Vacation Week

A busy vacation week with her high school state swim meet, a Y swim meet and fun with friends for Sam and a mix of work and a bit of time off for me.

Monday was a holiday day and the start of vacation. Sam slept in and had a quiet morning, while I did a bit of work in the morning as there were things that didn't get crossed off my to do list last week that needed to be completed. Then we all headed up to the Y in the afternoon, with swim practice for Sam and a walk for Ryan and I. Cold, bright and breezy. Turkey vultures circling above, and a quiet waterfront. (2.6 miles walked)

Tuesday was the girls state high school swim meet. I dropped Sam off for warm ups and 9:00 and then hit the roads from the field house for a few miles. Then it was back to the pool to watch cheer for the girls as they wrapped up the season! It has been so fun to watch this kid, and her team, swim so well and have such a blast together this season. As someone who loved running on a team in HS and college, it makes my heart happy to see her enjoying her time on a team of such supportive, kind, strong kids. (6.0 miles)

Up and out early on Wednesday morning for some road miles before work. Cold, calm and clear. (7.0 miles)

Went into the office on Thursday, and Ryan did the heavy lifting of transportation so that Sam, Lauren and Rohan could hang out for the day. Came home to a whole lot of giggling 😊😉

Snow and then rain on Friday morning so I got a few things crossed off my to do list, got a bit of work done, and then after dropping Sam at Anne's after lunch to hang out, I finally headed out for my run. Took the powerlines out, ran the dirt road backwards to hole 7, ran holes 7 & 6, then joined back up with the road to run the rest of the loop with some side roads and back on the powerlines. Back roads and cart paths were not suitable for road shoes 😂 but high powerlines route is clear of snow. This weather is crap but at least it wasn’t windy! 🤷‍♀️🤪 (7.0 miles)

Saturday was a swim meet up at the Y, so I got up and out to get in my run around 8:15. For a change of pace, I decided I'd try out the powerlines. I figured it would be less than ideal, but wanted to try to stay out of the wind. As anticipated, found a mixed bag of conditions, with a lot of wet ice to crunch on with my spikes. (8.0 miles)

Got home, hit the farmer's market for veggies and Frosty's for donuts and then took Sam up to the Y for warm up. We watched the first part of the meet on the computer and then headed up around 3:00 to catch Sam in her 200 breast and 500 free in person. The breaststroke is not her favorite, but she did a great job, and had a solid 500 too!

Sunday, Ryan went to Freeport for the TMR run, and after I took Sam down to Harpswell to hang out with Lauren, I parked out at Pennelville to get in my run. Bright, sunshiney, cold and a bit breezier than I had hoped for, but always nice to get down to the ocean. (12.0 miles)

After lunch and a bit of house cleaning, I headed across the street for walk #2 of the week, one of my goals for the month being 2 walks a week toward my overall walking goal. Kristen called a few minutes in while out on her own walk so we chatted the whole way 😊 (1.7 miles walked)

And just because… Gigi does love her boxes! 😻

Mid-February

A little bit of everything this week. Wind, beautiful sunrises, snow, a funeral and fun with friends. And of course swimming and work, but those are a given 😂

Monday was a rest day. Tuesday, I had planned to run in the afternoon but it was so gray and uninspiring out that I simply could not summon the energy. Blah. Just didn’t feel like running but wanted to get a bit of movement before I sat back at my computer to get more work done, so went for a walk around the school block. (2.0 miles walked)

Wednesday, I headed out on the road at 6:30 and caught a truly beautiful sunrise crossing the Androscoggin, but it was so windy out!! Holy moly, I was getting blown around out there! 💨💨 Ran into Bill on the way up Summer Street and caught up with him for a minute or two as he pulled pull me up the hill before peeling off to head home. (7.0 miles)

😍😎

Thursday, I had a number of meetings and knew I wouldn't be able to fit in an afternoon run. That was enough to actually get me out the door into the darkness at 5:31 am. Cold and windy but nice and clear with a lovely glow on the horizon. Looked so lovely on the back of the loop that I ran back on the powerlines just to catch another glimpse of the sunrise. (6.1 miles)

An inch or two of fluffy snow fell overnight. Had to sit in on a few meetings and calls on Friday morning for work, so didn’t get out until later, but at least by the time I got out, the sidewalks were mostly clear. Back road a bit slick. Windy and cold but the blanket of snow covering everything is lovely. Looped and wandered around Highland Green. (9.0 miles)

Crow tracks

Mouse art!

