Trick or Treat 2013

I'm really not a Halloween fan, but when you have a school-aged kiddo in the house, it's kind of hard to ignore these sorts of holidays! Luckily, Sam is a pretty easy girl when it comes to costumes - last year she was a cow (easy peasy lemon squeezy, especially with our Pineland Farm bell collection :-) ) and this year she wanted to be Hello Kitty and wear the cute Hello Kitty Halloween shirt given to her by Susie and Lillie last year for her birthday. Add a tutu, some Hello Kitty socks and crocs, white mittens, and a fairly easy homemade Hello Kitty ear headband, and viola, we were done. I even added a little bedazzling to Hello Kitty's bow, as suggested by our friend James :-)

Sam was very excited for today. There was the costume! The Halloween parade at daycare! The treats for her friends! Trick or treating with Annie! And Sea Dog for dinner after! The thought of it all, along with the taper madness, left me feeling a little crazy this morning, but it really did turn out to be a fun day. Best of all, Sam doesn't like chocolate so I got to eat a few Reese's Peanut Butter cups tonight - yum ;)

Hello Kitty, ready to start the day!

Daycare friends

The Halloween parade

Look at all these crazy kiddos!

Trick-or-treat buddies, enjoying the treats given out at the Topsham Fair Mall stores. 

It was raining so we were very happy to be walking along the covered sidewalk!

Happy Halloween everyone!

Crescent Moon

29 degrees at 6:00 am. Brrr. 2nd-to-last run before Stonecat! Out I went, into the dark morning, the space before me lit with the glow of my headlamp. Up above, the sky was dark except for the glow of the moon, crescent-shaped and golden.

Had an appointment with Dr. Jamie on Monday just to make sure all was well going into the weekend, and have been slowly adding to my list of things to bring for the race and packing up my plastic bin with items I want to have at the start/finish area. I'm very excited that both Mindy and Amy will be joining me for a lap each during the race. Thank you, guys! The original plan had called for Ryan to pace me for the final 2 laps, but with his achilles acting up over the past month, that unfortunately wasn't going to happen. He's bummed and I'm bummed, but I know I'll be in good hands with Amy and Mindy, and of course, Ryan will be at the start/finish area manning the TMR aid station, so I won't be lacking in support! Can hardly believe the race is in a few days.

In other news, Sam has taken to dreaming at night. The other night, I woke with a start to hear her yelling out, quite loudly, "Hey!" When I asked her about it in the morning, she said she had had a dream about Ronnie and Gigi. They are always getting into her stuff, with Gigi sitting on her pictures and Ronnie eating her Cheerios, so I guess I'm not surprised she was yelling at them in her dream :-) Too funny.

Around the Block

We had a full and fun day yesterday. Morgan and Kristen came over in the morning and met Sam and I for donuts - pumpkin with vanilla glaze - yum! - and then the girls played together until lunchtime. And then Anne, Thistle, Phil and Kristen came over in the afternoon for some Halloween/fall-themed arts and crafts and some playtime too. We didn't get around to painting or craving pumpkins while they were over, so that was the evening's task. Sam drew the design on the pumpkin, Ryan was the carver and I roasted the pumpkin seeds :-)

Happy pumpkin!

This morning I was up and out for an easy 3-miler around the block. I didn't head out until 6:00 am so by the time I reached the powerlines, I had a pretty nice view of the early sunrise along the horizon - a band of hot pink below fiery orange with midnight blue above. Legs feel good. Starting to make lists in my head of what I need to bring with us this weekend, and am just hoping that the wunderground.com forecast and not the weather.com forecast is the correct one for Saturday. I like 0% chance of rain much better than 40%!

Cathance Run and Friends

Hit the trails in the Cathance this morning for a nice 7 miles. It was cold and crisp, with some frost still on the ground in the shadows at 8:00 am. I ran along the river, enjoying the quiet on a late fall morning. 

After my run, we headed north to Mae's in Bath for a yummy breakfast and then up to Zak's parents house for the afternoon. Sam had fun playing with Emma, using Zak and Sarah's old marble run and walking down through the path in the fields to the lake to watch the dogs play fetch in the water on a cold afternoon. It was fun to have the chance to catch up with friends for a bit and just enjoy a Saturday afternoon together hanging out and eating and playing. Thanks Zak and family! As a bonus, the afternoon did a good job of tiring Sam out and she's already asleep :-) 

A Good Run

The past two runs this week have been fairly mediocre. But I've had two nights of decent sleep, as in 6-7 hours in one stretch (gasp!), so maybe that is why I felt good on this afternoon's run? Or maybe because I'm tapering and am a bit more rested than I have been in the past few weeks running-wise? Who knows? Either way, it was nice to have a good run. I headed out around 3:00 pm and ran down to the river. Under the overcast sky, the woods were muted today, filled with the earthen tones of late fall. Still lovely, though.

