2012 Bradbury Bruiser Race Report

Well, finally, a Bradbury race this season where I actually felt like I was racing! I was still much slower than last year (1:55:20 by my watch, compared to 1:50 last year), but at least I felt like I was in the right mindset, and was willing and able to push it during the race. We got a fair amount of rain last night - although admittedly I didn't even hear it! I was exhausted, and we had the windows closed and the A/C on in an attempt to dry the house out a bit - which left the course pretty slick. There were a number of puddles of course, but it was the slippery mud, roots and bridges that were the biggest 'slow down' factors of the day for me.

In any event, after a bit of chit chat while milling around the parking lot and a quick 3/4 mile warm-up, I headed over to the start. I went fairly close to the front, not wanting to get stuck behind too many people on the twisty turny first few miles along the Island Trail. The funny thing is that after we exited the Island Trail, it was just me and the guy behind me. No one else near us either ahead or behind me. We ran that way for a while, until eventually things shifted a bit, and we got passed and he passed me, and then, well, it all sort of blurs together in those middle miles. I just kept trying to push forward. I probably let a few people by me a little too easily, but overall, I was fairly happy with how I kept up the pace. I had a few slips and almost falls along the way, but managed to stay upright, thankfully!

I felt strong when we turned onto the snowmobile trail and climbed upward. Somewhere along the way, Bob Dunfey went by me, but I managed to pass him back at the aid station and held him off the rest of the way, which was a first for this season! :) I felt strong on the climb despite getting passed, although I had a bit of a energy let-down soon after. With the slight change in course around mile 8.5, it seemed like there was some additional "O"esque intestine that we went through, but I was on the heels of a guy in silver and he was a good carrot. I wanted to stay with him, and maybe even pass him at some point. Eventually, somewhere along the crazy twilight zone of the "O", he got slightly off track for a few steps, and although I told him to hop back in front, he declined. So, since I didn't want him passing me back, I ran as hard as I possibly was able, and thanked the gods above when I finally had wound my way through that last wacky rock outcropping. I knew the rock wall would be in sight soon. The end was in sight! Hurray. I ran the final stretch on the wide snowmobile trails as fast as I could, happy to be able to stretch out my legs for the final few yards - it felt so good after all that silly twisting!

Although not my fastest, this round wasn't my slowest, and since I was able to put in a good effort and push along the way, I declare myself happy with this one. Sad to not have been a contender this season,  but as George said later, these races will be here every year, and the most important thing is that we be here every year with the right attitude and with a continued love for running. And so with that, onward and upward.

Many thanks, as always, to Ian and Ryan for putting on one heck of a trail series, and to all the volunteers who helped make it all come together on race day!

The Foot Book

Morning rendition of "The Foot Book" :)

 

Turkeys

I had some sort of wacky nightmare last night, and woke up to Ryan shaking me just as I realized the screams I had thought I had only been uttering in my dream were in fact actually coming out of my mouth. Weird. I never have nightmares. I wonder what that was all about? I did fall back to sleep but between that, Sam waking up, and the two cats roaming around the bed all night, it wasn't a very restful one, and I woke up feeling more tired than I had when I had gone to bed! Aie.

Lack of energy led to a slow loop around the Heath Loop on a foggy, humid morning, but I did get a good smile in when I saw a big group of turkeys roaming around in the Mt. Ararat woods on the way out. I counted 17 of them! The Heath was, of course, also beautiful - the cotton sedge set against the turning grasses, and the spider webs sparkling with the morning dew.

Perhaps I can just will myself to sleep well tonight, what do you think? Or do some sort of sleep dance?! There's got to be something like that that will work, right?! :-) Any ideas, let me know!

Webby

There was a heavy dew on everything this morning when I headed out for my run. The grass sparkled, and the spiders had apparently been very busy overnight, as evidenced by the long strands of webbing strung across the trails. In the brush under the powerlines, neat, round little webs looked like Christmas ornaments hung between branches and leaves. I ran past clusters of late summer asters, some of which were taller than me! On the return trip, a gaggle of turkeys crossed the dirt road in front of me - as I got closer, I was able to count eight little guys, and three more mature looking birds. I wonder if it was in fact two families traveling together and I just didn't see the other parent? Or do older birds stay with the flock sometimes? They chattered amongst themselves as I ran by.

