Time to burn off some poutine

Just coming off of an amazing long weekend.

I might almost say it was the most amazing weekend of the whole summer, except this summer has had a lot of amazing weekends. The weekend I ran the marathon at Sugarloaf. The weekend Tony, my sister and I went to Mike and Sally’s camp in Rangeley. The weekend I went to the most awesome journalism training ever in St. Petersburg. Or the weekend I got all to myself while Tony was in Arizona. Or the weekend that we went camping at Cobscook Bay State Park with my sister and brother Jim. Or the weekend that we did the Tough Mountain Challenge and stayed at Sunday River. Or the weekend we went to the Redneck Olympics.

But this weekend was pretty great.

We went to Bangor, the town where I great up and where my parents live. Just like we did at this time last summer, we went to the KahBang! Festival. It’s an outdoors music festival and I’m happy to support something so cool in my home town. Also, the Deftones (my most favorite high school band).

Tony, don’t know what you were doin’ with your mouth, there … but its a good photo of me, so we’ll go with it.

And we saw lots of friends over the course of the weekend, and ate too much food and (only on one night!) drank too much.

Last year on KahBang! weekend I tried to do the 18-mile run in Bangor on the street my parents live on. That was the time I saw the dog get hit by the car. That was traumatizing. I did not want to run on that street again. So it’s Tuesday and I just haven’t run that 18-miler yet.

I did not really force training into this weekend. I did a 5-mile run in the Bangor City Forest and a 3-mile run yesterday at my friend Claire’s camp. And there was a little bit of swimming. And walking around in the Orono Bog.

Gosh, what a beautiful day.

I might have run 17 miles on my own last weekend but it still is daunting to me to do 18 miles alone this weekend. And I didn’t want to do it while I was enjoying my friends and family’s company. So I put it off.

This could be the slippery slope where I slide back into a life of bagel-eating, pouting-munching, beer slurping sloth-i-tude. Or I’ll go run 18 miles this afternoon.

I haven’t decided where, yet. I liked my three-loop spring road plan last week, but 3 out and backs can be a little rough on the psyche. Here’s what I’m debating today:

1. Range Pond State Park, ~5 mile loop. Pros: Probably pretty shady, and I can jump in the lake afterwards. Cons: Will cost me $4, not quite 6 miles so I’ll have to do half the loop a fourth time.

2. College Road, ~6 miles. Pros: I’m comfortable with it. Cons: I run this road all the time.

3. Falmouth Foreside, out and backs. Pros: It is the Maine Marathon route, and mostly shady. Cons: I have to drive 40 miles to get there.

4. Kennbec Valley Rail Trail, 6.5 miles. Pros: I know its flat, safe, probably shady. Cons: I’d have to drive 20 miles to get there, and it would be three out-and-backs.

Yeah, it sounds to me like I know what my decision is. Time to burn off some poutine.

 

 

 

 

 

Pattie Reaves

About Pattie Reaves

I'm a new mom and renegade fitness blogger at After the Couch. I live in Brewer with my husband, Tony, our daughter Felicity, and our two pugs, Georgia and Scoop.