Adios 2011! 12/26 - 1/1

Monday - Rest 'em up after lots of awesome food over the x-mas weekend.

Tuesday - Presumpscot, 8 miles.  Real hard run in the dark with sketchy footing on icy, snowy conditions. Ran way slower than expected with low energy and heavy legs.

Wednesday - Stroudwater, 7.  Legs still felt a bit sluggish but the run was good. My Mudclaw's were still wet so I unfortunately wore my Mudroc's. I might as well have been wearing bowling shoes with the slippery mud and conditions. Definitely missed the grip of the Mudclaw's on the terrain.

Thursday - Back Cove, 8.  The intended run was a mile warmup with a 6 mile tempo at 7 minute pace, and a mile cool down. With 20 mile an hour winds and 15 degree wind chill, it was a tad cool. Felt great on the tempo albeit a bit faster than expected. The flat conditions of the back cove and no hills, roots, rocks, mud or ice made an easy go of it.

Friday - Robinson Woods, 6.   Nice and easy.

Saturday - Bradbury West, 12.8.  On the way to Bradbury a car flashed their lights warning me of something, a moment later I started sliding sideways on black ice. While I was correcting the truck, zigzagging down the middle of the road, I looked over and saw David Bidler standing next to his car which was just off the road tucked neatly next to a telephone pole. By the time I gained control of the Xterra and flipped to 4 wheel drive I was definitely awake. I called Mindy to warn her about the ice and hoped David was fully OK. I figured it would be too dangerous to drive back through the gauntlet and would risk a collision with someone else. He showed up a few minutes later at the Brad with a few sticks in his tail light, and scratches, but thankful to be alive.

We started the run with David, Nathan, Jim, Val, Mindy, Ian, and Blaine and all sorts of different running plans. I ran mostly with Jim, and Nathan and a mile or so with Ian, Val and Mindy. The conditions were super slick and icy on every root, rock and exposed section of ground. With random bouts of rain throughout the day conditions got increasingly worse. After eight and a half miles Jim and Nathan called it good at the parking lot and I took off to finish my 12.

I connected a new-to-me new link from the school field that makes a nice loop back up the mountain and meets the corner of the boundary trail. This will be fun for some different hill repeats in a loop form that you can really pound up or down given the trails are so unused.

Sunday - Kennebunk Trails, 14.  Met up with Jamie, which was great to be able to hit the trails with someone who knows the area a bit. I've only been there once and had such a blast I was excited to cruise the trails again.

It started out chilly as usual but warmed up nicely with a gorgeous mist coming from the thawing trees and illuminated by the rising sun. It definitely did look like Yeti country and Jamie and I kept our eyes out for any signs. After great conversations we both realized how mildly taxing these trails can be. The undulations and sharp switchbacks make for interrupted cadence which really slows you down. Especially on New Years day, 3 hours of sleep, and a bit of a champagne still flowing through the system.

We had a wonderful run even though Jamie was toughing it out with a head cold and it was great to catch up with and search for new trail extensions, quarries, and smelly hairy beasts other than ourselves.

Summary - 55.9 miles (yeah I own a gps now for more accurate mileage counts)  Great week with a whole lot of diversity, and fun mixed in.