12/23/2012 Guests of Honor!

Last week - Mountain biking at Maran, waiting for whingeing hamstring to stfu.

Bob and Paul drove 14 hours to Maine from Ohio yesterday, and then another hour and a half early this morning to meet me at Brad for a long run.  They were thinking 8- 10 miles, which is precisely what I was thinking.  Awesome.

Scout, Rick, Yana, and a new person (with a name that sounded like Joe Shoe) were there.  I think there was someone else too that I am completely blanking on.  (Mindy's ghost?)  Scout wisely led us to the East Side.  After the sodden footing yesterday, would today be crazy ice?  I think we were both wondering.

Sweet little cooooon hands in frozen ice-mud hybrid.

It turned out to be relatively fine.  Temps today were mid-high twenties, about 10 degrees colder than yesterday, at first.  I think it maxed out around 31 degrees.  Lots of damp areas had a thin layer of ice but then some mud, hoar, or water as well.  Plus plenty of roots, leaves, and rocks.  Hm, maybe my definition of "relatively fine" footing is a bit...loosely defined.   My hydration didn't seem to be trying to freeze but I am trying to get into the habit of keeping the tube clear anyway.

Yup, they even act like ultrarunners!

Speaking of relative fineness...  I believe Paul was appropriately horrified by Brad's terrain.  I hope he doesn't hate me too much.  (Bob, aka TorTILLah who you may not recall from our Bond Brook excursions last winter, is a native Mainer.  So he knew that Maine trail running is...special.)

Paul, on the other hand, is a self-proclaimed runner of roads, and a solid one at that.  But I can't even begin to imagine what it must be like to trail run in Maine for the first time after living in Ohio for a long time.

Cross training.  So diligent!

Fortunately, I didn't have to imagine.  Paul said repeatedly that Brad was very beautiful.  (Brad blushes and says thank you.)  He also said that it was by far the gnarliest stuff he'd ever run on.  Maybe it was cruel of us to start out on the super-goofy twists of Island trail.  But really, he should be glad we didn't start on the Mountain side!

Tortilla carried this tree from near the summit to the cliff at South Ridge.   Yes, he ran with it for a while.  Yes, this is normal for him.

Eventually the three of us dropped back from the group.  After about 7 miles we were back in the lot.  I wanted the Ohioans to at least see the summit, if they were up for it.  I was impressed that they didn't even hesitate, especially after what I'd just put them through, so after a quick snack we headed up.

Paul can't get it up.  We may need modern pharmaceuticals...

We took it easy.  There was less running but there was much more playing.  Totally valid trade.  The sunny blue summit received bountiful approval.  I wish the guys could hang around longer so we could go up a Real mountain... no offense, Brad.  It's just that your wild and distant cousins are always whispering to me.

After the duo departed, I got in my car and started it, but then it happened:  That feeling I get sometimes. I simply had to run a little more.  I leaped out of DDR and did a short loop on the East Side.

It's okay to die from running sometimes. 

All the tiredness from the previous night's lack of sleep was long gone.  Even the residual weariness from yesterday -- I experienced some, this morning -- had drifted off.  (Weary maybe because my only two runs over 14 miles since April were 50k events.  Crazy.  I can do better.)  I ended up comfortably, quietly, with 10 miles, concluding another solid weekend of back to back long runs, which was exactly what I'd hoped would happen.

This was another fantastic long run with excellent company.  In spite of everything, the last two months have been perhaps my most consistent "training" ever, if you choose to call it that.   It's all about the smack the fan as the currents of my schedule shift windward.  I'll do my best to welcome the variation and weave up something engaging, between the bars.

Visited a very dear friend on the way home: The one and only Shen.  His head isn't actually bigger than his body.  I took like 50 photos and they all look goofy in one way or another!    Anyway...I didn't tell him I had Edna and Lucy's amazing carrot soup in the car, he'd have  wanted to "share" all of it.

I listened to this song many times on the way home.  This is a peaceful, honest tune by my colleagues and friends, Round Mountain.  L'Orage.



~2hrs 30min
~10 mile run
~Mostly East Side. Decent footing. Fairly flat.  Sunny, high 20s.
~Hokas, which chewed on my feet a bit much.  Smartwool ish socks.  Pants.  Polypro shirt (good), grid fleece, Nathan pack, Nuun, part of HT. Carried beanie, wore/carried fleece gloves.