The thick layer of ice Tuesday morning prompted me to put my spikes on out in the walkway again. All pavement was silly icy. The only choice was to hit the powerlines. There had been some traffic and it appeared the snowmobile club had been out rolling the trail, but the stretch from Mt. A. down to Topsham Crossing was pockmarked with choppy chunks of icy snow and iced over footprints. Much less traffic after that stretch, so things were definitely better for the middle 1.5 miles out and back stretch, but I was feeling less than cheery about both the weather and conditions. Overcast and calm, with a bit of light showing on the horizon as I crested the final hill before descending back to the house. (6.0 miles)
More glare ice on Wednesday morning but perhaps a bit thinner of a layer so I was able to pick my way across the street without traction and found the powerlines a bit more smoothed out, perhaps from the additional rain and a few more fat bike tracks. Or maybe I just had a better attitude. Either way, it was a more enjoyable run, even if still a bit uneven in spots. I ran the full Lovers Lane loop and enjoyed the clear skies and pretty pastel sunrise on the horizon on the return. (7.0 miles)
Had plans to meet up with Val, Mindy and Anne on Friday morning for a run at Brad at 10:30, and got there early for some additional miles. It was pretty chilly and windy when I arrived, but I was all bundled up and thankfully, I was sheltered in the woods for most of the time, and was so happy to find the singletrack on the east side nicely groomed by the mountain bike roller and the fatbikers. After a lot of not so great conditions this week, and this winter in general, it was so nice to find good solid runnable trails! Enjoyed wandering around, following the grooming this way and that. As I was looping back to the parking lot around 8 miles in, I ran into Val who was doing a short warm-up to let her hip/back loosen up, so I joined her for the remainder of her loop before we picked up Anne and Mindy back at the lot. We set back out onto the east side, and I was happy to be the back of the train, just mindlessly following Val around 😉😆 and catching up with everyone, even though I could only hear about half the conversation over all the crunch crunch crunching of our spikes on the snow and ice 😂 Turned out to be a really nice morning and always good to run with friends! Finished up with a final little bit up and back on Northern Loop and ta da! Short long run done. (15.0 miles)
Temps plummeted overnight and it was -3 on our thermometer when I woke up on Saturday morning. Brrr! So once again, I bundled up with many layers and headed out around 7:15. Decided to do my legs a favor and just stick to roads after all the snow running. Sidewalks were mostly clear with a few stretches of sketchy, need to walk across this to stay upright, ice, and despite the cold temps, it was a pretty, calm morning. (6.0 miles)
Ryan headed out to Bradbury when I got back, intending to get in a long run, which unfortunately was cut short by calf pain. 😱😢 He was feeling a wee bit grouchy understandably so Sam and I were on our own for activities in the afternoon. And because it had warmed up to double digits, there was no excuse not to get out 😜, so we headed over to the Cathance for a short walk down to the river. Nice and bright and sunny, and always good to get out in the woods with my girl 💗 (0.8 miles walked)
After our walk, Sam and I went down to Portland to have dinner with Sarah and Tom. It was such fun seeing their place and meeting pretty kitty Bocuse, and Sam had a great time helping Sarah make a delicious blood orange bundt cake and putting the toppings on her own pizza. Yum! We were stuffed but it was all delicious!
This morning, I met up with Emma back over at Brad for some miles during her long run. It was a beautiful, calm and warm(ish) morning and so great to have the chance to catch! We meandered around on the singletrack and snowmobile trails, and conditions might have been even better than Friday. Glad to get in another run with a good friend and be able to get out and enjoy some time in the woods! (8.2 miles)
Then it was home for a cup of tea and a piece of blood orange bundt cake. YUM!
And after lunch, it was back outside because it was 37 degrees and bright and beautiful! We all headed over to Crystal Spring Farm for a XC ski. Conditions were variable, but Sam did a really great job and it was nice to be out enjoying the sunshine together. Ryan was able to do a lot of double poling and not stress the calf, so that was good too. (2.3 miles skied)
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