Where Did They Go?

1/3o/10
Saturday
I went to Boston today for a family visit and ended up hitting the Sam Adams brewery for a tour. What a great time and the beer was tasty. Somehow a few distinct beers at noon turns into sampling beer all day......It was a good day overall but I got home late and didn't get in a run. When I hit the sack, I was so tired I decided that running at the Fatass tomorrow would totally depend on what time I woke up. If I woke up early enough I would go, if not I would do some type of run. Sometimes you just have to let your body make some decisions.

1/31/10
Sunday

I was wide awake at 5:30 am.....good news, I was going to run the Fatass at Blaine's after all. I noticed the temp was 6 degrees so I figured I better take some extra cold weather layering. It was good that this run was loops and I figured I might run the 5 miler first to be sure I was layed right and then do ether a second five or possible an eight. It seemed 10-12 miles would be enough today.

I grabbed Blaine's directions and headed toward windham. As I read, I realized it did not actually give his address but I knew it was on Varneymill and within a mile from the 302 end. Besides that, there would be a bunch of cars parked on the side of the street so I should have no trouble finding it.

To my suprise, the house was not that easy to find. I drove by a total of 4 times, each time I marveled at the steam/spray that I figured we would would have to run by when crossing the river. When I got to 302 the first time, I turned around and measured approximately 3/4 of a mile back up Varneymill and there was a big white farmhouse with a car in the yard that was running. I thought perhaps I was earlier than everyone, until the car pulled out right before I got there and drove away, so this wasn't his place.

After the fourth trip (it was about 7:55), and seeing no comotion of cars, I assumed that the Monsters had resceduled for some reason and were probably running at Bradbury. I wished I had checked the computor before I left. I decided to beat feet to Bradbury and do my run.

As I was returning I came upon the firebarn on Babbidge road in windham. I remembered running there last fall and thought what the heck, I was ready to run, Bradbury was so far away, I would run right here.

It was actually a great run though a bit slower than I planned. The trails were covered with ice and snow and had many hidden pockets of ice and water. I saw what seemed like hundreds of deer tracks and twice I crossed moose tracks. It was the first time this winter I saw moose tracks.

I stopped at about 4 miles and enjoyed the tranquility of the babbling water mixed with ice dams. I just stood on the little manmade bridge and let the sounds of nature fill me with joy. I started getting cold so I had to get moving.

The end of the trail was downhill and I decided to push the pace a bit. In the process a root was apparantly jealous and it grabbed my foot and tried to stop me from running. Of course the momentum of running downhill with reckless abandonment caused me to catapult forward and proceed my journey downhill on my elbows and knees. I got up a bit slow and dazed. My right knee was throbbing. I started limp / running to finish this loop and check out my injuries back at the truck.

I came out of the trail a bit short on milage and thought about a second loop. I checked and found no running blood but still I was a little sore. Instead of another loop,I decided a cooldown run on the road would be a good finish and allow me to get a short speed workout in without furthering my injuries.

Though I wanted to call it a speed/cooldown run, the fact that the direction I picked was uphill for over a mile, didn't really give me the opportunity to take it easy or run fast.

The plus was the down hill mile upon my return and honestly that felt pretty good. I finished with a decent kick and ended my day at a bit over seven miles. A couple miles short of my goal but I was happy with the workout.

total 7.2 miles 1:28:35 (12:30 pace)

14:40...139-152
17:02...138-153
15:34...132-146
12:49...134-156
9:04...151-157 (this is when I tripped...I think from trying to run too fast)
8:46...148-152 (road)
7:21...147-151 (road)
7:02 kick (road)