All the Berries

It's the most wonderful time of summer, when all the runs feature berry stops! 

Tuesday was an afternoon run on the powerlines. Nice, breezy, if humid afternoon with a trifecta of berries! Yum! Also somewhere in the first mile of the run, on 7/21/26, I hit 1,000 miles for the year. My notes tell me that in 2025, I hit 1000 miles for the year on 7/6/25; in 2024, it was the 2nd week of September due to being injuried; in 2023, it was 6/18/23; in 2022, it was 6/23/22; no idea in 2021 as apparently I did not document it; in 2020, it was 6/12/20 and in 2019 when training for Western States, it was 6/7/19. While I still have a goal to hit 2,000 miles for the year, it also seems that is not quite enough to get me to run even splits and have hit 1,000 by 6/30 this year! Oh well, onward and upward.  (7.0 miles)

Sam has been working until close at 8:00 pm up at the Y on Mondays and Wednesdays, so Wednesday, Ryan and I got out for a 6:00 pm walk before cooking up dinner. Nice out! (2.63 miles walked)

Thursday, I got out at 6:00 am for a run on the Topsham Crossing lollypop. Nice out. Berry trifecta again, because one just must stop to enjoy the midrun berries at this time of year! 😉🫐 (6.0 miles)

Friday was a 2:30 pm run on the powerlines after a morning spent doing errands and getting work done. Bright, breezy and warm, which is what I get for waiting until the afternoon. So it was a good excuse to just lollygag along and make a lot of berry stops! (10.0 miles)

Saturday was a 7:15 am run on the roads with a spin along the bottom edge of the Heath. Still managed to find some berries, though 😂 (10.0 miles)

Then after lunch, we headed out to Harpswell to spend the afternoon at the Point with Phil, Kristen, Anne and crew. Always a fun time! It was a beautiful afternoon to be out along the ocean, slightly cooler than in town, bright and very calm. We ate, drank, the kids swam in the pool, we explored the tide pools (found two baby lobsters and a lot of hermit crabs!), and oh yes, Kristen and I beat the boys at cornhole! 😂😂 After dinner, we enjoyed the sunset and a fire before heading home for the night. So nice! 

Got out on Sunday around 9:15 for a wander down to the river and then out on the powerlines. Nice out. Bright and warm. Cardinal flower in bloom along the river and lots of berries. (12.1 miles)

Early July

Full on summer here now, and a full week of work for us all. Sam is lifeguarding and teaching swim lessons and is up at the Y four days a week. Monday, she was at work until 8:00 so after work Ryan and I got out for a 5:30 pm walk around the school block before dinner. Nice evening. (2.6 miles walked)

Tuesday, I didn't manage to get out the door early so I headed out around 4:00 for a Topsham Crossing lollypop run. Overcast and reasonably cool - lovely. Unfortunately, legs felt like cement blocks 🤪🤷‍♀️ But on the plus side blueberries AND raspberries out there today! (6.0 miles)

Thursday, I got out for a run on the powerlines a little before 6:30 am. Nice morning. Lots of wood lilies and many stops for all the bright big delicious blueberries found along the Powerlines right now. Yum! Also saw an indigo bunting 🤩🤩 (7.0 miles)

Friday, I had to head into the office for a 9:00 am meeting, so I was up and out around 6:15 for a run that started on the cart paths, but the deer flies on the paths were so BAD - two flew into my mouth - gross!! Had to abort to the roads. One baby red edt on the paths by the Heath. Muggy, warm, heavy morning with a few showers at the end. (7.0 miles)

Saturday morning was really nice. Cooler and not humid, with only a few deer flies here and there - so much better than Friday! Headed out a little after 7:30 am onto the powerlines. Two deer seen, and many stops for blueberries and raspberries - I just can’t help myself! Also Mama raccoon brought her three babies by - adorable! I love my crazy critter backyard! ❤️ (10.0 miles)

Sunday, I volunteered in the morning at the finish line at the Breaker and didn’t get out before I headed over, so an afternoon run it was! Stuck to the roads to avoid the inevitable deer flies and enjoyed seeing some of the blue angels air show was I ran around and found a few good patches of raspberries too. Warm out! (10.0 miles)

Then we met up with Mom, Dad, Kristen and Cutter for an early dinner out at Erica's. Beautiful evening to enjoy some yummy fried seafood with a view!

