Long Day

I didn't sleep well last night. Maybe it was last night's run. Who knows. In any event, I didn't feel rested when I woke up, and I knew it was going to be a long day. I did get out for a 5 mile run after dropping Sam off at daycare though. I felt a bit sluggish, like I had run just over 12 hours before. Oh wait, I had :-) Anyway, it was good to shake the legs out. I ran down to the river, scaring up a grouse along the Heath trail and enjoying the babbling of the water, running low now in the riverbed. I came home, took a quick shower and headed up to work, where we spent a crazy day hanging a new show. The place looks great, but I was super happy to get things wrapped up, and be able to head home with just enough time to give Sam her bath and put her to bed. Of course, the second I walked in the door, she started bawling. As if she had just realized, 'Oh yeah, Mama hasn't been here all of this time! She's here now. Hurray! But it means she was gone before. Boo!' Poor, silly, tired little girl :-)

Unexpected

I can hardly believe I am writing that I went for yet another evening run this week, but that is just what I did tonight. Now that we are in the height of the season at the gallery, my "lazy" mornings are mostly gone. A few days a week I should be able to sneak in a 5 miler after dropping Sam off at daycare and heading up to work, but on a day like today, when I have to be there at 9:00, I just don't have the time. And since I don't want to miss out on my time with Sam in the mornings, it means I have two choices. Get up and run before she wakes up, which I clearly didn't do today, or take advantage of the long summer days and run after she goes to bed, which may be the one plus to her going to bed so early at night.

I headed out onto the powerlines at 7:00 pm, hoping to get in my planned 7 miles on the "dump loop." I felt surprisingly good, although a bit hungry, at the start, keeping up a good pace and enjoying the nice summer evening air. As I turned off the lines into the woods once I crossed Rt. 24, I had thoughts of the few days on the AT that we hiked late into the evening. As dusk falls, the light gets flat, and the bumps and rolls of the trail seem to almost disappear. I have always been a morning exerciser, and find hiking/running in the failing light to be a bit disconcerting, although there is also something calming about the quiet of the woods in the evening. Around 5 miles into the run, the trail dumps back out on the powerline. I ran up the final rise on the trail into the light, surprised to feel a light rain falling on my face. I glanced back towards the woods, and saw a full rainbow! As I ran into the sun, I took a few extra looks back to enjoy the sight. I may not be religious per say, but when I see something like a rainbow on a summer night, I can't help but feel there is magic out there. There is something magical and spiritual to what I find and feel out on the trails, in the woods, up on the mountain tops, running through a field of ferns, listening to the birds chip, smelling the sweet smell of laurel in the air. Although I may moan and groan about "having" to do my runs in the evening or complain about not having the perfect schedule (what would that be anyway?), seeing the rainbow tonight reminded me that I am actually blessed to have the chance to take an hour-long trail run on a summer evening, to have an awesome husband willing to cook dinner and watch over the baby monitor so that I could go out and get in my miles for the day. And when I saw yet another rainbow as I ran down the final 1/2 mile road stretch, I had to admit that I am one lucky girl!

Evening Fun

Another week, another evening run.

Sam slept terribly last night, which means none of us slept well. After a number of wake-ups, she ended up sleeping until 7:45, and we did too, which totally threw off our morning routine. I didn't drop her off at daycare until close to 9:00, so there was no time to run. I headed straight to the farmer's market (Priorities, people! Fresh strawberries and veggies are totally necessary :-) ) and then up to work. While I was sitting at my desk, I decided I might as well run tonight. It's going to be a crazy end of the week for me with work stuff, so getting a run in today would make things a bit less stressful (I hope) later on.

Sam was in bed early, and I headed out the door at 6:45. There was a nice breeze blowing, and while the temp was reading 70 degrees, it seemed much cooler. Maybe it was just in comparison to the past few days, but regardless, it made me happy! Things were pretty quiet along the way, with only the birds and crickets keeping me company, and a few pesky deer flies buzzing around my head, spurring me to run faster in a futile attempt to escape them. A hare hopped across my path around halfway, its brown form loping across the road. I felt a bit stiff in the first mile, but warmed up as I ran along. The past two runs I've felt a bit like I was running through concrete, so I made the conscious decision to push the pace a bit, just to see if I still could. Besides it would get me home to dinner sooner :-) I managed to run the last three miles at 8:00 pace, so the legs can still turn over, which is nice to know!

