Beautiful Day for the Beach

We headed up to Reid State Park this morning for a fun day at the beach. It was gorgeous- blue sky, a breeze and cool temps. Of course, the water was freezing and I didn't hide the snacks well enough, so the seagulls literally made off with most of them, but otherwise a beautiful Maine day at the beach!

 

Beach roses

Wading in the lagoon

Goofy girl

Silliness ;)

Getting my feet buried

The "crane"

Walking the beach

Groovin'

Happy kid on the beach

In the surf

Excitement? Or just cold? ;)

Goggle girl :)

Running!

We walked down the whole beach so then the trick was to get her back... 

Follow the leader to the rescue :) 

Running

Skipping

Follow the leader twirls :)

Goofy selfie

Tiny sand dollar! So cool!

Water and sand

Cool designs

A moment of quiet contemplation... didn't last long ;)

Sweet pea

Sandcastle fun

Best Laid Plans

Most of the time I love this blog. I enjoy writing and it is a great repository for memories and photos. Using it as my training log allows me to look back at successes and struggles over the past years without having to search through my paper logs. But on mornings like this when I have put out there that I am planning to do 20 miles and I come home with only 10 - ugh, it's like a record of failure.

I didn't sleep well at all last night, and I've probably been burning the candle at both ends a bit more than I would like to admit this week. With my parents here, I've been staying up later at night, Sam hasn't been falling asleep until 9:00 pm, and I've still been getting up at 4:00 or 4:30am to run most mornings. My legs felt heavy this morning, and the miles on the cart path were pretty slow, slow enough to make me realize I was just plain tired. Yes, it was a beautiful morning. Yes, of course I am sure I could have run another 10 miles. But I am also trying to tread the line between too much and just enough. I am trying to keep things at least partially balanced. I wanted to be here this morning when Sam wakes up. I want to be able to run and play with her on the beach today. I want to be able to make it through the rest of my training. So I stopped. Was it the right thing to do? Sometimes I think it pays to listen to that voice in your head. Sometimes it doesn't. In this case, I just don't know, but coming home felt like the obvious answer while I was out there.

This training cycle so far has had its ups and downs. I suppose all do. I still have a long way to go. I certainly feel more pressure this time around as I am training for something much bigger than I ever have before and I have no idea if I am doing it right. I haven't had as many nice 3-week builds so far, but on the other hand, I have gotten in a lot more consistent midweek mileage, I've put together some solid weeks in terms of time on my feet, and essentially have gotten in a 20 miler every other week.

I was planning on another 20 miler this week with the idea of doing slightly less mileage next week leading up to Bear Brook but now it is looking like another juggle and revision of the training plan, with the 20 on tap for next week and the "race" the following week. If all of that goes according to plan (ha!), then I am sure I will be more than happy to take a down week the week Ryan heads to VT to crew Jamie, and I will plan to more diligently follow the training plan as I get into late July and August, when I know I will really need to be stacking up the miles. I guess we will just have to wait and see how it all pans out. But in the meantime, now it is time to get ready for the beach :)

Fun Friday

The funny thing about me is that I am incredibly organized and methodical with the vast majority of things in my life, but when it comes to running, even though I love the idea of a training plan, I have a hard time sticking to it. In keeping with that, today's run turned into tomorrow's 10 mile run and I'll have to do today's 20 tomorrow. I got up a little after 4:00 am, which really is too early, even for me, and padded downstairs in the dark to get myself ready. My stomach was big time not happy with me, likely due to last night's dinner of cold Little Caesar's pizza courtesy of Sam's friend's birthday party. Bad idea, apparently. I also discovered a few minutes before I was set to go out that my bladder had leaked all night long, creating a big pool of water in Sam's booster seat and saturating my pack. Oh yah. I tried to figure out what had happened but was feeling pressed for time and didn't want to wake my parents up by walking through the room to go up to the loft to find another alternative, and really didn't want to wear a soggy pack, and knew I needed to get out the door so I could get back and be able to get to my Dr. Jamie appointment on time, so honestly flip flopping the days and running 10 miles seemed like the best option. I realize I am making excuses for why I didn't get out for 20 miles this morning, but hey, this is my life and I stand by my excuses ;)

Anyway, I got in 10 miles by doing the cart path x2. It was a beautifully crisp morning, perhaps a bit more humid than yesterday but still pretty nice. My stomach felt off but my legs felt fine.

