Good Weekend

We had a great weekend on the Cape this weekend with the VTRs and Mrs. FA and her kids (Mr. FA, we missed you). I ran 8 on Saturday, 5 with VTR and 3 with Mrs. FA. IT was great to have someone to talk to. Near the end with VTR we were both sort of working and I looked at him and said, "you're doing great, this is much quicker than I thought we'd run." He looked at me and says, "I was picking it up to stay up with you . . ." funny. I enjoyed running with Mrs. FA too, she set the pace, we had a great conversation about running work and the usual stuff, and got in a nice run.

I took Children 1 & 2 out today and we had fun on a fairly short run, in the neighborhood of 3 miles. We played a game avoiding "traps" -- manhole covers and sewer grates that either popped your tire, grabbed your leg or arm or spewed sparks (water valve covers). I'd pretend not to see them and both kids would be yelling "TRAPS!" I'd swerve the whole stroller at the last second and they'd be swerving with it all tossed around in the cabin. We had a blast. It was a gorgeous evening of golden sun and brilliant blue skies. C1 said, "it looks like early morning but it's not. . ." so observant. We saw a couple of big cotton tail rabbits, loads of Grackles and a couple of big Northern Flickers.

I got in five on my birthday (Wednesday) with C3. I felt good much better than my 3/29 run. I'm rediscovering my mojo. VTR gave me a big pep talk this weekend and it was good, thanks. I'm knocking down the wall one brick at a time as that HS rower mentioned -- great comment PR.

A tangential thing: we saw a bunch of birds this weekend that looked loonish, but I think that they were Brants, a small to medium sized goose. According to The Sibley Guide to Birds they winter here and summer up in Hudson Bay/the arctic circle.

Short Run

Got in a short one today. Three and three-tenths miles. Nothing really to report. Footing was lousy again, it was pretty chilly and the sun was setting. I felt good though and was starving at dinner. My body is already reacting and that's good. I'll try to get one in tomorrow and something in this weekend, but we're heading to NH to hang with PR and his family and skiing is on the docket so we'll see what happens. This week's schedule is a bit compressed, but I'm feeling some momentum. The unit is still hurting today, I think it actually got abraded by my tights and the soreness is not in fact frost bite (THANKFULLY!). I will be monitoring the situation carefully, however so check back in for updates. Fascinating, no doubt though you'd all feel a bit bad if I did lose the thing to frost bite, admit it. I still didn't find my wind undies, but wore a pair of shorts beneath my tights and that insulated sufficiently.

For your entertainment, I've posted a pair of images taken of me in last weekend's race. I never look as good as I feel -- I'm surprised by how lumpy I look. I've got to work on that.

Cape Cod Bluebird Day

As the photo above shows, yesterday was a bluebird day on Cape Cod (stealing a term from VTR). We went down to visit my in-laws before they depart for sunny Florida and I decided to sneak in a run. It was a gorgeous day and despite not being totally motivated I got out for 5+ -- how could I not?

There was a surprising amount of snow down there and roads with few year-rounders were downright treacherous, but it was relatively mild (high-20s, mid-30s) and gorgeous (see above photo). I saw a big hawk near the end of the run -- not a Red Tail, but I'm not sure what kind. I also stopped for a minute or so in the early going to watch some little ducks swimming and diving. I have no idea what kind of ducks they were as marine, riverine, estuarine birds are nearly impossible for me to ID.

My right hammy started tightening up on the run and that started to pull the back muscle above my right glute in an uncomfortable fashion. It's sort of twingy right now. What was the stretch that you guys were talking about prior to the CCM to alleviate this? My back has been bugging me for a bit, and I thought that it was injured from moving C3's seat around. That it's related to running is oddly comforting because I think it can be stretched out, and is not a lifting /weight bearing related injury.