Evening & Morning

Didn't get up yesterday morning to run, so when Ryan said he was going to run after work, I decided to join him. Evenings are not my preferred time to run but given that it was an option since Sam is down in NC, I figured why not?! Despite being a warm day, things had cooled off just a bit and there was a nice breeze blowing so it was actually quite pleasant out. We ran down to the river, keeping the pace nice and easy. There was some pretty early evening light filtering through the trees along the river and the blue sky was reflected nicely in the Heath. (5.5 miles)

This morning, I got up and out, just a bit later than planned and moving pretty slowly. My legs were pretty cooked after having run last night and in combination with Friday through Sunday's miles. I'm happy with how I've been feeling overall after Laurel but 38 miles and 7 hours last week in my second week coming back might have been a bit much, even if fun ;)

I headed out into the Cathance and since the run had become more of a meander, I stopped at the viewpoint at the "back" of the Heath and was excited to discover a ton of little pinkish-purple orchids blooming out in amongst the grasses. A new to me flora discovery! After a bit of searching through my books and checking photos out online, I've decided what I was seeing was rose pogonia. Neat! Lots of partridgeberry blooming along the trail, one pretty fireweed in a marshy area along hole #3 and some pretty yellow swamp candles roadside out along the back road mixed in amongst the other mid-summer wildflowers like cow vetch, crown vetch, yellow birds foot trefoil, black eyed susans, clover and daisies. Stopped and picked a few ripe blueberries along the powerlines at the end of the run. Never pass up the chance for a trailside berry snack! :) (6.0 miles)