Tri, Trails & Steak

Last weekend we were at a family wedding outside of Portsmouth, NH. My brother and his family were in town. The day after the wedding he and I went for a brief -- 25 minutes, I think -- trot through Newcastle, NH. It was lovely, rolling and scenic. Frequent ocean views to our right on the way out and a nice little turn around down by Portsmouth harbor with a view of an old fort. The weather was beautiful and it was great to run with my brother. We also saw a couple of deer in somebody's yard (I saw one on last week's trail run, at the edge of an orchard and the woods).

Sunday I didn't do much except eat a massive meal at Capital Grill. My brother and I headed out Labor Day afternoon and took a rocking trail run through the Fells Reservation in Winchester/Medford. It ended up being more than I'd bargained for (see massive meal, Capital Grill, Sunday night) at about an hour of up and down, side stepping and root hopping. The air though was gorgeous piney and clean. We ran around the Winchester water supply and the presence of basically a mountain lake was really amazing. It was a butt kicker of a run, but I'm better for it. Again, it was awesome to run with my brother who is really a gazelle.

Wednesday night I did a full run through of the tri that I'm doing this weekend. It was fun even though I had a splitting migraine during the day and I sort of felt like I was in slow-mo all along the course. The swim went pretty well, but it felt longer and I felt slower than the advertised 400 yards. I was more comfortable on the mountain bike last night and found some lines that I'd not see the first ride last week that I hope will help Sunday. It's a fairly punishing ride at 5.3 miles with some big climbs and some tricky descents. The run went well once the leg wobble stopped. I just shifted into an easy lope through the woods and felt good throughout. I'm looking forward to Sunday, and am going to have the family come out and watch. It should be around an hour, perhaps more -- the swim is longer, I think... -- and it's supposed to be a beauty of a day.