June 2024: Race Win!

 Running stats:

Miles run:  283.8

Elevation gain:  16,818'

Weekly miles (for weeks ended in month):  72, 63, 48, 67, 69

June saw a similar mileage and elevation as May

Primary running surfaces:  Roads (145), trails (126 miles)

Primary running locations:  Charlestown (74 miles), Westerly (64), then Exeter (42) 

Other disciplines:

• Walk / hike:  15 miles
• Swimming:  0.7 miles

Quick synopsis:

• A return to long runs with two 16-milers, and running Fun Run Wednesdays moderately fast.
• Two races:  one went REALLY well (Goodwin Forest) and the other OK (Branford).

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Interesting runs:

• Hopkinton Hills, Hopkinton, June 7.  10 miles.  Nice hill run workout, including long hill climbs on Canonchet Road and Route 3/Fenner Hill Road, and short repeats on Elaine Drive, my very first run on the latter.
• T5K Run, Westerly, June 9.  12 miles.  Nice shoreline run with Tommy!  Way overdue.
• Charlestown Hills, Charlestown, June 23.  Solo run on two [different] loops, with a refueling stop midway, back at the car.  Terribly humid at 95%, but still managed an average 6:54 pace.
• Thick as a Brick, Westerly, June 30.  Closed out the month with another 16-miler, this one at 98% humidity.  Ugh.  I tried to incorporate this into a run with RWYC, but no one would go with me and I wanted to go 7 minute pace.  Average 6:59.

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Races:

Goodwin Forest 30K (June 2):

Hampton, CT

This was a challenging race with about 2,000' of elevation gain over 30K on a hot day.  I figured I would be in the top 5, maybe even top 3, but an overall win was an amazing cap to the day!

Race report here

Branford Road Race (June 16):

Branford, CT

Not my best race, but not my worst.  Just missed going sub-30 on this well-run 5-mile road race, with a 30:02.  Strawberry pancakes for post-race food was really good!

Race report here

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Miscellaneous:

So many bunnies this year!

Yay!  Kudos to Stop & Shop!

Brady just loves the neighbor's pool!  
And really almost any swimming hole.

Lovin' my VJ trail shoes.  A new package arrived from
Finland, which can only mean good things:
my 2nd pairs of VJ Spark and VJ XTRM 2.

Nice to get our deck set up for the summer.

Bugs were so horrendous at Grills,
that for the final CCC work day
in mid-June, I bought this bug head net.

Annual purging of the excess running shirts.
Top shirt (King of Pain race) was particularly ugly to
me; what race shirt simply lists the name of every
street the course uses?

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Looking ahead to July:

Two races on the docket:

• Arnold Mills 4M Road Race, Cumberland, RI, July 4.  This will be my first Arnold Mills. Running this because it's part of the new RI Grand Prix.
• Blessing of the Fleet, July 26.  My 22nd in a row!  First of several goal races for me this summer.

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Monthly highlight: 

Running and winning the Goodwin Forest 30K Trail Race.  So much fun on this challenging race, and super happy to come away with the W.

Monthly lowlight: 

Brady's ear infection.  I felt so terrible.  He came over and woke me up in the middle of the night, clearly in a lot of discomfort or even pain, looking for me to help, and I could do nothing but stay up with him.  So fortunate for quick lab testing the next morning, followed by the wonders of modern medicine.