This word describes my mood, the weather and the conditions this week. All over the place!
Monday was an indoor track walk. While it has gotten light enough to get outside now during practice, conditions have not been conducive with sidewalks either icy or wet or both. I think the outdoor swim walks will have to wait until the spring session starts up. (2.2 miles walked)
Tuesday ended up being a totally off day. I don't recall, was the weather bad? I feel like it was, or maybe that is just my lack of enthusiasm this week talking 😂 Ah well.
Was working from home on Wednesday, so after I dropped Sam at school, I headed over to run the Gone Fishing trails. Trails were very solid, quite literally, with a lot of stretches of hard ice, and some nice hard packed snow stretches out in the further reaches of the system where there had not been as much traffic. Happy to have been able to get out. (6.2 miles)
One of the things I’ve realized in my training over the past few years is that in order to hit my yearly mileage goal and also take two days off from running every week, I like to have a bare minimum run mileage number. For me, it’s six miles. Of course, there are exceptions due to tapering, coming back from racing and injury/sickness, etc, but that is my benchmark on shorter run days. So, on a day like Friday when I’m seriously unenthused and feeling pissy about how climate change has created these extreme peaks and valleys in our weather and how it should not be 50 degrees in mid February and it’s oh so ugly with bare ground and slick ice and it’s windy as all get out (which btw, along with 33 and rainy, and high80s/90s and humid, is one of my least favorite running conditions especially when i can’t hide from the wind in the woods due to crappy trail conditions), I tell myself to just go run the bare minimum and that will be good enough. Gosh, can you hear the crankiness?! 🤪😬😂😱 Headed over to Highland Green again, and even got in a bit on the back road, which started out promisingly down to dirt but I had to turn around once it became more ice than sand. (6.0 miles)
Got in another track walk on Friday evening. (2.2 miles walked)
I was hoping for an attitude turnaround on Saturday, but honestly I wasn't feeling much better. Temps had dropped 40 degrees by the time I woke up in the morning, and I really wasn't looking forward to an icy road run. So, despite knowing what I'd probably find out there, I put my spikes in my pocked and headed across the street. Didn't find anything I wasn't expecting, about 60% ice, 40% bare ground. Honestly, it would be better if it all just melted at this rate. The ice is hard and thick and I'm going to need a new pair of spikes next season at this rate, they are wearing down quickly with so much solid ice running! Did a bit of a random route and found a few bingo squares while I was out there too. (9.1 miles)
After we all got ourselves situated on the island, Val laid out the course instructions, to which most of us said, what was all that blah blah blah, we'll just follow you! 😂😁 So the group headed back across the ice and up the snowmobile trail. Compared to conditions around home, it was heavenly! Definitely some icy spots, but mostly hard packed snow. Ryan and I had decided we would run together for the day and found ourselves chatting with George and KB, a new runner, about the AT and other things. Then it was off onto the ice again to tag the second island before we headed back.
The trail had become an ice river. Had to bushwack up along the edges to stay upright!
The ice had frozen in step-like formation down the trail
We had dinner at Mom and Dad's on Saturday evening and then Sam spent the night so that Ryan and I could head up to Riverlands on Sunday morning for Val's fatass birthday run. The plan called for us to walk 1.5 miles up the trail and out across the frozen Androscoggin to an island with picnic tables and a fire pit, and then do some loops from there, hitting a second island en route. Apparently, in the summer you can camp out on these islands, which is pretty cool!
It was cold but bright, and spirits were high as we met in the parking lot for the walk out. Despite a lot of noise coming from people dragging sleds and all of our spikes going crunch crunch crunch underfoot, it was fun to have some time to catch up with people as we walked along. (1.58 miles walked)
Ryan and I decided to do the additional short loop to make up the longer route on our first round, so instead of heading back to the aid station, we continued down the snowmobile trail back to the parking lot and then returned on the singletrack trails. We were joined by Jose, a Spaniard now living in Auburn. It was fun to meet him and hear a bit about his travels. He was also quite speedy!
Got back to the aid station island at 7 miles, grabbed a bit of food and water, and then quickly got cold! The wind was picking up and I most certainly had generated enough heat to be sweating on the first loop, so we didn't linger too long before heading back out. It was just Ryan and I on this trip, a bit quieter and more tired, but still fun in that 'hey did we actually run up this hill on the first loop?' kind of way😂
Running on the frozen river was most definitely a unique experience. There were several different textures of ice underfoot and a few creaks and cracks and groans here and there too. On our second trip to the second island, when it was just the two of us, it was very quiet out on the ice, which was neat but also a bit eerie.
This was Ryan's longest run since Hamsterwheel, and my feet were starting to hurt from the uneveniness and the pressure of the spikes, so we were both happy to return to the aid station with our watches reading just a little shy of 12 miles, where we changed clothes and hung out by the fire relaxing and chatting with friends. (11.96 miles)
After a bit of hanging out, the two of us along with several others, decided it was time to make the trek back to the cars. The walk felt a bit more cumbersome this time around but we were all happy to have had the chance to join in on Val's birthday celebration and get in some miles on the trail (and ice!) with friends and share some miles with Ryan. And for me, it was just the attitude adjustment that I needed. Yay running! (1.57 miles walked)
Sam and Mom had made cheesecake earlier in the day, so we enjoyed the deliciousness after dinner. The perfect end to a great day! Yum!
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