Scout aBRADi

I didn't realize that Brad was in my name till Ann pointed it out.  It just seems right.  This weekend, was a very Brad-y one.  Saturday we hosted the 2nd tour of the BBU loop.  Lots of folks joined us.  Andre even drove down from Caribou!  The group started off together, but we expected to break into two pace groups.  Ian lead the faster group (his calves were a question after the Bruiser, but they held not just for the tour loop, but for a 2nd loop with Emma!) and Scout and Squirrel handled the rest.  Emma was in our group till we arrived at the "aid station" at the Brad parking lot.  She decided to go ahead and catch the lead group.  I love that she could just go with pretty much confidence that she'd reel them in.  Yup!  She's a badass Trail Monster!

We toured the east side at a decent clip; it is the easy portion of the Big Brads.  I was surprised to find some of the fast boys back at the park when we crossed back (mile 7).  They'd gotten separated and were unsure of where to go.  I told Andy:  Up Ski, down Northern loop to the Boundary, then out the Connector.  Go catch them.  Our group treated it like another aid station stop with port-a-potty breaks and refueling.  We were all a little surprised by the humidity of the morning.  At least it seemed to be moving out. 

When we reached the place where the Connector heads out from the Boundary, we were surprised by the same group of guys (minus Andy).  Huh?  Well, I guess Andy went faster than them, but knew they had the directions; one or two of them were familiar with the trails.  Well.  They took the Ski to Northern Loop UP to the Boundary to the Connector adding a little over a mile to their journey, but they'd lost Brian somewhere.  We waited a bit.  Nathan suggested S&S continue with our group and he'd wait with the guys to lead them when Brian arrived.

At the next aid station (where the course crosses Lawrence Rd), the guys caught back up with us.  Brian was still missing, but at least on the mountain.  We all headed out together, but the faster boys pulled ahead.  Nathan went with them.

I'd seen Theresa at a lot of races, but never really had a chance to talk to her.  I loved that she loved the course.  How can you not love Brad?!  She runs in the Camden hills so was more than prepared for Brad's.

At the Lawrence aid station, the boys were waiting again.  I told one of them the way to finish the course.  I think he got it down.  Back on the mountain, we picked Brian up!!!  He'd been running around there the entire time.  At the summit, we met Ian and Emma heading out on their 2nd loop.  Emma's gonna own the 50!

We were all ready for E&Ls by the time we were done, except maybe George.  He was buying goodies to bring home to Ann who was doing her own long run on home turf.  I'm gonna try to add some of the pics he took (getting ready for VC) later (just wanna crank this out for now).

Saturday night, the Squirrel messaged.  Was I running tomorrow?  Just a few lines later, S&S were set to run another 8-10 at Brad on Sunday.  Which is exactly what we did :)

Sunday was perfect.  The weather was sunny and cool.  Group runs are great, but I also like just catching up with the Squirrel.  We had things to analyze, plans to make for VC, and puppies to pet.  We decided on the BBU loop without the east side; Lunch Break would be decided on when we got there (8ish with it, 10ish without).

We saw an amazingly friendly golden who smiled so big it was almost a snarl, a mellow corgi sunning on the summit, oh!, and a salamander I need to look up.  At the summit, it was a fairly easy decision to run Lunch Break.  Pretty perfect run.

This may be our salamander.  It looked more like the 2nd picture.