Wolfe's Neck Weekend

According to Facebook this is the 6th annual Wolfe's Neck weekend with our college friends.

We missed Matt and Annalee, who were getting married (Congrats!! 🎉💖🎉) and Vicky, Michael,Tony, Laurie, Chris and of course, Maya, who were all attending the wedding (yay weddings!!) as well as Kendra, who hurt her back (boo! feel better! 😔) and Lucy, who was working and recovering after a two week vacation with her extended family, but it was still an amazing weekend and always so great to get together with old friends.

The kids had a blast together, there was lots of dog walking with Bodhi, Neal and Kendra's new rescue dog, there were walks around the farm and down to the water, there were monarch caterpillars and hay baling to be seen, there was coffee at the water's edge, time spent on the beach playing and even swimming (thanks, Doug!), glorious sunsets, fires, s'mores and sparklers, running, and most of all, time spent with the best of friends laughing, chatting, and just plain enjoying each other's company. It is always a highlight of the summer and so much fun. Thanks everyone!

I'll let the photos do the talking...

Sam & Bodhi at the beach

Coffee with a view 💗

Kids at the beach

Walking out to the island at low tide

Farm vista

Taking a walk around the farm (2.4 miles)

Blue beads

Monarchs 💗🐛💗

Bees on the thistle 🐝🌸

Visited the cows at the dairy barn

🌻😍

Chickens at the farm

Baaa!

A heart for Ann 💓

Sun setting

Fun with sparklers

These kids 💜💜

Yup, she's wearing a winter hat 😂 with cat ears on it 😍

Eagle in the pine tree!! 

Swimming out to the island at high tide

Thanks, Uncle Doug! None of the rest of us adults wanted to swim in the cold ocean water. Thanks for being such a good sport! 💗💗

More swimming!

Sam and Charlotte

My little fish. Last to get out of the water 💗🐠

Sunset 😍

Fire

Sun setting over the hay fields

Glorious sky

Fun by the fire

Of course, the only photo of the adults was this one... 😂😂 Sent to Michael and the others at the wedding with much love and laughter. Hey, they started it! But seriously, this pretty much sums us up in a nutshell! 😄😜😆😂

The weekend wasn't as centered around running as it typically is, with most of the running crew away at the wedding, but I couldn't miss out on a few explorations of one of my favorite local places. Emily drove over and met up with me for a run on Sunday morning and we toured around Wolfe's Neck while she regaled me with stories of her weekend out in Bend with the Picky Club. Sounded awesome, and great to catch up! 😎 (7.3 miles)

And then this morning, I was up and going before anyone else in camp was out of bed for a cool and quiet run up into the park again for one last lollypop loop before we packed up and headed home. Love the ocean views and the osprey calling 😍 Definitely a bit stiff after a weekend of camping, sleeping in a tent and getting up on a cold morning and running without any sort of warm up or stretching or anything, but worth it, regardless. Great way to wrap up a really fun weekend! (6.1 miles)

Always knew there was a 2nd Osprey nest in the park, but didn't ever see it until today! The chirping gave it away! 💗

In Between & A Change of Plans

We are in a stretch of back to back to back long weekends as we wrap up summer. This weekend is our annual Bowdoin camping weekend at Wolfe's Neck. It is a great tradition and we love having this time to get together! We'll be missing a few couples this year due to Matt and Annalee's wedding but it is always a good time no matter who ends up joining us 😀

But first, we had to make it through the week as we were all feeling tired from the Jersey weekend! 😂😜 Monday it was up and out into the dark, damp, misty, foggy morning. Wore my headlamp for the first mile. Ran the cart paths and saw two deer and one great blue heron along the way. Picked a handful of sweet blackberries and noticed the viburnum berries turning light pink and the brush taking on their late summer yellow, brown and maroon hues. Still feeling rather summer-ish with the humidity and heat but we are losing light rapidly on both ends of the day and autumn will be here in the blink of an eye. The change of seasons always brings a bit of joy and melancholy. (6.0 miles)

I'll be honest and admit that running on Tuesday didn't happen as sleep sounded like a better idea!

Morning dawned replete with fog on Wednesday, and as I ran around Highland Green, I watched the sky brighten through the haze. Pretty. Legs feel decent but there is not a lot of turnover going on. Feeling kind of s-l-o-w. Oh well. (5.0 miles)

Thursday was off to get things done for the trip - camping is fun but requires a lot of prep! The original plan was to run long in the morning but honestly, when I awoke to 67 degrees, 98% humidity and a dewpoint of 66 and things just looking rather sticky out there, I said, screw it, I'll just go long tomorrow... no need to torture myself when the humidity is supposed to break overnight and there's a chance of enjoying myself much more on the run tomorrow! So after dropping Sam at camp, I hit the roads and ran out towards Thorne Head instead. Honestly, it was pretty horrid out and I was completely soaked. Even my kneecaps were sweating 😂😂 Stopped to enjoy the Whiskeag view, complete with some beautiful cardinal flowers along the river's edge and then ran back to town. So happy to have the flexibility this week, as 5 miles was more than enough on a morning like that. (5.0 miles)

Then it was onto errands and packing!!

This morning, I woke up completely uninspired and feeling so pressured to run 20 miles. I had laid out a "plan" for the few months between Western States and Ghost Train, and I really felt like in order to even run decently at Ghost Train that I needed to get back to higher mileage and had to start getting in some long runs. It was filling me with dread. I had a mini meltdown, expressing how silly I felt being so upset over this, but knowing and finally admitting out loud that what my mind and body want and need just simply is not meshing with what I had on the calendar.

Ryan very correctly said that we don't often talk about the mental recovery needed after a big effort, and Western States was not only a big effort, it was also a big event with so much energy around it, and while it's hard to admit, I just plain haven't recovered from that. I wish I had, and I really wanted the challenge for going for two 100s in a year, but the reality is that right now, it just isn't right for me. Also, I know I chose Ghost Train in a way too because of the convenience, and it simply wasn't filling me with the fire that I need personally to train well enough for a 100.

So I wiped my tears away, gave Sam a hug and headed out the door to just run what felt right. I meandered down the powerlines, stopping to eat blackberries along the way and take photos of the many monarch caterpillars out there 💗💗🐛🐛 and just trying to come to terms with what to do about Ghost Train. It was much cooler out this morning but still humid. I looped out on the powerlines and then across the street to run a short loop on the Highlands Trail before finishing up with a few road miles. (13.0 miles)

Saw a few monarchs flitting about too

And lots of caterpillars!! 💗

The viburnum are truly beautiful out there right now!

Talked through my thoughts a bit more with Ryan upon my very sweaty return, and realized that really, I don't have the fire, the desire, the capacity right now for Ghost Train. It hurts in a way to admit it, but it's OK. What I want most is to be running forever, to enjoy it, to keep it joyful, and this silly pressure I've been feeling is not making me happy. So I decided to cancel my registration and let someone else have my spot. Sure, I could have gone and run less miles, but I signed up with the intent of 100. I felt relief with that step of cancellation so I know it's the right choice. Better, for me at least, to just step back and let it go. And so, with that, looking forward to spending the next few months enjoying running and gearing up for some fun in 2020!