Fun with Friends

Things are a bit nuts right now, as they always are with the holidays coming up and the end of the year just around the corner, but despite being super busy, it was a good week filled with good stuff.

Monday, I sat down at my computer at 6:00 am and with only a few interruptions, worked until 3:30 at which time I did a bit of stretching and got myself ready to walk during Sam's swim practice. It was nice to have a reason to get up from my desk, err the kitchen table 😉, and get in a bit of movement for the afternoon. (2.2 miles walked)

Tuesday, I could simply not get up out of bed and out into the darkness (see the pattern here?!),  so, I got a bit of work done before I took Sam to school. Getting in an extra 1+ hour of work in the early morning made me feel slightly better about ducking out of work early so that I could get in a run, despite the long laundry list of things to get done at the office. But seriously, I needed it! And it was nice to run in the daylight too. I went off in search of items for my TMR Advent calendar, going down into all the little gullies and ditches on my route where I saw cans, and of course I saw everything BUT Budweiser and Bud Lite! And then, about 0.1 miles from home, at the edge of the vacant lot, what do I find, but two cans of Bud Lite 😂 Classic. (6.0 miles)

Late start Wednesdays offer the chance for a slightly later run start and I was treated to a lovely sunrise too, which is always a nice bonus! I could see the glow on the horizon through the trees as I headed down to the connector, and while the light over the river was slightly more subdued than the other week, it was still lovely. I think if I had hit the bridge about 10 minutes later, I would have caught the clouds aglow too, but I did enjoy the ribbons of pinkish clouds against the pale blue sky as I ran across the green bridge a mile later. (6.0 miles)

Thursday evening was the middle school chorus and band concert. The one school related activity that Sam participates in is chorus, which she's been doing since grade school, and although it's been quite different these past two years due to the pandemic, she's always really enjoyed it. It was great to be able to see the kids up on stage performing, even though frankly it felt a bit uncomfortable to me to be sitting in a rather large audience indoors right now. Thankfully the Orion is a large performance space with really high ceilings, and of course everyone was required to be wearing their masks. The 7th grade chorus had what really was the best performance of the night - a beautiful rendition of Hallalujah.

Friday was a fun run with the ladies at Brad. The sun was shining and the temps were quite balmy - almost 50! Trails were sloppy and I was definitely overdressed, but we had a great time chatting away as we ran along. Always good to get in some miles with friends! (6.0 miles)

 

Friday evening, I bookended my week with yet another indoor track walk during swim practice. (2.2 miles walked) 

I lucked out this week and Saturday morning was another run with a friend! Met up with Emily at Wolfe's Neck to see if we could find some cows for the advent calendar. You know, priorities!😂 I also managed to get a video of geese out in the bay and spotted a crow in an old apple tree for two other squares. Not to mention a fun run catching up with Emily. So all told, a very successful morning! 😁 (8.0 miles)

Then it was home so I could get Sam up to the Y for her swim meet. This one was an invitational with more kids and some larger teams, and wow, it was a long one! Sam did a great job with her events, but we were glad to be watching from home 😉as we didn't end up picking her up until 4:45!

From the Y, we headed right to Thistle's birthday party and a sleepover with Anne. Sam always looks forward to celebrating with T and sounds like the girls had a blast!

After we dropped her off, we headed to Moderation to meet up with Mike and Vicky who were in town for the weekend. It was great to catch up with them, and despite the falling snow, we were cozy in the little outdoor nook with our heated seats. Such fun! 🍻

After a few drinks, we picked up poke bowls for dinner and headed home around 7:00, settling in on the couch to watch "14 Peaks: Nothing is Impossible," which offered up incredible scenery and a rather insane story. Definitely worth watching if you are into mountain climbing and adventure! 

Woke up to about 3" of snow on the ground and a light snow still falling. Always so pretty ❄ but definitely messy to be out in, especially with a cold wind and fine snow that almost felt like sleet. I did a mix of roads and trails for a rather random route - I kept trying to find the perfect spot to run, but alas, the roads were iced over and the trails were not yet packed and the snow kept clumping on my spikes. Ah, winter running! But managed to pick up a few advent squares while I was out there - a run in "bad" weather, made a snowman, and found a lot of prints in the snow, including what I think might have been mink going into and out of the river. Definitely helped keep it a bit more fun in so-so conditions! (8.0 miles)

I originally set my goal for the year as 2,000 but upped it in the final quarter to 2,200. And now I am definitely regretting it 😂😲 I've got my work cut out for me over the next 12 days!!

While I was out running, the kids had fun out in the snow too!

 The rest of the day was spent getting all the presents wrapped and ready to go! Christmas, here we come! 🎄🎅🎁

Running Along

Weird weather week with some snow (yay!) and then some rain (boo) and some serious fluctuations in temperature. And I'm just running along, trying both to continue to recover and to possibly hit 2,200 miles by December 31. We shall see!

Monday was an indoor track walk. (2.2 miles walked)

Tuesday, I simply could not get myself out of bed and out the door in the cold darkness and I spent 11 hours at the office, so there was no running. 

