Sunday At Lake Hayward

(Lake Hayward Cove; photo by kathie 7-5-08)

Click on photos to enlarge

Sunday morning Alex and I headed out to Lake Hayward to see Stephen’s new cottage. Lake Hayward is the site of the Adams Family Road Race and the first site of Bacon Academy’s Cross Country Course back in the 70’s. Lake Hayward sits nestled among the Connecticut hills just south and west of Colchester. Our drive out here takes us past old farms long overgrown, some now turned into housing developments. Soon we enter the thicker forest that surrounds the lake and find our way to Stephen’s cottage in the woods.

(Cabin in the Woods; photo by kathie 7-5-08)

The cabin is rustic but quaint with an outdoor shower and patio. We walk up a moss covered path through ferns and mountain laurel to get to the cabin tucked into a hillside. The forest is closing in all around with trees of all sorts shading the place. It has a cozy, private feel to it, which we all like.

(Forested Patio; photo by kathie 7-5-08)

Stephen wants to practice for the Adams Road Race, so he devises a training relay where he and Alex will run segments with me driving the car and picking up each runner and dropping them off ahead. It works this way: Alex starts to run. I drive past him and drop Stephen off where he waits for Alex to catch up and hand off a piece of rubber tube being used as a baton. Then, Alex jumps in the car and I drive him ahead a short distance and he gets out and waits for Stephen to hand off to him. In this way we covered the 2.8 miles of the Adams Road Race and Stephen records the time for the first ever Adams Family Relay. Then, it is off to the beach for a swim in the lake.

(Stephen and Alex prepare to run; photo by kathie 7-5-08)

The lake water is so cool and refreshing. We all swim out to the dock and I fill my nostrils with the scent of the fresh, dark water. I feel its coolness slip past my body and I dive beneath the surface, rising a few feet later in the bright sunshine. We sit on the dock and warm ourselves, chatting about all kinds of things. Soon I dive in and swim back to shore, remembering I don’t have my cell phone with me and I need to know the time. On the way to the car I snap a few photos of canoes and row boats lying on the shore of the quiet cove.

When I return to the lake and prepare to swim out to the dock again my brother informs me there is a large snapping turtle in the vicinity of the dock. Stephen is a great tease, and though I know there are large snapping turtles in this lake, I figure he is trying to scare me and I don’t believe him. The more he insists, the more I think he is pulling my leg. Just as I am about to dolphin dive and start my swim out to the dock a large bumpy head surfaces only feet from the dock. I can just barely make out the hub-cap sized shell trailing behind it. Stephen and Alex start to laugh and stand smugly on the dock’s edge. Flabbergasted, I stay what I hope is safely in the shallows and watch as the turtle nonchalantly looks around before diving beneath the surface once again. Stephen and Alex wait a few more moments, then dive in and swim back to shore. We all decide we’ve had enough swimming for the day!

(Alex and Stephen prepare to swim; Photo by kathie 7-5-08)

Note: This is the first in a series of posts about my recent trip to New England. Look for additional posts within the next week or two with Stories from Sycamore Canyon interspersed.

Sycamore Canyon Update: It's sunny and hot here today. The humidity has dropped and the temperature is rising. Right now it is 96F in the shade. In the desert the prickly pears are ripening which means it's time to make prickly pear jelly once again. A Say's Phoebe has been hanging out around the house and seeking shelter from the sun underneath the covered patio on the blades of my patio fan. I am seeing House Finches, House Sparrows, Gambel's Quail, Mourning Doves, White-winged Doves, Curved-billed Thrashers, Cactus Wrens, Gilded Flickers, Gila woodpeckers, Turkey Vultures and Lesser Goldfinches on a regualr basis. I haven't seen the Sonaran Desert Toad since Saturday night.

2008 Adams Family Road Race Results

It’s the evening of the annual Adams Family Road Race.

The various members are gathered at the traditional starting line.

Tension mounts as the racers await the arrival of the latecomers. One family is stopped on the other side of the Connecticut River awaiting the opening of a draw bridge that is broken but set to re-open at 7 p.m. While the race was supposed to start at that time, it has now been delayed. Couch Long has arrived for the start of the race, but he only has a small window of time. Discussions are underway to decide what to do, for we can’t wait until dark to run. As ideas fly about among family members, news comes that the bridge is open and the runners will be here in 15 minutes. However, Coach Long cannot stay and so we say good-bye as we await the arrival of Al, Rachel and kids.

