Slipping

After winning the first ever TM award for best blog, I'm feeling a little guilty for not keeping up with my runs.  I've had a few good ones even.  Lets see, Saturday Mindy and Ian started early at Pineland.  They were planning running the start of the Pineland races, jumping off just after the steep hill on Gloucester Hill Trail to head to Bradbury.  Mindy dubbed it the "Pinebuy" : ) 

I felt like I didn't have that much time. Hmmm...did I not have the time or did I not want to run the Pine portion of Pinebury?  It's not like I finished before them; I just started later.  I ran from the Brad towards them.  It was fun meeting them seemingly in the middle of nowhere.  It was kind of the best of both worlds.  I got have my piece of solo run on the beautiful trails and then I got to share those trails with two of the best people in the world to run with.  How's that for a run?!

By the time the end of the run, I'd gotten in 11.5 miles.  I didn't even head to E&Ls with them because I wanted to get to Thorncrag to nail down the course for Sunday's Till We Meet In Hell 2 event.  Rick and I found a pretty good loop, but it didn't show off the variety that Thorncrag has.  So we tried again.  The 2nd loop had just a slightly less long first climb, but had more in terms of trail variety.  Yup, it was Red, Orange, then Yellow.  The nerd in me liked the pattern.

Sunday, Rick and I headed to Thorncrag early to set out the flags to mark the course.  We didn't really need a lot, but we also needed to put out the tenth markers.  There was a good turnout; we had 27 runners.  Not everyone really raced it, but everyone got to enjoy the effort of those that did.  I felt that I pushed harder than I would normally run at the bird santuary.  I'm not sure I had much more in there, but I didn't have anyone pushing me either.  It was a blast to be lapped by Andy and Jeremy.  They were working hard, pushing and pulling each other.  Jeff was also pushing the pace.  I'm not sure exactly where Jeremy overtook Andy, but he ended up winning.  The first three were Jeremy, Andy and Jeff.  The funny part was that, even though it was a handicapped race, the first three actual finishers were also the first three after the handicap was applied.  That meant they really earned it.  Congrats guys!  It was a lot of fun to witness.

Of course, the post-race party with the first annual TM awards was also a lot of fun.  We even learned there would be a new TM in June.  Congratulations Erin and Blaine!!!!!

Monday was a day off, more just cause of logistics than need of rest.  I did make TNR.  Now that I know where to go, PBR is better for me than TB.  It was a smaller crew than normal, but Emma was able to make it.  I wouldn't be able to find my way at all, but I did recognize a few spots.  The trails were less wet, but did have a few stretches of slippery ice.  It's not long till screw shoes will be needed.

Tonight I just got in 3.5 miles.  My stomach felt pretty rotten after 2 miles.  I couldn't tell if it really was my GI tract being grumpy or if I hurt some ab muscles when I hung up my treads on a clump of frozen turf.  Still, it was good to get out no matter.