Successful Grind Plus

I'm not even going to try to write the backblog of my runs.  Damn you cubes!  So, this weekend...

Saturday the TMs split into two running groups.  Ian, David, and Julia were doing 22 on the roads around the park.  It's convenient that there are lots of dirt roads with some hills all around.  Nathan, Chris (high school senior who is training with Jeremy), the Squirrel, and I headed out onto the BBU loop, starting from the park out onto the east side. 

We thought it might be unrunnable, but it couldn't hurt to try it out.  Surprise!  There was lots of ice, but there was mostly texture on it.  There were patches of bare ground, patches of mud, water under the ice that gave way to ice burgs, and untrod snow.  When we got to the loop off of Ginn (run on Mindy's 40 run, but not on the Bruiser), I had to rely on my sense of how the loop went.  I made myself proud in a couple of spots :)

I enjoyed talking with Chris.  I'd met him before, but that was about all.  He's planning on running the 50 miler at Pineland this year.  I wonder if he'll be the youngest to do it yet.  And while I was enjoying his company, I couldn't help but feel he should be running faster than running with us.  When we crossed back to the mountain side, he and Nathan started pulling ahead.  Good.

The going was actually harder on the mountain side, but we remember to appreciate the beauty of the loop.  I wished I brought my camera to get some shots for the BBU FB page.  Next time.  I don't think either of us even thought of investigating Wickahenge.  That must be a first.  The power lines were almost like winter never happened.

Back at the summit, we were greeted with the sight of the raptor count.  Even though we wanted to crank out our miles, we couldn't help peeking at the tally sheet. 

Heading toward Lunch Break, we met Nathan and Chris coming back.  Mindy asked Nathan if he was done after the BBU or if he was looking for more miles.  I think he was on the fence till he heard we planned to go add our miles by heading backward on the BL at the bottom of Lunch Break.  He envisioned icy slopes.  OK, bye guys.

Lunch Break was a surprise; it was pretty snow/ice free.  It was a pleasure to run down.  Hence, the next portion of the BL was a surprise.  The going was hard and slow.  Hmmm... we still had miles to go.  S&S decided to run the 8ish extra we'd need on the dirt roads before heading back.  When we popped out onto Lawrence, we headed right till we turned onto Leighton.  A nod to the Highland Coos and the neighboring Llamas, but no visiting, we had miles to go.  At the bottom of Leighton, we turned right onto Chadsey Rd.  I forgot it turned to pavement.  Mindy let me have the dirt and ran on the road herself.  I could feel each screw when I was on pavement.  Fortunately, when we crossed Allen, Chadsey was dirt again.  But, man!, the going was hard.  This stretch seemed unending.  As soon as we crossed from Pownal to New Gloucester, the pavement returned.  We passed the entrance to Mt Pisgah.  We'll investigate that trail again soon.

The houses started getting large and expensive looking.  I stopped to empty my shoe and Mindy took the opportunity to stretch.  It always amazes me when little specks of sand seem like big rocks.  We reached the end of Chadsey road, but still needed a few tenths before turning back.  Out onto a bigger road we went.  I correctly guessed it was rte 231.  It felt good to turn around.  As long as our trek out was, we were surprised how quickly the roads back passed.  At the corner of Leighton and Lawrence, I had to empty my shoes again.  I picked a very inviting rock cluster to sit.  There was a stashed Nathan bottle at the base.  Hmmm...did one of the road TMs leave it behind.  I was tempted to pick it up, but what if someone else had left it?  Better just make a note of it.

When we were back on Brad's summit, we rechecked the bird tally.  They'd spotted 3 Bald Eagles while we were running :D  Heading down, our Garmins told us we'd at least have our 25 miles, maybe more.  I'm glad E&Ls didn't take the entire weekend off.  S&S needed rest and refueling.  That was one of the more tiring runs I've done in a long time.

Today, Rick and I headed back to Brad.  Mindy and Nathan were already in the lot.  Rick, just beginning running again, didn't plan on running with us the entire run, but stopped after 4 miles to walk.  We ran a mish mash of trails with a mish mash of conditions.  Between yesterday and today, we totaled 35 miles.  That will do.