#tbt (The 2nd T can stand for Tuesday too, right?)

10 years ago today we stopped our AT thru-hike about 600 miles short of where we'd hoped to finish, not atop Katahdin, but at a random boulder in the middle of the trail outside of Great Barrington, MA, when Ryan's back could take it no longer. He always says I'm the strong one in the family, but I know he hiked with incredible pain on the trail for many weeks that year, which will forever make me sad and proud all at once.

The four months we spent thru-hiking were an awesome adventure, but since there was no way in hell I was leaving those remaining miles unfinished ( :) ), we, of course, did finish the trail; slowly, methodically following those white blazes north as we section hiked the remaining miles. The final steps atop Katahdin, taken four years later, were perhaps even sweeter due to how hard we had to work to get there.

Those months, and years, on the trail were filled with joy and pain, laughter and tears, and a whole lot of damn stinky clothing. The experience is something I hold deep within, for, in life, as in running, sometimes, great things take a whole lot of doing, and most things really worth doing aren't easy. I hope I can draw upon these thoughts as I run deep into the night and my relative unknown in October.

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Out this morning early, at 5:00 am, way before it was light, testing out a new headlamp, as my little Petzl just doesn't cut it for trail running in the dark. Man, that sucker is bright! ;) It was such an overcast, misty morning that I actually used it for the whole way out to Head of Tides, at which point there was enough light to run without. Very heavy, humid morning with some thunder rumbling in the distance. Saw one broad winged hawk, as well as another raptor (unidentified) on the return trip. Also noticed a few good patches of Indian Pipe, and noted that the bunchberry berries have turned bright red and the berries on the blue blue lily are now decidedly blue. Many mushrooms up too. A few deer flies buzzing in the last few miles but nothing terrible. A nice, soggy 9.2 miles for the morning.

Ran yesterday too, a 6 mile wander out through the Cathance and back. That post on Strava went something like this: "Saturated. Drenched. That's about how I would describe today's run. Woods very wet too. All surfaces slick as all get out. Did see a snowshoe hare and three raptors, one likely an owl. Sadly, there were also deer flies." Yup, I'd say that about says it all ;)