Full Day

Today was packed with lots of activity, and we had a grand old time. It was supposed to be a nice day, and we decided to make sure we took advantage of both the weather, and the fact that we had a day to spend together. We were out of the house at 8:30am, headed to Bradbury. Originally, the thought was to head to Wolfe's Neck, but it was cool and windy this morning, and seemed likely to be pretty chilly down by the water, so we decided to head inland instead. Sam wouldn't care. She was just happy to be "outside"! :-)

We headed out onto the Northern Loop trail, with Sam walking between us. She lasted until the end of the field, and decided it was time for "up." So into the Ergo, and onto Daddo's back she went. We took the very well-groomed and raked Terrace Trail up to the summit (thanks Val and Mindy!). At the top, we were treated to a beautiful, blue sky day with a great view out to the ocean. Sam loved walking around up there, and did not want to get back in the Ergo for the quick 1/4 mile trip back to the parking lot. I'm sure the family we saw up top could hear her all the way until we hit the bottom! She was mollified a bit by the sight of the playground, where we played for a while before seeing Rick and Valerie finishing up their run. We walked over to say hello, although Sam was feeling a bit shy and wasn't all that talkative. Still, it was fun to see them, and it sounded like Valerie was recovering well from last weekend's 50. Yeah!

By this point, it was around time to head home, have lunch and put Sam to bed. So off we went, with the hopes that I would be able to meet up with them next Sunday for a run on the new Pineland/Bradbury Connector. Haven't checked it out yet, and am definitely looking forward to it! After a quick lunch, Sam went up to bed, and I headed out the door for my run. Another high noon run, but today, despite the clear skies, there was little humidity and a good breeze, making things quite comfortable out on the trails. My plan was for 9 to 10 miles, and I thought I'd head out on the powerlines in an attempt to do the route that Scott Ellis had shown me a few weeks ago during our Topsham Trails Day run. I certainly didn't run the same pace we were running that day, but I did successfully manage to run the same loop. Maybe my sense of direction isn't so bad after all :-) Ha! Anyway, it was a nice tromp through the woods. Everything is so green out there now, and I enjoyed the ladyslippers, bunchberry, star flowers, trout lilies, bluets and trailing arbutus carpeting the forest floor.

As I headed back toward home, I realized I would have to add on a bit to get the mileage closer to what I was hoping for, so I turned right on Tedford and ran up the dirt road into Highland Green. Soon after I hit 8 miles, my legs decided they had had enough, and I realized I was feeling pretty darn tired. I finished up the run with 9.5 on the Garmin, and that was more than enough. I was happy to come in, down some Gatorade and yummy coffee milk, and grab a bite to eat. Not much time to relax though - Sam was now up and ready to play again! Back outside to walk around, play with some of the neighborhood kids, and then come in so that we could get ready for Nate, Shannon, Finley and Charlotte to come over for dinner! It was nice to catch up with them, and the kids had fun playing together. Phew! I'd call that a full day, for sure, but definitely a fun one! I think I'm ready for bed now :-)