Yes, This is What I Do for Fun

So, it's your day off. It is an overcast day, misty and foggy, damp and cool. Your husband is up early and out the door before 7am. What do you do with yourself while he is gone? Do you 1) go back to sleep? 2) go relax on the couch and read a book, maybe do a few errands, or 3) get up and go to the nearby state park for a 2+ hour trail run? Yup, go guessed it. You do #3!

After a quick breakfast, I packed up with my fuel belt, some extra clothes and a towel, etc, and headed out the door around 7:45. I wanted to get my run in early in case it started to really rain later in the day. But first, I took a quick detour to our nearby garden center, Skillins, to buy some plants. I have been meaning to add a few plants and mulch the garden for weeks. I know June 16 seems late, but in Maine, you can't plant until Memorial Day, and after that we were in Aruba and then off hiking last weekend. So, today it is. I picked up a bleeding heart, a few native lily of the valley and Solomon's Seal, and a few Coral Bells. My garden is a shade garden, and hopefully these plants will do well.

Anyway, on to the run... I headed to Bradbury State Park. It was misty with low cloud cover. The plan was to get in 12 miles today. As a loop on the Breaker course and a loop on the Scuffle course would net 10.5 miles, I needed another mile or so to get to 12. In light of that, Snowman had suggested I do the Knight Woods loop (approx. 1.1 miles) first, so that I don't wimp out at the end and not do the extra. Definitely a good idea! My legs felt a little tired (perhaps from the 10 miler on Friday? Or just because?), but it was a nice temperature and the woods were quiet. It was a good morning to be out, despite the mist. After the loop, I headed back across the street and onto the Breaker course. This part of the run was about 90% running and 10% hiking. There were a few sections on the Boundary Trail that I power walked up. I also walked down a fair section of the South Ridge Trail, as with all the rain, the rock ledges were pretty wet as were some of the ladders. I also walked up most of the 0.2m Summit Trail. This is a stiff uphill to Bradbury summit. Boy, the Breaker is going to be a tough race! And it is two loops! Aie...

I got back to the parking lot at 1:00, hit the bathroom, and took off again across the street to do the 6 mile Scuffle course. We've run all the trails that make up this course before, although many of them in the opposite direction, so I felt like I was exploring new terrain in a few spots. The trails wind up and down, in and out, through the wet and green woods. I was feeling pretty good, but definitely feeling the fact that I'd now been running for well over an hour. Finally, I reached the Snowmobile trail and knew I had approx. 1.5 miles left to go. It was funny to be on the Snowmobile trail as it looked totally different than when we ran it this winter, all snow covered and packed by, surprise!, snowmobiles. One final hill on the Knight Woods Trail and back to the road. I was soaked, partly from sweat, but mostly from the low cloud cover and constant mist. I was dirty. I was tired. But it was a good run. Finished in 2:05, which given the terrain, doesn't seem all that bad for 12 miles.

Didn't see anyone else during those whole two hours. Did see a few chickadees, a phoebe, a wood thrush and what I think was an owl flapping quietly through one section of woods. The flora highlight of the run was all the beautiful iris blooming in a swampy section along a bridge on the Snowmobile Trail.

Now that I've showered, had a bit of lunch and watched a few holes of the US Open play-off round between Tiger and Rocco, I'm headed out back to plant those plants and get the garden set. After that, though, I might take a nap :-)