10 and then some.

What's up, good people?

Last week, we had the good fortune of visiting the fair city of Boston for a visit and a lovely summer wedding at the Crane Castle. Other than visits from these guys and these guys, it was a delightful trip. (Which, of course, included a trip to Richardson's Ice Cream.)

With the wedding scheduled for Friday evening, Joy had the brilliant idea to change up our schedule, switching our "long" 10 mile run to Thursday. So off we went to Lake Quannapowitt in Wakefield, a 13 minute drive from where Ross grew up (though he had, remarkably, never been there), and what turned out to be its 3.2 mile loop.

[Note: After poking around on the interwebs, two things come to our attention. (1) No one seems to know what "Quannapowitt" means. The lake appears to be named for James Rumney Marsh Quannapowitt who then took the surname "Wiser," which leads some to believe Lake Quannapowitt translates to "Lake Wiser," though there is nothing to indicate this is true. (2) "Rumney Marsh" is what became Chelsea. So even the freaking lake we ran around three times is from Chelsea—just like seemingly everyone over a certain age we run into whenever we're in town. Matter of fact, Ross calls Chelsea "The Old Country," for this reason. It should also be noted that we DO NOT feel wiser having run around the lake a little bit more than three times.]

The temps helped us out since Wakefield wasn't nearly as hot or humid as Chicago. Thank goodness. Even if it was a bit breezy, it'd be difficult to complain.

We kicked it off not really knowing where we were supposed to go. From the church to the playground and around the lake on the dirt path? Not so much. Through the parking lot to the sidewalk? Um...apparently? Maybe? So many questions....

So three-plus laps of this:

And this:

And this:

Not too shabby of a day. And a great series of views. Mostly. Though we were the worse for wear once we hit the Colonel James Hartshorne House (since 1681, and apparently, available for parties) for the fifth time—four times running past it; the fifth time, after having turned around to walk back to the church/car/chauffeur:

Just happy to be done with 10. Which we followed up with four miles of speed work on Saturday and a six mile tempo run Sunday. We took Monday off and today—Tuesday—is a cross training day. Then more mileage as we get back on schedule. Good thing the week's off to a good start!

We're also off to a good start in the fundraising department, thanks to a dedicated band of contributors. If you know of any female persons aged 18 to 45, please remind them to take an active role in monitoring their breast and ovarian health. Thanks for your support!