A Week in Autumn

Simply put - I did nothing in New Hampshire. But sometimes doing nothing is good for the soul. I've been vacationing in New Hampshire all my life. My childhood vacation cottage is no longer available for use, but I was fortunately able to secure use of my uncle's cabin alongside Emerald Lake in Hillsborough. Chris Bain (AKA Silent Thunder)accompanied me during the trek north. While on vacation he did even less than me. One day he spent 5 hours in the same spot on the couch reading a book about dragons. I believe he showered twice while he was there. At night we grilled outside in the warmth of a blazing bonfire. One night an army of skunks stormed our fort...I wanted to negotiate with them but Bain would not allow it without set preconditions. Eventually they left. We played intense games of Monopoly, Cribbage and Chess, drank lots of beer and then went "vixen" hunting in the evenings...to no avail.

To me, running in New Hampshire is like running through paradise. 90% of my runs were done on natural terrain that rolled up and down along the picturesque countryside. I ran in two separate places; my childhood haunt of Sutton and out of my uncle's pad in H'boro. As I mentioned in the previous post, there was a state park with 20+ miles of trails just a mile from where I was staying. Wouldn'tyaknowit, the park was called "Fox State Forest". Some of the trails were tough going (see pict) and many contained some wicked hills, but the pace was leisurely and all I cared about was getting some fresh air. The colors were brilliant but some of the leaves had started to fall making footing cumbersome at times. During the runs, we would creep up upon old cemeteries from the mid-19th century. Peaceful resting grounds from long ago. Eventually the trail would disappear and we'd end up at the end of a long dirt road. Following the road back we encountered 1/2 mile long hills that meandered around quiet swamps peppered with beaver homes. No one was around. While in Sutton I ran through much of the same but threw in a logging trail for good measure. After runs I waded in the chilly lake.The hip seems to be okay. I took Monday off and may take today off just for good measure. Assuming all systems are go with the hip, I hope to ramp up the training again (slow and easy) starting next week.

I'm now on Cape Cod. Tomorrow I have a family event in the evening. Maryland bound on Sunday.