Busy Day

So, of course, what happens on day #1 of vacation? We are all up before 7:00 am. Ah, so restful ;) And so typical! Ha. But Ryan and I did wait until the very leisurely time of 9:00 am to head out for our shake-out run, a short 3 mile run around the block, which here runs along the berm at the edge of my parent's community. It's an awesome place to see birds between the ponds and the brush, and today didn't disappoint. We saw a bald eagle, two great blue herons, an egret, a few red-winged blackbirds, bluebirds, mockingbirds, cardinals and a belted kingfisher, along with a fox squirrel and a few turtles in the ponds. Pretty good for 28 minutes of running!

The rest of the day was spent swimming, doing a fun easter egg hunt in the yard for Sam with the eggs containing fun math problems, exercises and other silly things, and visiting the library in downtown Wallace, along with some reading, crafting and card playing. It was wonderful to be able to sit out on the covered porch for lunch and dinner and enjoy the birdsong and the green anoles who climb around all over the place. No hummingbirds yet, but we did see a young hawk (possibly northern harrier or cooper's hawk?) catch a bird from the bushes out back - pretty neat! All in all a good first full day of vacation!

Sam reading Pete the Cat to Pippi

Egg hunt!

A clue! A clue!

Searching for eggs

One clue involved hitting the nerf ball with the bat

Another involved two laps around the house

Swim racing!

I won!

At the town library

Green anole, blending in

18 Hours In...

Up at 3:00 am this morning. Gotta love traveling! ;) But it was all worth it. Ah, vacation!

We managed to pack a lot into the day today after we arrived and had a lot of fun despite the super early wake-up, although I think everyone is going to sleep well tonight!

Yah spring! 

Pansies at Pullen Park, Raleigh

Selfie on the train

Sam on the train with Neenie and Pip

Climbing fun

Climbing wall

Red-bellied woodpecker

Bluebird eggs in the box in my parent's yard

Helping Neenie with the watering

Sam selfie in the backyard

Sweet little bare feet on warm grass

Iris

Ready to swim

Me trying to stay out of the water :)

Cutie pie ready for a dinner up at the club

Sweet girl

So cute

Giggles

Sweet Sam

Taperitis and Travel Crazies

Got out yesterday morning in the drizzle for a mellow three miles around the block. Still snow in the woods, but things are clearing fairly quickly with the warmer weather. This morning I decided to try out the cart paths after hearing that Ryan and crew got out on a few of the holes last night. I went up and over Mt. A. and ran holes #3 to #9. There were still some soft patches of snow in the shadows, mostly between holes, and a bit of ice, but otherwise it was good running. And since it was only 34 degrees out, the mud and gravel was fairly solid. It was a good change of pace from the back dirt road, and it gives me hope that when we return from NC, we will actually be able to get out on some snow-free trails!!

Speaking of NC, it is supposed to be 80 degrees and sunny on Saturday. As if I've had the chance for a lot of heat training with the winter we've had up here... HA! Signing up for a spring race in the south was a gamble for sure, but I'm excited to run in a new place and in a different race regardless. Of course, if the forecast holds, there will no doubt be a lot of ice, salt tabs, a fair bit of swearing at the weather gods and a slower finishing time, but hey, what can you do? :)

We head out tomorrow. There are piles and notes all over the house, and there has been a fair amount of crazy going on in our house this week between tapering and pending traveling. Poor Ryan :) I love to go places, but I am really not a good traveler! Still, I know we will all be happy when we get to NC tomorrow - I am definitely looking forward to a good vacation!!

Running with Amy

They say a picture paints a thousand words. Not sure what it says to you, but to me, this photo sums up two goofy friends so happy to be out running together on a beautiful, if chilly, Sunday morning :)

A lovely 4.5 miles run/walk combo (mostly running) on some random back dirt roads in Pownal this morning with Amy, followed up by a delicious Pineland bagel and coffee to cover all that we didn't cover while running ;)

So good to run with you, Amy! It has been too long!

April in Maine

A warm day! A warm day! Sure, temps were only in the low 50s and there was a cold wind blowing, but the sun was warm, it must be a beach day :) We headed to Reid State Park this afternoon after lunch and spent a few hours outside walking on the rocks, soaking up the sun and playing in the sand and water. Yup, it's April in Maine :)

Fun in the sand!