Can hardly believe that all I have left to do before Stonecat is four runs. Last "long" run tomorrow, somewhere in the neighborhood of 6 or 7 miles in the Cathance, where there is no hunting allowed, which will especially be a relief as it is Youth Hunting Day, and then just three measly 3-mile runs next week. Holy crap! It is almost here! My emotions about the race have been running the gamut between excited, terrified, nervous, confident, uncertain and hopeful. But regardless, I am looking forward to it.

Are You Documenting This Stuff?

I talked with my friend Andy tonight. We hadn't talked in a while, and haven't seen each other in way too long. He asked me to tell him a story that captures Sam and the funny things she does. I only had to think for a second until I remembered that last night, on the third time I had gone into her room to tell her it was time to sleep (Good heavens, I really dislike the days she naps at daycare!) in a not-so-friendly voice, she sighed and said, "I love you, Mommy. And tonight, I'm going to dream about you and me running together."

To which Andy replied, "Are you documenting this stuff? I think she's got a playbook somewhere about just how butter you up." Yup, I'd say that about sums it up. She's a mischievous little thing, she is. But I have to hand it to her. She's pretty smart too. What running mom wouldn't like to be able to run with their kids? She knew right how to tug at my heart strings :-) And thankfully, she finally did go to sleep so that worked in her favor too!

Taper Running

Got out for a 5 miles jaunt on the cart paths yesterday morning. It was cold - 37! - and misty. My headlamp kept picking up the mist, I felt like I was in a fog. I also felt wheezy, sometimes it seems the shock of that first run in the cold does that. Ended up running basically the whole time in the darkness. Towards the end of the run, I could see hints of the sunrise though the trees, but that was it. Definitely late October.

Speaking of late October, I finally turned the heat on yesterday morning. Ryan was not pleased, but Sam, the cats and I are. I love sitting on the blanket in front of the monitor and feeling the warmth. Ahhh.

Halloween From a 4-Year Old's Perspective

Decided to sleep in this morning and run tomorrow. Isn't that what tapering is all about? :-)

But for your amusement, here is the drawing that Sam did tonight for Halloween. What can I say? It just makes me smile :-)

To translate:

It says "Happy Halloween" with some of the letters in "Halloween" written in pencil or marker that did not show up on the paper.

Top left circle: A moon
Next to moon: A ghost
Below moon: A cat
Next to ghost: An orange pumpkin
Below "Halloween": Random coloring :-)
Next to pumpkin: Sam, Mommy and Daddy. Look Mommy and Daddy have hair! And our feet look like "E"s, per Sam :-)

That is all. Good night!

Heath Loop

Ryan was gone all day yesterday, manning the aid station out on Lawrence Road on the BBU course, so there was no running for me. But it was just as much fun (or maybe more) to hang out at said aid station yesterday for a few hours. It was the perfect day for a run. Crisp and nice with a bit of a breeze. Everyone looked like they were having fun out there, despite the evidence of many trips and falls, and the fact that a lot of people kept asking for new legs when Ryan asked them what they needed. Ha. It was fun to cheer on the Trail Monster team while we were out there, and have a chance to catch up with people too. I was thrilled that Sam was so enthused and wanted to stay and hang out. In fact, when we left on a mission to get more propane for the stove and I asked her if she wanted to stop for lunch at Edna & Lucy's on the way back, she said, no, she wanted to get right back to the aid station ;) A little trail runner and volunteer in the making! Mindy, Val, Ian and all the volunteers put on a great race and it really showed! Nice job guys!

I did get out this afternoon for a run around the Heath in between regular work and working on newsletter stuff. It was a nice break on yet another beautiful fall day. On the return trip, I received a stern reprimand from an older woman driving along the 5th hole in her golf cart as I was making my way back from the Heath path to the Quarry turn-off. I tried to explain that I was being careful and was just using the cart path for this one short stretch between trails but she wasn't having it. I finally just thanked her and we parted ways. I'm planning on running the cart paths tomorrow, but since it won't even be light out when I'm out there in the pre-dawn hours, hopefully she won't be able to find fault with that if I should meet her out there! ;)

Beautiful Fall Day

Last double digit trail run before Stonecat this morning. Yikes - that means the race is only 2 weeks away!!! Got out on this gorgeous October day for another run down to Head of Tides. I know I won't be able to run out there after Stonecat, as hunting season will be starting up and the trails outside the Cathance are still new enough that it seems like it wouldn't be safe, so I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity today. My legs felt tired but it was a good run. It's just so beautiful out there, running along narrow singletrack through the birch groves and along the calm river. Saw a deer bounding across the trail, but other than that, the woods were quiet. 

