In Between & A Change of Plans

We are in a stretch of back to back to back long weekends as we wrap up summer. This weekend is our annual Bowdoin camping weekend at Wolfe's Neck. It is a great tradition and we love having this time to get together! We'll be missing a few couples this year due to Matt and Annalee's wedding but it is always a good time no matter who ends up joining us 😀

But first, we had to make it through the week as we were all feeling tired from the Jersey weekend! 😂😜 Monday it was up and out into the dark, damp, misty, foggy morning. Wore my headlamp for the first mile. Ran the cart paths and saw two deer and one great blue heron along the way. Picked a handful of sweet blackberries and noticed the viburnum berries turning light pink and the brush taking on their late summer yellow, brown and maroon hues. Still feeling rather summer-ish with the humidity and heat but we are losing light rapidly on both ends of the day and autumn will be here in the blink of an eye. The change of seasons always brings a bit of joy and melancholy. (6.0 miles)

I'll be honest and admit that running on Tuesday didn't happen as sleep sounded like a better idea!

Morning dawned replete with fog on Wednesday, and as I ran around Highland Green, I watched the sky brighten through the haze. Pretty. Legs feel decent but there is not a lot of turnover going on. Feeling kind of s-l-o-w. Oh well. (5.0 miles)

Thursday was off to get things done for the trip - camping is fun but requires a lot of prep! The original plan was to run long in the morning but honestly, when I awoke to 67 degrees, 98% humidity and a dewpoint of 66 and things just looking rather sticky out there, I said, screw it, I'll just go long tomorrow... no need to torture myself when the humidity is supposed to break overnight and there's a chance of enjoying myself much more on the run tomorrow! So after dropping Sam at camp, I hit the roads and ran out towards Thorne Head instead. Honestly, it was pretty horrid out and I was completely soaked. Even my kneecaps were sweating 😂😂 Stopped to enjoy the Whiskeag view, complete with some beautiful cardinal flowers along the river's edge and then ran back to town. So happy to have the flexibility this week, as 5 miles was more than enough on a morning like that. (5.0 miles)

Then it was onto errands and packing!!

This morning, I woke up completely uninspired and feeling so pressured to run 20 miles. I had laid out a "plan" for the few months between Western States and Ghost Train, and I really felt like in order to even run decently at Ghost Train that I needed to get back to higher mileage and had to start getting in some long runs. It was filling me with dread. I had a mini meltdown, expressing how silly I felt being so upset over this, but knowing and finally admitting out loud that what my mind and body want and need just simply is not meshing with what I had on the calendar.

Ryan very correctly said that we don't often talk about the mental recovery needed after a big effort, and Western States was not only a big effort, it was also a big event with so much energy around it, and while it's hard to admit, I just plain haven't recovered from that. I wish I had, and I really wanted the challenge for going for two 100s in a year, but the reality is that right now, it just isn't right for me. Also, I know I chose Ghost Train in a way too because of the convenience, and it simply wasn't filling me with the fire that I need personally to train well enough for a 100.

So I wiped my tears away, gave Sam a hug and headed out the door to just run what felt right. I meandered down the powerlines, stopping to eat blackberries along the way and take photos of the many monarch caterpillars out there 💗💗🐛🐛 and just trying to come to terms with what to do about Ghost Train. It was much cooler out this morning but still humid. I looped out on the powerlines and then across the street to run a short loop on the Highlands Trail before finishing up with a few road miles. (13.0 miles)

Saw a few monarchs flitting about too

And lots of caterpillars!! 💗

The viburnum are truly beautiful out there right now!

Talked through my thoughts a bit more with Ryan upon my very sweaty return, and realized that really, I don't have the fire, the desire, the capacity right now for Ghost Train. It hurts in a way to admit it, but it's OK. What I want most is to be running forever, to enjoy it, to keep it joyful, and this silly pressure I've been feeling is not making me happy. So I decided to cancel my registration and let someone else have my spot. Sure, I could have gone and run less miles, but I signed up with the intent of 100. I felt relief with that step of cancellation so I know it's the right choice. Better, for me at least, to just step back and let it go. And so, with that, looking forward to spending the next few months enjoying running and gearing up for some fun in 2020!

Mixing It Up

Met up with some of the Trail Monster ladies on Tuesday night down in Portland for a run around Back Cove and then a little get-together to say goodbye to Linda, who is heading to Bethel with her family for a new job and a new adventure. It was great to run and catch up with everyone! I hardly ever run in the evening and I don't think I've run around Back Cove in like 3 years, but it was lovely with good company on a nice evening after the rain had passed. Pretty evening light and lots of water birds out in the tidal flats. (3.8 miles)

Yay running! 

💗💗

Of course, I didn't last long back at Mary's house (surprise surprise 😉😂) but it was a really fun evening. I feel so lucky to know such a great group of ladies!

