Last Week

I didn't get a lot of running in this past week, but was again happy with the quality.  Monday, Dan and I ran (raced?) 8 miles on roads.  In our typical fashion, we pushed ourselves the entire time.  I finished up in 55:47, a time I was very happy with.  Tuesday, Dan and I ran again.  Recovering from our workout the day before, we ran an easy 7 miles of trails in Ryan Park.  I experimented with sprinting up the hills.  After two off days due to laziness (Wednesday) and chaperoning a field trip for my son's preschool (Thursday), I ran trails in Rome Point on Friday.  Again, I decided to keep a comfortable pace and then really push the hills.  I'm hoping this will help with any trail races I may get to do later this year.  We'll see! 

This weekend I was able to get a couple of nice hikes in with my kids.  Saturday, I took them to Mt. Tom in Arcadia.  We have done this hike before, and my son had been requesting to do it again.  I was a little nervous to take them by myself.  The trail rises through some woods and then up onto open cliffs.  Instantly, my kids were spotting lady slippers on both sides of the trails.  A got an upclose look at a pine warbler flittering about in a tree right above us.  My kids did a great job of exploring and climbing, but staying away from edges.  We reached a large flat rock on top of the "mountain" and had lunch.  My 2 year old daughter requested a shoulder ride for the way back.  It was quite the workout.  On Sunday, I took my son down the road in the jogging stroller to a portion of the North South Trail in Burlingame.  He wanted to hike a trail with dots (blazes) on it.  We reached the trail, ditched the stroller, and hiked.  The goal was to reach a really nice valley that he had never seen before.  He was pointing out the blue dots on trees to me, and I was pointing out the birds we were hearing (ovenbird, great crested flycatcher, wood thrush, and worm eating warbler).  He wanted to climb a steep rocky ridge that was off the trail and I was happy to oblige - finding the safest way up and down.  By the time we reached the bottom of the valley, he was ready for a shoulder ride back.  This was a very challenging hike back for me, but very rewarding!