When I got home, we headed to Broadway Deli for brunch and then over to Maine Running Company to pick up a few gels before driving out to Wolfe's Neck for their October hayrides. We visited the farm and saw all the animals, including the new guinea pigs in the barn - they are so cute, tiny and friendly, with lots of funny little noises and grunts. I wonder what the cats would think if we brought one home? We asked Sam and she said, no, we shouldn't do that, they'd probably poop in the house. Ha. Then we took the wagon ride out to the pumpkin patch and picked pumpkins under the blue sky. 

Wagon ride

In the pumpkin patch

Beautiful pumpkin blossom

Family portrait with pumpkins :-)

Then it was time for "nature tracking"! (Sam has been watching "Dinosaur Train" and the dinosaur kids do a lot of nature tracking) We took a long walk out on the trails behind the farm, stopping every few feet on the way out to pick up twigs, lichen, acorns and leaves. The trail dead-ended at the edge of a field and headed down into a gorge. We wandered that way and found bones! Lots of them, in fact. We theorized that a little calf might have wandered down there and not been able to get out. It was pretty interesting, actually, as the bones were clean so it wasn't gross. Sam said it "was a very cool discovery!" 

Bones! (Yes, we let our child pick up the bones...and used a lot of hand sanitizer afterwards)

Sam was asking for "uppy" on the way back, code for "I'm tired and bored and really don't want to walk anymore." The answer to this is always, "Let's run." In this case, I think Ryan said, let's see if you can run on the trails as fast as Mama does. Ha. But it worked! Sam took off running, and ran the whole mile back, with a few aid station stops for water :-) She was pretty fast too!

Trail running

Sam toward the end of her run, with a bit of hiking on the "obstacles"

It was the perfect way to spend a beautiful fall day - running, nature tracking, picking pumpkins and visiting with the animals!

Coleman Farm

I packed all my stuff up last night to take with me so that I could head out to Coleman Farm after work today. Then, mid-morning I started feeling guilty - I knew I had to work on the extra project I'll be working on all winter, a weekly newsletter, before I could pick Sam up at daycare - and wondered if I should change my plans to give myself more work time. Ryan told me to go anyway, saying, isn't that why you have this flexible schedule in the first place? Well, I guess when you put it that way.... So, a little after noon, I hit the trails at Bowdoin, out through the Commons, and headed toward Coleman Farm. The sky was clearing and the woods had that wonderful fall smell about them - sort of like you just jumped in a pile of freshly fallen leaves - ahhh... Love that. The blueberry bush leaves had turned a rich red in the pitch pine forest, and the trail was covered with a thin layer of golden pine needles and oak leaves.

Out in Pennelville, the sky was blue and the clouds were fluffy and white over the green fields. Although the most colorful maples had already lost their leaves, it was still lovely out there, looking across the swaying grasses to the treeline beyond. As I ran down the road, I did a double-take and went back to what I was sure wasn't just a regular leaf on the pavement. Sure enough, it was a Praying Mantis, in its "prayer" pose, in the middle of the left side of the road. It's country out there, but not that country and I was sure she'd get squished if I left her as is. I picked her up on a leaf, but she was soon crawling over and around my hand and arm. I put her down on the grass at the edge of the field. Don't know if that's where she was headed, but it had to be better than under a car tire, right? With the Praying Mantis rescue complete, I continued on and turned onto the wide old road that heads out through the Coleman Farm fields to the ocean. What a wonderful place to be on a warm fall day!

I got back to the car happy with my 7.25 miles, and ready to once again sit down at the computer. Nothing like a nice run in the middle of the day to make me smile!

Overcast

Got out this morning for a mellow 4 miles around the neighborhood. Purposefully chose to run along the Heath 2 miles into the run thinking I would be able to see the sun rising above the edge of the marsh. Sadly, it was so overcast, it still seemed pitch black out! But all was not lost. As I was running along the cart path and about to turn on the trail up to the Quarry, I heard a sound to my right that definitely sounded like more than just a squirrel. I turned and caught a pair of big golden eyes in my headlamp. It was a plump porcupine, climbing up the tree at the edge of the path. Neat! That's not a fauna I get to see every day!

