Rain, Loons and the Belfast Invitational

Efficient meetings are a thing of beauty, and I was thankful to have one of those rare gems on Friday when I had to be in Augusta to meet with the Department of Education for some work on standards and testing. We all buckled down, did what we had to do and were done two hours early. Score!

That extra time allowed me to drive a half an hour down Rt. 3 to the Lake Saint George State Park and set up my tent before the rain. I was most grateful. Once it was up, the rain came and I laced up the Sauconys and went for a run.

Stuck to the roads and took a route that was going around the lake. I had only glanced at a map so I wasn't sure how far the loop all the way around would be. About three and a half miles in, I climbed a hill that looked down on the lake. From here, I was able to better gauge where I was and it pretty much confirmed that running the loop would be more mileage than I cared to do. Headed back the way I came.

Run ended up being very similar to Thursday's run (second verse same as the first!). Another progression run at the exact same overall pace. Legs felt fantastic and full of energy. Very good signs the past few days. Past few weeks actually....

After the run, I showered, drove down to the general store and got a turkey italian for dinner and soon afterwards was lulled to sleep by the pitter patter of rain against the tent's fly and the sounds of loons calling on the lake. Quite Zen and I slept very well as a result.

Friday night's camp. 

Ran 7.0 miles @ 7:21/mile pace.
Paved roads.
Very hilly.
Lower 50s, overcast, light rain.
Saucony Kinvara 3, shorts, short sleeved shirt.

Saturday morning... Woke up, packed up and headed down the road to Belfast. Got to the meet very early as I had planned and I laced up my flats and ran the course. A light rain was falling still but I was surprised at how well the course held up. As the races got underway, that would change, but it still held up quite well all day. Not too muddy or slippery, relatively speaking.

Took the pace easy at first but I picked it up a little as I went on. Ended up running the 5K course twice and a little bit extra. The team and the other coach arrived as I was wrapping it up so I quickly changed and then met back up with everyone.

Teams lined up and ready for battle.

Our runners did very well. Unfortunately, I couldn't stick around for the awards ceremony but many of our kids nailed down new PRs. No idea how each of our teams scored just yet... there were just too many there to keep track (over 70 teams) and I'm dying for the results to get posted so I can see. Hopefully soon. (Edit: Results are up. Did okay, but both our boys and girls teams have some work to do in order to advance to states next month).

Ran 6.8 miles @ 8:34/mile pace.
Trails.
Moderately hilly.
Upper 40s, overcast, raining.
Brooks Mach 13, shorts, short sleeved shirt.