The run itself was fine, but nothing special. I didn't have the energy I had hoped for, and my right leg was tight again. Grrr. Maybe Monday's run, almost all on pavement, at a "quick" pace, was too much? Oh well, hopefully a little extra rolling and stretching over the next few days will help, and I'll feel good for the Bruiser on Sunday!

Oppressive

I didn't sleep last night, maybe because after a few days/nights of cool and crisp air, things went back to feeling heavy and humid as the remains of Tropical Storm Issac rolled into the state yesterday. When Sam and I woke up this morning, it was dark and dreary out, with a low fog and the thermometer reading 71. Ugh.

I headed out for a run after dropping Sam off at daycare, but I really wasn't feeling it. I was tired. My legs felt heavy. It felt like the humidity was literally weighing me down. I had felt so wonderful on Monday's run, which made today's run feel all the more terrible. Oh well. A heavy rain started to fall with around a mile to go. The cool raindrops felt good on my skin, but didn't help much with the air quality. I made my way slowly through 4 miles and called it good. Hopefully it will be a better, and lighter feeling, run tomorrow!

Run and Fun at Wolfe's Neck

We woke to a beautiful morning. Blue skies, a bit of a breeze, the air crisp and cool and dry. Ahhh, fall, I love you! I hit the road around 7:15, leaving behind a rather bewildered Sammy: "You take the blue car and meet us at Wolfe's Neck, Mama?" "No, Sammy, Mama's running to Wolfe's Neck and will meet you there." The first few miles of the run found me wandering the streets of downtown Topsham and Brunswick, making my way out to Pleasant Hill Road. Once there, I ran along the Crystal Spring Farm fields, past sheep eating in their pastures, past the Bowdoin Organic Gardens where the yellow, orange and rust heads of the sunflowers were turned up towards the billowing clouds above. They had already hayed some of the fields so it was too late in the season to see any Bobolinks, which was too bad, but it certainly wasn't ugly. I turned onto Casco around mile 6, which marked the start of the slight incline that would continue, with only a few flats and downhills, until I reached the farm house at the top of the dirt road at Wolfe's Neck Farm proper. Despite the majority of this run being on pavement, it really was a beautiful run. Off Casco, onto Flying Point Road, past large fields that swept down to big houses and the ocean, and onto the dirt road into the campground. Past the farm, where the Belted Galloways grazed out in the fields of swaying green grasses, across the inlet, looking out onto the water, and up the final hill, turning left towards the park. I felt amazingly good for most of the 13 miles, chugging along at under 9:00 pace.

My Garmin beeped 13 miles just after I turned off onto the trail system, and there my pace slowed fairly dramatically, with the final 3 miles coming in at over 11:00 pace. But honestly, I wasn't running hard, I was just enjoying the meander through the woods and down along the water, taking trails we hadn't hiked on before. I circled through the parking lot at mile 15, but since the bright yellow beacon wasn't there, I said a quick hello to Tami and headed back out for the final mile. As I was coming down the old woods road towards the parking lot, noting that I had only about a 1/4 mile left, I saw the Matrix drive by. I did a quick lap up through the picnic field, and was back at the car just as Ryan was taking Sam out. How's that for timing?! I had told Ryan to plan on 2 1/2 hours, and my watch was reading 2:30:35. I'd say that's pretty good! 