Wednesday, I hauled myself out the door into the murky overcast morning and ran road across the river and back. No glorious sunrise this morning, just subdued hues of grey and blue. (6.0 miles)

A bit of snow fell overnight, just enough to make things messy. Dropped Sam off at school and then squeezed in a quick run. Out and back on Highland Green Road. (5.0 miles)

Snow started falling again on Friday morning as I was getting ready to get Sam to school and by the time I got home and out the door for my run, there was a fairly thick layer of snow on the ground. Very pretty but somewhat sketchy underfoot as it was hard to tell what was ground or ice or rock. Ended up veering off my initial route into the Cathance, where it was a little easier to see where I was stepping but still a bit slow going. (7.0 miles)

Temps were forecasted to rise throughout the day on Saturday and it looked like it was going to be a washout with rain all day. I was scheduled to do my TMR group run and I must admit I was not entirely looking forward to it given the weather! But, I headed over to the field house and parked in the lot like I had said I would. It wasn't raining at least, which was nice, but it sure was dreary and damp and cool out. I was seriously thinking no one was going to show up, and I was not sad about it 😂 but then Bill pulled in. Yay. Bill is definitely a fun person to run with, so I was happy to be able to get in some miles with him. We heated out through the Commons, chatting away, and I showed him Coleman Farm and we looped back through on some of the Landing singletrack. The rain started with a few miles to go and wow, it got slick out there pretty quickly! Glad to be finishing up when we did, that's for sure! Felt decent, and enjoyed the miles with Bill! (8.2 miles)

Then it was home to get Sam up to her swim meet, where she did a great job setting some new PRs! All the hard work with 5 days a week of practice, not to mention just getting older and stronger in general, is definitely showing! 

The rain diminished to a slightly drizzle accompanied by some low ground fog as we headed up to the Y to pick her up and head north to our now annual Gardens Aglow tour. They were doing a driving tour again this year, and while I do prefer the walk through version, I did think they did a great job of including more lights and some neat different things this year, and we enjoyed it all. I certainly took enough pictures 😂 Then it was back to Mom and Dad's house for pho and mixed berry pie. Yum! A fun night!

I wasn't awake it, but Ryan said it did reach into the 50s around 11:00 pm on Saturday night. Weird! It was around 43 and getting colder when I padded downstairs around 5:30 am, and by the time I headed out for my run it was 37 degrees and quite windy. I headed out on the powerlines in search of items for the TMR Advent Calendar, a fun little challenge for the month. Found a snowman, even it wasn't natural and one of three Bud cans. Where are all the beer cans when I need them?! ha! Footing was a bit weird with things semi-frozen underfoot, but just took it nice and easy, and happy to finish up the week with almost 35 miles. The right leg is coming around, with less hip pain, which is good too! (8.3 miles)

I've been enjoying my coffee by the Christmas tree this week. So nice to have the sparkly lights and ornaments to enjoy in the early morning darkness. 🎄💗

And of course, it wouldn't be a week without a silly Gigi photo. Here she is using my wet, muddy running shoe as it dried by the heater as a pillow. 😹😹

December

Wow. It is seriously amazing sometimes how quickly time seems to fly. I can't believe we are in the last month of 2021. 

Monday was an indoor track walk day. Keeps me occupied for at least a portion of the 1 1/2 hours I am up at the Y during Sam's swim practice at least! (2.2 miles walked)

Tuesday, I just could not rally and get up and out into the cold darkness. Sigh. So, I did some work early in the morning instead and then left work early to get in a late afternoon run. Didn't feel great, but glad to have gotten in a few miles. Overcast and definitely slightly sketchy underfoot with the remaining snow and ice. Ran up over Mt. A, hit a few of the cart paths and then ran back via the road and powerlines. The sun sets early these days and the sky was starting to change color at the end of the run. (5.0 miles)

And then sometimes, it really is just worth getting yourself up and out! Wednesday morning is late start, which means I don't have to get out quite as early, so I waited until the sky was starting to lighten and then headed out on the roads. I could see the clouds ahead changing color and starting to light up with pinks and oranges as I ran down Elm Street to the connector. Made it up onto the bridge in time to see a glorious sunrise aglow over the Androscoggin. Seriously, wow. So pretty. And yes, for the record, I did have Toad the Wet Sprocket lyrics in my head the rest of the run... "Now open your big eyes, take in the sunrise." Felt practically balmy this morning. (5.2 miles)

Friday was a field trip! I headed south to Portland to meet up with Val, Mindy and Anne at Evergreen Cemetery where a pair of river otters have been hanging out in the cemetery ponds for the past month or so. It was quite a breezy morning but the sun was shining brightly as we set off rather randomly through the cemetery to get to the ponds. No otters on the first stop so we wandered around, making loops on the trails and then stopping back at the ponds to see if the otters had emerged. On a few of our stops, we were able to see them swimming and diving through the waters and eating fish at the edge of the thin ice that was forming in one section of the pond. Very cool. The otters were like mini fish-eating celebrities - there were a lot of people, including a number of photographers with very big lens, milling around the pond edges hoping for a view!

There was a lot of stopped time in this run, but it was a good exploration with friends and always neat to run someplace different! And once we finished up our run, Anne suggested a short jog down to a nearby bakery for post-run treats. Yum! A fun morning indeed! (6.1 miles + 0.3 to the bakery!)

Then during Sam's swim practice, I did a short walk around the track. (2.1 miles walked)

Saturday, I headed down to the river and back. Cold and bright. Saw nine deer and a few misshapen ice pancakes plus some neat ice forming along the banks of the river. (6.0 miles)

Then after lunch, it was off to get a Christmas tree! Of course, the tree we picked had way too big of a trunk to fit into our tree holder, so there was a bit of sweating and swearing as Ryan worked to saw off some of the lower branches and knots so we could actually get the tree up. Eek! 😱 Gotta love the holidays 😂

But seriously, it is always fun to unpack all the ornaments we've gathered over the years, and I really do so love having a tree up. So bright and cheery! 

Poof! It's Christmas!

Oh, Gigi! 😹

Sam got her room all decorated too!

And then, because it just so goes with Christmas decorating 😂, I made a big pan of chicken cabbage fried rice for dinner. Pretty tasty!

This morning, I headed out for a road run around town. Nice and quiet. Kept it fairly mellow. The right leg is still a bit cranky but otherwise, I am feeling pretty good and happy to finish up a decent recovery week of just over 30 miles. (8.0 miles)