Saturday morning, I was up and out early as Mom and Dad were picking me up at 7:20 so we could head down to Mass for the funeral for Andy's dad, Dennis. Only had time for a short run. Cold, overcast and calm. (6.4 miles)

The service was nice, and it was good to see Neal who came as well, and of course to be able to talk with and hug Andy, Tina and the rest of the family. As always in situations like this, you wish you were getting together for a happier occassion, but I was glad we were able to go and be there. Dennis was a great man, and it was lovely to see so many people there to remember him. 💗

Got home late afternoon and spent a bit of time on the couch before Ryan and I headed out for date night at Enoteca and to use the gift card Mom and Dad nicely got us for Christmas! We always so enjoy going and sitting at the bar to talk with Henry, and of course, the food was delish! As was my espresso martini! 🍸🍹

Sunday was Val's birthday run up at Riverlands. This is always such a fun way to celebrate and get together! We truly are so lucky to have Val as a friend 💗And Ryan, who has been feeling much better, decided to join too, so that was even better. The morning dawned bright, cold and windy, and we all trundled down through the woods to set up on the ice with food and drink and a fire and lots of chit chatting. Then it was off for the run, a 10k out and back that people did as many times as they wanted. It was great to be able to catch up here and there with so many different people as we ran along and then after back on the ice. Always a good time!!😍 Conditions were suprisigingly decent, with a coating of snow atop packed snow and ice. Longest run in a while! (12.0 miles)

False Spring

The end of this week has been warm and spring-like. Always weird to have such weather in what I consider to be the middle of winter! Perhaps this is the new norm, but it just doesn't seem right.

Ryan was over in VT at conference at the start of the week. Thankfully Mom and Dad were able to take Sam to LRSC on Monday since I had a late afternoon meeting, but even with that, I sat at one of the tables above the bleachers overlooking the track during HS practice on my computer. The work to do list is long these days. It was actually a pretty decent place to get some work done. And was the field house this busy while we were there at school? Did we just not notice? The baseball team came in to start practice just before we were leaving -  that means a 9:00 pm practice start time! Aie!

I had to go in to work for a half day on Friday, so with that in mind, I took a bit of time on Tuesday morning to get out for a run before I headed into the office. Headed out a little after 8:00 am and ran an out and back on Highland Green Road. Cold, bright and breezy. (6.0 miles)

The days are getting noticeably longer. We've seen some pretty sunsets driving home from LRSC practice around 5:00 pm. 

Worked at home on Wednesday. Headed out around 9:45 for a run on the powerlines. Sun was warm and definitely softening the snow on the way back but otherwise mostly nice and solid and runnable with some ice and bare spots here and there. (7.0 miles)

Ryan got home late in the evening on Wednesday and as I had an afternoon meeting on Thursday, he got Sam up to the Y for swim practice. I was able to leave the office with enough time to get in a walk around the school block before starting dinner. Spring-like out there. (1.7 miles walked)

Up and out early on Friday to get in some miles before heading into the office. Pretty morning with some nice color in the sky as I crossed the Androscoggin. A lot of black ice made things a bit sketchy though. (6.3 miles)

Sam had the high school KVAC conference swim meet up at the Y on Saturday morning. I got in my miles by running from home up to the Y, arriving in time to change and get a quick snack before getting up into the stands just before the national anthem started. Damp and quite foggy with a fair number of sketchy wet icy spots. Felt a bit ragged. (10.8 miles)

Sam, and her entire team, did some great swimming! There was a lot of energy with so many fans up in the stands, and it was fun to watch everyone swim well. A great way to finish up the regular season! Go Eagles!

Getting a pep talk from Coach before the 500 😍

Some solid swimming right there! 👏🏊

Sam and the rest of the team went to lunch at Wild Oats after the meet, so as Irene and Dana had come up to watch, the six of us went across the parking lot to Flight Deck for pizza and beer, which was delish and a nice way to catch up before Irene and Dana had to head home.

It had warmed up a lot by the time we got home, so Ryan and I took a short walk around the school block before spending the rest of the afternoon and evening on the couch relaxing 😉 (1.7 miles walked)

Wrapped up the running week this morning with a run around town, mostly sticking to the roads, but with a bit of icy trail, bare Sandy powerlines and muddy backroad thrown in to keep things interesting. Bright and warm out. (10.0 miles)

A bird's nest found for the TMR Bingo game

Shoes did not look so white after this stretch 😆

Also, this has somehow become very true...

49!

