A Long, Shorts Weekend

There’s nothing like three sunny 50 degrees days to improve my attitude. I took advantage of the spring-like weather to get in some very enjoyable miles the past three days. It felt great to shed the winter wardrobe and run with only shorts and a tee shirt. I think the last time I did that was just about three months ago in early December. I’m sure New England will see a return to some winter weather but this was a nice, unexpected break.

I started of the weekend with a TARC run in Blue Hills reservation. I picked up Kevin and we met 16 other trail animals at the Houghton’s Pond parking lot. The plan was to run the first 26 miles of the Don’t Run Boston 50K course. I had no intention of doing the full 26 after coming off a 28 mile run just six days earlier. I was looking to do between 16 and 20 miles depending on how I felt.

The run started out easy enough but there were a few fast runners in the pack today and there was no holding them back. Less than two miles into the run the pack splintered into several mini packs. I got left in no-man’s land and was running on mine own. I caught up to Kevin and Michelle but we soon lost our way. We cut some of the course and by luck caught up to some of the other group coming from another direction. We stayed with them for most of the remaining miles. I called it a day around 15-16 miles. Many others went on to do 20-26 miles.

Summer in March. TARC hits the beach.

I think my hill repeats with Bob Crowley up to the Observation Station and a few hill workouts on the treadmill are beginning to pay off. I felt much stronger on all the big climbs up the Skyline trail and wasn’t falling behind like I did on my previous two runs here. I just need to get more consistent with these hill workouts.

Several photos of the TARC run are here.

My plan for Sunday was to meet up with Rob for a run with Gilly of GAC fame. When I got up Sunday morning I realized I wasn’t exactly sure where I was supposed to meet the GAC group so I ended up skipping the run. Since it was another ‘shorts’ day I couldn’t skip running altogether. I grabbed my iPod and went over to the local school track and banged out five mindless miles. It was nice to just put my mind on cruise control and not have to worry about tripping over rocks and roots. Plus I avoid a big goose egg for the day.

Today, I met up with Emily for a very enjoyable 8+ mile run on the AVIS trails. Emily took me on a fun tour of sections of Ward, Mary French and Skug River Reservations. The trails there are non-technical so it was a nice break after running in Blue Hills. The AVIS trails have a good mix of flat and hilly terrain, some water crossings, several boardwalks and plenty of solitude. I have to say today’s run was my favorite of the three. I’ll have to come back here again very soon although I’ll surely get lost without my tour guide.

Enjoy the sunshine….