I had two different people tell me in two different conversations within the past week to check out Mount Misery in the conservation lands out near Walden Pond, so since today was a *Beyond Superb* spring day (crisp sunshine!), after lunch we headed out to Lincoln. By now, Little Boy accepts that walking in the woods is just something we do, and is totally game so long as we bring along an indulgent snack (this time, a mini pack of Skittles left over from Valentine’s Day). And his kiddie hydration pack is still a big incentive!

Oh, such gorgeous New England trails. Since I spent much of the morning trudging/running 15 miles on the cranky, rocky, rooty trails of the Middlesex Fells, the completely non-technical trails of Mount Misery seemed like a nap.

Starting the hike

We found a stick “tent” that Little Boy totally took ownership of for 10 minutes.

Finding the "tent"

Soon, the trail opened up into a large grassy agricultural field, where we took turns taking/posing for pictures:

Ninja

I love my Little Boy

I love my big boy

We meandered about for roughly 90 minutes before finding a small horse corral. One of the horses was quite friendly — perhaps hoping we had food. I promised Little Boy we would return soon with carrots and apples for the horses.

Horses

Our hike exceeded 2 and a half hours (and included about a dozen impromptu trail running races) — thought Little Boy seemed like he could continue indefinitely, we returned to the car to avoid any, ahem, misery. (That, and Mr. P got an emergency call to patch a database.)

Groton Road Race was a true family affair for us, with Little Boy participating in both the Tot’s Trot (essentially a 50-yard dash) and the 2K (with Mr. P pacing) while Mr. P and I did the 10K and Grandma and Grandpa “crewed” for us on the sidelines.

First, the Tot’s Trot. The kids were lined up by age, so Little Boy joined the 4 year olds. Unfortunately he started in the back of the pack, but he regained ground quickly and probably finished in… oh, who cares. It was a Tot’s Trot! The main thing was he loved it.

Tot's Trot

The 2K was a different story, as we knew it would be. It’s one thing for a 4 year old to sprint, it’s another thing to hold a steady pace for over a mile. But Little Boy ran the whole time and even sprint to the finish!

2k

2K

The 10K started more than an hour later, after the 5k. I had scoped out last year’s times and really hoped to place in my age group — though I’m not really training for 10K, based on my previous times in short races earlier this month, I thought I had a chance. But I am really unaccustomed to running in the heat; darn that gorgeous sun! And I was not really expecting the 250 feet of rolling hills. I missed placing in my age group by a minute, finishing around 48 minutes (14th girl out of 250). Hard race — you can see me below in the white shirt, looking miserable at mile 2.

Mr. P finished 6 minutes ahead of me, though with no hope of placing in his uber-competitive age group. Still, all that matters is he looks great shirtless 😉

Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for coming with us and enjoying the festivities!

Although this past week in Boston has been anything but routine, we still needed a break in routine. It’s been more than four months since we took a weekend excursion… and like most Europeans, Mr. P starts to wilt like a dehydrated tulip without an occasional excursion. So, after my arduous 18-mile trail run on Saturday morning, we drove west on the Mass Pike to the Berkshires — specifically, Amherst/Hadley, where I graduated from UMass… lord, almost 14 years ago?!

In Amherst, we right away hit the scenic tail end of the Norwottuck Bike Path. Little Boy was on his bike, Mr. P was on his rollerblades, and I was on my two damn feet, which given the morning’s training, were tired. I tried a few times to run and keep up, but my legs just refused. Luckily Little Boy wasn’t in a cycling mood; I think the flies and gnats bothered him. Bugs! Oh yes, in the six months of cold weather, he forgot about bugs, and the warm 65-degree sunshine was bringing them out with a vengeance. Still, we went about 3 miles and had a few “races” along the way. This time, I wasn’t just letting him win — my calf muscles were Grade-A jello.

