Hills & Long

Thursday morning was hill morning. Honestly, I woke up feeling kind of crappy after getting my period Wednesday afternoon, but I managed to motivate and get up and out. I headed down to Topsham Heights for a few rounds of water tower hills. I didn't look at my watch because I was feeling slow as death but in fact, it turns out I was actually putting forth a decent effort and output despite not feeling great. Ended up with 8:18 pace overall for the run so pretty happy with that. (6.6 miles)

This morning, I was up before 4:30 for the third day in a row and admittedly feeling a bit tired. I headed out at 5:30 am into the cool crisp sunny morning. Ran the cart paths and then headed out on the powerlines towards the Lovers Lane/dump loop. Lots of birds singing - towhees and catbirds calling - plus saw a pair of Canada Geese and their little babies on Pelletiers Pond - so cute!

Stopped back home after two hours to refill my water, pick up some more gels, go to the bathroom and most importantly say hi and bye to Ryan and Sam as they headed out to work and school. I was feeling fine cardio-wise but my legs were already feeling pretty dead and I'd only gone 12.5 miles. Gah. I had already looked at the weather forecast and knew Sunday was calling for rain, so I knew I shouldn't waste a beautiful morning and push the long run to Sunday, and since Ryan was heading to Pleasant Mt. for his long run on Saturday that was out too. I told myself to just head back and at least get to 20 miles. I had hoped to go further but 20 with suffice. I wasn't feeling great but not all runs come easy, and that is sort of the point of training.

I headed back up and over Mt. A. and out into the Cathance. Lots of wildflowers blooming - bluets, rhodora, fringed polygala, goldthread, the first few ladyslippers of the season, plus strawberry and blueberry bells flowering and bunchberry flowers emerging. So pretty! The river was still running high and the wispy clouds and bleu sky reflected in the Heath.

I ran a nice loop along the river and then finished up with a few miles on the back dirt road. I decided I'd try to pick up the pace a bit and finish strong and then when I got back to the high school road, I added on an extra mile on the roads to round things out. Finished with my legs feeling fairly spent and alternately glad I had kept going after 12 miles and wondering if I should have gone farther. Ah well. Such is life. Looking forward to a rest day today and then another round of miles tomorow morning! (21.0 miles)