Fun at the beach

I am so happy to be at the beach!!!

Beautiful sky

Bright sun selfie

On the rocks

Out exploring

Chillin'

And she's in the water...

Brrr!

Barefeet with a winter coat and hat? Why not!

Classic Maine coast

Sign of a good afternoon :)

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Got in a mellow 5 miles on the paved portion of Highland Green Road this morning before taking Sam to her swim lessons. Ho hum.

Ocean Wander

With Run the Rock around the corner, this weekend's 'long run' was only 10 miles. I feel like I've been doing too many miles out on Highland Green Road lately, so instead I headed over to Pennelville this morning. It was cool and rainy and foggy, but I dressed warmly and it wasn't windy, so while not ideal, it wasn't all that bad. I decided I could check out the Coleman Farm trails first, which was a mistake. There was still way too much snow out there to make it runnable, and I just didn't feel like slipping and postholing in the soft snow, so I turned around and stuck to the roads for the rest of the run.

I had no real route in mind, so I took a short out-and-back on Old Pennelville Road before continuing on to Simpson's Point. The fields were still partially snow-covered, but the red-winged blackbirds and robins were flitting about regardless. No bluebirds, swallows or Bobolinks yet, still too early I guess. As I neared the end of the point, the air smelled of wood smoke and that wonderfully briney low tide smell. There was a huge group of Goldeneyes off the point but they flew away as I neared the water's edge. It was quiet and foggy and beautiful down there and I stopped to just take it all in for a moment before turning around and running back inland.

I ran out along Rossmore and then down to Wharton's Point at the low point of Maquoit Road. I realized as I was heading back up the hill to retrace my steps that I had miscalculated slightly and was likely going to get in 11 miles versus the 10 I was intending, but no matter. It was a nice, mellow run, if a bit soggy, and I was happy to feel good out there.

Along with the Goldneyes, red-winged blackbirds and the robins, also saw a pair of mallards, a hooded merangser, a number of cardinals, a mockingbird, many sparrows and juncoes and one male goldfinch showing his bright yellow summer plummage.

Morning Run with John

Met up this morning with John for a run through Highland Green. Although he isn't a big fan of pavement, he agreed to an out-and-back that did in fact take in a large portion of the paved road. Hey, at this time of year, you do what you gotta do. The air was cool, but the sky was clear, leaving us with beautiful views of the sunrise above the bare trees at the back of the development.

They had graded the back dirt road, which meant it was much better running than it had been yesterday morning. We turned around at the gate and backtracked back through Highland Green, getting in just shy of 7 miles in just shy of an hour. I was trying to keep the pace up so I could stay up with John, who always seems to be a step ahead of me :) but it is good to push things a bit every once in a while, and always nice to have company.

10-Day Forecast

The first day of vacation is finally showing in the 10-day forecast. Woohoo! Of course, it's also showing a high of 81!! I'm sure I'll be cursing out the hot weather next weekend at Run the Rock but, honestly, that sounds much better right now than the dreary weather in the forecast for Maine this week. Yes, I know April can be fickle, but man, it was snowing on this morning's run! Come on. I really want the spring that is greening grass, warm breezes and dry trails....

The trails are just too unpredictable for me right now, so I stuck with the back dirt road and got in a sloppy out-and-back this morning for 5 miles.

On the plus side, tonight our AT Conservancy magazine arrived in the mail. Sam wanted to know what AT stood for if it wasn't "at." As she and Ryan were talking again about how the trail went for GA to ME, and how we had hiked it before she was born, she got all excited and said, "Let's hike the AT!" I realize she has no idea what it entails but I say, there is hope yet :)

Happy Easter

I don't have any photos of all of us (or even just Sam) looking all pretty on Easter. In fact, Sam stayed in her PJs for most of the day :)

First up was the Easter egg hunt, followed by a pancake breakfast. Sam found the eggs we had hidden lickety split and asked some pointed questions too... I'm sure she'll be coming around to the logical conclusion that the Easter Bunny is just one crazy fictional dude pretty quickly here.

