greetings redux, from new hampshire!

squam lakes, new hampshire

greetings, once again, from ashland, new hampshire! it's hard to believe, but a month has flown by and we're back in ashland to pick katie up from summer camp. we arrived yesterday, after a 5+ hour drive that included bumper to bumper traffic on the mass pike and short thunderstorm as we crossed the border into new hampshire.

by the time we reached our hotel the rain had stopped and the sun was back out. pat went for a walk around squam lake (the setting for "on golden pond"), and i settled in to watch the women's olympic marathon coverage, with a smuttynose ipa. it was disappointing to see deena kastor drop out at the 5k and then see paula radcliff drop off pace and out of medal contention. still, it was exciting to watch constantina tomescu-dita win the gold for romania, and 4-way battle for silver and bronze medals!

on the personal running front, i just finished up 4 hilly miles in an eerie morning fog. it took me surprise, as i headed out from the hotel the visibility was could only be measured in yards! but the cool temperature (mid-50's) offset the poor visibility. after half a mile i actually enjoyed the running in what seemed like a cloud. remarkably, on the way back the slowly rising sun was not only incapable of burning off much of the fog, but it seemed thicker than when i started. i almost missed the turn back to the hotel! what a strange and impressive experience this morning run turned out to be!

on a different note, i had to miss the 11 miler in norwalk yesterday, but did put in a solid 4 miler (30:00/7:30 pace) before we jumped in the car for the drive up here. now it's time to check out and head over to camp and for us to collect katie. then back on the road for the long drive home. but that stretch of driving should fly by since i'm looking forward to all of katie's camp stories that didn't make it into her letters home :D


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here are a few (sans fog) photos:


great sign!


view from the beach.


anther view from the beach.


the covered bridge across the lake.


dozens of trees along my running route had branches covered with these web-like coccoons.