Fog & Mud

It seems like the vast majority of days this week involved dense fog along with warmer weather, the requisite snow melt and subsequent mud. Ah spring!

Monday after lunch, we headed out for a walk to check out the trails. Mostly soft sand and mud, with only a few patches of ice remaining. (2.7 miles walked)

Super foggy on Tuesday morning and I did not get out to run. Had a board meeting from 5:00 to 7:00 pm though, so I was able to out for a mid-afternoon run on the cart paths to break up the day and get away from the computer for a bit. First cart path run of the year and the first run in shorts too! Breezy, bright and beautiful, with a lot of squishy, soggy, muddy ground underfoot. Only a few patches of ice en route, all of them easy to get around. Saw three Mourning Cloak butterflies flitting about up on Mt. A. Seems really early for them to be out but it was lovely to see! (6.0 miles)

Had to wait until it got light enough to not need a headlamp to head out in the morning on Wednesday as it was incredibly foggy out once again. Mild and windless. Looped around Highland Green and saw one porcupine en route. Stopped to ensure he crossed the road safely before continuing on. (6.0 miles)

Work was super busy all week, and by Thursday afternoon, I was all.done. Ryan took Sam to swim and I headed out across the street for a late afternoon walk on the powerlines before starting dinner to clear my head and get away from the computer. Warm and overcast. (1.8 miles walked)

Yet another foggy morning on Friday, with intermittent rain and gusting winds as well. I suited up in my rain gear and headed out for a run after dropping Sam at school in the morning. Ran the cart paths and out into the Cathance to check things out. Very soft, squishy and sloppy, but I'd say 99% ice free. The puddles were cold and there was definitely mud. River was roaring. Nice to get out in the woods. (8.0 miles)

Mom and Dad came over for dinner and we all tried to work to finish up the most recent puzzle, without much success I might add. It is proving maddeningly difficult. Even Gigi wanted to help! 😹😹 

Woke up feeling rather tired and meh on Saturday morning so took my time getting out the door and settled in a shorter road run. Bright and sunny with a bit of a breeze. (8.0 miles)

Mid-afternoon we headed over to Mom and Dad's for a walk into Brunswick for Sam to get gelato. Skies had become a bit more overcast and it was feeling chilly, but she didn't mind! For an 11-year old, gelato is good anytime! 😉 There is a lot of water in the Andro right now - it's always cool to see the water walking over the bridges into town! (2.3 miles walked)

Although the weather was calling for rain on Sunday afternoon, the morning, while overcast and rather raw, was dry. I headed over to Bowdoin and parked at the field house, starting my run out through the Commons before taking some of the roads out to Simpson's Point. 

From there, I decided to run the short distance down Middle Bay Road and check out the trail I've noticed near the entrance to the Landing. I was surprised to find some well defined singletrack through the pine trees, it was quite nice actually. I stuck to what appeared to be the main trail, but there were several offshoots as well, and after a mile or so, the trail popped out along Rt. 123 where I knew I could connect across the road to some of the singletrack trails at the edge of the Commons. Always fun to find new trails to run!

Finished up with some looping through the Commons and around the field house, with a fair number of people out walking in the final few miles. 

Although I was looking closely, no plant life greening up quite yet, but I did see several red winged blackbirds and three bluebirds out in Pennelville, plus a turkey vulture soaring. Felt decent, and although the run was pancake flat, still happy to have gotten in another 15. (15.0 miles)

Finally

Finally managed a "long" run this week. I've been threatening and pondering and agonizing over getting in a 15 mile run for like two months now, but I've essentially just settled on 10-12 every time instead. There are reasons, excuses and rationale galore for my choices, but the reality is that I didn't really need to do anything long so I just didn't. That being said, I am finally feeling the need to get cranking (at least a little bit) on my training and get myself used to the longer runs again in prep for No Business, which is only 6 months away once we hit the start of April. It's mostly a mental thing. I have been feeling intimidated by 15 miles after so many months of not logging the longer miles, which seems crazy since of course, deep down, I know I can do the miles and I know I certainly have been maintaining enough mileage to pull 15 off fairly easily. But the mind is a weird thing and often we are our own worst enemy when it comes to recognizing what we will be able to accomplish (or at least I am for myself!). So, glad to have finally bitten the bullet and gotten in the 15! Feels good and like I am on my way 💪

A cold front rolled in overnight on Sunday and temps were in the teens all day long on Monday with whipping winds and feels like temps in the low digits even at 3:30 when we finally got out for a family walk. Honestly, it was rather unpleasant out there. Brrr!! 💨 (1.7 miles walked)

My mid-week runs were both daytime runs, which is highly unusual for me. The early mornings were just not happening this week with daylight savings and the return to early morning darkness. Sigh. 

