Double Shot of Brad

Friday morning, I met up with Val, Mindy and Keri for a run over at Bradbury. We got started a bit later than intended due to morning chaos reigning supreme in Keri's house and the fact that Val and Mindy parked at the school and Keri and I parked at the park. Ha. Well, we all met up eventually ;) It was a rainy, overcast, damp, clammy, saturated kind of morning. Val, Mindy and I ran a short 1 mile loop that included the new start of the BBU on Rosemary's trails and then Mindy and I went back to the school to meet up with Keri, while Val went on as she had time constraints. With Keri in tow, we repeated the new BBU start and then headed up Lunch Break to the summit, continuing on the course across the street. It was great to catch up with both Mindy and Keri. Good conversation was had as we kept the pace pretty mellow, which was fine with me, as it was slick and wet and humid and not the kind of weather that makes you feel like flying around on the trails :)

When we got back across the street, we ran most of the mountain proper portion of the course, not going out on the Connector and skipping Krista's and got back to the school with a little more than 11 miles on my watch. On dreary days like these, I really appreciate having friends to run with! It makes the miles much more enjoyable for sure!

Bird's nest on the rock ledge. There is an egg in there... sadly no viable at this point but pretty looking, nonetheless

Running the singletrack portion of Rosemary's trails

This morning, I headed out early for my long run. Cool air had arrived overnight making for a lovely crisp morning. I even wore long sleeves! Headed out around 6:45 am, up along the BBU course from the school. I was too late for sunrise at the summit but there was still some pretty early morning light to be had.

Despite no company today, the running felt easier with the cooler, drier weather. The trails were quiet too, with only a few cars in the lot when I passed through both times and only one biker seen on the whole full loop. Ran the East side 5 miles and then continued along the course. Out on the Connector, a big bird swooped down from the trees and up the trail, settling in on a tree branch high above. A quick look confirmed an owl with the wide face and big eyes. Neat!

The grass out on the powerlines and in the field were wet with dew, the sunlight shimmering on the late summer asters and goldenrod. Back in the park in the final few miles, I caught the new segment of trail off Boundary that connects with Lunchbreak that we missed yesterday and got back to the car with 15.3 on my watch. A quick change into short sleeves, a water refill and a few more gels and I headed back up into the woods. Of course, I stopped a minute in to eat a Snickers. Ha :) 

Then back up Rosemary's trail and Lunchbreak. A bit slower the second time around though... ;) Decided I'd run the course backwards out onto the Connector and run the Wiggles in my quest for more miles. Fun. On the way back to the park, I ran into Xar and Mindy. I had seen their cars in the lot and wondered if I'd see them out there. Mindy decided to head back with me while Xar continued on. Shortly after we ran into John B. Guess everyone just got a later start ;) 

We ran back up Boundary and along the course. It's fairly short back to the school, so I needed a bit more mileage, which meant done random wandering son the trails near the school before I finally finished up with 23 miles. I felt happy with how the run went but man, I was tired ;) BBU is not going to be easy for sure, but it'll be a good challenge.

All in all, a good 34 mile block at the Brad! 

Early morning light, Bradbury summit

Garter snake along the trail

These mushrooms looked like flowers