It was great to have a chance to catch up with Keri and we had fun chatting away as we ran along. The day was warming up quite a bit though, and I was really beginning to feel the heat. However, somehow, despite the fact that I was drenched, Keri seemed to not be sweating at all!?!? How do I get that? :) I felt like I was melting and decided I wasn't quite up for the extra 1-mile loop along the Narrows out at Thorne Head, which is really too bad, as it is really is lovely. We'll just have to get out there again, I guess!
I hadn't stopped to take in the views on my first out-and-back, knowing I'd be doing so with Keri, so on this round, we stopped at a few of the nice overlooks, taking in the river views at the confluence of the Whiskeag and Kennebec, watching an eagle circle out in the distance, and then back along the Whiskeag where the quiet waters were filled with water lilies and a great blue heron flew by. We were both so hot, we went down to the edge of the rocks and dipped our hats in to the water. It felt heavenly! Soon after, I ran out of water but Keri graciously gave me some from her bladder - it would have been a really warm few final miles back to the Y without that, for sure! We came in a little shy of 20 miles, but I was OK with that. 19.5 would do ;)
Stopping to check out the water lilies along the creek
Back at the car, the temp was reading 88 degrees, and then later, in the shade, 93. Aie! No wonder I was melting! It took a while, but I finally stopped sweating, and after a babywipe wipe-down and changing my clothes, I headed off to the Starlight Cafe for a post long-run refuel with a plate of bacon, eggs, veggie hash and homemade toast. Yum!
YUM!
Saturday morning, Ryan was going to the Brad for his long run, so I had set my alarm to get up and out early. There were severe thunderstorms, lightening and rain overnight which kept me up from 1:30 to 3:00 am, so the 4:00 am alarm just wasn't happening. But I didn't want to miss out on the chance for some miles this morning, and finally got out the door a little after 6:00 am for seven rather creaky and very saturated miles in the Cathance. Temps were around 70 degrees and once again, very humid. Unfortunately this meant I was followed by an annoying, biting pack of deerflies throughout the run, but on the plus side, I did see three little red efts, a groundhog and a snowshoe hare, plus some lovely bright red bunchberry berries. No photos though, as I didn't want to give up anything extra to those pesky flies!
Last night, we met up with some Bowdoin friends who were up for the track/XC reunion. We declined to partake in any of the on-track alumni races, but it was fun to catch up after for dinner and drinks!
This morning, I got in a lovely run on the powerlines. It was much cooler than yesterday morning so despite the persistent humidity, there were only a few deerflies - hurray! I kept the pace mellow and just wandered along, enjoying the towhees singing and the wood lilies blooming, and stopped for some blueberry, raspberry and even blackberry (1st of the season!) picking along the way. A good 5.7 miles to finish up the running week.
Emerging
Wood lily
Blueberry goodness
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