12:00 PM - Last night after school I went with Emmy to get dinner at CJ's in Adams, MA and then we went to see my kids from BArT perform the musical "You're a Good Man Charlie Brown". They were awesome!! Such a great show! Woke up this morning to rain, rain and more rain. It was forecasted to be sunny later, though I didn't really see more than 5 minutes of continuous sun all day. I headed up after breakfast once the rain had settled a bit to Olivia's Lookout and went running on the nature trails across from it. Emm stayed at home initially. I told her I was doing a long run so the plan was for her to show up after a couple hours. I got there and set up an aid station at the start/finish area for each lap. Each lap is about 3.5 miles with 540' of elevation gain. I figured good practice for the race coming up in three weeks. My Aid Station: 3 x 32 oz. Powerades & a sleeve of Reduced Fat Ritz Crackers. Lap 1: Heavy fog. Started slowly and right at the beginning there are significant uphills. Plan was to walk uphills for each lap and see where I got by the end. I wanted to remain pretty steady and on pace, and also have some energy left at the end. Ran the first lap somewhere around 36:30. (Refilled water bottle at end)
Lap 2: The fog gave way to a steady rain. I was glad to have the reflective waterproof bike jersey on today as I ran. It kept some of the water off. I was getting annoyed because my sunglasses kept fogging up. They are prescription and I can't see without them so I had to keep them clear so I wouldn't trip and fall over roots and rocks. Best time to do this I realized was on the uphills where I was choosing to walk anyways. Finished the second lap around 1:14:00. (Refilled water bottle at end)
Lap 3: Rain on half the course and sunny and windy on the other side of the mountain. Weird. Feeling pretty good. At the end of this lap I refueled my water bottle and ate about 7 Ritz crackers. Time was around 1:52 after the 3rd lap. (Refilled water bottle) Lap 4: Rain stopped for part of this lap while I was on the uphill portion. Saw a mountain biker and he looked gnarly. I got out of his way as he came down a rock face like it was nothing. He had more guts than me. About halfway down the downhills I ran into a cute girl in a hoodie that was running. I said "Hey!" and she ended up running with me for the rest of Lap 4. Then I convinced her to run the 5th lap with me. Fiancees are so cool :D. Emm and I finished the 4th lap together. I ate some more Ritz and told her about my run. Most of the time we just ran in silence though listening to the raindrops in the trees and being in the moment. Time was somewhere around 2:33. (Refilled water bottle) Lap 5: Emm is such a good sport. Made it through the uphills and then on the way down we started noticing all of the red spotted newts on the trail. I commented that I hoped I hadn't accidently annihilated one but statistically the fact that this was my 5th lap it was not too good. We saw one every fourth or fifth step the whole way back to the aid station! Crazy! Never seen this many in my life! Felt good at the end, thought about another lap, but I was soaked and tired and it was time to go home. Time at the end was 3:09. Total Time: 3:09:00 Total Distance: 17.5 miles Average Pace: 10:48
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