Another Busy Day

Today was my day with Sam and we managed to pack a lot in! We were up and at 'em by 6:30, and we ate breakfast, read books, colored and played with play doh until around 8:30 when all she kept saying was "outside," "outside," outside." It was a beautiful morning, and hot already! I guess summer really is here. We colored with our sidewalk chalk, and played bubbles with our neighbor's girl, who is really sweet, and loves to play with Sam even though Sam isn't even 2, and she is going into the 3rd grade. We came in a while later, when Sam had dumped out pretty much all the bubbles and gotten soaked in the process :-) After a quick change, I loaded her up in the B.O.B. and we headed off. There is a playground over near the middle school that is only 1 mile away, so it seemed like the perfect idea. Of course, I had to pick the hottest Monday of the year so far to decide today was the day to walk over there and play! There were tons of moms and kids there though, which was fun. We even ran into one of the little girls Sam knows from daycare. Sam had fun swinging, and sliding, and just plain racing around. I tried to keep us hydrated, but I started to wilt after only a little while. We hung on until right around 11am, and at that point, I needed to get out of the sun. Too bad, I had the mile walk home. I sure was toasty by the time we got back!

After lunch and putting Sam down for a nap, I got ready for my run. I had planned on 11 road miles today, but I just wasn't feeling it, and didn't want to be suffering out on the roads in the sun for 1 1/2 hours after being outside all morning with Sam. I decided to just run 5 miles in the woods instead, and I am glad I did! I downed my whole 10 oz. handheld while I was out there, and still felt thirsty! It was 79 degrees when I left. I ran the Mt. Ararat trails over to the Heath, and then down to the river. The water looked inviting, but I kept on running. I finished up with 5.25 miles and a face that felt like it was a bit on fire :-) Guess I need to get used to the heat!!

Unfortunately, Sam did not grace me with a long nap, and pretty much as soon as I sat down to relax for a bit after I stopped sweating, she woke up. Darn. Oh well. We went back outside to play in the sandbox and with the bubbles some more, took a quick trip to Target, and ate dinner together while Ryan was out for his run. He came home to Sam "making art" (or flinging fingerpaint all over the kitchen from her highchair, painting herself and smearing paint all over the paper in great big swirls). She was having a grand old time but boy, did she make a mess! Ryan took the best shot of all of this with his IPhone, much better than my regular camera shots. So here Sam is in all her fingerpaint glory :-)

Fun with fingerpaints. Don't you love the paint all around her eye?!!

And now, well... I'm tired! But it was a fun day with the munchkin, for sure!

A Full Sunday

We met up with our friends Doug, Lucy and their little boy Adam, plus Nate, Shannon, Finley and Charlotte, for a yummy breakfast at Broadway Deli this morning. It was great to see Doug and Lucy, whom we haven't seen in a year+, and meet Adam, and fun that between all of us we have three kids within 8 months of each other. As they get older, there should be some fun playtime between them all! We headed up to the Bowdoin quad after breakfast so the kids could run around and we could sit and chat in the sun. A nice morning!

After Sam went down for her nap, I headed out for my run. By this time, things were warming up and it was feeling a bit heavy out there. Not to mention I was running with a stomach full of pancakes and coffee. Hmmm. I hoped for 12, but figured I'd be happy with 9. I really love the Cathance trails, but today I just wasn't feeling all that happy out there. The deer flies were buzzing, the grasses seemed to have grown taller and more itchy even since last week's run, and I felt like I just wanted to run out of my skin to escape the itch! AIE! Then to make things worse, once I was back on the Mt. Ararat trails, I realized I really had to go to the bathroom, immediately! I ran right in the door to the bathroom, and then as soon as I came out, I ran right up to the shower to wash the itch off my legs. I did manage to get in 9 miles, but it wasn't the prettiest run. Ah well. Better luck tomorrow, I hope!

