Sunday, February 26, 2006

Not so cold?

I beg to differ Jonathan! Perhaps the air temp of -12C (10F) was a bit warmer than last week but the wind certainly made up for it with 15-25mph winds and similiar windchill of -22C (-8F). Yeow!! At least it wasn't snowing, in fact with the clear skies it was kinda nice when the sun came up on the drive down to Perry to meet the group.
Looking across Passamaquoddy Bay from Mill Cove toward St. Andrews (6:15am Eastern)
Same view but zoomed and more down the Bay a few seconds later... This spot is only a few miles from our meeting point by Boyden Lake in Perry, Maine.

Arrived a 1/2 hr earlier this morning so Andrew and I could get in a few extra miles before Stephanie arrived at 7:00am. We did a short out and back and thought it was going to be a nice easy run but forgot to note the nasty wind at our backs. After the turn we had a change of heart and decided the brutal wind was going to make this a tougher day after all.

Stephanie had arrived by the time we got back. After throwing around various plans of attacks to minimize the time into the wind and get the 10 miles in that Steph needed (she's been out of commission lately with a sore leg) we headed north along the lake to do a couple of out & backs. Again, tough going into the wind but nice after each turn around and the quick car pit stops for drinks. We talked about lots of stuff, running mostly, plans for upcoming races including Boston and Holyoke, the awful weather. We also noticed that despite the cold there are still large open water spots on the lake so no short cuts were in the plans today.

Final hour of the run was just Andrew and I along the southern base road along the lake. The 1st 1/2hr was great; we just sailed along literally, right past the Rotweiller house (we could hear them barking from inside) until the fateful turn around when things got ugly. Where did those stupid hills come from? Like being on a treadmill at the steepest incline, we slowed down to a crawl for the final return leg. Finished back at the cars in 3:08 according to my watch. Andrew said it was time to stop but stubborn moi decided he still needed 12 more minutes of 'punishment' so as to have the required time 'on my feet'. Total for the run is somewhere between 22-24 but I'm calling it 24 for due diligence and nose to the grindstone effort.

Andrew is done (lucky dog) and he can afford to smile now, or is he laughing at me?
End of run (almost). I still have 10 minutes to go which is perhaps why I'm not smiling.

End of a tough but satisfactory week with a total of 75 miles in 10.5hrs of running. Only 7 weeks to go to the prize ;-)

3 comments:

Olga said...

Man, it is so cold where you are, I got frozen looking at the pictures! How in the world did I live back home? No wonder running is not popular in Russia:) Great effort, and a "wow" on your marathons!

Dawn - Pink Chick Tris said...

Great pictures Mike. The temperature here was about the same without the wind, thank goodness. I just put up my race report with lots of snowfilled shots.

Good job on your run.

Unknown said...

Better you than me, that's all I have to say.