On the trail before dawn

Man, oh man, have I mentioned how fabulously great it is to be running again? Can I just say how perpetually pleased I am to be moving across the earth again.......good pace, good distance. The crazy wonderfulness of it all!

I met Bob at 6 on Sunday morning to run the trails at Bluff Point. The plan was to run for three hours. We met at Bluff because it's not very big. To do a 3-hour run (assuming you are not crawling) you must do several loops of varying distance and difficulty. I liked the loop idea because I wanted to be relatively close to the car if my ankle gave out. I'm still not sure how much is too much.

I thought it would be light at 6. It wasn't. It was pitch dark. Bob was in his truck when I pulled up with the light on. He looked like a big glowworm. He jumped out and gave me a present: a new Salomon shoelace for my old trail shoes. The left lace broke a few months ago. Brian re-rigged it for me, but I can barely open the shoe wide enough to fit my foot in. I didn't know you could get replacement laces. Salomon has a "unique" lacing system. I love the shoes. Not so thrilled about the laces.

Thanks, Bob!

Off we went into the darkness with headlamps and flashlights. I had not run in the dark on a trail since VT. (I run in the dark on the streets almost every morning.) It was fun. And it was slow, which was good. Helped my foot warm up a bit. As soon as we came to the clearing where the small plane went down last year (all on board were rescued by our local bike shop owner who happened to be out mountain biking when the plane crashed), the darkness dissolved into a lovely, dim morning.

On and on we went. We looped, re-looped, followed new trails, and even got a teeny bit lost. It was wonderful. We ran for exactly 3 hours and my foot held up beautifully. After the run I soaked it in the Sound by the parking lot. All good!

Next up: Brian and I are heading up to the Whites for the long holiday weekend to do some hiking in Crawford Notch. Without the kids. I'm going to miss those little pookers, but I sure am looking forward to some long days on the trail with my everlovin' old husband.