Third time’s a charm?

Another “first” yesterday morning–the first robin song of the year, and Saturday we had 2 fox sparrows scratching the ground under the feeder.

Rachel Carson, in a letter to Dorothy Freeman, March 13, 1961

The first time I had started training for the Homestead Challenge on the Rachel Carson trail, I got pregnant and stopped. Then I lost the pregnancy.

The second time, when I started this blog, I trained to the point that I was nearly ready, but then I decided to do IVF and stopped. The IVF didn’t work.

Now here I go again. This fall I fell while trail running and injured my ankle. So I make no assumptions about what my active but aging mom body will do this spring while training and parenting and writing and teaching and…

I am going to try.

This week, during what was spring break for me, I received word that I “got in” in terms of registering for the challenge. I also got out on the trails, starting with a non-technical and relatively flat hike.

My friend/colleague/walking partner Josh got the better picture. It snowed yesterday, but spring is definitely on her way.

It was on this day in 1961 that Rachel Carson wrote the above letter to Dorothy Freeman, reporting on “the first robin song of the year.” Robins have been in Central Pennsylvania for a bit now, though I didn’t make note of the day I first saw them this spring.

T, 3/8	Ran 4 miles on trails Strength training for ankle
W, 3/9	Strength training for ankle
Th, 3/10	Ran 3.5 miles on sidewalks
Su, 3/13	Hiked 7.2 miles (309 ft ascent) Strength training for ankle