Memorial Day Weekend Fun

Yesterday was an epic day at Pineland, with many Monsters having some great races in the midst of rain, puddles and serious mud. Sam and I went over after lunch and by then, the day had turned relatively nice, so we stayed for a few hours, catching up with friends, cheering on the runners, stomping in the puddles and enjoying the atmosphere. Ryan ended up pacing our friend Jeff in the 50 miler, and it was fun to watch them come through the grove as they headed into the final 5 miles. Also had the chance to watch George and Amy finish up their 50k races. George, as always, amazes me with his ability to simply run, run, run with ever a smile, and I am so proud of Amy for completing her first ultra in tough conditions!

After a few hours of hanging out, we headed south to play on the playground with Kristen and Morgan and have an early pizza dinner.

Despite a busy day yesterday, for some reason Sam was up early this morning - as in 5:30 am early - so I had already been up for 2 1/2 hours when I headed out at 8:00 am for my run. Blue skies, sunshine and a cool breeze greeted me as I ran down the street. I had a smile on my face already :-) I hit the Cathance trails for some good sloppy singletrack fun. I really enjoyed myself out there today and felt good doing it. The river was roaring and lapping the high edges of the banks. Sunlight streamed down into the woods and all sorts of woodland flowers covered the forest floor. Scared up a snowshoe hare and a turkey along the way, and heard a myriad of bird calls, including my friend the Towhee. Got in 10 miles in 1:36, with the final 3 along the back roads and powerlines.

The rest of the day included a few hours of outside fun with Annie, playing on the swing set, going down to the stream by their house and painting outside on the easel finger paints, followed up by a yummy lunch at Broadway Deli. Sam fell almost instantly asleep in the car once we hit the highway headed south to Jeremy and Alison's and probably slept for almost an hour in their driveway in the car. Wow. She was one tired kiddo (maybe she should just sleep a little later, darn it :-) ). It was a beautiful day to be hanging out on the lawn with friends, eating and drinking, flying kites, throwing bean bags and flying little plastic airplanes. It took Sam a while to warm up, but once she did, she had a blast!

A few fun-filled days, for sure!