Thursday, June 22, 2017

Last Week of School

Summer is almost upon us, literally and figuratively. Wednesday was summer solstice and tomorrow is Sam's last day of 2nd grade! Crazy how time flies!

Monday was a planned rest day but then I didn't quite manage to get out of bed early enough to run on Tuesday. Another hour of sleep sounded so much better than getting up at 4:30 am, so that's what I did. Then I got up and did my strength and stretching work before I got up the kiddo and decided to gather up my running clothes and bring them with me up to the Y so I could run while Sam was at swim club. It is awesome to watch her swim, but if time is at a premium, it is also possible to fit in a 4 mile run while she swims, which was my choice for tonight.

Of course, the stress of wanting to make sure I am back in time means running during swim club is forced speedwork ;)  Four miles all at under 8:00 pace has to be a recent record! I am seriously not doing anything speedy these days so that's my speedwork for the week (and maybe the month 😂😂)!

Wednesday morning I was up and out at 5:40 but since I needed to be back and in the shower by 6:45 to get Sam up and myself off to work early for the day, I didn't quite have the time I wanted for a run. Still managed a nice, easy 5.3 miles down to the river and back on a beautiful morning - a good run for the first day of summer, complete with a gray fox sighting plus a pair of mallards out in the Heath and some good puffy cloud reflections in the water.

Heath reflections

Took today off so that I could get in a run, not to mention get some sh*t done and get us organized before we head off for Southwest Harbor for a camping weekend in celebration of the start of summer. I am really lucky to have a flexible schedule and appreciate it during weeks like this when I feel like I'm running around a bit crazy and want to be able to get in a run and make it so that we can get up to Acadia as soon as possible after school gets out!

After dropping Sam at school and doing a few errands, I headed out into the Cathance. It was warm and sunny, a beautiful bright summer day. I have been feeling tired this week, so am happy for a cut-back in terms of mileage. I ran a leisurely 12 miles out to Head of Tides and back, stopping to take photos and do tick checks frequently with all the high grasses, enjoying the sunshine, the smell of the roses, the summer greenness of the woods and the river, which has receded an amazing amount over the past few weeks. Saw three groundhogs, including one adorable baby who was only as big as a grey squirrel, one snowshoe hare out along the Heath, a Great Blue Heron out at Head of Tides, many dragonflies, moths and several Mourning Cloak butterflies, as well as a sighting of a pair of Scarlet Tanagers! I saw the female first and was trying to figure out what she was, as she was much larger than a warbler, and then I saw the male and started to wonder if she was the female. Stopped and watched them for a while, and when I came home and looked in the books, it was indeed a female scarlet tanager. The male is of course unmistakable, but this is my first sighting of a female Scarlet Tanager. Very exciting! :) 

Multiflora roses out at Head of Tides, smelled so sweet!


Sunlight along the river

Baby groundhog!!

Mourning cloak

Summer running, no filter needed




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