Active long weekend

 I kicked off July with a long weekend of running, biking, hiking, and a little swimming. I missed doing the Chelmsford race, but my ankle/foot just did not feel up to racing. On Friday I headed out and got in a nice run on the Londonderry Rail Trail, then onward for a fantastic, rare Friday morning ride. 

A migraine hit which had me feeling off for the remainder of the weekend. I set up camp in Bear Brook and got in a nice swim to cool off. The water was bathtub-warm but still felt good to get out of the heat and humidity. 

After that I headed over to Epsom for a run up to the highest point. It was buggy and the footing was a bit rough over the 1.1 miles that climbed over 600’. The view was terrific, but the haze cut down on what I was able to see. It was a rough night with temps only getting down to 70 and high humidity. 

I got up a couple of times to see if I could catch the International Space Station, but low clouds kept it out of sight. 

I got in a very buggy run on the camp road and ended up with welts all over my back from deerflies feasting on me. I woke up with something wrong with my left ear which was not feeling right. I headed over to Concord for a nice Holiday group run and checked out the ceremony at the capital building.

 After that I headed over to Bow for a hike to the town high point. The unofficial trail to the summit became overgrown after 100 meters so I bushwacked straight to the top. The summit was covered in blueberries and featured a nice view that like the previous day, was obscured due to haze.

 After catching the fireworks, I decided to head for the hospital as I now had no hearing in one ear. I was worried it might be related to my migraine but also thought it could be water from the swim that I couldn’t get out. I ended up spending 6 hours in the waiting room overnight and another hour getting my ear taken care of (water and wax). It was a relief to get my hearing back, but I was exhausted from being up over 24 hours

. No time to rest as I headed over to the Northern Rail Trail for a nice 10 mile run in the much more refreshing conditions (68-74 degrees but lower humidity). I checked out the geocache near the Hannah Dustin statue and after that it was on to the always fun Sunday ride, closing out the weekend with a nice 2 hour ride in optimal conditions.

Long Weekend

 The Memorial Day long weekend was my first camping weekend this year (and I have a few planned). I packed up my bike, camping gear, and a bunch of maps of high points and geocaches. I hit the road midway through the workday on Friday and got in a nice run on the Northern Rail Trail about half-way to the campground at Button Bay in Ferrisburg VT.

I met up with Eric and his happy puppy and we got in a nice run on the trails and carriage roads around the campground (on the shores of lake Champlain).

A nice dinner and fire and then early bedtime for me (long day). I did get up to check out the International Space Station and was happily surprised to catch FOUR other satellites during the 6 minutes the ISS passed by. Beautiful dark skies! 

Saturday morning featured a run on the D&L rail trail with Eric and Danny V, which was a great opportunity to catch up (we hadn't run together since last October). We checked out Dan's house (that he is building) and were impressed with the progress he has made.

Later we hike Pease Mountain as the day clouded up a bit but was still pretty nice.

I mapped out a nice hour loop to get some biking in.

Another dinner and fire before the rain came. It rained all night and although it wasn't heavy rain it was consistent. That and temps in the upper 40s would make for a long wet day. We decided to call it a weekend and Eric took the damp dogs home and I headed south. I made a quick stop in Vergennes and bagged the city high point, a 1/2 mile jog up/down the road to a Watertower.  I had a nice final run on the Hopkinton Rail trail to break up the long drive.

I closed out the weekend with a run on the Londonderry Rail Trail in the rain and a nice garage run as the rain continued.

Adirondack Rail Trail - red line attempt

 I started back to running after missing 18 days.  I was very tentative as I had both the foot and knee bothering me and I had the big brace on my arm.  It was much nicer once I got the brace off and the go-ahead to run without the smaller brace as long as I stayed on decent surfaces.  Falling could be a major setback!  I started physical therapy for the thumb and slowly increased my mileage running. I’d struggle all month with a much slower pace than I’d been running prior to the injury.

 

Eric Morse and I had planned on a trip to up-State NY to tackle the Adirondack Rail Trail. I felt I was doing enough running to still give it a go, knowing I’d be doing a relaxed pace and runs between 4-9 miles.  The goal was to complete the entire 34 mile length from Tupper Lake to Lake Placid.  The segment from Tupper Lake to Floodwood was still under construction and officially closed but we figured a stealthy early morning run would not be noticed.

 

After a nice little 3 mile road in the Industrial Park, I hit the road on Friday morning for the 5 hour ride. A little more than half-way I stopped at the scenic bridge over Lake Champlain at Crown Point.  I found two Geocaches which gave me a good excuse to get out and walk around for 10 minutes. 

  

 

Then it was onward to meet Eric for a 2 p.m. run. We spotted a car at the depot in Saranac Lake Depot and then drove to the fish hatchery on Station road for a pleasant run netting us 9.5 miles of the trail. That would be the longest single run of the weekend.  We had just enough time to pick up some food and drink and check into the hotel before we hit the road again.  This time we spotted a car at Ray Brook road and then drove back to Saranac Lake Depot and ran 4.5 miles.  That ended a long day with 17 miles of running (my most since coming back from injury).

 

    

We were up before dawn and parked in Tupper Lake after dropping a car at Floodwood.  Unfortunately the construction crew was already out there by 7 a.m.  We tried to sneak onto the trail but were foiled right away.  We did 2 miles trying to find a way onto the trail.  Then we tried a dirt road that accessed the trail.  Once we hit the trail we immediately saw construction vehicles and had to turn back again, still we got in a nice 5 mile run.

  

Next up, we hit the donut shop/laundromat in Tupper Lake and picked up a dozen cake donuts with tasty frosting. That would be the carrot that’d be dangling in front of us the rest of the day.  We headed over to Mt Arab and got in a nice 2 mile hike (900’ of climb/descent) with some great views from the fire tower on the summit.  After that we headed to Station road and then ran the 7 miles back to Floodwood.  We checked out a little bit of the closed section and saw more construction vehicles, so we definitely could not have done that section.  We’ll have to finish “red lining” the trail later.

  

 

  

 

 

The afternoon featured donuts, french fries, and a lot of college football.  We were up at 4 a.m. on Sunday morning and greeted with 33 degree temps and a lot of frost on the car windshield.  We dropped a car at the end of the trail and drove on to Ray Brook.  The final 6 mile run was chilly with an east wind making it feel even colder. Unlike the other runs we’d done we saw only one biker during the early cold miles. We were done a little after sunrise and on the road.  I finished off the weekend with a pleasant run on the Stevens rail trail in Warner and some Dunks while relaxing in the sun.