Exploring Annapolis, Maryland

So this week has been quite a week for me. On Monday, I trained with the Lifetime Fitness triathlon group and it was a great swim set followed by a two mile run. A lot better run than I had the day before. Gotta love running with my Tri - Buddy Nancy!.Tuesday I had a 14 hour drive to Annapolis, MD. I was taking my son to Navy Swim Camp at the Naval Academy..That was a long drive, I had packed up my running shoes, my bike (yes, I took my bike), and my swim suit.. along with my work desk ( I have to still work)..

Wednesday morning, I dropped Donnie off and went to work. I was in my room all day (temp 72 degrees) and not realizing how hot it was. After work, I decided to look for a trail near by and went for a run...... OH MY GOODNESS!! It was soo hot.. I ran 3.5 miles and I had to walk some of that route.. I had forgotten what it was like to run in over 90 degree heat and humidity...wait.. a minute... hmmm I take that back, last Sunday it was hot, but I think I was delusional.. I forgot, it was that hot then too. Oh well... It was blazing hot, and I thought I was crazy..I vowed that I was going to do this route again without stopping...I did, I ran the route again on Friday and that was a great run. I guess I had a goal in mind.... If I ran the entire route, I was going to have some Maryland Blue Crabs.. I did! Yummmy..

Cantler's Riverside Inn Blue Crab Steamers

So, I thought to myself, if I could keep running, let me see if I can find a bike trail while I am here. I mean, I am in historic Annapolis, there has got to be routes/trails here.

I was in luck, one of the local Bike shops here: Bike Doctor Annapolis (www.bikedoctorannapolis.com) told me about the B and A Trail. That was my goal on Saturday.

I am a  geek..I love to research how this trail came about and so I looked it up on the internet and found out that this the B and A trail is part of the East Coast Greenway. The B and Trail was once part of the Baltimore and Annapolis Short Line railroad and over time, the railroad stopped. So.. today, I got up and went on my bike ride.

Here is a map of the trail where I parked my car.

Before I started,  I tried to inflate air into my tires with a hand pump and instead of inflating it, I deflated my tires. Not Good! A very nice couple came by to help and that didn't work. We deflated the tire even more... So, we tried my CO2 air pump. WOW! I am soo glad someone told me to only inflate the tire with one pump.. Swoosh!...A lot of CO2 came out really fast. My tires were inflated. I started my ride. What a ride! I nearly ran over a squirrel, that surprised me. Then a rabbit decided to jump in front of me.. so, I had nature interrupting this great ride through nature. The trail was really nice. It was paved route. I may have to try this again before I leave. On the way back, I stopped at the ranger station to replenish my water..

This was about 20 miles.. Here is what I looked like at that point. Hot and ready to finish.. Not!

I still had 8 more miles to go..So, away I went and I finished my ride. I was going to go for a run, but that didn't happen as it started to rain. Sorry, Billy, I know I should run after a ride and I did run in thunder and lighting, but not today. I wimped out. I will run tomorrow.

So, as you can see, I have had quite an adventure so far. I am going to have to get up early tomorrow to go for a run.  I get to see my son tomorrow and then we are going to visit his Godmother (Aunt Wendy) in Delaware and have dinner with her and her husband.

Happy Training!
Eling