay afloat on what looked like icebergs, but both got wet.  Well, they exposed that trap to the rest of us!  Erin and I slowed a bit and the guys picked the pace up.  Allen was running back home.

Mindy was there and ready when we got back to the parking lot.  I took a few minutes to refill my Gatorade and eat a few pretzels.  The trails were softening up even more, but still runnable.  As usual, Mindy and I gabbed the entire run.  I enjoyed her company and appreciated that she missed the group to keep me company on the harder part of the run.  Guess that's good training for her; she's gonna pace me at the Pineland 50!!!

To get in all the mileage, we added a trip up the mountain side.  We were rewarded by a clear view and a flock of Cedar Waxwings.  Speaking of rewards, we headed to Edna and Lucy's for post-run refueling.  Yum. Yum! YUM!


Today (oh, I guess I have to make that yesterday), I opted for the roads near home.  Since it barely got below freezing last night and was in the mid-40s by the time I headed out, I didn't even give the trails a chance.  Besides, Rick wanted to do 7 on the road, so I had his company for the beginning of the run.  On the downhills, I could tell I'd worked hard the day before.  My quads are slightly sore a the top, near the hip flexors.  Knock on wood, my big toe  joints are doing better  with the mileage increase than they did in recent years.

Great Running

Ran basically the same course as yesterday, but had much better traction for all of it.  The only slow up was the water crossings again, but that's still fun.  Seven.

Seven

Wednesday,I was supposed to meet up with Danielle at Thorncrag, but felt the conditions would make it a bad choice.  Separately, we each ended up running seven miles on the snowmobile trails near our houses.  I had a great run.  The conditions were definitely varied and interesting.  Several water crossings were a little...adrenal boosters.  March trails in Maine!  I think if I'd been able to get out earlier, some of the the sloppier trail sections would have been firmer.  Looking at my overall pace for the run, you'd think I ran slowly, but that's due to the two water crossings where I had to plan my attack and then gingerly implement it.  In one place, my leg plunged through the iced snow to my knee before I was able to pull it out.  I hadn't even hit water yet...which was definitely below.  A couple places, I hadn't known were water crossing when I'd previously run this way...to much snow covering everything.  Fortunately, there were snowmobile bridges over those spots.

Today I have another seven to do.  I'm wondering if I could run the same course.  It didn't get very cold last night.  I will give it a try.

Head South

Today, I stuck to the trails near the house.  If they get much icier, I'm going to need to put in new screws. On the trail heading north, I was stopped after just about 0.75 miles.  The melting snow made huge ponds in the low-lying portions of the fields.  It had a layer of ice, but couldn't hold my weight.  I really wanted to see what the stream was looking like so tried to go around this overgrown puddle.  Well, I guess I had to join the list of TMs that went through snow into water.  It's amazing how quickly you can pull your foot out of a pretty deep hole.

So, I headed back south.  The hill across the street was easier to go up than when the trail is sugary, but there still was slippage today because of the ice and my worn screws.  The tiny snowmobile bridge at the base of the hill (right before the road we turned around at in the Fat Ass) was now over a raging little stream.  It was obvious the water had been over the bridge at one point.  I stepped very deliberately on the ice that had formed a layer  but now had just air beneath it.  Phew!  The crossing back would be even more interesting.

With only four miles on the schedule, I didn't get to run very far on this trail, but it was in much better condition.  I think if I get out tomorrow before it gets above freezing, I'll get a good run in on these trails.  The bridge crossing was more...fun on the way back.  I'm hoping tomorrow the little brook will be back down and I'll better be able to see what I'm crossing.  Before the snowmobilers had built that bridge, I went through the snow into frigid water on a run when the temps were near zero and the wind was pushing the windchill well below.  It was a little scary.  I used the blow dryer on my foot when I got home.

And So It Begins

I know I officially began training for Pineland 3 weeks ago, but this is the first week that feels like it.  Maybe that has something to do with my mileage being just shy of 45 for the week with 2 days off. 