Racing on the Bike Trail

We went to the hotel in Hadley (a Hampton Inn) and geared up for a dip in the swimming pool. The biggest disappointment of my life was not finding a jacuzzi in which to soak my weary muscles, so I was forced to shiver in the sub-warm swimming pool while playing water polo with Mr. P and Little Boy. After showering, playing logos, and accidentally subjecting an excited Little Boy to 5 minutes of SpongeBob on the TV, we headed out to Northampton for a nice piece of haddock at a casual fish shack.

Poor Mr. P roused himself at 6am this morning to run a speedy 20 miles on the Norwottuck Bike Path (he is more determined to qualify for the Boston Marathon than ever). Meanwhile, Little Boy and I romped on the king-sized bed until I relented and let him play on my iPad while I watched re-runs of Mad Men. At 6:30 am. As I said… “break in routine”. Then we headed downstairs to the free breakfast to eat just a bite before heading to the pool for a solid 90 minutes (can I just say, in amazement, that Little Boy has taught himself a rudimentary freestyle stroke?) By then, Mr. P had returned, so we adjoined to the breakfast area for a second round of eggs, yogurt, and bready stuffs before heading up to the room to prepare to vacate.

It was a sunny though chilly day, so we decided to hike at the Holyoke Range State Park. Little Boy was totally game, to our total surprise, so we decided we could totally summit Mt. Norwottuck (same name as the bike path), as it was about 2 miles round-trip and probably 600? feet elevation gain. It was a bit slow-going, with Little Boy’s main motivation being the small bag of gummy fruits I carried with me. He is easily distracted by the prospect of throwing rocks/sticks into the woods. It took us a little more than an hour to reach the top, which provided a nice vista of the Pioneer Valley.

Enjoying his gummy fruits

Enjoying a nap

While it took us considerable time to go up, we literally flew down the mountain in about 20 minutes. This Little Boy is a descender! Future trail runner! Wow!

The descender

Satisfied with our little excursion, we headed home, with future excursions to the region already planned (next time, not on 4/20 — these 5-college kids are pretty fierce in their allegiance to the rituals of this day. Roll up the windows!)

I learned a few weeks ago that Mr. P was planning to run a half-marathon in Gloucester as part of his heroic training to qualify for the Boston marathon (he needs to tun a 3 hour 10 minute marathon in May, gulp). I also learned that there was a 5K an hour before the half-marathon, so I decided to avail myself of the opportunity to run a race (and allow Mr. P to run a race) with optimal car-pooling and Little Boy supervision. A 5K! Since I’m training for the Vermont 100K, I hope I don’t sound elitist when I say that 5K is, like, a drop in the bucket to me at this point. But since my pace is turtle-like, I figured it would be a good opportunity to challenge myself, maybe set a 5K PR, and at the very least not go insane with jealousy watching the half-marathoners come in. I never expected this:

First Place! (Females 30-39)

Somehow I managed to finish 4th girl (out of a total field of 250), and 1st place females 30-39, at 22 minutes and 51 seconds — a scorching 7:21 pace for me, and 3 minutes faster than my old PR. Not bad for an ultrarunner who never does speed work!

But I wasn’t the only podium-placer in the household:

Mr. P finished 2nd for males 40-49 at a PR of 1 hour 33 minutes. As he came in to the finish line, I yelled customary encouraging things like “Go! You’ve got this!” coupled with “FASTER! Go FASTER!” because there were a few other males on his tale. Fellow spectators seemed amused by my encouraging nagging, but he pressed ahead decisively to the finish line.

Little Boy didn’t run today — except on the playground, like a little maniac. He won a helium-filled balloon.

I took some movies of Little Boy skiing during our last outing on Easter. They’re not too exciting unless you’re a Little Boy enthusiast. I had tried to add some music to heighten the excitement as well as cover up the annoying ski-on-slush noise, but that made the video file too big to upload and violated all sorts of copyright SOPA laws. So you’ll just have to hum Adam Ant’s “Goody Two Shoes” to yourself. I apologize for the camera work, it’s a bit Blair Witchy.