Mid-morning I headed out for my run, once again wandering around and back and forth on the back dirt road. This time the mud was mostly frozen, although the sun was warming things up enough that I did a fair amount of slipping and sliding around in my new Flite 262s - with not much traction, they really are light road shoes, and certainly aren't meant for mud. But they are so darn bright, I wanted to get them a bit dirty :) Got in a nice, mellow 8 miles to end the week. While running the dirt road isn't bad, I really really really would like the snow to melt off the trails soon!

After a bit of lazing around, we did finally get out in the afternoon for a bike ride around the block, and Sam had some outside fun biking and doing bubbles with her friend Hayleigh. We finished up the day a fun dinner at Frontier. Yum! All in all, a lovely day together!

Sam rockin' out to some Uncle Tupelo while she works on her drawings

We're helping my friend Kris with her son's Flat Stanley Project, so Flat Gannon has been joining us on some adventures, including this afternoon's bike ride ;)

Sam loves mussels!

Yup, this kid doesn't like PB&J, but she loves the curried mussels at Frontier!!

Uninspired Wander

I feel like I've had a pretty solid winter of training, despite the snow and all that went along with it. Oh, I've had a few niggles here and there, but really, overall I've felt strong and motivated and have put in some good time on my feet. Of course, that said, who knows how this will translate in two weeks at Run the Rock as it is probably going to be like 70 degrees down in NC while we are there! Aie! ;o

But anyway, that focus, the will? Well, maybe not so much today... I woke up to hear rain steadily falling on the skylights. The thermometer read 40 degrees. And since trail conditions are dismal right now, I was planning on a long road run - not my favorite. I started to second guess the idea of all that pavement, two weeks out from the race. Was it really a good idea? Maybe I should stick to the other option, and just run loops and laps up and down the Highland Green back dirt road.... After going back and forth for a bit, I decided to stick with what seemed like the safer, smarter option for today and get in at least a portion of my miles on dirt, err, mud. Of course, I realized that in doing this, I was likely going to not get in as many miles, but at this point, would a few miles matter? I have no idea, but honestly as I haven't been hitting the "training plan" mileage on many of my runs this winter anyway due to conditions, etc, I decided not to worry too much.

I headed out into the rain at 6:45 am. For the first hour, despite my layers, I was actually cold and wondering if I was going to have it in me to keep going in the rain for another 1 1/2 hours. Luckily, the skies started to clear and although the wind picked up a bit, the lack of rain was definitely positive. The run was a rather uninspired and random wander up and back and around on the Highland Green road utilizing as much of the dirt road as possible, looping down into Topsham Crossing once, getting in two "summits" on Mt. A., and finishing up the run with a Patriot Commons loop. I'd say I ended up with half and half pavement to mud.

I did have a few good bird sightings - 10 turkeys, one pileated woodpecker pecking at a telephone pole (not sure how that's going to work, buddy...), and two hairy woodpeckers, one of which I think was a juvenile, pecking away next to its parent, which was really neat. But mostly I was just running, trying not to think too much and trying not to slip too much in the mud :) Got in 15 miles in 2:23, slightly short of the intended mileage for the day, but hey, I'll just tack on a few miles to tomorrow's run and call it good :)

Followed up the run with two delicious donuts at Frosty's with Sam. Yum! Now, bring on the taper!

Periwinkle Clouds

TThe back stretch of Highland Green Road often yields beautiful views of the morning sky and this morning did not disappoint. There were no flashy colors, just an abundance of fluffy, periwinkle clouds and a soft, golden light. Perfect.

There was birdsong in the air, juncoes and robins flitting about. The air was warm, the pavement was damp with melting snow, and the back road featured a whole heck of a lot of mud.

Felt like a spring run indeed!

Alpaca Run

I've never really minded running by myself, but when John messaged me to see if I wanted to start running together on Wednesday mornings as he starts to do doubles in prep for Massanutten, I figured why not? So this morning he met me here at 5:50 and we headed across the street in the cold air, our screws clicking and clacking on the pavement. Light was rising above the horizon and we only needed our headlamps for the first mile. The snow was solid again - it was 25 degrees, after all - although things were a bit more uneven even than yesterday. Still, decent running overall. We ran out on the powerlines to see the alpacas, although they were sadly on the other side of the enclosure, so we weren't able to say hello. As we ran back, a rosy glow lit up the clouds as the sun rose over the treetops. Nice morning for 5+ miles with a friend. Thanks, John!