Today, I met up with Mindy a bit later than the rest of the TMs at Bradbury.  The rest of the group (to our knowledge) were doing the BL backwards.  Mindy and I, though both eager to get a BL under our belts, only had 10 miles on our schedules.  The idea was we'd head out the to meet the BLers at a time where we'd have run 5 miles and they 10.  We'd then turn around and run back with them, thinking we'd be able to keep up with them since they'd have run 2x as far.  Ha!  I don't think we realized who all was in that group:  Andy, Jeremy, Stephen, and Ian!  We hung on for a while.  I think Mindy could have kept them in sight longer, but I was still pretty tired from yesterday's run which I hadn't finished till after 4 p.m.

On our way out the snowmobile trail, we ran into, first, Kevin.  He was doing eight miles (four out, four back).  We chatted a while before all realizing we're were going to get soaked and cold just gabbing.  Not long later we repeated this activity with Erik and Django (the manly dog).  He was doing 10 in the same fashion. 

The 10 miles seemed to go so fast.  Not only were we able to run faster because of the trail conditions, but we did the usual talk the entire time thing and had the run broken up by meeting fellow monsters. 

Long - The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful

Yesterday, I noticed the weekend weather forecast didn't look all that great - especially if you were planning on running long on Saturday and then adding 10 on Sunday.  I don't mind running in lots of stuff, but I'm not a fan of rain when it's 35-45 degrees out.  I decided that I'd give up my scheduled day off and run long today.  Then I could still go to Bradbury for my 10 on Saturday (10 miles is doable no matter the weather....and Saturday was supposed to have a slighter chance of rain and then not very much).

This morning, when I saw a better-looking,updated forecast for the weekend, I couldn't decide when to run long.  It really helps to have people to run with, making me think Saturday at the Brad...but, I had geared myself up to do it today AND, though cold, it was a beautiful day.  When I brought Sam back from Bates, I took the dog for a walk.  If I liked the condition of the trail, I'd get out there today.  Spot found our driveway treacherous, but we both thought the snowmobile trail was good.  That settled it.

It was just after 1 pm when I finally got out the door.  The bright sunshine didn't quite negate the effects of the brisk wind.  I was very happy to have put on that vest at the last second.  I was surprised to find the trail wasn't as good as when Spot and I was on it.  It was still runnable, but more sugary.  Damn.  Sleds had been through.  I thought that I would have the trails to myself since kids were still in school and it was "normal" work hours.  Oh well, I wasn't changing my mind.

I ran out north towards Crowley Rd (out the snowmobile trail that led to the first turn-around point in the fat ass).  I turned around 1/4 mile after crossing Crowley, just after seeing a snowmobile pop a wheelie (or should that be a "beltie"?).  I retraced my path, then headed to the hill across King Rd.  At the top of the hill, the Garmin said I'd gone 5 miles.  I got a little more eager going this direction because I was headed towards uncharted territory.  I would be going further than I had on Wednesday.

After another mile or so, the trail started being less sugary.  I think our little stretch of trail is in between two snowmobile clubs' areas.  They get groomed much less than the other parts.  Over the next couple miles, I started a few roughed grouse.  It always makes me think of the TMs who were "attacked" by a grouse on a run in Acadia.  I'd have loved to have seen that.

In addition to the grouse, I saw fisher tracks, coyote tracks, and a big hawk (I believe it was a red-tailed hawk, but didn't see it clearly enough to say for sure).  On the way back, there was a shredded bird.  I suspect the hawk was the guilty party.

I totally enjoyed the new (to me) trail.  It wound through beautiful woods.  It was also the best footing, definitely impacting my feeling for the path.  Heading back, I had the wind with me.  Nice.  I'm a little sad I didn't try this before.  I always turned back about 1.4 miles after crossing King Rd.  The trail goes practically (in a .3 mile stretch) in 4 back yards.  I felt weird about going that close to peoples' homes.  Plus, since these house are way back from the road, I worried about dogs.  The first time I made myself go by, I noted that there were no dog tracks at all.  I'm sure if they had dogs that were allowed loose, I'd have seen evidence.  Besides those houses, I was in fields or woods, no where near homes.  Pretty good for 16 miles!  The trail actually kept going.  I have more to explore.  I really hope we don't get so much rain that it ruins the trails.  I wonder if I could run all the way to Team Snowplug basically off-road.

