Running the Baldface Mountains

Great run today.  Awesome, in fact.  Not only was the company (Jim, Chuck, Ryan, Erik) great, and the scenery spectacular, and the swimming hole at the end refreshing, but my running went really well.  I felt relatively great throughout and the speed and energy were a pretty welcome surprise.

It was super hot today, with it reaching the 90s down below, and on the first peak Chuck measured the temperature at 79 degrees, but no doubt by the time we reached the second and third peaks it was into the 80s.

Despite the heat, the climb up went well and we reached the first peak in 1 hour, 13 minutes and change.  I should note that doesn't include waiting to regroup at one of the false summits.  From there, we ran along the ridge (which is very runnable) hitting the second and third peaks, regrouping on each one.

The run down went well.  I'm a sucky downhill runner on technical stuff, but after you get below treeline the grade is a nice pitch and the rocks and roots aren't so bad on most sections.  We flew down and when I was close to the swimming hole, I had one wipe out.  I didn't realize until a few tenths of a mile later that I was missing my sunglasses (which had been perched on top of my head).  Fortunately, I ran back and found them unharmed where I had fallen.  Whew.

Reached the swimming hole and lept off the rocks quite a few times into cold mountain water that felt oh so inviting at the end of a long run.  Ahhhhhh.  It was heaven.  We all cooled down and chatted a bit and ran the remaining mile back to the car.

On the way back, we stopped for lunch in Bridgton, the town Stephen King bases his latest novel "Under the Dome" in, only he calls it Chester's Mill in the book.  However, the landmarks were there, most notably to us the Food Mart where the riot takes place.  Jim and I were quite happy to see that.  Great day.

Ran 9.6 miles @ 16:06/mile pace.  Excludes stops to regroup and swim.
Total moving time 2:33:54 (around ten minutes longer than Chuck's moving time, due to me running back to retrieve my sunglasses).
Elevation gain:  3700'
Trails.
Insanely hilly.
Upper 70s to 90s, partly cloudy.
Asics Trail Attacks, shorts, short sleeved shirt, cap, Nathan double water bottle belt.

Link to Chuck's pics. 

GPS Motion track of today's run (you can see me backtrack to get the glasses toward the end)