Saturday, December 10, 2011

Howling at the Moon

Epic run this evening. Kate and I were up in Bangor today to take care of some wedding planning stuff, but there was a nice bonus attached to the trip. With a full moon and clear skies on tap, Gary had organized a run on the Park Loop Road at Acadia National Park (18.4 miles). It's closed to cars and currently devoid of snow and ice, so it was the perfect setting. Nice to meet Matt, Eric and Tim who also took part in the run. All great guys.

I was the only non sub-3 hour marathoner in the group, so I knew I'd have my work cut out for me. We took it pretty easy in the first half, but once we started climbing some of the bigger hills in the second half we let the pace drop and it was a great workout.

The views from some of the higher points looking out over a moonlit ocean were simply incredible. The smaller islands were clearly visible in the bay as the full moon reflected off the water and it had a very Van Gogh-like feel to it. Pretty darn stunning.

Around mile 16, I simply couldn't keep up anymore and let the group move ahead. But just two and a half miles were left and I enjoyed having the peace of the night to myself for a bit, listening to the wind howl through the trees as the branches swayed to and fro. I reached the end and the others had just finished and we bid each other farewell. Really awesome evening.

Ran 18.4 miles @ 7:33/mile pace.
Paved roads.
Extremely hilly.
Mid 30s to upper 20s, clear skies, breezy.
Saucony Kinvara 2, long pants, windbreaker, long sleeved shirt, beanie, gloves, Salomon 45 water belt.

2 comments:

Scout said...

Wow!!! Amazing pace for the elevation. Must have been beautiful!

Sparkplug said...

Very cool. Must have just been a gorgeous night to be out there, running along the ocean! Nice pace too :-)