Run vs Farm

Today was one of a series of 5K road races called the Winter Chillers... They are great low key runs and attract a good crowd, and generally lots of fun. They are held in various local towns Today's chiller was in

the small village of Hancock, NH.  It started and finished at the Hancock Meeting House, a historic old church with beautiful architecture, and though you can't see it in this photo, an amazing bell tower and steeple.

Sometimes, the conflict between farm chores and running means having to choose one or the other. I find myself often dealing with this conflict.  Training for long distance endurance events means  spending lots of hours on the road or trails... it's really a requirement if you expect to be able to finish a 100 miler. I am signed up for two of them this year, and it is sometimes difficult to choose between what needs to be done here, and what needs to be done training wise. There is so much work to do here, preparing and repairing, and planting, and gardening and caring for both the land and the animals. 

Both the homestead and the running need full time, but sometimes one of them has to win out. Today, we needed to get a long run in, so that's what the day was dedicated to.

After the 5K, we did a further 18 miles, out and back on quiet roads to o ur favorite general store, where we had a quick bowl of soup before heading back to our starting location. Here's a few sights along the way.

 Beautiful old barns and snowy roads

An ice fisherman out on Lake Skatutakee. With the sub zero temps we have been having, you know the ice is plenty thick.

yes, we thought this was humorous too....

Here is our destination for lunch. I love this old store.

Come on in....

here we met a masked super hero.  Does this count as wildlife?

Inside of the store.  Wonderful soups, sandwiches, salads, etc. made with local meat and produce .... We had celery root and apple soup... sounds strange maybe, but it was thick pureed soup which tasted like cream of celery. Yummy. With homemade sourdough bread.

After lunch we started back, and thought this handsome guy deserved a photo.

Every winter, a miniature version of the Hancock Meeting house is placed out on the ice in the middle of the lake. Bets are placed as to when it will fall though the ice as melting starts to happen in the spring.The money raised by this little bit of local fun goes to the Meeting House and other community events. I say April 5.

The finish line! A quick drink and snack at the Hancock Market, before our drive home. I started supper, put the chickens to bed, and Steve shoveled off the shallow parts of the roof... there was quite a snow load up there, and we are expecting another 18 inches over the new few days.  It's winter!

Weather: it was a bit warmer.. in the teens I think.  No wind. Oddly, it seemed like a nice day.  The snow, which is supposed to get going by tonight, was lightly coming down at the end of our run.