Running with Friends

The past two days have been fun. I met up with Keri up at Hidden Valley Nature Center on Friday morning for a run. We had planned to meet up this winter for some snowshoe or screwshoe running. Well, Mother Nature apparently had other plans, so Friday's run involved a lot of wet feet, mud, sinking through hoar frost, stream crossings, some lovely icy patches and way too much bare ground for late February. Still, it was a lovely tour of a cool, if rugged, trail system. There were long stretches of still rough double-track old logging roads, and some sweet singletrack. Keri showed me some of the trailside cabins, and took me up a steep trail to a hilltop yurt and along the shores of Little Dyer Pond. The sun was shining brightly on a windy, cool morning and we had the trails to ourselves. A fun 10 miles laughing and chatting the morning away. Thanks, Keri!

Little Dyer Pond

Keri leading the way

Muddy feet!

This morning dawned crisp and clear. Amy I met up around 9:00 am in the hopes that the temps would rise out of the teens. With the wind, it certainly didn't seem warm, but I'm sure it was in the 20s by the time we finished. Still, another bright, sunny morning. I let Amy plan the route and we headed out from Lawrence to Run Around Pond, then veered left on a road she hadn't taken before. It was rolling terrain which led us out to Rt. 136 in Durham. We took the main road along the wide open Androscoggin for a mile or so before turning off onto a dirt road that took us up into the woods to a small neighborhood out in the middle of nowhere. As it was a dead end, we turned around and retraced our steps into the wind. Brrr! Still, another great run with my dear friend, filled with lots of chatter and laughter, and some good Oreos too - thanks, Amy! Yum! I ended up stopping at mile 18, as my legs and hips weren't feeling super happy with all the pavement, but Amy went on to finish up her final two miles before meeting us (Ryan and Sam came out for lunch) at Edna & Lucy's. A solid 3 hour run. Lots of fun. Always an adventure when I head off on a road run with Amy - I never know where we'll end up ;)

Another good, if backwards, back to back weekend for me!