After a quick change, we walked down to the beach, where the tide was coming in. We sat on the rocks and watched Sam play at the water's edge. We picked shells and dug in the sand. We picked up hermit crabs, and laughed as they skittered across our palms. We sat with our feet in a tidal pool and ate a snack. We had a bit of a cry (and by we, I mean Sam :-)), as our little bum got scratched by a rock while picking periwinkles off the rocky ledges. We watched as the water rose, and finally made our retreat. A fine morning, indeed! :-)

And since no Wolfe's Neck post is complete with photos, here are a few:

Digging in the sand

Sunny day

High tide

"Mama, put down your phone and hold out your hand, so I can put this mud in it"

Looking for treasures

Watching the hermit crabs in the shallows waters

Rain

Well, I never got to test out whether a dinner of california rolls and veggie tempura rolls, followed by a big bowl of gelato made for good night-before-a-long-run fuel. We were planning to take Meg and Chris to Wolfe's Neck this morning, to give them a chance to enjoy a place we love. And what is more Maine than a walk through the woods to a rocky beach? Sadly, Mother Nature had other plans, and we woke up to rain. Part of the fun of the plan was that I was going to run to Wolfe's Neck from home and then meander the trails for a few extra miles to get in my long run this morning before meeting up with everyone at the beach. Well, since we weren't going to hit the beach in the rain, I put off those plans and decided just to hang out with everyone this morning instead.

Since Meg and Chris are allergic to cats and therefore can only take so much time at our house, we headed to LLBean mid-morning to look at the fishies and burn off some energy before heading to Sam's favorite lunch spot, Fresh Batch. Lots of other people with kids had the same idea as us - both LLBean and Fresh Batch were full of kiddos! Of course, the sun came out right after Meg and Chris headed south - thanks for the visit, guys! It was great to see you! - isn't that always the way?

I ended up finally heading out for my run around 3:00, after Sam had woken up for her nap. Ryan, who had run while she was sleeping, noted that there was a pair playing paintball over by the quarry, so I decided I would access the river another way. I passed by the quarry, and continued on the back dirt road, thinking I would be bypassing the potential for getting hit with a paintball while innocently running through the woods. Well, as it turns out, the paintball crew had moved onto that side of the quarry, and so I ran into two of them on the road, and had a paintball whiz behind me as I was running along. The pair on the road were apologetic, saying that their buddy was shooting for the other buddy across the way and wasn't aiming for me, but the pop sure sounded close! In any event, since I didn't get hit and I ended up at the stairs down to the ecology center with about the same mileage as if I had taken the quarry and the Heath, it all worked out :)

I decided to really steer clear of the quarry on the way back, so I popped off the Heath trail onto the cart path and then came back on the main road. I ended up with 5 surprisingly sweaty miles given the cool temps.

Sounds like it is supposed to be better weather tomorrow, so my plan of running to Wolfe's Neck is back on. It will mean most of my miles are road miles, but I think it will be a nice run nonetheless. Plus it gives me a chance to run on the park trails, which I'm looking forward to!

Lovely

Both Sam and I got a good night's sleep last night. I woke up once, and I am pretty sure she didn't move all night - hurray! Sam woke up in a cheery mood and we had breakfast and played together for an hour or so before I headed out for my run. It was a beautiful September (!) morning - crisp and clear - perfect! The hard rains last night had left little rivers of debris along the trail, and created some nice muddy puddles to stomp in. I ran out and back on the powerlines and on the trail that parallels Homeplace to get in a nice six miles. Still feeling slightly tired, but overall, a good run at a decent pace.

Unfortunately, I didn't get out early enough to have time to join Ryan, Sam,  and Auntie Meg and Uncle Chris, who are up visiting for the weekend, for donuts at Frosty's. Had to head to work - darn! Hopefully they ate a few extra donuts for me :-)

Morning Light

Well, I never quite got around to that 11 mile run. Hmph. I really hate it when that happens. I suppose I could have gone yesterday morning, but by the time 5:00 am rolled around, which is when I was supposed to get up and get ready to run, I had been up pretty much every hour from 9:00 pm on. Sam had a very rough night, despite or perhaps because she was so exhausted. This is her first week in the "big kid" room at daycare - she and all her little buddies have now been split up between three rooms, and are mixed in with the 4 year olds. She is very excited about her new room, but I think she has just gotten a bit too overstimulated and exhausted this week because of it. On Wednesday night before bed, she said to me, "Mama, I am so tired because of all my running around in my big kid room at daycare." You'd think this would mean she would sleep well, but apparently not. In any event, none of us slept well on Wednesday night.

