Vacation Running

One of the big bonuses of being a teacher is the long summer vacations. Now that I'm at a year-round school, I only get six weeks off. Oh no! We really had to pack it in this summer. Since my last day on June 12, I've only been at home for six full days. In the meantime I spent time backpacking with my lovely wife on Isle Royale, meeting my new nephew in Nebraska, chaperoning a youth trip to San Antonio, and spending a little time at a family reunion in Omaha.

I have managed to get some running done, squeezing in runs in three different states in the past three weeks. The best of my runs was definitely on Isle Royale on the Stoll Memorial Trail out to Scoville Point on the eastern side of the island. The trail was rocky and tough to run in some spots, but the cool weather and the awesome views of Lake Superior were well worth it.

Lake Superior from the Rock Harbor trail.

Creek by our campsite

From the observation tower on Mt. Ojibway

Loons on Lake Superior

Though I didn't get much running in on our backpacking trip, we did do a lot of hiking--over 40 miles worth, much of it with loaded packs. We also got to see some pretty cool wildlife, listened to a ranger talk about the wolf and moose populations on the island, and listen to another ranger give a talk about the beavers on Isle Royale. We did see a moose, but it was only a quick glimpse--too quick to take a photo. We did get a shot of this guy:

Isle Royale fox

Running in San Antonio by the airport wasn't nearly as scenic--it's definitely nice to be back home. I'm putting in some pretty good mileage this week and am planning on continuing to up my mileage until Ragnar.

Happy Running!