Fri 6/29 - PM 60 minutes

Northfield, from the boat ramp most of the way up to Birch Point and back down. Thought I could make a loop out of this, fat chance. Got onto a logging trail which turned into a disused logging trail, then no trail at all with me in the middle of the woods somewhere below the top of the ridge that includes Birch Point. The upper reaches of the main trail in a much different state than I last remembered them thanks to abundant logging activity on the slope of the ridge. A bummer for my NMH running camp nostalgia. Tried to go somewhat easy but of course half the run was uphill. Very warm day, got a later start than planned in heading out to the area so the run got truncated a bit, and didn't spend as much time flopping around in the river afterward as I would have liked. The river was damn nice though.

Thu 6/28 - PM 35 minutes easy

Area 51. A nice day to be outside, even better for a dip in the pond, and I spent the lion's share of the afternoon waiting for the fucking truck to deliver computers. Only 2 hours late, for the second year in a row. Thanks to this, went straight home, got there much later than I'd like and had little time left before sunset to run. Annoying in the extreme. Felt like crap the first 15 minutes, mainly fatigue from the day at work with no afternoon nap.

Wed 6/27 - PM 85 minutes plus 20 minutes in Walden

In the 85 minute groove now. Not on purpose either, but it somehow works out that way regardless of what areas/trails I cover. Today it was Hapgood forest, Pine Hill and Old Concord road. Started out easy, pace progressed a little bit from there for most of the second half of the run. On the way in after the pond, pace picked up much more substantially esp. the last 5 minutes once back on smooth pavement. Continued overcast and cooler than normal, third day in a row.

Tue 6/26 - PM 85 minutes plus 20 minutes in Walden

Same length of run, probably not as much distance covered as yesterday though. Not quite as pronounced a pickup in pace in latter stages, although things did wind up a bit toward the very end. Calf feeling decent enough for me to try the low profile shoes, stepping gingerly at first but avoided any disastrous strains or pulls. Stopped at Devil's Staircase for the view, dominated by the clouds scudding past. Breezy with the overcast, following on the heels of more rain in the morning.

Mon 6/25 - PM 85 minutes plus 20 minutes in Walden

Extremely tired by the time mid-afternoon rolled around, which led to a long nap in the car before hitting the trail. This of course led to a very slow start, still regaining consciousness for the first 20 minutes or so. Once full alertness was achieved though the pace actually picked up fairly steadily without intending to do so. After the requisite dip in the pond, this same pattern happened again on the final 15+ minute trek back to the parking lot. Warm but not hot conditions, with overcast and showers following heavy rains in mid-morning. Trails showing the signs of the morning's gullywasher.

Sun 6/24 - double, 2 hours total plus 25 minutes in Walden

AM - 85 minutes easy, up and down and up and down Comm Ave. Jogged a couple of miles, waited a few minutes, then ran 5 more miles in the midst of an enormous pack of runners running a 10k. An interesting experience, mostly thanks to the density of runners. I'm not used to being surrounded like that while running at any speed. Following that, spent a good long while hanging around the Common and Public Garden. Hot sunny day, surprisingly so for a relatively early hour. Right calf stiff and sore from yesterday, depressingly so.

PM - 35 minutes plus 25 minutes in Walden. Very easy jog on the way out to the pond, much quicker on the way back. The pond hit the spot in a deeply satisfying way what with the hot day.

Sat 6/23 - AM 60 minutes incl. 5k road race

Victim of a group effort, taken out by a pair of extranjeros who patiently bided their time the first half the race before both passed me and gradually pulled away. Spent that first half of the race trying to probe for weaknesses but in the end only exposed my own. Tried to maintain contact for a possible final push but by 2.5 miles or so it was clear they weren't coming back. I took a peek back and saw no one in sight behind me and then gave up for good the last 600m or so and practically jogged it in. Somewhat surprised by the final time, thought it would be slower. The course is certainly not the easiest, what with the steady gradual climb in the first mile and some rollers after that. I still don't think of myself as being nearly the same shape as a year ago when I was able to win this thing, but the fitness gap might not be as vast as originally thought. At least as disappointing as getting worked over was the right calf stiffening up on the cooldown after not giving me much trouble during the warmup or race itself. I'm afraid to do hill drills on it right now and wearing trail-appropriate shoes for runs in the woods is off the table which sucks. Woke up to a driving rain, which continued for the drive down and the warmup before subsiding. Still disgustingly humid though of course. By the time the awards ceremony was over the sun had come out and the temp zoomed up. By late afternoon t-storms were popping up all over the place, probably the same damn water that had fallen in the morning evaporated back into clouds during the heat of the day. This prevented me from doing some form of light PM workout that would have involved a dip in the pond, which was doubly disappointing since the same damn thing kept me out of the pond yesterday. I was so tired by then though it might have been for the best to take a miss.