11:59

LIRITW, Happy 4th of July edition!  It's fun to be able to post twice in two days...

Today I decided to try the Sudbury 4th of July Road Race, which has a long history. This race appears to be a quintessential community event (along with the annual parade later in the day). Walking up to the registration desk, I could tell how well the participants knew each other. Sudbury seems to be a town full of runners. Not really a surprise!

Another fun fact is that you have to be a town resident to win a race prize. Probably to keep the riffraff like me away.  If you look very closely at the bottom of my bib you can see I've been branded a "Non-Resident"... and I always thought Sudbury was a Sanctuary City!  ;-)

It was another glorious clear, sunny summer day to gather for a race, this time at Featherland Park in Sudbury. At this point in the summer, I'd actually prefer the race to kick off an hour earlier than its 9 AM start, to save me about five degrees in temperature. I quipped to one runner, slogging along with me in the back of the pack: "You can never start these summer races early enough." "You got that right!" he panted back.

The race loop was scenic, a down grade out and an up grade back, which induced me to go faster than I would have ordinarily tried in the beginning. I ended up with "positive splits," i.e. progressively slower miles. And to make matters more challenging, this was a 6K course, with the extra K thrown in to kick my butt.

However, there were the usual local residents who come out and cheer us on from their front yards. One older chap was serving up his own water and refreshments (not an official part of the race), and he smiled when I trotted past, "Good job!" "I'm so out of shape!" I smiled back. "First place for being last!" He chuckled.

Eventually, I made it to the finish line. As I said before, this looks like a town full of runners, and 95% of them finished well ahead of me. But, come to think of it, that's my usual result in any race.

Local agricultural update: I'm really pleased to report a significant downturn in winter moth activity on my blueberry bush this year.  This is the best crop in about five years, with even more to be harvested!  Today's haul:

Well, that does it for this edition.  Wear red, white, and blue, and get your fireworks on today!

12:04

And so it has begun!

I've just completed Week 2 of a marathon training plan, which will lead up to the main event in October! Take a guess where, if you're interested. (Don't worry.  I know you're not.)

This year, I'm following Hal Higdon's "Novice 2" training plan, a step up from the Novice 1 plan I followed last year. The plan is well laid out: runs on three days out of the week and a long run on the weekend.  In my own interpretation of the plan, I'll do something like this:

Tuesdays: shorter interval run, on asphalt

Wednesdays: longer interval run, on my local rail trail (asphalt), taking in the nice hill at least once. I'll talk about that hill some time. 

Thursdays: shorter interval run, on a local dirt track to lessen the impact on my legs and allow me to run faster than my desired marathon pace. (In other words, working up to sprint training, which I'll talk about later.)

Sundays (usually): the long run of the week, in which I hope to find interesting trails to report!

Fridays: no running, but I'll practice flexibility exercises.

Saturdays: a backup day for the long run if Sunday does not work.  Otherwise, according to Hal Higdon, I need to do at least an hour of cross-training!

Mondays: absolutely nothing. :-)

For my Week 1 long run, I explored a new rail trail, the Nashua River Rail Trail, beginning on the Ayer side and going 4 miles up and back.  This is a great trail, straight and level.  The whole length of the trail is 12.5 miles and it seems to me to be a terrific trail for cyclists.  Indeed, the ratio of cyclists to pedestrians on the trail on an early Sunday was pretty high, and the traffic volume was low enough that cyclists can really pick up some speed!

Lots of shady stretches on this trail.

Granite rail markers provide a glimpse into a bygone era.

Yield to horses!  I didn't see any on my run.

Swamp-inspired sculpture.  You'll pass by a lot of swamp and pond areas.

Tunnel mural.

In Week 2 I doubled back to my well-used trail from last year, the Milford stretch of the Upper Charles Rail Trail.  This trail is curvier and has some busier road crossings than the Nashua River trail. One of my least favorite parts is the crossing of the entrance/exit ramps to I-495 at US 85. You also get to run under a low portion of I-495 in what is effectively a pigeon roost :-)  Besides these points, however, I love the scenery of the trail, which is very suitable for a leisurely stroll. Indeed, you'll see fishing and picnicking near the Dilla St. parking lot, and the trail is dotted with stone memorial benches on which to take a rest, like this:

I would have taken many more pictures in Milford; however, karma had a way of telling me I should focus on my run and not on handling my phone with sweaty hands. Lesson of the day: phones do not like being dropped onto rail trails. Ouch!

So, that sums up my first two weeks of fun!  Actually, not that much fun in the beginning of a training program.  I'm still working up to a comfortable pace.

Summer is upon us, and that means that everyone and their cousin try to sell lobster rolls!  Can you identify the sources of these?  Nom nom nom...