I averaged right about 11 min/mile for 16.05 miles.  Nothing hurt.  It was a very hard effort, but still fun.

Frozen Four

Not a college hockey reference.  The wind was brutal today.  I'm not sure what the wind chill was, but, brrrr!  I went straight into the wind for two and then let it push me home. 

Sweet, Sweet, Sweet!

What a strange day!  Don't tell my kids, but I was rewarded for procrastination.  I was about to get ready to run around noon, but I realized how hungry I was, not the best way to start an eight mile run.  So, I had a left-over meatball sub.  Yum!  Well, I wasn't going to run right after that.  It was a good time to do Shakespeare with Sam.  Then I had to pick up Spot's NSAIDs from the vets.  When I came out of the vets, I noticed the temperature on the time and temp display across the way said 42 degrees.  Then I noticed the dark clouds threatening rain.  I hurried home and changed in record time (for me, anyway).

I yelled up to Sam that I was heading out for eight and probably going to be rained on.  Grabbing my Garmin from the window I was shocked to see snow.  I checked our thermometer.  Now the temp was 31 degrees.  Wow!  We'd dropped 11 degrees in about 20 minutes!  When I stepped out the door I found myself in what Jamie called the "Snow Squall of Death".  It was snowing. Hard.  The wind was blowing.  Hard.  Looked like I was in for an unplanned "Lost in the Blizzard".

The sweetest part was the trail.  The warmth from the day plus the fresh snow gave me a surface my shoes sunk into a bit, but also one that I could get a grip.  Yay!  I was really running.  I headed for the hill across the street.  When I got to the road that the Fat Ass turned around at, I ran across.  I just kept going.  I think Danielle recently posted about discovering new trails.  I felt like an explorer.  The squall did die down before the 3rd mile.  In fact, there was a cool blue sky by the end of my run.

I had to make myself turn around.  I really wanted to keep running, but, my long run is Friday.  I didn't want to push it, plus it was nearly time to be starting dinner.  When I was about two miles from home, I noticed the trail conditions were changing.  I think the wind and cold that moved in actually dried out my snow.  Now, instead of the snowmobiles going by me packing the snow, they were chopping it into sugar again.  That's OK, I'd already had such a great run; two miles of slippage was nothing!  8.5 very fun miles go in the book. 

Sugar, Sugar

Not all that sweet.  I wasn't sure what to expect out on the snowmobile trails by our house, but I thought maybe some mush or even ice, given the light rain from the day before and the strong sun today.  Wrong, wrong, wrong!  Just more sugar to struggle through.  At least I ran in way worse on Saturday.  Turns out that was a great way to make every other run seem not so bad.  I was able to keep my pace in the 12 something min/mile.  There was one sled that must have been out at the perfect time (for me); it's trail was nicely crusted and I could run right about 10 min/mile.  Only, there was very little of that track intact.  Other sleds churned it up for the most part.  I was given little crumbs of the nice trail scattered throughout.  They made me smile.

I had several sleds go by me.  Unfortunately, when I turned back, I found they had erased any pieces of the good track.  Oh well...Strength training?  Crossing over the snowmobile bridge into the big field, I saw two sleds stopped, side-by-side, on the trail.  As I approached, I noticed one had an orange flashing light mounted on back.  They were taking a break from grooming the trail!!!  When I got nearer, one commented, "That must be pretty tough."  I chatted with them for a few minutes.  They told me they were with the Pejepscot Sno-Chiefs and I should look them up on Facebook.  They'd have dragged for the Fat Ass had they known!  I wish there was a "like" button on their page.  I really like!  The rest of my run was much easier.  I bet it only gets better tomorrow.  Thank you, thank you, thank you, Sno-Chiefs!

Six miles.