Well, at least she comes by it honestly - last night I was exhausted myself (see prior paragraph) and went up to bed at 9:00. Did I sleep? Nope. I twisted and turned, and woke up and was uncomfortable all night long. I had already decided to skip the 11 miles - what I really need is a good 16 miler this weekend, and doing 11 miles so close to that is in all reality just too much for me at this point. But I knew I needed to at least get some sort of run in this morning! I chose to get up early in the hopes of getting my run in before Sam woke up, although of course, that didn't work out and she and Ryan were up around 6:00 :-) I suppose that was just inevitable but oh well!

I waited until I could see a bit of light in the sky, and headed out right around 5:30am. There was plenty of light out in the open, but it certainly was still dark in the woods as I made my way over to Highland Green Road on the Mt. Ararat trails! I knew no one would be out on the golf course, so the plan was to get in 6 miles on the cart paths. I was feeling pretty exhausted from two nights of little sleep, but it was a gorgeous morning to be out. As I ran along, the sky got brighter, the rising sun casting a beautiful golden light on the white fluffy clouds up above. The paths were lined with goldenrod and late summer asters. It was quite except for a few crickets chirping. Mist rose from the little ponds, and as I ran along the marshy area between holes 8 and 9, the water was so flat I could see a perfect reflection of the blue sky and clouds in the surface. I was definitely dragging a bit in the final mile, but overall, felt pretty strong. I think I might finally be seeing some progress in my running - or perhaps it is just the cooler and crisper air - but regardless, it is nice to be feeling good while running again. The only downer is that I just have not quite managed to get in the miles I would like this week. Oh well. I still have September and October, right?! :-)

Second Verse, Same as the First

Ah! Fall! I can feel it coming. Last night, we had the windows open and there was a cold breeze floating through the house. Lovely. We all slept well, and Sam slept in again too, which was an added bonus. Both Ryan and I were up before her, which never happens! I had actually intended to run 11 miles this morning, with a plan of leaving at 7:00 am and having Ryan take Sam to daycare, but since Sam didn't wake up at her typical early morning hour, we ended up shuting off the alarm and enjoying a bit of extra sleep instead. Oh well. I have just come to accept that I have to juggle my runs with my desire to spend time with Sam. Since she was still asleep at 7:00, I didn't want to go out for my run and not see her until after work tonight. That was my choice. One that might conflict a bit with my running goals, but I think in the end I have my priorities straight, and I'll get in the miles another way.

So, after dropping Sam off at daycare, I scooted home and chose another scheduled run from my planner for the week. Another mini marathon pace run. Same route as last time. I was a bit more consistent this time around in the middle MP miles, hitting those in 7:48, 7:43 and 7:48. I felt pretty decent the whole time, and just focused on trying to maintain a solid effort.The cool, dry air definitely helped! When I have this workout on my schedule next, I know I'll have to run a route where I can run more than just 3 MP miles, but for now, I'm happy with how the morning's run went. And hopefully I'll get in those 11 miles tomorrow :-)

Heavy

We got off to a bit of a late start this morning, with all of us sleeping in until almost 7am. Then I realized, once we had already gotten to daycare of course!, that I had forgotten Sam's bag with her lovey and blanket for daycare, and so we had to turn around and go back for that. Sigh. Oh well. It all worked out, but so much for a 5 or 6 mile run this morning! :-) Instead, I settled for a quick 3 around the Highland Green loop. Whew - even though the rain had stopped, the humidity had not left the air and boy, was it heavy out there! Finished up with just enough time for a very quick shower and to hop in the car to get to work!

Family Fun

Sunday morning, we headed to the bike path to all run together. Ryan was the designated pusher :-) so I had it easy, and just had to run along side he and Sam, providing entertainment to Sam and trying to keep up a good pace :-) She did well though for the full 5 miles, and then was more than happy to get out and go play at the river's edge at the end of the run. It was a beautiful blue sky morning, windy and not all that humid - nice. After a quick stop at home and lunch in Freeport, we headed down to Wolfe's Neck to check into our campsite for the night.

