Bradbury Running

Today was the start of our mini-vacation. Hurray! Sam was up at 6:15, and we hung out and played and read books until around 7:15, when I realized I had yet to hear a peep out of Ryan. He was still dead asleep, but managed to get organized pretty quickly so that we could drop Sam off at daycare at her normal time of 8am. From there, we headed into Brunswick to the farmer's market on the green. It is always wonderful to wander around the market, talking to the friendly vendors, looking at the gorgeous and colorful bounty of fruits, vegetables and flowers on display and choosing some goodies to take home. We ended up with local corn, potatoes, blueberries, eggs, and a yummy chocolate zucchini cupcake and molasses cookie to share later. Then it was off to Bradbury for a run! What a treat to be able to run together. I felt a bit like a bad mom, bringing Sam at daycare on a day off, but she really does love it there and they love her, so we knew she was in good hands, and it was great to be able to spend some time just with Ryan, and especially to have a chance to get in a run with him!

We headed out onto the trails a little after 9am. It was a beautiful morning. Cool and crisp, with the sun shining, a breeze blowing and no humidity. There were only a few other cars in the parking lot, so the trails were quiet. We started with the Breaker course and ran the second loop, finishing down the Terrace Trail. We ran along at a comfortable pace, chatting away and enjoying the morning. It was good to have a chance to run part of the course - it is a tough one, that's for sure, but fun to run. I really need to work on my confidence and speed on the downhills though - Ryan really was able to gap me there - but I know I'm strong on the uphills. Hopefully I'll be able to run well next weekend! We finished off the loop in 51 minutes, made a quick stop at the car to refill our bottles, and then headed across the street to run a lap on the Scuffle course. The new bridges they put in on Fox East were pretty nice, and that section of the course is fun - too bad we had to detour around it last month, but oh well. I hit a patch along Ginn where my legs were feeling a bit dead, but I rebounded as we hit the downhill on the Snowmobile trail and otherwise, felt good throughout. As we got back to the parking lot, the Garmin was reading 10.82, so I ran back up the trail a bit to get a round 11.0 for the day. Final time 1:54.

Ryan wanted to get in a longer run, so he headed out for another loop on the Breaker, while I drove to Freeport and did some grocery shopping in preparation for tomorrow's trip to Baxter. It was great to have the chance to get over to Bradbury and run with Ryan, especially on such a perfect day! What a treat!

We came home, showered, ate and got a (tiny) bit of packing done before we headed to pick up Sam and take her to the doctor's. Her eczema has been getting a bit out of control, so I figured it was time to get it checked out. The doctor wasn't too concerned, but did prescribe a stronger hydrocortisone cream for the flair-ups. Hopefully it will help! And for the record, Sam is growing like crazy - she is now up to 17.0 lbs. Wow!

When we got home, Sam went down for a nap and Ryan and I ran around like crazy, packing and organizing. Sam didn't wake up from her nap until 5pm, and I was able to get dinner ready quickly enough that we were all able to eat together, which was so nice. Sam did great, eating not only her puree and Cheerios, but also some tiny pieces of roasted sweet potato and chicken off a fork for me! What a good girl! And speaking of dinnertime, here is a short little video of her from tonight. I think she's happy :-)