I did have a few good flora and fauna sightings today. When I got down to the river, I scared up a cormorant. His wings flapped the water a number of times beyond he lifted up just enough to fly along silently in the distance. Along the Ravine Loop, my favorite stretch of trail out there, I heard a woodpecker calling. I looked up, and noticed a female Hairy Woodpecker moving around on a low branch of a nearby tree. I stopped for a bit, enjoying the close-up view. I also spotted a few little turtles sunning themselves on a log in the water. Also noticed a few wild calla lilies along the bog bridge near the Heath. Cool!

After Sam woke up, she and I ran around outside, stomping in the puddles, and then we all played in the sandbox.

I want to go back in the sandbox, Mom!

When we came inside, she was covered in sand, so we changed her into this adorable, but huge, handmade dress that Cordelia had bought for her down in New York this spring. It looks a bit like a mumu, but very cute :-) Here are a few shots of her in the dress, coloring. She is very into her crayons these days!

Coloring

Lying down on the job :-)

Sam in her mumu :-)

Cool and Misty

I only got in 3 miles this morning. I was tired. It was cold. And wet. And windy. And I just plain ran out of time. Blah. Oh well, finished up the week with 33 miles, which is pretty good for me. I did manage to sneak to the farmer's market for about 2 minutes before heading up to work, and picked up some more yummy strawberries, zucchini, cucumber and greens. Delish! :-)

Evening Run

I am not an evening runner. But I neglected to get up this morning before Sam awoke and run, and since I had to get up to work by 9am, I didn't have time after I dropped her off at daycare. So, the choices were, run tomorrow and Saturday, or run when I got home from work tonight, run tomorrow and then take Saturday off. There is certainly time for me to run on Saturday, but we're into our longer summer hours at work and while my 9:00 or 9:30 to 5:30 workday certainly isn't a long day compared to some, when you factor in travel time, and the fact that I drop Sam off at daycare around 8:00 during the week, it means I have 1 to 1 1/2 hours with her in the morning, and then 45 minutes in the evening if I'm lucky. Yes, she goes to bed early, but it is her choice, and I am not going to keep her up late just so I can spend more time with her. So, on Saturday, if I don't have to run and I don't have to drop her at daycare, I can spend an extra hour or so with her. And that, really, is time better spent than me taking that time for a run. And so, all of this means, that tonight, a little after 7pm, right after I put Sam to bed, I laced up my shoes and headed out the door.

I ran yesterday's loop through Highland Green, but in reverse. The sky was overcast, and the woods and roads were quiet. My mind wandered. Where was that singletrack that Ryan had found today? I didn't see the entrance. Hmmm, this stretch of dirt road is awfully downhill in this direction. Wow, there are a lot of slugs on the ground. Neat - what a pretty patch of black-eyed susans on the sidehill. Hadn't noticed those iris before. Hi phoebe bird. Let's pick up the pace now, getting hungry. It's awfully quiet out here. I wish I had the money to buy that nice Zorach "Wood Lily" watercolor. I wonder when the wood lily along the powerlines will be out? The air smells nice. No wonder Sam hasn't been sleeping well. Wow, that was a lot of teeth coming in! Almost done. Whew. Finished. Time for dinner! :-)

Speedwork, Take #2

Second verse, same as the first.

Except with Ryan this time. And slightly faster mile times. But the same loop and same idea. 1 mile warm up, 3 miles at ~7:30, and 1 mile cool down.

Ryan is finally back to running this week, and so last night I asked him if he wanted to keep me company on my tempo run this morning. He agreed, so after I dropped Sam off at daycare this morning, we headed out together for the run. Although it didn't feel super warm out, the humidity was certainly higher today than it has been the past few days, and I felt tired from the start. Sam's bottom molars are breaking through, and last night, she was up at 2am, having a full-on conversation with me as if it was morning. "Hi! Ronnie? Ronnie! Gigi? Daddo? Addie! Sammie! Annie!" "Sam, it's sleepy time." "Mama? Ronnie?" This kid has too much energy, I tell you! Luckily, she did go back to sleep though.

