Notes from the Manchester Airport

I am here in the boarding lounge waiting for my flight to Chicago (and on to Seattle), and since MHT has free wireless in the terminal (unlike Seattle where you have to pay AT&T $9.95), I feel compelled to take advantage of it. Since it's Saturday nobody's around at work to email with (because only people who are supposed to be working would want to fritter away time emailing with a bored air traveler), so here I am! Talking to myself.

I'm a couple days behind on the travelogue version of my posts, and although I could just skip it and move on, I love travel-memoir writing, so even if no one is out there reading, I'll have it in case I want to go back in future and read about my trip.

I think I've been fairly successful over this 10-day trip at maintaining a moderately active workout routine. I'm sure it doesn't nearly make up for the indulgent food consumption (I guess I'll find out about that soon enough) but at least it should help a little.

Here's an overview.

Wednesday 9/17 - travel day. No exercise whatsoever except for a nominal amount of walking in airports.

Thursday 9/18 - walked a couple of miles in the Hamptons, plus a couple miles later in Ogunquit.

Friday 9/19 - ran about 6½ miles in Ogunquit, walked another mile back to cottage. A bit of walking in Kennebunkport.

Saturday 9/20 - Yoga class, walked to and from yoga, lunch (about two miles each way).

Sunday 9/21 - Half marathon (with 1-2 mile warmup run).

Monday 9/22 - Intensive yoga class, walked to and from (about half a mile each way).

Tuesday 9/23 - Ran 7¼ miles in Stonington, walked around Bar Harbor (including shore path, one mile each way).

Wednesday 9/24 - Ran 7 miles in Stonington, climbed Blue Hill (one mile up, one mile down, plus some extra back & forth).

Thursday 9/25 - Ran 6.5 miles in Stonington.

Friday 9/26 - Ran 4 miles in Newcastle, ME (all that I had time for before breakfast), and that's it except for walking around LL Bean.

Saturday 9/27 - Rest and travel! The drive from Newcastle to the Manchester airport takes almost three hours. We left at 11 a.m. and I checked in at 3 p.m, which included a stop at Starbucks on the way and lunch at the Cracker Barrel a few miles south of Manchester. Now I will be sitting on my behind until almost midnight Pacific time (except for the change of planes in Chicago), and eating a whoopie pie somewhere along the way. Kind of the opposite of working out!

But really, I need this rest day from running. Despite being on vacation I have put in almost 40 miles of running this week, which is well over my weekly target of at least 30 miles. Of course, I haven't done any cross training except a little walking, and no yoga or Pilates since Monday, so I certainly don't begrudge the extra miles. I am quite thankful for them!

Tomorrow, Sunday, I intend to do a long run, maybe 12 miles. I figure I can sleep in and rest up as much as I want from today's travel and late night, and with the time zone change I will still probably be able to get up at a decent hour. Even if I get up at an indecent hour, I don't have anything much else to do tomorrow anyway. (Oh, unpacking, laundry, house cleaning, grocery shopping? Pshaw—a trifle.)

I did call to book a massage for late tomorrow afternoon. I figure my body is due one, with all the running over the week plus hours of sitting in a car and, soon, a plane. My back is already muttering things at the prospect of the long flights. My legs, surprisingly, feel pretty loose, considering all the hills I have been doing (including the climb up Blue Hill).

I've already decided that if there is any kind of encouragement to sign up early for next year's Maine Coast Half (last year apparently they offered a free hat to anyone who signed up right after last year's race), I'm going to sign up. I'd like to get a low number (although my number this year, 175, was relatively low out of 601). I figure if I can't make it out here after all I'll only be out the cost of registration, but most likely I could at least come for a few days, for the race, even if I can't do an entire New England vacation. So we shall see if the event organizers solicit early registration. And whether there's any perks attached!

I am actually feeling drowsy sitting here in the airport. Hopefully I can recapture that on the plane (I'll probably snap out of it by then; we board in about 20 minutes). I was up pretty late last night, after watching the debate, fooling around on the computer, and, finally, packing my very full, heavy bags.

My checked suitcase weighed 49.5 pounds. How's that for cutting it close?