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)