So, with that I was definitely up and out on Wednesday morning for a run. Right hip/glute were very tight. Grrr. Ran the loop around Highland Green and added on Canam. It was an overcast morning so the darkness seemed deeper. I do so love this time of year but the loss of morning light is hard for an early morning runner like me! (6.0 miles)
Just barely light with 1.5 miles to go
Wednesday afternoon was the first XC meet of the season. As a 5th grader, Sam is running the mile! I walked the course with her and the three other girls on the team who are milers. Twin Brook is definitely a good place for the meets and the course was quite nice with some good rolling sections in the second half of the course. Beautiful afternoon for it too!
Sam was a bit nervous about the distance and started off looking a bit stiff, but finished up strong and looked really great coming into the finish! She had to stop to tie her shoe midway through 😩 but finished in 10:37. Proud of her for being out there, doing her best and supporting her friends too 💗 I think she was proud of herself too!
Yesterday morning, I headed out onto the cart paths. Started about 10 minutes later than Wednesday and a very crisp, clear morning, which meant a glowing sunrise and a sliver of moon to keep me company as I ran along. So pretty! Also saw a porcupine and four deer. Right leg still tight. (6.0 miles)
This morning, I decided to do some exploring! I've been looking at the map of the Freeport Conservation Trust trails for a while now and today was the day! I headed out to Flying Point Road and parked just inside the Brunswick line at the Chase Preserve parking lot. This led me out onto Jack's Trail, which was just lovely! Lots of mushrooms, brilliant red fallen leaves, the sweet scent of evergreen and hay-scented ferns and some nice cushiony singletrack.
Out at the marshy, beaver pond was a nice new bridge and a sign that I was entering the Freeport trails on the Antoinette Jackson Trail. Except that it was so overgrown right in that area that I wandered this way and that before figuring out which way to go 😂 Once I managed to go the right way, it was a nice run through the woods out to the Forest Ridge Trail, which I followed out to the Brimstone Hill Trail.
Wandering back down the lollypop that was Brimstone Hill, I took the Kelsey Brook Trail, which crisscrossed a stream and was quite overgrown with lots of aster, brambles and goldenrod. Lots of leg scratches along this stretch!
Cool dewy web shimmering in the sunshine
Yup, that's the trail
Wanted to take Bessie's Trail back, but couldn't find it, or maybe didn't go far enough?, so backtracked back along Kelsey Brook and then took Moose Crossing, which started as a gravel road and then turned off into the woods. Except the sun was so bright and the turnoff was so hidden that I meandered about for a while on the road trying to figure out where the heck to go 😆 but eventually back into the woods I went, for more technical, rooty singletrack with some lovely moss and ferns trailside.
The final stretch of trail was along the Calderwood Preserve trail back to Flying Point Road. I knew there was a short loop on the opposite side of the road, so I decided to explore that too and see if it would have a view, which it did! A nice little side path brought me to the water's edge in the bright sunlight. Pretty!
All in all, a very lovely Friday morning meander on some fun new trails. Technical and slow going, with lots of stopping to take photos and map reading, some walking on the slick bog bridges and through the overgrown section and a bit of lost meandering today, but really pretty woods and fun singletrack. Always a good day when you get to explore new trails! (7.4 miles)
And just because... looks like Gigi wants to go to school with Sam 😻 So cute!
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