Tuesday, I got out around 3:45 for six around the Highland Green block. Bright, cool and breezy but glad to get out. Many thanks to Ryan for taking Sam to swim so I could get in my run! (6.0 miles)

Wednesday, I was working from home and determined to get in my miles even though I didn't manage to get them in early. I had an opening in my calendar late morning so I decided to head out for a run. Honestly, it was much more stressful than getting up and out in the darkness, so I don't envision myself doing that again, but I was glad to get in the miles. Ran around town on the roads and then cut back on the powerlines, where the shady stretches are still solid ice, required a fair amount of tiptoeing. (7.0 miles)

Friday was yet another cold and wicked windy day. I knew road running would be terrible given the wind, and despite knowing I probably would not find things to be great out in the woods, I set out on the trails hoping I would find that all the ice had melted and the running was grand. Ha! And well, of course, I found that the trails are not quite ready yet 😆 But I had to try. Ran on the Mt. A trails and out into the Cathance. A mix of bare ground and ice, but all the icy stretches required careful walking and tiptoeing maneuvers so I bailed out of the Cathance pretty quickly and looped back on the back dirt road and the powerlines. (7.0 miles)

Yesterday was the first official day of spring! 🌷 While I should have known better from Friday's run, I figured I'd head out on the powerlines and hit some trail sections that were no doubt getting more sun and might be more melted out. Of course, that meant traversing a few known icy spots, and yup, you guessed it, took a fall. Oh well. I knew it was coming and I wasn't moving fast, so it was fairly painless and I popped right back up. Random wander out on the powerlines, Riverside trails, back dirt road, along the bottom of the Heath, hole #3 and up and over Mt. A. Mostly (frozen) dirt, which was quite nice, and a lovely bright, sunshiney morning too! (8.0 miles)

Sam and I headed over to Whatley Farm later in the morning with Mom and Dad to pick up some veggies and cut some pussy willow branches in celebration of spring! Beautiful morning to be out and the pussy willows were so pretty looking against the bright blue sky 😍

After lunch, we headed into town to get Sam a new bike. She has grown so much in the past year and the 20" bike that we got her last year when she finally decided it was time to learn to ride had become way too small. Gorham Bike & Ski was hopping but we lucked out and they had a great 24" bike in stock. It's pretty snazzy looking too and glad to find Sam a good upgrade and support a local business while using some of our stimulus money 😃

From there, we headed over to Mom and Dad's and took a nice late afternoon walk down to the swinging bridge and back. Such a nice day to be outside! (1.8 miles walked)

Shadow swinging bridge self portrait 😎

And that brings us to today. A bright, calm, sunshiney morning and I headed out on the roads around town for my long run. Enjoyed listening to the two new Work, Play, Love podcasts along the way, felt fine, and was glad to get in the miles. Yay running 😄 (15.0 miles)

Wrapped up the weekend with a late afternoon walk around the school block with Mom and Dad. The sun sure is bright but it was a bit cool with the wind and in the shadows. (2.0 miles walked) 

Followed up the walk with homemade pizza and a yummy salad made with local spinach, carrots and roasted beets. 😋

False Spring

March is a fickle month. This week featured both 50 degree weather a few days and a few days in the mid-20s with strong winds where it still most definitely felt like winter. You want to believe spring is coming, but it's not quite here yet...

Monday featured a late afternoon walk around the school block. Good to get out and into the fresh air and away from the computer. (1.7 miles walked)

Tuesday morning I ran the Highland Green loop, which involved a fair amount of tiptoeing around and across ice slicks. Not quite melted out yet! (6.0 miles)

On Wednesday, I simply did not get up and out to run. Tired. Sam was in school for the day and I was working at home, so while I didn't motivate for a mid-day run, I did get out for a nice solo walk before lunch, just to enjoy the warmer temps and the sunshine. Still a fair amount of ice and snow in the woods but the high route along the powerlines between home and Highland Green Road is clear. (2.0 miles)

Thursday, I did finally manage to get up and out in the murky pre-dawn light, chasing the sunrise as I ran down to the river. All paved surfaces were covered with a thin icy sheen of frost, but it was a nice morning to be out and the sunrise was truly lovely. (6.0 miles)

Sam was off on Friday for a teacher development day, so I headed out fairly early for a run on the roads around town. Nice, bright, blustery, mild morning. (8.0 miles)

Then after spending the rest of the morning crossing things off my to-do list, we headed out to Popham Beach after lunch with Mom and Dad for a walk. The tide was going out, the sun was shining, the wind was whipping and a lot of other people had the same idea as we did, but the beach is wide and big enough that everyone was able to have their own space. A lovely afternoon for a walk at the edge of the waves! (2.85 miles walked)

Found three sand dollars too!

