Monday: 6
Westerly, RI. Finalized 2022 Pumpkins long course with Matt and Nick. This was a good collaborative effort. In recognition that the old 8K course can not be run anytime in foreseeable future, if at all, we sought a replacement course. This incorporates two twisty MTB trails, which some runners will like and some will hate. 10K distance. 1 DFK.
Tuesday: 7
Exeter, RI. Had originally planned an early run and swim with T5K, but I needed my "beauty sleep" and slept in until 7:30 instead. Ran late afternoon with Matthew and Brady at Arcadia. Even though we ran roads (dirt roads), the deerflies were after us from the get-go. Such annoying creatures. We stopped at Mile 3 and Mile 6 to let Brady drink from rivers, and he soaked himself for a while. I think the heat (upper 70s) was a little much for him, so while Matthew continued on for 9 miles, I took Brady straight back to finish the run and both of us soaked in the Breakheart Brook. 5 DFKs.
Wednesday: 7
AM: Charlestown, RI. 3-mile abbreviated Dash & Splash with Brady. Mostly dirt roads at Burlingame with a short swim and soak post-run at Watchaug Pond. Felt great.
PM: Westerly, RI. Fun Run week #7, including 1 mile warm-up. I have a bad reputation of saying I will run "easy" but then doing the opposite. Made sure to start in about the 3rd row and not follow anyone out, as I have an ultramarathon in just three days. For once, I succeeded. 21:13
Thursday: 3
Westerly, RI. Pre-flight short and easy run from the house with Brady at the ungodly hour of 4:30am, as this would be my only window for running today. He must've have been wondering what the heck was going on and had I lost my marbles. I would've let him sleep, but he got up right away when my alarm went off and followed me. It was dark but the moon was out, so I could see reasonably even with the headlamp switched off (except for on the trails at Champlin). Mid-run at Winnapaug Farm Preserve, he bolted to chase something across the fields. I could see the silhouette of something about his size sprinting away from him, but I couldn't tell in the distance if it was a deer or coyote.
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| Our train to Boston ended up being about two hours late! Fortunately, we had plenty of buffer, and headed to The Bakery for a pleasant breakfast and coffee to kill time. |
Our Icelandair flight from Boston to Keflavik suffered a similar fate to our Amtrak train and was also late, probably about an hour. After a 45-minute bus ride from Keflavik Airport to Reykjavik (where we're staying), it was after Midnight when we arrived, just as the sun was setting!
Friday: 5
Reykjavik, Iceland. Got up about 8am and went out for an easy solo run. I had downloaded one of the suggested routes on Strava, but then when I got out there, I found it would be crossing a lot of roads whereas I could see paved walking/biking paths right near our hotel that went through parks and athletics fields and botanical gardens down towards the water, so I abandoned my route and just made it up as I went along. I occasionally stopped and checked Google Maps so I wouldn't get lost or be out there too long, and it all worked fine.
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| Paths inside the botanical gardens. Iceland is one of the cleanest countries in the world. |
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| I love well marked signs like this. |
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| Great views along the path! |
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| Reminds me that tomorrow we head to the mountains! |
Saturday: 34
Laugavegur 55K Ultra Marathon! Write-up coming soon.
Sunday: 3 hike, 5 run
Þórsmörk, Iceland. We stayed at the very remote Volcano Huts at the race finish and terminus of the Laugavegur Trail. The bus back to Reykjavik wasn't until 4pm, so at first we all wondered what we would do all day, especially as we had to check out by 10am. But it all worked out well, as we had a nice buffet breakfast, and Matthew went off for a longer run while Jana and I went for a hike, and there was a designated place in a separate "hut" where we could drop off our luggage.
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| Just like at home, it was required to take off all shoes before entering the hut. Makes sense to me, and keeps the place cleaner. |
Hike: My legs were feeling up to it, so we went for a 3-mile, 1.5 hour hike. There were some decent climbs, but only about 800' total elevation gain, so manageable for me.
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| Today we would be following the blue trail. |
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| To Langidalur Hut, before returning to Husadalur. |
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| Photos don't do this landscape justice. Just beautiful. |
Run: I was looking to run slow and flat, and everything came together. While there were mountains all around me, there was one and only one road around, the dirt road and in and out of here. Only specialty highlands buses and super jeeps could operate on the road due to the swift and rocky river crossings, so there was virtually zero traffic. Perfect. I ran an average 8:40 pace, and while the legs are certainly sore, it felt surprisingly decent overall for a recovery run one day post-ultra.
Weekly mileage: 68 run, 6 hike/walk
Weekly synopsis: Highest mileage week in quite a while, obviously with the largest chunk coming from Laugavegur Ultra Marathon. The other days featured low and easy mileage, which obviously was for the ultra itself.
Weekly highlight: Laugavegur Ultra Marathon!
Weekly lowlight: Perhaps the 4:30am run at home. More power to those really early morning runners. Clearly I am not one of them, as I like my sleep.
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