Coach John Long with former students Mary Grace, Stephen, Kathie and Chris

The stranded family soon shows up and now the fun begins. The Adams Family stretches across the starting line, minus the oldest brother, Rick, from North Carolina. The runners range in age from 51 (that would be me) down to 5 years old. All my siblings are looking fit and trim. Apparently I did not inherit that gene. I know I won’t beat any of them, but I would like to beat my time from last year, which is 40:11. I have been walking and even jogging some before I came, but on the day before I left, I hurt my left knee while running through the desert. Then, 2 days ago my brother Stephen showed me how to stretch my IT band, which is a strap of muscle, and tendons that run from your hip to your knee, the same knee I injured. My upper thigh has been hurting ever since.

Gus stands ready with the camera. Renée stands ready with the stop watches. She calls out,

“Runners get ready!"

"GO!”

And we are off.

Gray muggy skies hang above us as we plop, plop, plop, our feet down the road. Already my siblings, my son, Alex, and the various grandchildren, nieces and nephews have disappeared around the corner. I am left watching two five-year-olds outrun me as I plod onward.


The road around the lake winds up small hills, around corners and down small hills. In its 2.8 mile course I pass beneath huge maples, oaks, and alders. There are little cottages dotting the lake with bits of open lawn and rose bushes growing, but much of the road is through thick woods with the damp smell of summer brooks and bogs. Once on the dirt road portion of the run all is silent except the thudding of my feet. I walk up the hills and run down them, trying to get the most distance out of the gravitational pull. I walk to catch my breath, then jog to pick up speed. I find my mind wandering to the surrounding and to what I will write in my blog and then I remind myself that this is a race and to “Focus!” I jog a little faster.

I’ve been in 3 car accidents in my life and so my right leg is my weaker one and it usually depends on the left to take up the slack, but today it is the left leg that is injured and the right leg must work harder. As I run I imagine the conversation between the two of them:

“Hey, Lefty, what’s going on over there? You’re falling down on the job! Pick up the pace!”

“It ain’t gonna happen, Righty. Not this year.”

“Well I can’t do it. Everyone knows I’m the weaker leg. Come on, you can do it!”

“Sorry Righty, it just ain’t gonna happen. This race is up to you.”

Righty grumbles and drags a bit, and my two legs plod on.

The final stretch of the race is where the back road of the lake meets the main road at a T. It is here that my brother Stephen meets me and jogs alongside to encourage me. I always appreciate that he does this, and he does it almost every year I have run. Everyone else has finished already. Once again I am last. Stephen tells me that Alex won, which is what we all expected, and Stephen was Second. He is only a year and half younger than I am, but he has won this race 7 times in the 12 years that we have run it. My sister consistently finishes in the top 5, and she is there again this year in spite of having neck surgery just a few months ago.

My time for this year is 41:28. I didn’t beat my last year’s time after all. I am disappointed, but hopeful. In my perpetual optimism, like Charlie Brown with his football, I believe I will do better next year.

To view the Adams Family Road Race Results with photos read below or click on the highlighted link for just the 2008 stats.

Renee checks the stop watch.


The first runner appears.


1st Place Alex (20:02)

2nd place Stephen (20:53)


3rd place Chris (21:58)


4th place Al (23:16)

5th place Mary Grace (25:52)


6th place Bernie III(26:28) and 7th place Kyle (26:29)


8th place Bernie II (26:56)

At the finish line awaiting the final runners.


Donna comes in 9th with a time of 32:21

(she is much faster but she stopped to walk with her grandchildren for awhile)



Kathie finishes 10th with a time of 41:28.


Chris and I before the race.

Many thanks to Gus for all of tonight's photography and to Renee for being our timer. Thanks to Stephen for starting and maintaining this family tradition and to Stephen and Donna for buying and sharing their new cottage at the lake with us where we had a wonderful barbecue afterwards and reminisced long into the night while fireflies flickered among tall trees at the edge of the woods.