So anyway... the run... The overall time was a bit slower than last week's (39:48), but the middle three miles were faster. Ryan's Garmin ended up reading: 8:57; 7:23; 7:26; 7:22; 8:38. I felt like I was working really hard in that final "fast" mile, while next to me, Ryan was running along all tra-la-la, happy, happy, "Relax! Only one hill left," as I labored away. I don't know whether to love him or hate him for helping me push a bit more out there, but really, he could have at least made it look like it was hard for him too! :-)

~
And speaking of the kiddo, here are a few recent photos of her loving her new toys - a sandbox out back, and a little table inside just for her! She even knows how to sit herself in the chair, although she's too small to just back up to it, so she has to kneel on it and then finagle her way to sitting. It is just adorable! She is getting so grown up :-)

Coloring at her new table

Happy kiddo!

Sandbox fun

Sand, sand, everywhere!

Simpson's Point on a Beautiful Day

I have a few things that need to get done/places I need to be this afternoon, so I took Sam into daycare this morning for an extra day. She was talking about her friends all weekend long, so I figured she would be happy to see everyone this morning. Well, apparently not. Maybe it was her restless night's sleep, her teething or this new shy/slightly clingy/attached to mommy phase when strangers are around phase that she's in right now, but she practically went into hysterics when one of her teachers tried to pick her up and take her over to the table to read a book. I took her back in my arms and cuddled her for a bit, and after a minute, her other teacher took her and they waved at me out the window as I left. Talk about tugging at my heart strings and making my "guilty mommy" meter go crazy! I know, I know, she was probably fine as soon as I got out of sight, and she needs the social interaction, but I still feel badly. Ah, the joys of parenting :-)

Anyway, since I had a bit of time this morning, it is a gorgeous day, and I needed a bit of running therapy (see above :-) ), I decided to run out to Simpson's Point. I parked at Bowdoin, and ran through the Commons, enjoying the pink laurel blooming in the pine barrens, and the cool of the woods on a perfect summer day. Once I left the woods, I hit the roads that lead through the Pennelville fields. I always love running out in this area, and today I really wished I had brought my camera. It was such a gorgeous day, and everything just looked so beautiful. A sea of white daisies, pink clover, and buttercups were blooming amongst the long grasses. Bobolinks, red-winged blackbirds, catbirds, goldfinch, sparrows and a few swallows flitted about, calling to each other. The grasses swayed in the breeze, and the blue sky above was filled with fluffy white clouds. It was low tide down at Simpson's Point, and the sunlight glimmered off the water. I stopped for a quick look, and then headed back. The return trip was into the wind, and about an hour into the run, it hit me that I was feeling pretty tired. But I managed to keep up a decent pace, and finish up with 11.2 miles. Perfect. Originally my "plan" for the weekend was 15 and 5, but 8.8 and 11.2 will do!

Father's Day Cathance & Pancakes

This morning, we hosted a Trail Monster Cathance & Pancake run. The plan was for Ryan to celebrate Father's Day with a nice run on the trails with our friends. Unfortunately, he strained his calf the other week, so he's on the DL (still!). So, no running for him. He agreed to stay home with Sam, and man the pancake station while I was charged with leading the group run. Don't think I can ever say I've actually led a run before, but I did my best :-)

It certainly was a great day to be outside enjoying a trail run! There was not a cloud in the picture perfect blue sky, a cool breeze was blowing and there was no humidity after the thunderstorm and rain that rolled through last evening. It was a fun group for the run - Jamie, Valerie, Rick, Mindy, Mary and Christine - and we had a good time chatting away as we enjoyed the nice trails in the Cathance preserve. We really are lucky to have these great trails basically right out our door, and it is always fun to share our trails with friends!

Running along the river (Thanks for the photo, Val!)

