I was so tired out on Wednesday from vacation and all the travel stress that I scrapped my plans for a morning run. Not to mention my spring allergies have been acting up and my eyes are itchy and I have been sniffling like crazy all week. Silly allergies! 😫 I figured I'd try again on Thursday morning and just see what happened with the rest of the week.
Thursday I managed to get up and out for some Mt. Ararat hill repeats. Took the ups as steady as I could and worked to run hard on the downhills. Gotta get my legs in shape for the downhills into the canyons next month! (7.1 miles)
Friday I headed over to Brad. It was humid and rather damp out, with some light showers falling throughout the morning and a cold wind whipping. I ran loops on the mountain side for the first 10 miles, looping up to and down from the summit 6 times - first via Northern Loop and down, then up via the Summit Trail, South Ridge, Terrace, back up Summit and then finally via the Tote.
Summit view
Trails were a bit squishy after all the rain, but the wildflowers were starting to come up in the woods, with a few still closed ladyslippers and a lot of what I think was dwarf ginseng noted, plus that lovely almost neon early spring green glowing throughout. Legs felt decent which I took as a good sign. Then it was back to the car to change out of my soaked shirt, fill my bladder with more water, have a quick snack and wait for Anne to arrive. She wanted get in 10 miles, so it worked out perfectly!
We headed out onto the Connector, which was a bit sloppier than the main trails, and took the wiggles out to Lawrence Road. The wiggles provided some lovely singletrack and some nice painted trillium and the first fringed polygala of the season, and I saw one Towhee out at Coyote Corner.
Painted Trillium
Fringed Polygala
Out at the road, we noticed Val and Mindy's cars, so I texted Val to see where they were at and so we continued out on the connector towards the powerlines to cross paths with them. We didn't go too far before meeting up with them, and then after standing around in the woods chatting for 5 minutes, we continued the conversation the run back to their cars, as they both had to head on to appointments. But it was great to see them! With that, Anne and I turned around and went back up the hill and out onto the Royal River trail and back before returning to the park. I was definitely feeling the final few miles and my legs were cooked by the time we finished, but it was great to have Anne as company and to catch up as we ran along! We came up a few 1/10ths short so I convinced her to run a few loops around the parking lot with me to get to exactly 20.0 and 10.0. Thank goodness for crazy running friends! 😂😆 (20.0 miles)
All in all, a great morning at Brad and so glad to get the miles in even if I wasn't feeling completely recovered and 100%.
Saturday, I tried to sleep in but Ronnie cat was having none of it 😹 so I got up and was out of the house and heading out to run from the Bowdoin field house by 7:00 am. It was a beautiful morning for a 'stop and photograph all the flowers' type of back-to-back run 😊😉 Lots of magenta rhodora in bloom, goldthread, wild oat, trout lilies, wood anemone, bluets, violets, wild strawberry and shadbush in bloom, with one patch of big purple trillium out in the shade in Coleman Farm. The daffodils were all in bloom along the pond out there too - so pretty - while the ladyslippers are beginning to appear but have not yet unfurled. Will have to go back for another run next week to see how many have come up! Saw several Yellow Warblers and one Bobolink too. A nice mellow run on some of my favorite trails at one of my favorite times of the year 💗 (10.0 miles)
Goldthread
Wood anemone
Trout lilies
Purple Trillium
Rhodora 💕
It was too nice not to get us all outside later in the day so after lunch, we all headed over to the Cathance. A bit buggy, but warm and sunny, with lots of wildflowers blooming, river flowing and frogs chirping in the vernal pool and out in the grasses in one of the quiet sections of river. A lovely family walk in the woods! 💗 (2.1 miles walked)
Starflower
Ribbit! 🐸
Bunchberry just starting to emerge. Petals aren't even white yet! Neat.
This morning I was really not feeling it and would much rather have stayed in bed, but I knew if I didn't run before Ryan headed over to Pineland for the 50k that there was a 99.99% chance I wouldn't get my run in. So up I got and out I went, into the rain and wind and cold, dampness of the early morning. Ran the Highland Green loop and added on Canam so that my miles would come up to 6 and put me at 50 for the week. I can readily admit that this morning's miles were essentially junk miles but you do what you gotta do. (6.0 miles)
After a bit of relaxing with Sam on the couch, we headed over to Pineland around 10:00 to hang out with friends and cheer for all the runners. Looked like a mud fest out there with everyone covered in mud and there were a few course kurfluffles, but Ryan took it all in stride and looked nice and happy during this slightly long 50k 😃 Nice to see so many Trail Monsters and have a chance to catch up! Always a good time at Pineland, especially if you are just spectating! 😂😉
No comments:
Post a Comment