Cadillac Ride

I'm up in the Bangor area for part of the weekend, staying at my in-law's house to make it easier to meet up with the cross country team for a meet we have in Ellsworth tomorrow. Concocted a plan to join Eric M. and Peter K. for a run up Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park this evening, which was a great time.

View from where we parked our cars. 

We met at at the Park Loop Rd. just off Eagle Lake Rd. at 6pm and headed on up. Took the first few miles slow to warm up but then Eric helped lead us to a quicker pace. Nothing crazy, but it was still work and the legs were ready and willing. Great workout and a lot of fun.

I've never done this run before and was slightly worried about traffic on the road up, especially since it was a holiday weekend. However, it wasn't bad at all. I think most out of town tourists aren't used to driving up twisty mountain roads so they were white knuckling it with caution to begin with and gave us extra leeway. We also clearly won the respect of a small group riding Harleys, which was pretty amusing.

Eric and I ran around the parking loop on the top and then after a hundred yards or so coming back down we ran into Peter (who's battling injury) and we ran with him to the top and around the parking loop again.

The run down was Zen, as the grade is perfect for just hauling ass. Hitting a tempo pace while breathing through your nose while looking at Eagle Lake nearly a thousand feet below was epic. A storm was moving through at that time but we were just getting the fringe of it. Beyond Sargent Mountain you could see the cell dropping heavy rain, while just a bit to the west an orange sunset painted the horizon. How people can not get out and appreciate this kind of thing is beyond me. No better way to do it then while out running and having all of your senses are engaged. We runners are truly a lucky bunch.

Finished the run and Eric and I talked about running over to Eagle Lake and tacking on a loop but pizza sounded like a better idea as we were all pretty famished. We parked at Peter's and then walked over and filled our bellies. Great cap to a very fun evening.

Ran 9.4 miles @ 7:44/mile pace.
Paved roads.
Insanely hilly.
Lower 70s, mostly cloudy, some light rain at the end.
Saucony Kinvara 3, shorts, short sleeved shirt, reflective vest.