At last... a long run!

Had rehearsal until about 9:30 last night and then came home and was (of course) completely wired. Despite that, I got a nice early start this morning (5:45). It was already so very very humid but the temperature wasn't too bad yet. I ran into Wolfeboro where I KNEW I could get water and a bathroom break around mile 5 at the old train station.

(The old train station.. whose bathrooms open up SOMEtime... but apparently I have no idea when!)

NOPE! Okay, maybe it doesn't open until 7:00?? Anyway, not a pleasant surprise. So I hoofed it along the Cotton Valley Trail to Fernald Station. (Met up with one guy who was just about my pace and another guy who was going so fast I wasn't sure if there was a tsunami coming!) That's just over 3 miles on lovely, scenic, flat ground.


(Fernald Station on the Cotton Valley Trail. I cleaned the house of a Fernald family back in 2002 and at that time a guy named Mark Fernald ran for Governor... I never knew if he was any relation to this Fernald.)

I took a left for short bit on Rte 109 and crossed over to (Angel choir here: AAAHHHHH!) the 7-11 where a very nice kid let me fill my water bottle.

("Just a little water for an Old Lady, Young Man?")

Then, the work began.

I had what I'm guessing to be 2 miles straight up North Line Road. That meets up with Beach Pond Road (the road of my former residence) upon which I took a right for, yes, more killer hills. Then, a left on Brown Road where, just for fun, there are some breath taking (yes....) HILLS! Finally it comes to Federal Corner Road where I can relax because it is just one final: HILL!

William Lawrence Camp... it "rocks".

All told it was about 14.5 miles. It took my 2:17 to finish, which is pretty slow but I feel GREAT because I felt pretty great the whole time. And, let's face it, there were one or two... hills.

When I got to camp I looked like I had jumped in the lake. Ate a LOT of breakfast (scrambled eggs, English muffin, sun butter, potatoes, tea, milk...) and came home. The only reason I mention that is because I was completely hydrated (or so I think/thought) and I had that big meal. And yet.... I stepped on the scale and it was 5 pounds lighter than the night before. Weird. My weight tends to fluctuate those 5 pounds over the course of a month but I thought it was interesting that there was such a difference after 1 long run - consider all the things I did to refuel and hydrate.

Anyway... I feel great and therefore I'm not going to worry about it.

P.S. Just remembered... drank a LOT of water last night during rehearsal so that I could be well-hydrated today. AND, I got up to pee literally 4 times in the night. I think, perhaps, I just weighed a lot more before bed because of the increase in water and maybe I didn't really lose that much during the run. Huh.