Knowing Sam was feeling better made the weekend running easier but I will admit to being a bit tired and thrown off with the change in plans. Such is life, I know, and in the scheme of things most assuredly not a big deal, so I just knew I'd have to really work for it on Saturday and Sunday if I wanted to hit 50 miles this week, as the mid-week snowstorm and the decidedly meh run on Friday morning didn't do much to move me towards that goal.
Saturday morning I got up and out around 6:15 am to get in my miles before Ryan headed over to Brad for his long run. It was chilly, and with a bit of wind, I was wishing I had worn a second pair of tights! Brrr. Headed out on the powerlines following the snowmobile tracks. Conditions were kind of messy with frozen crunchy uneven footing and lots of large frozen chunks churned up by the snowmobiles. Certainly not ideal. I ran this way and that looking for decent conditions and eventually just ended up turning around and heading back so I could finish out my miles with a loop around Highland Green. I did get to catch the sun rising through the trees though, which is always a treat. (10.0 miles)
Ryan had a really solid good run over at Bradbury later in the morning and told me conditions were pretty decent, although he did have to do a bit of wandering around to get in his 22+ miles. I was feeling a bit low on motivation despite my desire to get in my miles and decided that having to meander around in search of a way to get in my miles this morning, on variable conditions, was probably not the best for me on this day. So, in keeping with this cycle's 'all long runs are road runs' theme, I chose to run from home out to the ocean and through the back roads of Brunswick. I always enjoy my runs out through these quiet sections of town and thought it would be a nice change of pace from the roads around Brad and the hills of Topsham.
I set out around 7:15 and ran down Main Street, threw in one hill repeat up Oak Street just for the heck of it ;) and then ran over the swinging bridge across the Androscoggin and into Brunswick. It was cold - about 10 degrees - but bright and sunny. I zigzagged through town out the Pleasant Hill Road, where I saw Kevin and Nate running in the opposite direction about 5 miles in. Nate was like, what are you doing running roads? HA! ;)
Up and over the Pleasant Hill hills to Highland Road, where there were wide snow covered fields with a flock of turkeys grazing and bluebirds flitting on the wires above. Always so nice out there.
From there, I ran along the coastline, down to Maquoit Bay, past the marshes along Bunganuc, out to the Middle Bay, no longer ice covered, at Simpson's Point, and then back into town via Pennelville. Pussywillow was blooming on the road side and as always the vistas of the bays, especially on a bright, shimmery, sunny day, make me smile.
The final few miles running through Brunswick and back home to Topsham were a bit of a slog, with the winds picking up and me feeling a bit tired, but overall, happy with how the run went and how I felt. And best of all, got that 50 miles for the week ;) (23.0 miles)
Now it is off to eat all the things!!
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