Minor Training Respite to Celebrate

Last weekend, I traveled up to Rhode Island to support my friend Jess who was very anxiously awaiting hearing about which hospital she matched with for her residency program in Family Medicine.

After dropping her off at work for a half day on Friday morning and "holding hostage" her cell phone (prior to the big reveal at noon), I took a nice run around Providence. Given I didn't have a pre-planned route (the network of roads are worse than Boston, in my opinion -- and I  don't know these at all), my pace was certainly affected by trying to figure out where I was going to get to my main sightseeing objective.

Here it is in the distance, near the end of the first five miles down:

What, you can't tell from that shot what it is? At the turnoff to the pier that is next to is a clue that it's nearby:

Yep, you read that correctly. In this case, it's a troll named "Mrs. Skipper."

Thomas Dambo is the artist who has created a large number of these wooden trolls all around the world. And, as luck would have it, there are five of them in Rhode Island.

After my first troll found, it was time to return in time to pick up my friend from work, but there was sufficient time for me to swing by Brown University first. I had a couple of high school friends who attended Brown, and this was the very first time I ever set foot on campus. (!) It's pretty much what I expected.

But the sidewalks on the roads immediately surrounding campus were HORRIBLE to walk on (let alone attempt to run at all) -- they are so warped because of tree roots deforming the brickwork or cobblestones, I'd be amazed if there weren't a large number of injuries every year because of it.

Finally back to pick up Jess and drive to her mom's hotel room to await the e-mail that would reveal where Jess would be for the next three years, at least. Once the clock hit 11:55am, the hostage phone was returned to Jess for her to repeatedly refresh her e-mail, hoping the big news would arrive early. It didn't -- it was precisely on time.

After a tasty lunch at a really hoppin' diner, we hung out for a few hours (including going on a nice long walk near the beach with her hound, Lady) before we headed out for a celebratory dinner, meeting up with her sister and brother-in-law. Fogo de Chao is always an overwhelmingly filling but delicious meal -- great for celebrations. (And one of the reasons why I did as long a run that morning as I did -- a little forgiving on the diet.)

The next day, Saturday, was a relaxing, lazy day. After a slow morning (no run), we went to a nearby breakfast place which was wonderful and, again, packed to the gills. (We had really good fortune all weekend long with our choices of restaurant.) We then met up with her mom and sister and hung out for a while before grabbing lunch and then seeing them off to return to their respective homes. Shortly thereafter, it was time to head out to the theatre, as I had serendipitously ran past the marquee that announced the show playing until Sunday:

Wicked really is a great show (I was dismayed when they split it into two parts for the movie adaptation), and this performance was quite good, though some of the changes in the orchestration that leapt out at me throughout the show were a bit distracting. (That's the curse of knowing the soundtrack inside and out -- you'll spot the smallest of differences.) And I was amazed at just how huge the theatre was -- over 2600 seats, and over 99% of them were filled. (It happened to be the same night as PPAC's annual gala.)

The next morning arrived like the whirlwind of a weekend this was coming to an end. On my drive back down to Virginia, I took a few minor detours to finish my troll hunting from two days previous.

After parking, it took me a couple of minutes to find the path that would actually take me down towards the pond and approach Young Boulder.

While the first look is impressive, it's really rather remarkable more close up.

And his view of the pond:

My second stop of the day took a little extra time to zero in on, as the road indicated on the map was really a trail on the other side of a gate at the end of a small parking lot. Satisfied I was in the correct location, I walked the half mile to what turned out to be an auxiliary sculpture -- seemingly by the same artist -- but definitely not the main event.

Barely 100 feet further along is where my 2nd troll of the day would be sitting, waiting for me to approach.

Iver Mudslider seemed a happy sort:

Next was my last pair of trolls, situated relatively near each other in the same park.

First up was Erik Rock.

Just past Erik, you can see a small white sign. It turns out, that sign is pointing to the other troll in the park.

Continuing up the path a relatively short distance is the final stop of the day, before heading out on the long, traffic-laden drive home.

Some of the pathway on the approach to Greta Granite was adorned with strands of her necklace:

First sighting was slightly obscured.

But standing right next to this particular sculpture was even more impressive than the others.

I wonder if the artist ate all of the mollusks that comprise this necklace. That would've been a scrumptious several meals.

The troll hunt concluded, it was time to head back. Alas, with some of the accidents that were on the road, what should have taken me another 6 hours or so to return home took closer to 8. C'est la vie. It was a fun, though dizzyingly fast, weekend.

Now, it was time to get back into my training routine. After all, Just a Short Race is fast approaching less than a week away.