Saw several of these small round jellyfish blobs, turns out they are sea gooseberries. Neat!

Love the designs the water makes in the sand. Looks like a lovely forest to walk through 😍

The wind was whipping on Saturday morning and temps had dropped from the low 50s of Friday to high 20s. With so much road running already for the week, I decided to risk it and head out onto the powerlines. The first mile was doable without spikes, but I put them on after that. The trails were probably about 50/50 ice and bare ground, but I wouldn't have wanted to maneuver across the long ice stretches without traction, even though the spikes were fairly useless on the dirt stretches. Things had firmed up enough that I didn't sink anywhere, but there were definitely a few sketchy undermined spots that required walking so as not to turn an ankle, and things are likely to be pretty messy out there once it warms up again. Very blustery and bright. (8.0 miles)

The time change overnight led to a late wake-up on Sunday and I just did not feel like rushing out, so I decided on a shorter run for the morning. Ran roads around town. High-20s and a bit of a breeze. (7.2 miles)

Then it was home to make a Pi Day pie with Sam! Yum! Never pass up a chance to make (and eat) pie 😋😍

All in all, a rather low mileage run week, but that's OK. I'm trying not to force it too much right now, and just run what I want to run with feeling the pressure of mileage. Hopefully, I can turn it around next month and kick myself into gear as warmer weather and more trail time arrives! 

In Like A Lion

How is it even March? It's hard to believe that this time last year, we were heading into the final two weekends of normalcy before the pandemic hit. A weekend of running fun with friends up at Hidden Valley and then a weekend with dinner out for Ryan and I and a friend sleepover for Sam. Wow, that all seems so far away... 

March so far has been rather blustery, not to mention icy. 

Rained for most of the day on Monday but finally cleared up later in the afternoon, so we all headed out for a late afternoon walk around the block. The skies cleared nicely and it was good to get out and away from the computer! (1.7 miles walked)

Tuesday, the winds were gusting all day long and it was a full day at work. 

Wednesday, I got up and out on the powerlines just in time to catch the end of sunrise. We are gaining more and more light at both ends of the day at this time of year, and a 6:00 start time didn't require a headlamp. Hurray! The powerlines had pretty much turned to continuous solid ice, with a bit of hard packed snow and/or bare ground in between. Very loud and hard underfoot. Traction required. Pretty sky. (7.0 miles)

Later in the afternoon, Sam and I got out for a walk around the school block. A bit windy but always good to walk and talk with the kiddo. (1.7 miles walked)

Thursday, I just plain did not get out of bed for an early morning run, so instead I headed out around 3:00. Very blustery! Ran a loop around Highland Green but had to do a bit of walking and navigating  around some very sketchy icy spots on the back dirt road. Not quite melted out yet! (6.1 miles)

Friday morning, it was windy and cold, and I didn't really feel like hitting the roads. So I put my spikes in my pocket and ran up and over Mt. A., which I have not done in a very long time apparently according to Strava. Not since December 2019 before they were doing all the construction on Mountain Road. Strava also indicated that this was the 530 effort on the segment up to the fire tower. Ha. That is a lot of Suicide Hill repeats! 

The snowmobiles ride up and over the top of the hill, so it was decent running there, and then fairly decent along the golf course for a few holes. The Heath and Cathance proper trails have definitely seen activity but not quite enough that they had turned to solid ice. Things were mostly packed firm snow, but it was still fairly slow going due to the uneven snowpack. Pretty along the river and a good way to keep out of the wind! (8.0 miles)

Saturday morning, I headed out on the roads. Cold and breezy, with a bit of ice through the fairgrounds and on the sidewalks along Elm St. just to keep things interesting. (8.0 miles)

After lunch, Mom and Dad joined us for a bright, sunshiney, rather icy walk on the trails at Wolfe's Neck. We hadn't been out there in ages, as the park had simply been too busy through most of the pandemic, but even though there were a fair number of cars in the lot when we arrived, it seemed we took a different enough route from most that we didn't cross paths with too many people. I really do love it out there and is always good to be along the ocean. After our walk, we stopped at the farm to check out the animals in the barn before heading home. A fun little visit and nice to get out on such a nice afternoon! (1.5 miles walked)

This morning, I hit the roads again, this time running the River/Meadow loop. It was cold but bright and calm. I've definitely been struggling with the long-run motivation and while this wasn't truly a 'long' run per say, I was glad to feel decent and be able to move right along. A good way to wrap up the running week. (12.0 miles)