Icy, Snowy Trail Fun

Headed over to Bradbury Friday morning and managed to time it so that as I was running up Northern Loop, the sun was rising, glowing pinky orange in the sky above the bare ice-encased tree branches. It was quite cold but the views made it more than worth it! I stopped to take in the view at the Northern Lookout and then continued on to the summit. Seriously glorious 😍

From there, I continued along the Boundary and headed out onto the Connector. The early morning light really was so pretty through the trees.

Farther out on the connector heading towards the Tryon junction, there hadn't been as much traffic and it was slow going, so I chose to turn around and head back. I ran up Tote and back to the summit, enjoying the way the sunlight hit the iced over trees an hour after I first took in the view. Different light, different sky, different colors. Still beautiful.

I stopped briefly at the lot and then continued on across the street. Knights Woods and the snowmobile trail were uneven and messy, so when I saw the nice fat bike tracks on Fox West, I gladly followed them. The singletrack all the way across onto Fox West, out on Ginn and back on Ragan and Lanzo was pretty sweet. Yes, it was certainly icy in spots but it had been packed down well and I was able to move a bit more easily. Lots of fun.

I was meeting up with the ladies at 10:00, so when I realized I had a bit more time, I did a little out and back on Link and then up Northern Loop a ways to get the watch to read 13.0 before I stopped at the car. I did a quick change of shirts, gloves and hat and then sat with Mindy in her warm car before Anne, Val and Keri arrived.

I was happy to simply go with the flow for the rest of the miles and happily let Val take the lead. We headed back out onto the Boundary and then took the new snowmobile trail that they've put in that leads down to the school. No traffic to speak of once we left the park so it was a slow and sloppy run but that's ok, it meant it was easier to chat in between the crunch.crunch.crunch of our shoes in the icy snow.

We went across Elmwood and down to the river before turning around.

Then on the way back, Val took us on an offshoot into the woods and along Chandler Brook which eventually met up with the first bridge on the Connector. It was really slow going and the 4 miles we had gone felt like double that at least! 😂 But there was a small batch of ice pancakes along the river, which was neat to see!

Then it was back up Tote to the summit to take in the view for time #3 before heading back to the lot. Bright blue skies and brilliant sunshine.  Just a beautiful day, and so much fun to finish up my miles with friends!

Mindy and Val joined me at lunch at Pineland and then it was off to get a few errands done before picking up Sam. I was glad to have gotten in a nice long run and to feel good! A good running day indeed 💕💕 (19.3 miles)

Yesterday morning, it was up and out early to get in some miles before Ryan headed to Bradbury to mark the snowshoe course. A cold morning once again and windy too. Brrrr! I started out with the headlamp, crunching away on the uneven snow as I made my way out to the Heath. The sun was rising through the trees along the way. Winter sunrises truly are beautiful.

Once I got out into the Cathance proper along the river, the trails were nicely packed and good running. The river was roaring and the sky was lightening as I returned back along the edge of the Heath.

Very cold final few miles into the wind, but I got it done. (7.0 miles) In an ideal world, today's run should have been a few miles longer but you get what you get and you don't get upset, especially when training through the winter in Maine! Truly, I am thankful for a solid two days out on the trails 💖