The Chills Are Alive

A cold one this morning,with temperatures in the low teens as we ventured out to the Vineyards in Bolton and Lancaster to log a 10 mile run to help the member of E Streeters nation who has crazily set her sights on running the Boston Marathon this year.  *cough* looking at YOU, Heather Cook! *cough*

For those of us who've done this particular run, we know it's anything but a flat course.  In fact, it's got some of the more challenging long hills we encounter in our training runs.  And atop the final hill, we're presented with a vista that hearkens back to a certain nun-in-training frolicking in the fields of Austria.  We'll be back to this reference a bit later in the blog.

So what kind of hills are we talking about?
Via Runkeeper.....

Kinda wish we coulda spent a bit more time around the 6 mile mark, but so be it.

Anyone who knows us knows we're big fans of the Vineyard.

Downtown Edgartown is looking a bit different in the winter time.

Scaling the first of the Grant Tetons of Bolton, Andrew and Heather are all biz-ness. 

Nothing like a sibling Town Line race.  The image is a bit blurry, so it's hard to tell who claimed victory, but I was there.  Congrats, Heath! 

At the five-mile mark, we picked up a couple of those Lads from Lancaster, Ben and Josh.

 Ben wasn't quite sure what he was in for, running with us.  Pretty sure he wasn't expecting the mountain climb ahead.  Josh, who ran track in high school, had already conquered the course a number of times, so he was raring to go. 

Hey look, another town line!  And while it appears Andrew claimed victory with his Town Line Lunge, do I need to point out that SOMEONE had to already claim the Town Line in order to take the picture?  Ahem.... 

Finally, we made it!  After an arduous climb, we reached the apex of the run, the hilltop from which on a clear day, you can see forever, or at least to Boston.  Wasn't a lot of talking on the way up, but the satisfying feeling of victory at the top quashed any of the anguish quickly.

Climb every mountain!

How quickly?  Well quick enough for Andrew to launch into his best Maria Von Trapp imitation.

Might have been the lack of oxygen at the high altitude, I dunno.

Whatever it was, it was worth catching the Lonely Goatherd on film. 

From there, the rest of the run was all downhill, and we were running too fast to take any pictures.

But a solid 10 miler in the books, and all of it logged before the first snowflakes fell!

'Course, now that the storm's set in, we've got coffee aplenty, the beef stew is simmering, and football playoff games are on, it's pretty obvious what's next.

So long, farewell!