Kate stayed behind to hang with Sam and Ryan, while Pete took out his mountain bike on the powerline trails across the street, and when we got back from our run, we all sat outside, chatting, enjoying the beautiful weather, eating pancakes and drinking coffee and beer, and of course, being entertained by Sam and her antics :-)

Sam enjoying the nice day, and drawing on the sidewalk with Kate

A fun morning on and off the trails with friends, for sure!

Happy Father's Day everyone!

Hot, Tired and Thirsty

Last night, just as I was going to bed around 9:30, Sam woke up with night terrors (or maybe just a nightmare, but whatever it was was certainly upsetting her!). Poor little thing. She was screaming like crazy, and practically was hyperventilating once we got her out of the crib. Ryan and I sat with her in our room for a while while she calmed down. Even Ronnie was concerned. He jumped up on the bed with us and kept licking her arm. It took a while, but I was finally able to get her back so sleep. I had a restless night of sleep once I finally got myself to bed, and then I woke up to Sam chatting away in her crib at 5:30. By 5:45, she was tired of talking to herself, so I got up with her. She seemed to be feeling no after-effects of last night's troubled sleep, and was her happy, cheery self. In fact, she was super excited to be going to school for the day - she kept saying her friend's names - "Addie! Annie! Sammie!" - over and over. I am not sure if Sammie was in reference to herself, or to the little boy in her class whose name is Sam, but regardless, it was super cute :-)

After I dropped her off at daycare, I shot back home and headed right out the door for my run. I headed out to run the Homeplace loop, and immediately realized it was going to be a bit of a draggy run. I felt tired, hot and thirsty almost immediately. Oh well. I just kept on chugging. Despite not feeling the best, it was a pretty morning to be out. I scared up a turkey along the side of the trail, and saw the resident towhees and catbirds along the way. The indian paintbrush and other more summery flowers are starting to come up in the grasses, and I saw a few pretty Monarch butterflies floating around too. Glad to have gotten the run in and to finish out the week with 30 miles. I'll be happy to take a rest day tomorrow though!

Bright and Early

I needed to be up at work early today so when Sam woke up at 4:45 and then Ronnie started yowling away in the hallway, I took it as a sign that I should just get up and go out and run instead of taking the day off or scrambling tonight to get a run in. I finally headed out around 5:45 after the house had quieted down again, and ran the short 3 mile Highland Green loop. The run was pretty uneventful. The legs felt good, and it was a nice morning to be out. Lots of birds up early too! Saw a pair of osprey calling to each other overhead, saw "my" towhee pair along the powerlines, and caught a nice look at a wood thrush along the edge of the woods too.

Speedwork, Take 1

OK, so those of you who know me realize that I tend to do all of my runs at basically the same pace. I do not run slow but I don't run super fast. I like to just get out and GO. But I must admit that part of me has been wondering recently if I should actually include some speedwork into my training plan for the summer. I can't seem to make up my mind about my late fall racing plans, but in the meantime, I'll be running the Bradbury races and also planning to run Erik's Old Port Half Marathon. I'd really like to have a solid summer of racing, and would like to end up with a good half marathon time, which means I need to remember how to run a bit faster on the roads if that is going to take place! So, with that in mind, I looked over a few different marathon and half marathon plans, and *gasp* actually penciled some speedwork into my calendar. Starting with today's run.

Of course, I can't not tinker with a plan, so although my notes said to do 3 x 1 mile at 5k to 10k pace, I actually ended up doing a tempo run with three miles in the middle. I didn't want to go to the track and run round and round the oval, and I really didn't have time for that this morning anyway. A tempo run where I could run right from home seemed much more manageable. So, I looked at the McMillan Running Calculator to see what a reasonable tempo pace might be. 7:30s seemed about right, so that is what I decided to shoot for.

