14 & 24

Although I am sure I have said this every year Sam's birthday has rolled around, time flies, and it is crazy that we now have a 14 year old! We are incredibly lucky to have this kind-hearted, loving, funny, smart, caring, sarcastic, level-headed daughter as part of our family. We love you to the moon and back, kiddo! 💖

She also lucked out this year and Monday, her official birthday, was a day off from school for Indigenous Peoples' Day. Hurary!

After a quiet morning and presents for Sam, I headed out for a run on the powerlines. Pretty morning. Cool and bright out. Did a lot of stretching and rolling and the back was feeling ok. Phew. Still kept it pretty chill. Ran across the street and on the Foreside trail along the Androscoggin. The cut-through trail back up to the road below the pond was flooded and flowing like a stream, but otherwise other than the regular big puddles on the powerlines, things were in reasonable shape, and although it seems we lost some leaves on Saturday, the foliage is looking nice. (10.0 miles)

Mom and Dad somehow ended up with Covid (again) the other week, but luckily only had mild symptoms. Still, we didn't want to miss out on seeing them for Sam's birthday and they are 9 days out, so we decided to take our celebration outside today. So, after a quick lunch, we headed over to their place for presents and cake on the patio in the sunshine to celebrate the birthday girl! 💗🎂

Vinyl is back in! 🌟

Then we took a nice walk down to the swinging bridge and back to further enjoy the sunshine and time together before heading home. (1.1 miles walked)

Tuesday was Ryan and my 24th anniversary. It truly is hard to imagine that we have been married for so long, but I wouldn't want to spend this crazy life with anyone else. Love you, Ryan 💖Sadly, it really truly was just a regular, and busy, day for all of us with work and swim, so we did not do anything to celebrate, although at least we had had our dinner out the other weekend as an early anniversary date!  

Wednesday, I was working from home so snuck out at 10:00 for a run down to the river and back. A bit overcast and humid out, but still nice to get out. (6.0 miles)

Got out for a late afternoon walk on Thursday around the school block after work and errands, and before making dinner. (1.7 miles walked)

Then on Friday, I headed over to Bradbury after dropping Sam at school and stopping to pick up veggies at the farmer's market. Nice, cool, crisp morning. Took one fall - hit a root hidden under all the leaves, had a rather unhappy stomach 🤦🏼‍♀️, and later in the run, there were just so many people out that the trails seemed quite crowded! Looped around on the mountainside for some hillwork. Pretty out in the woods. (8.0 miles)

Ryan had headed over to Chalk Pond for the weekend so I picked Sam up at school and after getting a birthday present for Anne, we stopped for blizzards at DQ. Gotta get one last one in before they close for the season! And then it was off to swim. It always seems like such a waste to sit inside all practice, especially on a nice day, so I took a walk and then caught the last 30 minutes of practice. (2.0 miles walked)

Saturday morning, I headed out a little after 7:00 and ran the cart paths before doing a loop out on the powerlines. A nice cool bright morning! (12.0 miles)

Sam celebrated her birthday this year by taking Rohan, Anne and Lauren to the Taylor Swift Eras Tour movie. 💃💃 I dropped them off at little before noon, they had lunch in the theater and then went to the arcade after. A fun afternoon with friends! 😎😍 and then we had dinner and cupcakes to celebrate Anne and Sam. A good day all around!

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Only 39 degrees when I got downstairs this morning - brrr! - so the heat went on! Also wore tights and a long sleeve shirt for the long run, and honestly was pretty comfortable until the final few miles when it had truly warmed up. Did another classic Danielle meander on the roads and trails around town. Hit the cart paths, Cathance, Highland Trail, Town Landing trail and then out on the powerlines. The singletrack in the Cathance and on the Highland Trail was slow going with all the downed leaves, but beautiful bright morning to be out wandering around in the woods! Only one more long run left before Rim to River. It's getting closer!😶Definitely excited but also anxious as I do feel like I've left a little on the table this time around in terms of getting in the longer runs past 20 miles, but I also know I've put in some good, consistent mileage this year with at a half dozen solid three-day blocks of 40 miles, so hopefully that all counts for something! (20.0 miles)