Later after a yummy lunch at Big Top and gelato at Gelato Fiasco, we headed to the bike path. The deal was that if Sam didn't want to hike, which was what I really wanted to do, that she had to bike out to the 1 mile marker and back. And she did it! It was a gorgeous blue sky afternoon and a good day for a fast walk - it was tough to keep up with our fast biker!! ;)

Eastern Swallowtail along the bike path

Out biking

Fast biker!

Along the river

Cruisin'

Silly bike path selfie ;)

Beautiful day!

Sammy selfie :)

Summertime

Sam is having a great first week of summer! Yesterday was warm and sunny and beautiful and while we were working, she and my parents headed to Kettle Cove for a day at the beach. What fun!

Looking for hermit crabs

Tidal pool explorations

I love the beach!

Into the water with Neenie

Looking for fish to scoop up

Swimming!

Of course, there was also ice cream :)

Gotta have a post-beach cone!

I didn't sleep well on Tuesday night, so didn't get up to run yesterday but managed to get to bed a bit earlier last night and sleep like a rock until 15 minutes before the alarm went off at 4:30 this morning. Up and out early for 8 miles in the Cathance. It was a one deer, sweet-smelling fern kind of day, with only a few sluggish deer flies as detractors ;)

Green

Everything is incredibly green right now. Got out yesterday in the drizzle for 6 miles on the cart paths. Kept the pace mellow as my legs were feeling a bit tired. This morning, I had previously decided to pass on running with Shannon as it was supposed to rain and I was just feeling a bit discombobulated getting back from Southwest Harbor and having my parents here, etc. and didn't want to have to get up if I just plain didn't feel like it. But of course, I was up early anyway so headed out for an eight mile wander in the Cathance. The river was running pretty high after all the rain we've had, the grass was long and wet, humidity was high, the deer flies were out and I saw the same big turtle at the edge of the old fire road. Again, kept the pace easy and felt fairly decent.

And just because, here is a series of photos of Sam from yesterday as they waited out a rain storm in the car after her haircut. She is too much, is she not?! :)

Southwest Harbor Fun

It has been a busy but really fun weekend! Friday was Sam's last day of Kindergarten (!!!) and it was only a half day, with school ending at 11:40. I had run the cart paths and Heath early in the morning and then spent the 2 1/2 hours between dropping Sam off and picking her up, racing around like a crazy maniac cleaning bathrooms, vaccuming, doing laundry and getting the house ready for my parent's arrival and our departure. We kicked off the weekend with what else but a celebratory gelato ;), and then headed up to Southwest Harbor later in the afternoon.

The weekend in Southwest Harbor was a great way to celebrate the end of kindergarten, the beginning of summer and Father's Day. It was gorgeous when we arrived on Friday, and we headed from the hotel to have a classic Maine coast dinner of lobster and steamers and other fried goodness :)

Saturday dawned clear and crisp. With the light streaming through the window, I was up early and headed out for my run around 5:30 am. Sadly, apparently Sam was also woken by the light and came in to get Ryan around 5:45. Sigh. But I was blissfully unaware of that as I was out enjoying a gorgeous early morning run on the roads of Southwest Harbor and the trails up and over Beech Mountain. It was a great 8.4 mile run/hike and I had the trails all to myself. Pretty nice way to start the day!

After breakfast, we headed to Ships Harbor Nature Trail, which is a pretty awesome almost-2 mile walk through the forest and along the shoreline. I'd say we had a 10 out of 10 for weather - it was sunny and clear, with no bugs, not too hot, nice breeze and just gorgeous blue sky. It was the perfect walk for the whole family!

We were all pretty hungry by the time we finished the hike, so we headed back into town for a yummy lunch at Eat-A-Pita and then went over to the Asticou Gardens for a short walk. I'd say we just missed the height of the rhododendron bloom, but it was still a lovely place for an afternoon wander. The rest of the day was spent playing croquet, having dinner and just plain enjoying the scenery that the Claremont had to offer!

Sadly, Sunday morning dawned rainy and dreary, but we had a good Father's Day breakfast together, and Ryan was a good sport and donned his crown the whole meal :) With the downpour, we didn't get out for any other adventures, but it was a fun trip nonetheless. Thanks to Irene and Dana for joining us!! We had a great time!

We came home to find Neenie and Pippi waiting for us and enjoyed a fun dinner out at Sam's favorite spot, Little Toyko, followed up by crazy cake at home. What a perfect end to the weekend! I feel incredibly lucky to have been able to spend Father's Day with my favorite dads :) Love you Dad, Ryan and Dana!