Holy crap, how am I 49 years old?!? It's hard to wrap my head around the fact that I am now only one year away from being 50. Perhaps this is just how you feel as you progress in age, but I always thought of 50 as so.old and now I am just about there, and while I am most assuredly not the same bright eyed and bushy tailed young girl that I once was and I have to acknowledge that things are a bit more creaky, there are many more bags under my eyes, I take a while longer to recover and on and on in many ways, on the other hand, I don't feel old. You know? It is a strange dichotomy. 

In any event, it was a slow start to the week on the running front, but otherwise, life has been speeding along at a high pace with work and swim. 

More snow than anticipated fell overnight Sunday and into the morning hours on Monday, so Sam had a 2 hour delay. Then as last Friday night's swim meet was rescheduled to Monday evening due to Friday's weather, we spent a few hours at the pool in the evening, cheering on the team and enjoying the extra festivities for Senior Night. Such a fun atmosphere! And Sam won her 200 and 500 free events too. So exciting! 

Ryan was down on the deck timing and got this photo during one of Sam's events: 

Look at those shoulder muscles!

Fun on deck

Senior night fun

Left work early enough on Tuesday to get in a run but was feeling tired and rather uninspired so I went for a walk around the school block instead. A bit icy. (2.1 miles walked)

Wednesday was late start and then I had a 9:00 meeting, so I headed out to Highland Green around 10:30 for my first run of the week. Back to my old habits 😂😂 Icy enough on the sidewalks and back road that I was glad I was in trail shoes. Also meant I could do the river loop on the mostly packed trails and be ok. Always nice to get down to the river, and pretty with the snow on the trees. (6.0 miles)

Thursday, I took Sam up to the Y for swim practice and then headed out on the roads for a run. Overcast, damp afternoon, and I was definitely overdressed. A pair of common mergansers seen in the inlet. Just getting it done, but woohoo, actually got in a few sub-9:00 miles there - HA! Maybe finally coming back? (6.0 miles)

Frosty's has been closed for their January break, but opened up Thursday, so on Friday morning I headed out early to not only get the grocery shopping done and library books and recycling dropped off, but to pick up some donuts! 😋🍩Delish!

Then it was off to Brad to meet up for Val for a run. Great to catch up and the trails were nicely groomed and packed. Almost balmy out there, so the trails were a bit tacky with the spikes towards the end but pretty great! Always nice when there is good snow running! (7.5 miles)

Friday evening was another swim meet, this one up in Augusta, so we all went up to cheer. Sam had some solid races and looked strong! And it was a bit smooshed but sort of fun to sit right on the deck to get some closer-up photos!

Look at that rise coming out of the water! Movin'!

Saturday, I was up early and headed out around 7:30 for a run on the powerlines and Gone Fishing. No 49 mile or 49k run to celebrate the day, definitely not in shape for that 😂, instead the longest but still just barely double-digit run since Rim to River will have to do 🤪 Cold and windy. Powerlines either really nice or the opposite. Gone Fishing groomed but quite icy underfoot. (10.0 miles)

Then it was home to eat a donut with my protein recovery drink before doing a few errands and dropping Sam at the Y for yet another swim meet 😉😆

Multi-tasked and watched the swim meet live stream along with the Olympic marathon trials, which were fun to see! And then it was over to Mom and Dad's for some champagne to celebrate, a delicious dinner and of course, the requisite crazy cake! Thanks, Mom! A nice way to wrap up my birthday day 😊🎂💗

Sunday morning dawned cold, bright, and breezy. Ran roads around Topsham and Brunswick. One eagle seen soaring over the Highlands. And a Jeremy Litchfield sighting. Finally managed to get in the miles for a 40 mile week 🤪 It's only taken three months. Ha! 😂😂 Then it was home to a piece of cake with my protein recovery drink! 😉😋(10.4 miles)

Sam and Lauren went to see a movie, have lunch and to wander around Target in the afternoon, so Ryan and I headed over to the Cathance for a walk after lunch. It had warmed up and a nice afternoon for a spike walk in the woods. Trails were fairly icy, but as always pretty along the river. (2.25 miles walked)

January wrap-up: 

113.54 run miles

9.37 walk miles

0.0 XC miles

This is my lowest mileage January in a number of years, with Covid, even though mild, definitely knocking me off track. But, as always, grateful to be able to get out there nonetheless. And the hope for February is to keep the mileage steady at 40 miles each week, and start back up with some strength training, which I really slacked on at the end of 2023. That will hopefully put me in good stead come March to up the mileage and add back in some hill training.