Yuck

Let me just recap my long weekend.

Saturday - went on my long run for this week. It was scheduled to be 13.1 miles. I dropped Joe off to do a trail run at the Adirondack Lodge Road and went up to Mirror Lake to start my run. The weather forecast was for rain/showers during the day so I was excited to get on my run as I love to run in the rain. It was cloudy when I started going around Mirror Lake. I just didn't feel great, couldn't get my stride, and I was having trouble keeping my breathing even. I went around the lake and then started down toward River Road. It was hot and sunny by this point. I generally am very slow when it is hot but today I was dragging. I got about 4 miles out and felt awful. I kept trying to get myself together but I really was struggling. I got to River Road (about 5 miles out) and decided that I was going to aim for 11 miles which is what I did last weekend. I got 1 mile more in and just didn't have it. I turned around. I got to a point where I just had to stop and walk. I walked about .5 miles drinking water and Gatorade. I started running again with hopes of just hitting 9 miles at this point. I did it. I guess I will be running 13.1 miles next weekend because of this. A nice swim in Mirror Lake was my reward for just going that far on a really tough day.

Sunday - Hiking!!! Noonmark Mountain was our goal. My mom, dad, Joe, and I went out for the hike. I decided that I didn't want to read the trail description before we left so that I didn't judge the hike before I even started. Because Joe and I both ran large distances yesterday, we decided that we would be moving slowly in order to get it done. It was tough with lots of rocks but it was a great day and a great hike. We got to stay on the top for a while and take in the Great Range, Giant Mountain, Hurricane Mountain, and lots of other great mountain views. We went down a different, longer, but less steep route. Joe and I were doing really well going down. We got to an intersection but we weren't sure where we were supposed to be going so we stopped and waited for my parents. As we were waiting, we decided to sit and relax. As I was sitting I saw this big snake slithering down the path very rapidly chasing a toad!!! I jumped up and ran to another place to avoid being in the way. Joe was trying to figure out why I was so jumpy and I couldn't get the words out of my mouth "Frog and and and....SNAKE!!" The snake kept coming towards us and it finally caught the toad. Poor Toad. The toad was screaming as the snake was killing it. I felt so bad for it that I couldn't save it. Who knew that toads could scream??? My dad said later that it was saying "Help me Kelly!!" Joe watched the entire attack and the swallowing of the toad. It was the largest snake I have ever seen in the wild. After the snake incident, we continued down the trail. My legs were tired from yesterday but I was doing ok and then I twisted my ankle. It hurt but I kept going - it wasn't too bad just a little tweak. I then got to a place where I put my foot down, it slid (usually not a problem) and then got caught under a small root. I fell because of this. I didn't even see it coming. All we said was that that would hurt tomorrow. We finished the hike and felt fantastic about a good day and a fantastic hike.

Monday - Sore!!! Very Sore!!! My ankle is sore, my hips are sore, my quads are sore, my back is sore and stiff from the fall. What is my remedy for this??? Go for a bike ride. I figured that it would be good to loosen the muscles so that I could stretch them. Only a short ride out there today. We then went to the Great Range for a farewell lunch and had a great salad, sandwich, and a fantastic lemoncello cake - possibly the best desert I have had in a really long time. We then went back to the camp, finished packing the cars, and then headed home. What a sad day.

So, now we are home and we are going back to work tomorrow. The problem with coming back is going to be that the weather forecast for the next week is highs in the 80's. We haven't hit 80 in Keene Valley recently (actually only 3 times this summer) and have been living in the high 60's and low 70's over the past few weeks. These temperatures are going to be tough for us. Also, tough to get used to - noise from neighbors/living in a city, traffic lights, stop signs, really fresh produce, Cedar Run veggie burgers, and not being able to sleep until 9am. We are going to try to go to the Troy Farmers Market this weekend as we want to try to get fresh produce here to buy local and fresh fruits and veggies.