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October 25, 2004
Maine
So much to write about the weekend, I do not know where to begin. I guess I will start with running.
Friday: 4 miles easy, New Jersey
Saturday: 6 miles, 5k alumni cross country race at Bowdoin
Sunday: 5 miles, Wolfe's Neck Woods trail run
So last week I actually managed to run 28 miles and my knee did not hurt. I thought it would start during the race on Saturday, as it does not seem to enjoy running faster than 8:00 pace, but it never really started to hurt so that was cool. I don't know when I last updated the blog but on Thursday I did the elliptical for 95 minutes and lifted weights before I picked Matt up at the airport.
I am very tired right now - Matt's flight was at 6:00 am so we got up at 4:00 to go to the airport. I had planned to just go straight from the airport to the gym and work out but I felt terrible so I decided to go back to the hotel and sleep instead. So I slept for 3 more hours and I'll go to the gym after work instead. Since I ran the last three days of last week I am not running today but then this week I will hopefully hit 30 miles including a trail run at home on Friday which I am already excited about. I have an appointment with my PT on Friday morning because although I think I am mostly better, it really can't hurt. Or rather it will hurt but it will also help.
So here are the basics of the weekend. Matt was supposed to get here around midnight Thursday night, but he took an earlier flight standby and got in at 9:15. We drove to Manhattan (I do not recommend this but it was on the way and such) and met my friend B. for dinner at an awesome Thai restaurant. It was totally weird to see Matt out here, just because this is like my work/college friends world and he belongs in my Denver home world. It was weird but awesome. I have been getting to know Manhattan more every week so it was kind of fun to be able to show him around a little bit. So anyway we hung out with B. for a while and then drove back to Jersey to get some rest before we left for Maine. I was really excited about getting on the road Friday morning so I woke up around 7:45 and decided to go for a little run and let Matt keep sleeping since that was 5:45 his time, so I trotted around Fairfield for 36 minutes. We left around 9:15 and unfortunately I left my cell phone in the hotel and the maids said that they did not find it. This is an obvious falsehood since the phone was on when we left and when Matt tried to call it about an hour later, it was turned off. This is so irritating but these things happen. If it doesn't turn up today (I asked them to check again today) I'll go buy a new phone which sucks, I hate spending money on phones.
Anyway I digress. The drive to Maine took about 6 hours. It was very pretty and although the foliage in Maine was past peak as we expected it was perfect in Connecticut. Matt had never set foot in Connecticut and had only been in Maine for a total of about 30 seconds so it was fun to show him some new places. We went straight to Portland because it was about 3:00 and we were starving. Portland is a very cute town and I would highly recommend hanging out there. It was freezing - and really windy near the water - but it was cool to see it again. Then we drove up to Brunswick and got there around 4:30. We checked in to the Brunswick Bed and Breakfast which I would also recommend very highly, it is a very nice place. I think I am so tired I'm having a hard time coming up with adjectives. I was really tired on Friday as well but I wanted to show Matt the campus while it was still light out so we ended up taking a pretty long walk around the whole campus, the woods, and the main street of Brunswick. It was fun to see what had changed since I was there and what was the same. Friday night we had to get Matt his first whole lobster so we went out to Bailey Island for a lobster at Cook's. He enjoyed it and I got some funny before, during, and after photos. No trip to Brunswick is complete without a nighttime trip to LL Bean's flagship store in Freeport, so we went there after dinner and Matt got a fleece. I was in a weird funk where I wanted to buy something but I didn't like anything. I have so much stuff, I think I am just sick of having all that stuff.
Saturday morning we got up, had breakfast, and walked over to my old professor's house. He is great and it was fun to catch up with him. I think Matt enjoyed meeting him, he is very entertaining. Then we walked over to the field house and met Alison. She had already run a few miles but I made her warm up with me. We ran the race and Alison did great - I think she was fourth - and I finished without knee pain and under 8:00 pace which made me passably happy. I am still really unhappy about how much weight I have put on but I think the only thing I can do is keep eating better, run, and work out. And not get discouraged. But anyway the race was fun, I love running cross country!
After the race we met up with Alison and P. and we went up to Camden. We got some nice pictures from the top of Mount Battie, which was pretty but cold, and hung out there for a while. I had a surprise planned for Saturday night so we got back around 6:30 and then drove to dinner at 7:30. The surprise was just that we went to dinner at this Robinhood Meeting House Restaurant. This place is an awesome restaurant and it's in the middle of nowhere in Georgetown, Maine. So it makes a pretty good surprise because Matt was like 'Where in God's name are you taking me?'. That was a fun dinner. Afterwards we went back to the hotel and passed out, this weekend was very fun but exhausting! Sunday morning I woke Matt up at 8:00 and we got dressed and drove to Wolfe's Neck for the run. I wasn't sure how my knee would do but it was fine. Unfortunately Matt kept twisting his ankles, he had never really gone trail running before and trail running is especially challenging in the Northeast what with all the roots and stuff. So I felt terrible because I think he had fun except that every 5 minutes he twisted his ankle! He always says he is not a runner but he did very well and I was really proud of him, and I think he really enjoyed the scenery which is just outstanding.
Anyway yesterday we drove back down to New York, and since the drive takes you right into Manhattan, we decided to take our life into our hands and drive in again. Which I would not recommend although Matt really enjoyed it. Obviously he seems to have missed his true calling as a cabbie in New York. We went to the Village and hung out watching football at this cute little bar. We watched the Patriots-Jets game which should have been very exciting but really was not as there was no scoring in the second half at all, so we each picked a team and made up a drinking game. That was kind of entertaining. Then we went to this cool costume store and looked around and then went back to Jersey, checked in, and tried to pass out as early as possible.
Hoo boy that was a long entry and I am sure I've forgotten a few things! More later or tomorrow.
Posted by barb at October 25, 2004 07:38 AM
Comments
I think I need a vacation home in Maine. (For free.) I've only been there once - in summer - but it left a major impression on me. Glad you guys had a good time!
Posted by: jenandmats at October 26, 2004 07:09 AM