Exploring the Valley

T-minus five weeks until my longest race so far, the Lou52. Last weekend's long run in Kingston, NS (in the Valley) was probably one of my more punishing long runs since the night before I had stayed up until 1 am at the campfire then slept next to my overly-intoxicated husband who snored all. night. long. By about 5 am I started to debate the whole run vs. try to find a place to sleep for a few more hours. But when I stuck my head out of the camper and saw the sun was already up I figured I might as well suck it up, grab some GU and some water and head out for a few hours.

The beauty of heading out so darn early is there is very little traffic and even fewer people out running/ walking so I could trudge my way through the valley roads without being too embarrassed by my run/walk ratio. I had mapped out my long run before heading to the campground so I had a rough idea of where I should go. Actually, not so much. I need to work on my navigation skills. I turned left and headed straight up a flat section of road only to find the road I thought I should go up was a dirt road..odd since I expected this to take me to the next town over but okaaay. So up I go only to find another, even more steep hill around the corner, once up that I see another...this went on for about 1.5 km until I finally reached the top and realized I had totally gone in the wrong direction. I did get this nice picture though:

A view from the top

The best part about climbing a big hill (the locals call it Blue Mountain) is the run back down. 1.5 km of blissfully fast downhill running. Feeling a bit more energized from that I headed into town, texted my husband a quick message to let him know I had changed my plans and off I went in search of another trail. Luckily the signage grossly over estimates the distance between destinations in this part of the valley and I was running through Kingston before I knew it. I hopped on an old train track that had been converted to a trail system and off I went. After I had to turn around to head back to the camp site I noticed what I thought was a man off in the distance, standing beside the trail. As I got closer I realized it was a deer. He was nice enough to wait while I took a picture :-)

Meeting the locals

Gorgeous valley scenery!

After 3 hours I made my way back to the campground to find Richard had made some eggs (awesome as I was starving!) and our daughter off playing with a new friend. After a quick shower I went searching for more food then spent the day between the pool and different campground activities trying not to be scorched by the 40 C weather. Ahh, here's to summer days and early long runs. Enjoy yours!