We picked a different spot this time - one with an ocean view - and settled in.

Ocean view through the trees

Moonrise

Ryan did the brunt of the work setting up, while I kept Sam amused, and later in the afternoon, we headed down to the beach to enjoy the mud and sun and water.

Edge of the mudflats

Enjoying the waves

Wheee!

Snacktime portrait

After a beautiful late summer day, we enjoyed a cool night in the tent, and woke up once again to blue skies. We had pancakes for breakfast, and took another trip to the beach before hitting the farm on the way home. Once again, it was a fair amount of work, but we were a bit more organized this time around, which made it easier, and despite having her moments, Sam definitely had fun overall!

Breakfast in the sun!

Yum! Pancakes and sausages!

Contemplation

Whee! Taking the farm tractor for a spin

Petting the friendly goat

40

Sam has never been a good sleeper. We had hoped that when we changed her from her crib to her bed she'd sleep better, but let's be honest here, she really hasn't. Oh, there have been a few "sleep through" nights, but most nights I'm up once or twice, going in to settle her down or move her back to the head of the bed. She is an active sleeper to say the least. Last night, we set up a blanket bed on the floor her, thinking that perhaps she just might sleep better if she had a bit more room to move and shift around while sleeping. She was exhausted, so went down early, and was asleep by 7:15. I went in once, around 9:30 or so, when she was crying out. She was caught up in her blanket and hot, so I took that off and settled her again on her pillow. Maybe a half hour later, I heard a thunk and went in to find that she'd shifted off the "edge" of the blanket bed into the edge of her real bed. I shifted her back over, rubbed her tummy and that was the last I heard of her until 5:15 this morning. For her, and for me, that is pretty good! I woke up briefly once, but rolled right over, so I'm going to say I got 7 hours of sleep. Hurray! The first thing she said when she woke up was, "I took a good nap for you, Mama." I find it interesting that she instinctively knows when she's had a good night's sleep.

Since we were up so early, we had a few quality hours of Mama and Sammy time this morning before I headed out for my run. I wanted to "make up" the 4 miles I had missed yesterday, so I ran the short Highland Green loop with an additional loop on the road/cart path/Heath/Quarry to get in the extra mile. It was foggy and heavy out, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that I actually felt pretty good after yesterday's run. Even with the mix of pavement and trail, I managed to run around 8:30 pace, so I'll take it. Today's 4 brings this weeks' mileage up to 40, a pretty good number for me, and 6 days of running. I'll likely drop back into the 30s again next week, as we're going back to Wolfe's Neck tomorrow to camp overnight and I won't have a chance to get in a long run during the week, but at least this week's miles feel like a step in the right direction.

Date Run!

Since I was taking today off to go to Sam's daycare's end-of-the-summer party, but the party didn't start until 12:00, I did what any sane person would do: drop the child off at daycare for the morning and go for a run with my husband! Forget about errands or cleaning the house. Or even hanging out with the child :-) Our chances to run together these days are slim, so we decided we'd take today's offering.

After a bit of pre-run stretching and rolling...

...we dropped Sam off at daycare and headed to Bradbury. The plan was to run the mountain side of the BBU course, as Ryan has never been on either the Connector or the course. I was hoping to get in a few extra miles after that, but was going to just play it by ear and see how the 10 miles went. After a bit of a rocky start, due to me being silly about feeling slow and feeling stressed about the miles, we fell into enjoying the Connector and chatting as we ran along. We were both excited to see fallen leaves on the trail - signs of fall! Hurray! It was fun to be taking Ryan on a route I had been on and he hadn't - it's usually the reverse. The woods were nice and quiet, and we steadily made our way up through the Tryon area and out to the road.

We headed up the dirt road to the powerlines, thinking we would just see what happened. It was not signed at the end of the powerlines by the road that the route was closed, so we took that as a good omen and headed out. We ran into a few work trucks just a few yards out, but they let us pass with no issue. When we were nearing the final curve before jumping back on the Connector, we realized they were literally tearing up the road ahead, but were able to jump up into the brush and get up to the trail without much issue. It really looks like they'll be done with the work on that stretch soon - hope so anyway! 