I headed out over the powerlines to Highland Green Road. When the Garmin beeped at the mile marker, soon after I hit the pavement, I picked up the pace. The problem was that I was on a rolling road, heading into the wind, and I am no good at pacing. Ah well, I just ran at a slightly uncomfortably hard pace, peeking at the lap pace now and again to make sure it was reading something reasonable. By the end of the third tempo mile, I was feeling the effort, and I was more than happy to hear the Garmin beep, meaning I could slow down a bit and catch my breath during the final mile home! Anyway, I am pretty happy with how today's effort turned out, especially given that I was winging it to a certain extent. My splits for the 5 mile loop ended up being: 8:40; 7:35; 7:26; 7:23; 8:13.

Whew, speedwork is hard! :-)

A Run, Some Sand and Friends

Because Ryan worked on Saturday, he took today off, which meant today was day #2 off together. Hurray! We managed to pack a whole lot into the day today too. I went out for a run around 7:30, and ran the Homeplace loop. The humid air smelled sweet, the powerlines lined with honeysuckle and other flowering shrubs. The pink swamp laurel has begun to bloom, and there are berries on the blueberry plants (still pretty green, though!). I was happy to see numerous elegant, purple iris in the swampy areas. My friends the towhees were out singing, as were the goldfinch and a few catbirds.

After I got home and took a quick shower, Ryan went over to meet Cordelia and pick up a new-to-us turtle sandbox for Sam, which has been sitting, unused, at Keith's parent's house. With the grandkids grown, no one has been using it, and we were more than happy to take it off their hands. The second we placed it in the backyard, Sam jumped right in, immediately getting sand everywhere :-) She was in seventh heaven!

We had to practically drag her away so that we could go meet up with two of my good college friends, Jess and Andy, and the kids, for an early lunch and playtime. With five kids running around Jess's house, it was a bit chaotic, but it was fun to catch up, and Sam had fun wandering around the yard, and playing with the other kids. Always good to see old friends, and see the kids get along and having fun :-)

Bradbury in the Mist

I met up with Valerie and Ian this morning for a fun, if cool and misty, run at Bradbury. Jim joined us for the first few miles too, but turned back early, since he had already been running up and down the summit for a while before we got started. I have yet to run on the new Bradbury-Pineland Connector, so we decided to head out on that first, turning around at the powerlines. The trail crews have done a great job with the new trail - it is soft and spongy underfoot, and wanders through the woods, up and over some decent hills, through a field or two, and across a few rivers too, before popping out at the powerlines along the Beautiful Loop. I was surprised to find the trail to be such a good mix of new single track combined with some long stretches on old woods roads. Very nice.

On a misty, grey morning such as today, the greens in the woods and along the streams seemed even more brilliant. We spotted a few patches of pink ladyslippers, and there was a fair amount of bunchberry too. Near the Tyron Hill turn-off, Valerie spied a neat bright orange fungus on a downed log. Too bad none of us had a camera! We had fun chatting and running along, and on our return, Ian took us on a few "new" trails, and we even discovered a bridge crossing the first stream! Cool. Once we got back in the park, we turned and ran up the Boundary trail to the summit, coming in on the Terrace Trail.

By the time we got back to the parking lot, the Garmin was reading 7.5 miles, so while we all headed out on the Scuffle course, I knew I'd end up cutting things a bit short. Ryan and Sam were planning on coming over to meet me, and to get in a bit of time playing outside in the meantime! I had figured two hours would probably do it, but we were moving a bit slower than that, which wasn't a problem at all, but I didn't want them out in the mist for too long, wondering where I was! So, somewhere off Ginn, Valerie and I peeled off and headed back in. Ian kept going, wanting to get in multiple hours on his feet. The Garmin beeped 12.0 just as we stopped by the cars, so it turned out to be perfect! Despite the cool start, it really was great running weather, and the cool temps and the rain/mist kept the bugs down, and provided us with some good sole-sucking mud on the Scuffle course, which is always a good thing! Definitely a great run :-) Always fun to have company - thanks guys!


Valerie had to get home, and Ian was still out in the woods, so it was just Ryan, Sam and I who headed to Edna & Lucy's for an after-run treat. We had the place to ourselves, and while thoroughly enjoying her carrot cake muffin, Sam danced to the tunes, and ran around, making friends with the owners :-)

Dancin' :-)