Wishin I'd had a camera

What a good run to end week 4 of the 18 week Boston plan! Don't know where to start or what to say but am sure to think of something, right? The quick recap is that I got to run with Andrew and Stephanie for a total of 19 miles in frosty weather with absolutely gorgeous views of the Passamaquoddy Bay that I've never seen before.

The run started early (for me) at 7am US time, which required some driving in the dark and worries about moose while getting to the meeting point in Perry, Maine. Have a look at what happened to EyeRun and her moose encounter just last week. Thank God everyone was OK! So it was a very cautious uneventful early morning drive. Even the border guard didn't want to talk to me, preferring to barely open his window to the cold and wave me on. Temps were -12C (or 10F) to start and didn't warm up much even with the clear sunny sky and virtual calm.

After dropping one bottle of gatorade at a strategic corner in a snowbank, which was actually warmer than the abient air, I met 'the kids' and we were off. BTW I believe it's appropriate to start calling them this because a) they are both younger than this old fogie and b) since those are the names of my 2 youngest children. We'll soon see what they think of that; now only if we would get Steph to stop lurking and start a blog of her own.

Today's run headed first back to the ocean and the bay, instead of inland and around Boyden Lake. We sometimes forget the beauty of nature around us and then there are days or moments and it's just WOW!! Some of the vistas we had along the shore road were just stunning in the crisp calm and bright early morning sun. One view at the crest of the many hills looking back to my hometown of St. Andrews was ... well 'I wished I'd had a camera today'. And then the reality that this is near the site of a proposed LNG terminal, which has huge local opposition on both sides of the border just makes you want to cry. Save Passamaquoddy Bay from LNG!

So the 1st hour of the run was one hill and another view after the other and would you believe we never saw a single car until we looped back to cross Route 1 to continue our run inland aroung the lake!? No cars for an hour, simply an amazing place to run on a Sunday morning! Another picture that I really wanted today was the frosty face of Andrew who looked more like Santa with a flourescent orange cap. Anyone who saw him would have had a chuckle or more likely wonder what that strange runner was doing to himself in the cold.

After a few miles inland we reached the turn where Andrew & I went left to go around the lake, while poor Steph cut across on Rotweiller Alley. We didn't want to leave her but she said in a brave voice 'I'll be fine but if my car is still there, can you come looking for me?' Poor thing ;-( but her car was gone when we finished the loop so it looks like she didn't get eaten! Our final miles were long and progressively tougher for me at the end of a long week. My water bottle was rescued after about 2hrs in the snowbank and was still unfrozen and very welcome. On reaching the cars we finished off the run with an extra loop to make up the planned distance of 19 miles in about 2:37. Thank you Andrew and Stephanie!!

Totals for the week was 67 miles, 6 runs, 9hr 43min or 8:40 pace with week 4 completed more or less on target.