I like the stretch of trail between the powerlines and the field - it's some nice running - and we both enjoyed it. As we headed back up Tryon, we ran into Yana headed down. We stopped to chat for a bit, and realized how sweaty we were! It wasn't all that hot, but it sure was humid! After a few minutes, we each headed our own ways. Through this stretch, we were still moving pretty well, but it was interesting to hear Ryan comment on what a tough route this was. It really does have quite a bit of elevation gain and loss, and certainly isn't going to be a cakewalk for those doing the BBU 50k or 50! I think I felt better overall on all the uphills than Ryan did, with the exception of Lunchbreak at the end. He ran the whole thing, and I stopped for a few walking breaks along the way. He did comment as we were chugging up the Tote Road to the summit that I should stop thinking I'm slow - I was still running fairly strongly most of the way, and I know he was struggling at times to keep up. That being said, I'm in training and he isn't! 

In any event, I was feeling decent, but a b it tired, by the time we got back to the parking lot. In the name of time and energy conservation so I could keep up with Sam all afternoon, I decided to stop at 10 miles with Ryan and call it a day. I'm beating myself up about that a bit now, but I think it was probably a wise decision. After a quick shower, change and a bite to eat, I headed to daycare to spend two hours out in the sun with Sam and all the other crazy kids at her daycare. The staff did a pretty nice job with the party, feeding us all pizza, getting a bounce house, having some little games for the kids to play, etc. Sadly, although Sam was very excited about the bounce house, once she crawled up inside, she could not get up with all the kids bouncing around her, and her eyes widened in terror before she broke out in hysterical crying. Yup, I've got that kid :-) All night, she was saying, "I got in the bounce house and I didn't get up. Then I started to cry. I did not like it." Poor kiddo. But honestly, other than that, she had a great time!

We followed up the party with a stop at the gelato place (yum!) and a visit to the natural food store, where Sam careened through the aisles pushing the miniature shopping cart. After some playtime at home and dinner, she was more than ready for an early bedtime and was asleep by 7:15! I think I'll be heading up soon too :-)

It was a busy, active day, and lots of fun to have the chance to share the trails at the Brad with Ryan this morning and hang out with SamSam this afternoon! Too bad I have to go back to work tomorrow! I think I'll be out tomorrow morning making up those miles that I missed today before I do, though.

Down to the River

Kevin made a comment on my last post that got me thinking. I really have no issue running whatever pace my body wants to run. Some days I just feel good, and I can run "fast." Other days, not so much. I know that my idea of "slow" is someone else's "fast," and my "fast" is someone else's "slow." And that is cool. We just take what our bodies give us, and try our best. I think it is simply that recently I just haven't felt great running, and it is getting me down. I feel a bit frustrated. Many of my runs have felt like slogs, or I've had heavy legs, etc. I have felt stuck at a pace and don't feel like I am progressing. Perhaps it is just my expectations. I had hoped to return quickly to form after taking the month of May off with that whole silly little foot injury, and the return has been a bit tougher than I would have imagined. Rationally, I know I shouldn't complain that I'm running 9:45s while doing repeats up and over Mt. Ararat, but I had hoped to do better, or at least, to feel better while doing it. That's the rub. I want to feel good running, and recently no matter what the pace that has tended to be a struggle. In any event, Kevin's comment was a reminder that I should appreciate what I have and what my body can do, and honestly despite my silly complaints, I am grateful that I can run, that I can get out in the woods with friends and alone, grateful to have the chance to stretch my legs and soothe my mind, and wander along the river and listen to the birds and scare up deer and turkeys along the way.

Got out around 7:00 this morning for a random 6 mile wander along the golf course for a few holes and then down to the river and back. Tomorrow Ryan and I are heading to Bradbury to run the mountain side of the BBU course. He'll probably stop at 10 miles, but I'm planning to tack on a few more miles once we get back to the parking lot assuming all goes well. Above all, I'm hoping that I can forget about pace and just enjoy a morning run in the woods with Ryan :-)