Back to the Neighborhood Runs

Now, that I'm back to running, but not racing, my weekend runs are now back to awesome, mind-numbing 1.1-mile repeats in my neighborhood. This is one of the reasons I raced every weekend, except 3, in 2015, up until I was injured. The neighborhood, Heavenly Hill or the treadmill are my only options for runs on the weekends, otherwise, and they get old fast. (On a side-note. Do not apologize or tell me "that sucks" when I say I ran on the treadmill. Sometimes, it's my ONLY option, and I am DAMN thankful to have it.)

So Saturday morning, I was actually really sore from Friday's long, fast run. My hamstrings, especially. So I only tortured myself for four out-and-backs in the neighborhood. I ran a super slow 4.4 miles at 7:32/mi pace.

I didn't bother showering after because I wanted to get John to the Albany Children's Christmas party at the town hall. We've always enjoyed it. John makes ornaments every year for his tree. I actually ate a cupcake (this is huge since I've hardly eaten any sugar in the last month and a half). Haha. John played musical chairs for the first time. That was fun to watch, but I never knew how violent of a game it was. 3 kids ended up in tears. Hahaha. I also spent some time talking to Linda Parrish who has run 26 consecutive Boston Marathons. We talked injuries, aging and losing old once healthy and fit running friends to sudden illnesses. She said, "Every day is a gift." Now, if only I could remember that. She also used to have to bring her kids to all of her races when she got divorced, so that was cool to know I'm not the only one. Linda is someone who truly understands my life.

John playing musical chairs

After the party, we picked up all 3 dogs from the house and drove to Mt Surprise to check out some trails I knew existed but had never been on. The trails we started on were in the Saco Valley Land Trust. There was a mix of old trails and obviously new mountain bike trails that went every which way. I had been told that there was a nice viewpoint off to the right from the main trail so we just followed that path. It eventually ran into an old blazed trail in the Merriman State Forest. This was a steep, but short climb up to a pretty awesome overlook about half way up Mt Surprise. The trail continued climbing, but John was all done so we headed back down. 

I'm loving these goofy pictures John takes of me

We made a stop at Frontside Grind on the way home. John ended up spilling half of his hot chocolate everywhere. The kid is notorious for crazy arms knocking things off of tables. Haha. I'm constantly moving his drinks away from edges, but he still manages to knock them over.

We went home from there for the night. My first Saturday night in 3 weeks that I didn't go out and act like a 21 year old. Hahaha. Hey, I had to. I don't foresee another free Saturday night in a LONG time. This last time was a year and a half, so I had to take full advantage of my free time to act stupid. :)