Summertime!

Busy start to the work week. Got out for an after dinner walk with Ryan on Tuesday. Lovely evening but there is so much pollen... everything is yellow! (1.7 miles walked)

Wednesday was Sam's last day of exams and final day as a 9th grader! Feels like it went so quickly, and can't believe we have a soon-to-be 10th grader. Super proud of how Sam handled the start of high schoo. She settled in well, rising to the challenge of both academics and swimming, and has maintained a good group of friends, hard work, silliness and a down to earth attitude that I truly appreciate. We are lucky parents for sure 💗

Before dropping her off at school, I headed out on the cart paths for a run around 6:15. Foggy and very green. (6.0 miles)

Then for dinner we headed downtown to celebrate a successful year with pizza at Nomad. Yum! 🎉🎉

Thursday, I got in an early morning road run around town. Nice out but very muggy. And the sunrise is so early these days that even though I was out the house by 5:30, the sun was already fully risen! (7.1 miles)

I guess it really is summer… Friday's late morning run (after doing all the around town errands like farmer's market, groceries, picking up cat food, dropping the recycling at the transfer station and picking up books at the library) out into the Cathance featured overgrown grass, mugginess and deer flies 🤪🤪 But also first rose pogonia of the season 🤩 and swamp candles too.

Later in the afternoon, I joined Ryan for a walk around the school block. Very very muggy. (1.7 miles walked)

Saturday morning, I headed out early with the plan to get in my long run, and although it was a nice, bright, sunny morning, I didn’t feel great. So I just shuffled along and cut it short. I know myself well enough by now to realize that if I'm not feeling great, or am a bit overwhelmed with non-running stuff, and I have the chance to push the long run off to the next day, I'm better off doing that. I am certainly able to push through if necessary, but most of the time, giving myself grace and switching things around is the best course of action. Pretty views down along the Androscoggin, and found a short although very janky and overgrown little loop out in the Highlands that I didn’t know existed. (10.1 miles)

We had a mellow rest of the day, I went to bed early, and then I headed out around 7:45 on Sunday to get in the long run. I was planning on hill repeats for my second run of the weekend, so I figured, sure, let’s make the long run as painful as possible and do hill repeats for 5 additinoal miles... 😂 never said I was smart… reasonably painful but it was a beautiful morning, cooler and less humid, and thankfully Ryan joined me for the final repeats, which was a nice boost even if he did say I was not a good conversationalist as we were trucking (or maybe more accurately slowly moving) uphill 🤪🤪 (15.0 miles)

Then to celebrate Father's Day, we headed down to Five Islands for a late lunch with Mom and Dad. Beautiful blue sky afternoon and quite breezy, but we found a sheltered spot and enjoyed a delicious lunch! Yum!

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there, especially the three we love most, Ryan, Dad and Dana. We love you 💗