What A Day!

There was a lot to be done today so I was up early for my run. I had planned on a longer run, but it was misty and foggy, and man, these dreary mornings make me dreary and I really wasn't feeling it. I seriously could never live someplace that has fig and rain all the time, I need sun and crisp blue skies to keep cheery! So I texted Amy to see if she wanted to run 10 on Saturday and then, seeing that she was, decided on a shorter Cathance loop instead. Hurray!

Boy oh boy, was it wet out there! Even one of the bog bridges was under water as was much of the trail. The river was still within its banks, but barely! Lots of water today. Amazing. Seriously saturated. Got in a sloppy, soupy six. 

Roaring Carhance

Thundering

Rushing waters

Huh... I thought this was the trail... 

Came home in time to clean up before Anne, Thistle and Phil came over, austensibly to drop off a gift for Sam, but which turned into a "let's just take a look at that dryer issue" visit and 4 hours later, dryer hose and vent unclogged of lint , redone and rehooked up to the machine. Nothing says Christmas Eve like dryer vent reconstruction !! 

Discussions

The girls had fun playing though and it was a fun distraction for Sam. 

Silly Thistle

Goofing around

BFFs :)

In the midst of it all, gingerbread and cranberry bread were baked, veggies were roasted, sausages browned and two pans of lasagna were put together, presents were out under the tree , a bathroom was put back together and the house was vacuumed and cleaned . Thankfully I had help, and many thanks to Phil for getting our dryer to work properly again !! It was only ever so slightly chaotic. Aie! :0

Later, we had a traditional -ha! - Christmas Eve dinner of Indian food - yum! - followed up by the opening a few presents and showing of Rudolph. And now, it is time to get some sleep. Somehow, I think we'll be up early tomorrow ;)

Pondering which present to pick

Found it!

Ready for bed, and Christmas!

What a day!!! 

Foggy Morning Run

John had texted me last week to see if I was up for running on Wednesday morning. I said sure, but with the caveat that I was not going to be fast! Of course, his fast is different from my fast and his legs are a whole lot longer than mine, so I was working a bit to keep up in parts today but it was nice to push a little bit at least. My hip/butt is feeling much better but I am still feeling rather slow. That's OK though; hopefully the power will come back soon enough.

We headed out a few minutes before 6:00 am into the foggy, misty darkness. I could hardly see a darn thing as the light from my headlamp seemed to simply illuminate the mist and not actually show me much of what was ahead of me :) We chose to run the cart paths, which was a good call, as at least there weren't many obstacles in our way! We had fun chatting away as we ran, and scared up a deer on hole #9, his white tail bounding away through the mist in front of us. The sky was just beginning to lighten as we finished up with just under 6 miles.

Fun to have some company for the morning, and knowing John was expecting me definitely kept me from staying in bed, which is probably what I would have done if we hadn't already set up a run :)

Singin' in the Rain

Work has been nuts the past few days, and I didn't sleep last night because the cats were running around like crazy, jumping up on the clothes drying rack and trying to knock over all the presents. Ryan said I looked like hell this morning. Well, thanks, honey. Needless to say, I did not get out in the dark to run at 6:00 am. 

But I knew I would feel better if I got in a run, so I took off a bit early from work and headed out into the pouring rain for a run. I decided to run the BTLT trails and parked near the community garden off Baribeau. Things were insanely squishy, squashy, and yes, it sure should be snow as it is December 22nd and the first day of winter, but man, was it fun to stomp through the puddles and run the trails in the late afternoon gloom. A great stress reliever! I had a great time and even ran the new labyrinth in the woods at the end of the run. Got in a lovely, wet, puddle stomping 5 miles, finishing up just before dark.

 

Delightfully Brisk

Whipping wind, tearing eyes

Frozen circles of foam floating down river like
small white pies

Blinding light, crunching leaves

Wiping snot on my sleeves


Bog bridges topped with snow

Breaking through puddles into cold water below



Happy runner

Delightfully brisk, hardly summer


---

Seven early morning miles out to and along the Cathance.


Felt good.

Just Throw It Out!

Slept in a bit this morning and headed out a little after 7:00 for a run out to the Cathance. Temps were hovering just below freezing and the leaves beneath my feet crunched loudly. The sky had already lightened, leaving behind a lovely pastel color along the horizon beneath the clouds. The river was roaring loudly with no ice to be seen, but the bog bridges were super slick with a thin glaze of iciness, meaning a bit of walking here and there. It would be no good to slide off of one of those! Got in a mellow 5+ miles and got back in time for Ryan to head out to the morning showing of the new Star Wars movie.