Monday the 13th was another evening walk with Ryan before dinner. Nice and breezy. (2.6 miles walked)

Smoke from the wildfires in Canada came in on Tuesday, and Wednesday morning wasn't much better. The sky looked rather apocalypic when I headed out at 5:50 am, with the sun glowing red through a thick haze. Definitely very oppressive, and oh my goodness it felt heavy out there 🥵 Stuck to the roads but still couldn’t escape the deer flies. Boo. (6.0 miles)

Took Thursday off as originally I had been thinking we'd be heading over to Chalk Pond, but in the end Sam decided to stay home for the weekend so I ended up going over on Friday while Ryan left Thursday around dinner so he and Neal could golf on Friday morning. In any event, I decided to stick with the day off anyway. Headed out at 7:00 for a run on the powerlines. So much nicer than yesterday with clear skies and way less heaviness. Lots of raspberries to stop and eat and still some good blueberries. (8.2 miles)

Then I had a lovely massage with Lauren before getting some errands done around town and picking up some yummy fruits and veggies at the Six River and Fairwinds farm stands before sitting down at the computer to get a bit of work done before dinner. 

Friday morning, I headed out around 9:15 after making some quinoa and pasta salads for the weekend and hitting the farmer's market for additional berries and a pie to bring over to NH. Lovely out. Looped around on the roads. (8.0 miles)

Then after a quick lunch and packing the car, I said goodbye to Sam and headed over to NH. Very busy on the roads, but wonderfully quiet and gorgeous out once I arrived at Chalk Pond. 

Ryan had picked up a BucketGolf game and he and Neal had set up three holes out in the backyard. We sat on the deck for a bit but then eventually made our way out back to play. It was quite ridiculous but also quite fun, and when Peyron and Nate arrived, we all joined in and had a lot of laughs while bumbling around hitting whiffle balls into the pond, the rhodies, the parking area, etc.

Then it was around the pond with the dogs for a walk. (1.19 miles walked), after which I picked up pizza for dinner, and we all hung out catching up. Always so nice to see everyone 💗

Got to bed late, but everyone was up early as Nate, Peyron, Ryan, Neal and Kendra had a tee time at 7:00 am and I was planning on a longer run. Just as they were heading out the door at 6:30, it started to rain so I settled down on the couch to wait out the rain drops. Bohdi and Addie joined me for a bit of relaxation before I finally headed out around 7:30.

I looped up around the pond and out on the Stony Brook trail up to Baker Hill. So have not been doing any hills 😂😂 the run involved lots of hill walking as necessary! Ran down Baker Hill and out into Bloggett Landing and along Lake Sunapee, which was very quiet early on a rather overcast, sprinkly Saturday morning. Then it was up on the roads to the back of Sunset Hill where I took a new to me stretch of trail that was a different and frankly much nice route than the old overgrown country road out to Rollins Road, where there was more walking 😉 before I hit the Fischer Field trail. The trail was definitely looking even less used than I feel like I've seen it in past years with a lot of little debris that made it hard to run at all, so I pretty much just had to walk those two miles back to the road. Finished up the run the long way around the pond. Not feeling super peppy but nice to be out and get in some miles and hills! (12.1 miles)

More bucketgolf and laughter ensued through around 2:00 pm when the rain started and we moved inside for food and drink, which pretty much was how we spent the rest of the afternoon and evening! 😆😊 Another late night and wasn't feeling super enthused to get up and out the door for a run, so just hit the road and headed home to beat the traffic, and then after some lunch, catching up with Sam, who did great on her own this weekend!, and a bit of relaxing, I headed out around 2:30 for a road run. Definitely dragging a bit but the weekend with friends was well worth it! (7.1 miles)