Saturday, February 16, 2008

Another Beautiful Day!

Sunny skies and well packed snow on the trails made it easy to forget the cold during our run (mid teens) at Bradbury Mountain State Park today. Trail conditions were significantly better than last week. In fact, you couldn't have asked for better for running on snow covered trails. The snow was very well packed down by the snowmobiles and the cold helped make sure the snow didn't loosen up. It was perfect.

I joined Ian, Emma, James, Erik, Blaine and his friend Josh at 8am. My plan was just to go 10 miles. I was definitely burning all the hay in the barn during my long runs the past three weekends, when I should have been letting it build up. Though tempted to do more since I felt great today, I stuck with my plan. I also have a hike planned for tomorrow in the White Mountains and want to have some legs left for the climbing.

I had a freak moment a few miles in, when all of a sudden my right ankle felt sprained. I didn't roll it or even come close. The discomfort just came on for no apparent reason and within about 20 seconds it was hurting pretty bad and I was running with a limp. I slowed to a walk and let the others go ahead, scratching my head as to what in the heck happened. I stretched it around and a few minutes later I was fine, and as I ran on it again the pain/discomfort disappeared completely pretty quickly. Very strange. I'm musing it was just a funky cramp or something.

Other than that, the run went very well. Cruised along effortlessly and when we reached the power lines, Erik and I turned around and headed back together (Blaine and his speedy friend had already turned around and flew back). Ian, Emma and James went on, as they were planning on 18 for the day.

I put the pedal down for the last handful of miles, cruising the long uphill with little effort and feeling good. Far cry from how I felt during the same stretch of trail last week. Reached the parking lot and Erik showed up shortly there after.

Ran 10.2 miles @ 9:01/mile pace.
AHR/MHR - N/A (ordering a new strap today!)
Trails with packed snow.
Very hilly.
Mid teens, sunny.
Long pants, fleece jacket, long sleeved shirt, short sleeved shirt, beanie, gloves.



Afterwards, I headed to LL Bean to pick up a new pair of sunglasses. They had some folks doing snow sculptures in the courtyard out front. Really neat what they came up with. I snapped a few pics with my camera phone... here are my two favorites:


7 comments:

Blaine Moore said...

Those are pretty cool. I wonder how long they took to make?

Good run today, well worth going out there. My friend got sick and isn't driving up from Boston this afternoon, so looks like I'll be joining Dirigo tomorrow morning for a good long run.

UltraFlash said...

Sorry I missed you guys. Would love to have joined you but I had so much to do today and we made our way up north to Kelly's dad's house for a staging ground for tomorrow's downhill skiing at Saddleback. I did get in 16 "long" miles in my basement early this AM and hope to make it out with you next weekend(?). Have fun hiking.

Ange said...

Your run at Bradbury Mtn sounds so nice. I did that trail race there in Oct. Hope your ankle is ok.
I tagged you...here are the rules:
Link to the person who tagged you
Post the rules on your blog
Share 7 random/weird facts about yourself
Tag 7 people and include links to their blog
Leave a comment on their blog
thanks!
A

Thomas said...

Cool ice sculptures! Don't worry too much about the ankle, it might never happen again.

UMaine Cooperative Extension said...

Those ice sculptures are pretty cool.

It has been nice to have a couple of sunny days...the snow/rain/sleet is getting a little monotonous.

Hope you had a great day in the Whites.

Runner NYC said...

I love the bunny!!

Devon said...

what an awesome day!