Forward Momentum: All Work and No Play...Week of 5-11 to 5-17

So work just went from a couple days a week to straight up full time. The latest job? A huge bathroom renovation in Canton, CT, about two hours from my home. And home to a ton of epic trails, from what my research has uncovered...so I'll be scouting, plotting and attempting to do something?

And does it seem like we went straight from winter to summer here? It does to me. There's definitely an adjustment that the body needs to make to acclimate to a drastic change in temperatures. 7 Sisters got warm pretty quick, and the run I did yesterday was uncomfortable, to say the least. Of course, I was out in the Sun at the warmest part of the day, so it's my own fault!

That said, I'm running the 6th Annual KIAI 5k in Wakefield this Saturday. It's a great race in a scenic town, and for a cause I wholeheartedly support, raising funds to provide karate scholarships to deserving kids who can't afford the tuition. My friend Julie is the race director, and she puts on a great event!

And...depending on what the girls have planned this weekend (i.e. shopping), I might sneak off to run the Soapstone Mountain Half Marathon, a trail race and part of the Grand Tree Racing Series. But that's dependent upon their schedule, not mine.

Monday-Tuesday - 0. The job is WAY out there. Northwestern part of the state, 15 minutes from the Mass. border. The house sits on a hill, whose driveway is so steep that we had to park the equipment trailer at the bottom and schlep all our gear up. It's so steep that we backed the truck out today while accidentally shifted into drive. In drive! I might create a segment out of it for hill training...

Wednesday, 5-13 - 2.6 Miles - Enders State Forest, Granby. I scoped out some trails near our job, and this place got great reviews for its scenic waterfalls, and was 5 minutes from the jobsite. Not much about trails or maps, but we finished early for the day so I drove over to check it out. Unreal place. The trails were unmarked, mostly borne out of foot traffic alone, and I hit some dead ends, but what fun! I looped several times through the gorge that showcased several waterfalls, and scampered across boulders alongside the river, and generally had a great time. Some good steep climbs as well!

New phone. First panoramic picture.

The "trail" is straight ahead! Not left!

Not bad for a Wednesday afternoon after work :)

Great place...nice swimming hole!

Looking downstream toward the falls

Thursday-Friday - 0.

Saturday, 5-16 - 8-ish Miles - 6th Annual KIAI 5k, warmup/cooldown, and dog trail jog. OK! Official results? 4th place out of 162 runners, 21:16 @ 6:50 pace. My sixth time running this race and my best performance yet! I got fourth friggin' place! And wasn't real far off #3, only 9 seconds...pretty damn stoked about it, if you hadn't guessed.

Drove down to Wakefield and after checking in and chatting with friend/race director Julie Conte, I ran a short warmup with Paul G. and tried to figure the weather. It was starting to rain, which I'd sort of hoped for, and looked like a good turnout! I lined up with the fast looking kid at the front, who asked what I was shooting for. I said I'd be happy with a sub-22:00 on this rolling course. He was shooting for 18:20. Um, sure...(I later found out he races track against young Mr. Walker). Anyway, the race starts and I fall in around 15th place, as a bunch of young kids went out fast but looked like they'd fade pretty quick. They did. I reeled people in until I was in about 6th, and fell in with a woman who was running the same pace, and we stayed together the entire race, exchanging the lead a couple times. I was able to outkick her in the last bit of the race to move into fourth place, and first in my age group! Sweet! Look, here's the first page of results! Proof!