Roaring river, early morning light

While he was off in a galaxy far far away, Sam and I finished up our Christmas ornaments for the grandparents, made gingerbread cookies and worked on what ended up being a complete failure of a gingerbread house, complete with a collapsed roof and Ronnie getting into the frosting. It ended up getting pitched in the trash shortly thereafter. Nothing like crafting and baking to drive you crazy, errrr, get you in the holiday spirit ;)

Cookie making

Gingerbread cookies!

Gingerbread house decorating...

... the roof didn't hold up so well, and why is it that it is impossible to make the final product look anything like what is on the box?!

Expectations

You know when you have this idea in your head of how it's going to be and it just doesn't happen that way. Yeah, well, that's my running right now. I realize that this is a seriously first world problem, but I have high expectations of myself and right now I am not meeting them. I had this idea that after the 100, I'd take a few weeks off and then probably would feel kind of tired and tight for a few weeks, but would bounce back around 6 weeks like everyone said I would and be able to just get right back into it.

I can't say that has happened for me. I took a few weeks off and then got back to running, keeping the mileage low, but ended up with this silly tight glute/hip flexor which has put a serious damper on things. Oh, it could be worse for sure, but it still kind of has sucked the joy out of running for me recently. And I know everyone is different, and perhaps for me, recovery is just a longer process, but I so wish it wasn't. I want to be running freely and happily again, I want to feel strong, I want to feel like I'm ready to tackle a training plan again, but instead I feel like it's still a bit of a struggle to even get myself out the door. I want to be motivated, but the darkness, the dreariness, this bizarre weather, the fact that I haven't felt so great running makes it harder. Logically, I know things will come around, that running, like life, is made up of peaks and valleys, and I just had a pretty big peak so the reality is that this is probably a comparable low to go along with it. I am sure I will climb up and out the other side and get back into a routine and a rhythm soon enough, that nothing is ever perfect and that is what makes life, and running, so interesting. Of course I know this, but I still have that little expectation in my head and so, I feel a bit dreary. Just being honest here.

Last weekend was lots of fun and running felt good. You would have thought it would have motivated me to keep it up this week, but again, I kind of fell short. Monday was a planned zero, but Tuesday I intended to get out. Except that I had no true motivation to get out and run in the dark and rain. Wednesday I did manage to get out of bed, heading out at 5:45 am to run 6 miles on the cart paths. Everything was a bit icy, with the pavement covered in a thin glaze of ice and a lot of slipping and sliding on the shallow puddles along the cart path. Still, I had a view of the very pretty early morning sky and was happy to have gotten out. I intended to do more of the same yesterday, but again, I just didn't have the umph for a rainy, 40 degree morning run.

So today, instead of prying myself out of bed for a run in the dark again, I decided to just say to heck with the long to-do list, and run after dropping Sam off at school. Will there be a clean house tonight? Perhaps... Did the run get done, though? Yes ;)  I ran out through the Commons and down to the edge of the ocean along the Coleman Farm trails. Everything was very squishy and a bit slippery, but as always, the ocean viewpoint does not disappoint, even on a drab day.

This is the first 10 mile run I've done since the 100. Hip flexor was a bit tight and my legs do not feel like they have a lot of speed but it was great to get out in the daylight on some of the trails I love, and enjoy a "long" run. I'm thinking of taking the approach of a wise Jedi, who told me last weekend that it doesn't work to take time off, or just run 20 miles a week, you just have to keep on chugging and it will get better. So cheers to that and the hope that I'll continue to move closer to my expectations as we head into the new year.

Til We Meet In Hell & A Birthday Party

This year's Till We Meet in Hell TMR Annual run and end of the year get together dawned clear and warm, very different than last year when Amy and I were walking in a winter wonderland at Thorncrag! Amy came over early with donuts (because, well, donuts ;) ) and we headed north together, meeting up with a big group of Monsters in the parking lot. Val once again devised a fun loop, complete with many hills and the option to pose as statues atop the empty statue base. My intent for the day was to run easy and get in whatever miles happened in the 1:30 allotted. I ran some with George and Pete, then George and Val, then Xar, then a bit with Amy, some with Tyler, most of a loop with John and the last loop by myself. Managed to eek out 6 laps for 7.2 miles, coming in with about a minute to spare. It was a great day to be out, and the format is fun as it allows for many chances to see people along the way. Ryan and Sam came over and hiked/ran a lap so I got to see them out there too. Even better was that my butt wasn't tight/sore/anything. Hurray! I'm calling it a good morning all around for sure! After the run we headed over to Guthrie's for food, drinks and merriment. Many thanks to Val for organizing; always a great way to finish up the year and revel in all of our accomplishments, our friendships and the great group that is Trail Monster Running. We are lucky indeed!

