Pineland Run with Amy

Due to schedules and such, Amy and I haven't had a chance to run together in a while, so this morning Ryan nicely took over swim lesson and Frosty's duty so that I could meet Amy at Pineland. She wanted to get a run in on the course, and I was game, as long as she didn't drag me out on the "extra" field loops. It really is nice running out there. It's just the fields I don't much like. There was a small group assembled at 8:00 - Julia, David, Jim, Alan, Jeff and another woman whom I had not yet met. Amy and I let them all go ahead and set about catching up as we ran along. It was a nice morning, and I soon shed my arm sleeves. Once the sun came out, it warmed up quickly.

We kept the pace pretty mellow, which was fine with me. I just wanted to get in some miles and see how the legs felt on a longer run. I was happy to feel that they felt fairly strong, although admittedly a bit tired in the last few miles. The wood floor was beginning to come alive with greenery and spring flowers. The leaves of the false lily of the valley were coming up through the leaf matter, as were the trout lily leaves. A few ladyslipper leaves beginning to show too, although still pretty small. Saw the first trillium, the leaves out but the flowers still tightly furled. Out on Oak Hill, there were yellow swamp violets and wild oats blooming along the side of the trail. I must have scared Amy at least a few times with my yells of "trillium!," etc in the midst of a conversation :-) Oh, we all have our quirks, you know...

Got in a nice 12 miles, and then headed to the market for coffee, a split bagel and a twist from Frosty's each (Yes, I stopped on my way to pick some up for us. They are that good.). I think I might have literally inhaled my twist. So delicious! Ha. It was nice to hang out and chat for a bit before heading home.

After lunch, while Ryan was out for his run, Sam and I went out to bike. She is getting really fast! We did two laps up and back on our "road," meaning she biked at least a mile and I got in a second workout trying to keep up :-) Should have put on my running clothes!