Morning Run at Pineland

I snuck out of the house a little before 7am - all was quiet. As I headed down the highway toward Freeport, the sun was rising above the trees, the soft morning light hitting the brilliant fall foliage. Beautiful. I laughed when I turned into the parking lot by the pond and saw Amy's car already there. We weren't slated to meet until 7:45, but there we were, both early :-)

We headed out onto the campus loop and down into the fields. I don't think I've run in that direction at Pineland in forever, and honestly, on a fall morning, with a friend by my side, dew on the grass, the trees lining the fields full of yellow, orange and red leaves, I wondered why. It really is lovely out there, well, at least when you're not trying to race through the fields under the heat of the sun on Memorial Day weekend :-) Ha. We chatted away as we ran along, catching up on a month worth of stories and chit chat. I spotted two deer bounding across the trail as we crested the hill near the yurt but otherwise the trails were quiet.

We got in a nice, mellow 6 miles before heading home to hang out with our respective families on an extra stay at home day, as Sam likes to call our days at home. I arrived home to find pancakes ready to eat - yum! It was a great way to start the day, and always fun to catch up with a friend. Thanks, Amy!

Head of Tides

The plan evolved from the thought in my head to do 20, to maybe 18, to 3 hours per Ryan's suggestion. Well, I ended up shy of that too. But I'm cool with it. For me, it's been a big past few weeks, with the weekends being 22, 26 and 31. My legs are tired, I'm still recovering from the cold I caught a few days before the Snowplug 50k and we had an all-day birthday extravaganza yesterday. Phew.

I headed out under overcast skies around 8am. I decided I would run out to Head of Tides, as I haven't been there out that way since June before the middle stretch of the Cathance trail system gets so overgrown that I just can't venture out that way without my legs getting covered in itchy hives. I took the trail along the edge of the Heath, the cotton sedge set against golden grasses, and wandered all along the river, the water dark, the shallows filled with a film of fallen leaves. It really is beautiful out there. Even more so at this time of year. I took my time, enjoying the scenery, and was happy to get out on the Ravine Loop, one of my favorite parts of the Cathance trail system. As I came down the hill to the stream crossing, I could hardly believe my eyes. A bridge! A bridge! Wow. They had really done it. And done it right, it appeared. Serious.

The new bridge.

They'd been out painting fresh blazes on the extended trail system too, but the trails themselves were untouched, still rugged and only lightly traveled. There are some great stretches of trail out to Head of Tides, and I really enjoyed being out there. I wasn't running fast, but even at that, the trails were making me work for my 11's :-) Was also very happy to find that the trail has been extended (or perhaps I've always missed it?) all way down to a new parking lot right at the falls, with a put-in area for boats and best of all, nice bathrooms. Yeah! 

After a quick stop, I turned around and headed back the way I had come, wandering back along the river and then up to the Ecology Center. I took the trails back to the hiker parking lot along the back dirt road and then took that in the rest of the way. Those final two dirt road miles were definitely the fastest, even if my legs were making it clear they were done for the day. Got in 12 miles in 2:13, and felt no regrets not pushing on further. It was a nice few hours in the woods on a fall morning.

Flora and fauna report: Lots of sparrows and juncos flitting about. Also heard a Pieated woodpecker calling, and saw two deer. One of them completely still, almost blending in with the woods, just watching me pass. Followed a hawk along the back road for a good stretch. All I could see was its profile as it flew along, low to the ground. Was hoping for a glimpse of it up in the trees when it finally veered off the road but no luck. 

Birthday Party Chaos

I started out today with a run down along the river on a lovely, if oddly humid, morning. The woods were calm and quiet, the downed maples leaves a brilliant red at my feet, the leaves in the shallows of the river a rich gold, the sky a deep gray above. I ran the Snowplug 50k loop, so as to pick up the remaining flags in place along the river. I was happy to see they had already replaced the rotting bridge after the field - very nice not to be fearful of falling through a rotting log as I ran across :-)

Then it was onto the chaos of the day - it was birthday party time! Sam was practically bouncing off the walls waiting for her party at the Rumpus Room this afternoon. Since Sam and her best friend Anne are only 4 days apart in age, and Anne very luckily has cool parents we like to hang out with, we chose to do a joint birthday party. Both girls were very excited! As parents, we were fearful :-) But amazingly, the kids were all great. There were no tantrums, no crying, no cracked heads, no major slips or falls. Just kids running around the indoor playroom like crazy banchees! Ha. Honestly, it went much more smoothly than I anticipated, and I know everyone had a lot of fun.

After the party, the family assembled at our house, for birthday party #629 :-) Just kidding, it was probably only #6 :-) Talk about a weeklong affair! We all chatted while Sam and Morgan played, enjoyed delicious pizza from Flipside and feted with yet more cake. Why not?

All in all, a successful day! And now, it is time for bed so I can get up and run 18 miles tomorrow morning...

Ball pit fun!

The birthday girls :-)

So excited

Sam and Morgan

Pinata!!

Fun with Lillie back at home