TMR crew

Running with John

John being goofy ;)

Me being goofy ;)

Great statue guys!

We were having so much fun at Guthrie's that we didn't leave ourselves quite enough time to get to our afternoon fun on time. Sorry Phil, Kristen, Anne and Thistle! We zoomed over to Hideaway Farm to join in on Thistle's 3rd birthday celebration, only to find everyone waiting for us in the horse carriage. Oops! Sam's love of dogs delayed us - when Randy brought out his dog, Riley, at the end of the party, that was it. We were there for another half hour ;) It was the perfect December afternoon for an outdoor party complete with pony rides, a farmyard visit, many laughs and bumps on the horse carriage ride, marshmallow roasting in the fire pit, and a Bald Eagle flying over along the Cathance. Such fun and we were so happy to join in the celebration!

Carriage ride

Marshmallow roasting

Mule ride!

Fun riding

Birthday cutie!

So excited!

This is fun

Three goofy kids

Sam explaining something.... ;)

Great day to be in the woods

Cathance view

Late December river

Carriage ride

Late afternoon light through the orchard... these trees are over 100 years old!

Goats!

So cute

Oh hi there

Visiting the horses

Beauty

Mini donkeys!

Oh yes, I took a mule ride too... I could not get up in the saddle without use of the step stool though. HA! ;) There was much laughter about that. He was much taller than I anticipated!

Laughing or terrified? I'm not quite sure ;)

Quite a day! But such fun :)

Busy Busy: Well-Child Check-up, Morning Run, Tree Trimming

Still one more day left to the weekend but it's been busy already! Friday, I ran around doing errands and trying to wrap up Christmas loose ends before heading to see Dr. Jamie after lunch. Man, wish I could do some of those deep stretches/loosenings at home, but then, I guess that is why he is good at what he does. Felt a bit more optimistic upon departure, and a lot less tight. Then it was off to pick up Sam so we could head to get her 6 year well-child check-up. A few months late, but oh well.

Stats as of 6 years, 2 months:
39.2 lbs
43.6 inches

Yup, she's a tiny one, alright ;) But healthy and happy and thriving, so that's all that counts.

By the time we got out of there it was dark, but I had come prepared, so we headed off onto the Midcoast Hospital nature trail for a walk in the fog with our headlamps. There were pages from Dahlov Ipcar's Alphabet book along the trail, so we had fun reading as we walked along. We ended up with a 0.6 mile loop and a fun exploration.

Foggy alphabet walk

This morning, I got up early and headed over to Bowdoin to run in the Commons before Sam's swim lessons. Luckily, since she's moved up to the older kid class, lessons don't start until 10:00 so it makes for a bit of a more leisurely morning with more time to fit a run in ;) It was a beautiful morning with the sun shining through the pine trees and a low fog out on the Pennelville fields. Man, the light was just incredible. My leg was still a bit tight, but felt better, and I felt so happy to be out enjoying the quiet woods on a warm December day. 

Sun rising above foggy fields

Pond reflections

Glowing light

Low tide

Got in a mellow 7.2 miles before picking up a few donuts on the way home for a post-run/pre-swimming treat ;) 

After swimming, we stopped and picked out a Christmas tree. It felt a bit odd to be getting a tree in 50+ degree weather, but this month has been a strange one, so we just put on the Christmas tunes and went with it ;) The snow will come, I am sure. 

I think we managed to go about 2 minutes before an ornament broke ;) but otherwise, it was a relatively calm afternoon of tree decorating followed by some slightly chaotic present wrapping as only one with a young child who is "helping" can understand :)

Getting ready to trim the tree

First ornament

Groovin' to the Charlie Brown Christmas song 

All set for Christmas! (That stuff on the table? Yup, lasted about a minute after the picture. HA!)

Great Grammie's tree, sparkling in the living room

Ryan had to head to his Christmas party for the evening, so Sam and I decided to head out for some gelato after dinner to cap off the day. I chose "Santa's Little Helper" (cookies and cream spiked with Bailey's) because, well, Yo Ho, Christmas is fun but man, it is a lot of work! ;)

While Daddy's at his office Christmas party, the elves will play...

or in this case, go out and get gelato ;)