My husband ran the Maine Running Company’s Resolution Run today while I watched the kids. He came back and said it was beautiful running weather. He ran in shorts and a t-shirt, in January, in Maine.

When he got home, I drove to Portland and ran my own resolution run. I did the Trail to Ale course, but added on extra distance to make it 8 miles. It was a gorgeous day and it seemed the entire city was out getting some fresh air.

I started out on the Eastern Prom trail, which was nice and dry. The East End beach didn’t have any snow, but did have several dogs enjoying the water.

I was really enjoying the run.   Until just before mile 2, when I got to Back Cove, and the trail looked like this:

The entire 3.5 miles of Back Cove was like this. Once my feet got muddy, I just went for it, and didn’t worry about it. It was kind of like running on the beach though, it was more challenging than it would have been if the trail had been dry.

Here are my shoes at mile 4.

Here’s a very poor self portrait of me at mile 4. I wore my 13.1 sweaty band so that I wouldn’t be confused with people who were out running for the first time in a long time due to it being New Years Day. I will still be running 6 weeks from now, thank you very much.

After mile 5-1/2 or so, I was back on the Eastern Prom trail and was so relieved to see a nice dry path ahead.

I ran past the Ocean Gateway and finished my run at the end of the Maine State Pier

It felt great to be able to run outside today, and I was thrilled to get a long run in. I am so excited that 2011 has arrived and I feel so grateful for where I’ve been and where I’m going.