Didn't sleep well but got up early anyway and out the door for a run on the cart paths and around the Heath. Pretty morning light rising over the Heath and some yummy blueberries and blackberries to eat too! (7.0 miles)

Thursday, we were headed to NJ in the late afternoon, so I took the day off to get in a run and get all my regular errands done along with getting us organized for travel. Ryan joined me in the morning for a run on the Whiskeag Trail. I was hoping to get in 15 miles in an attempt to up the mileage and see how my body was feeling. We set off at 8:00 am from the Bath Y. It was relatively cool but still very humid. I love the views along this trail especially along the river and out in Thorne Head near the convergence with the Kennebec, but I always forget how technical the Whiskeag really is! An insane amount of roots and enough twists and turns that it is really hard to get into a rhythm. Ryan was less than pleased 😂, and on top of it his back was feeling out of whack. We had planned to do some miles around Thorne Head and then run back on the Whiskeag but Ryan was feeling pretty badly and then he started to get lightheaded. Ugh. We walked a bit and then hoofed it back slowly on the road. It was not the best of runs, to say the least, and definitely not quite what we had planned. (9.3 miles)

Whiskeag views

We hit the road in the late afternoon for the trek down in NJ. No matter when you leave you are bound to hit traffic and construction in the summertime, but doing some of the miles at night seems to ease the pain a little bit. Not horrible this time around and we arrived before 11:00 pm and fell right to sleep!

Friday morning, as has become our tradition, Ryan and I ran along the Hudson River Walkway from the hotel in Edgewater to Meg and Chris's place in Hoboken. It was a rather overcast morning and so much cooler than last year when we totally melted en-route! Still a whole lot of concrete, but it is a neat to run along the river and take in the NYC views. A few tourist stops along the way, a few stops to look at the map, and a chatting pace as we wandered along. Ryan's back was still feeling tight but he was in a much better mood today, so it was a much better run than Thursday! 😉 And always good to shake off the travel and get some miles in at the start of what is inevitably crazy weekend! (8.6 miles

9-11 memorial

NYC views

Weehawken Pier

Tern

The rest of the day was spent trying to keep the kids away from the birthday cake Meghan was in the midst of making when we arrived, trying not to melt while walking around the city after lunch trying to find someplace that was open (Why is the rock climbing place not open on a Friday afternoon? And the beer garden even more so?!?) and then attempting to keep the kids entertained until the pier opened with the food trucks and beer (Again, why was it not open mid-afternoon?! We really could have used a beer earlier than 4:00 pm 😂😂)

Thankfully we found a frozen yogurt place to stop at and a park with benches in the shade for the parents and the kids had fun! And once we could finally sit in the breeze on the pier under the shade sails and drink a beer and eat delicious tacos and vietnamese dumplings, all was good 😃

Cutie pies 😍

We were all exhausted by the time we got back to the hotel on Friday night, and there was no running on Saturday morning. Instead we headed to Urban Air for Gavin's birthday party. The kids had a blast and it is always such fun to celebrate with Gavin 😃 Happy 6th Birthday, buddy! We love you! 💗

Sam spent a lot of time in the rock wall area. She struggled at first feeling comfortable getting high up on the walls but she really stuck with it and it was so fun to see how proud she was when she got to the top of the walls and the progress she was able to make on the more advanced walls while we were there. And it really was a cool concept!

Then of course, there was present opening and more fun back at home before we finished up the day at with yummy mexican food and margharitas for dinner. 🍹🍺  Yup, definitely needed it! 😂

Cheers to a fun weekend!

I had planned to get up this morning for a run before we headed home, but Ryan had been having really bad back spasms late in the afternoon on Saturday and into the night and I was feeling fairly stressed knowing we had a long car drive home today and didn't sleep well on top of not wanting to be out away from the room in case he needed help in the morning so needless to say, a run did not happen. Ah well, not quite the run week I had hoped for but such is life. Thankfully Ryan woke up feeling at least slightly better, and the ride home was OK! Phew!

Fingers crossed that the back continues to improve as we have two camping weekends coming up! 😁

#flashbackfriday

Flashing back to Western States with screenshots of images taken by Facchino Photography 💗🗻

Weekend Fun

Out early yesterday for a meander around town. Nice morning to be out but I felt pretty meh. Unsettled stomach and heavy legs made the miles seemed more forced than I would have liked. Ah well, they can't all be great! 😉 (8.0 miles)

Later in the morning, Sam's friend Celiah came over for a playdate, and after lunch, the three of us walked to Dairy Queen for an afternoon treat. Yum! 💗🍦Always good to enjoy a walk and ice cream with my girl (and her sweet friend). (2.0 miles walked)

This morning, I headed out onto the powerlines for a run before the Breaker. It was gloriously cool out and no bugs! So lovely! Lots of stops to enjoy the ripe berries along the way and to inspect the milkweed for monarch caterpillars. Excited to find one chomping away! (5.6 miles)

Trail breakfast

🐛💗

Love the fog 😍

Always fun to cheer on the runners and chat with friends at the Breaker, and the weather was perfect too! After helping pack up, we headed to lunch and then over to get school shoes for Sam. I stopped at a small patch of milkweed growing in one of the islands in the parking lot and was thrilled to find several monarch caterpillars. All different sizes too! So neat!