Bam!

July 14: Woke up around 815. Used the bathroom. Stepped back into my room to hear my phone ringing. Unknown number. I questionably answer the call and to my surprise, it's Steve Sweedler the landscaper of PSU. He informs me that I can start on Tuesday and the job is through September 1st. Ca-chang! 8 hours a day (7-3:30) and 3 days a week. Pow! That's how you start a day off right. I called Amy the receptionist at 9am to schedule when I could come in to fill out the paperwork. I get ready for my run and head out for a relaxing morning jog. I get back, ice and eat Apple Dapples at the same time, shower up and head over to the grounds building to finalize the paperwork for my brand spankin' new job. Amy did let me know that morning that I needed my birth certificate or my SS card. I have neither (of course) so my mom is overnighting my birth certificate to US Forest Service Headquarters addressed to John Marunowski. Everything went smoothly and I head over to HQ after to use one of the computers for some word processing. I called John inquire about two things, if I could use a computer to update my resume and if my mom could send my BC to his address. Once I arrived there, John had to leave to grab gravel with the safety guy, Ryan, for the tent platforms up at my campsite. I stayed at HQ for about 2 hours doing some job searching and revising my resume. I printed it out for myself, emailed it to a couple people and mocked up a campsite occupancy spreadsheet to keep tally each weekend of the number of people that use it along with some details of their itinerary and whether they are a group or not (6-10 people classify as a group, you cannot have more than 10 in a group when hiking). Before I left, I snatched a couple rolls of toilet paper and paper towel in the warehouse. Dick helped me out with that since he's got one of the two keys to the cage (a bunch of areas fenced off in a building, kinda like KSC's locker room). I was on my way back to the bunkhouse to mow the lawn before heading out for a second run. Mowed from about 2:45-4. A guy stopped by asking about the house and whether it was for sale. We chatted a bit. He works for NH Fish and Wildlife. I jokingly asked if there were job openings for the fall and he responded with a guy actually leaving to go back to school to be a veterinarian. I politely asked for some contact information and he hooked me up. Sa-weet! I finished mowing the lawn and headed inside. I had about an hour or so to kill before my run so I took advantage of it by making my PBJs for the weekend. Fueled up with the end piece of the loaf topped with a scoop of PB and a dollop of jelly (yeah I used that word). My planned run for the evening was a mini workout on the 5k course for next week since it's only 2 miles away from the bunkhouse. Everything went accordingly and cruised through the workout. After the cooldown, I did some strides on Smith Street (side road 30 seconds down from the bunkhouse), protein shaked it up, devoured a balance bar, foam rolled, iced and a nice hot shower. Made the classic waffle dinner with some homemade strawberry jam and pure maple syrup. Mmmm! The rest of the night is being spent downtown using the free wifi to Skype and surf the net. Ready for a beautiful weather weekend up at Franconia Brook.

Summary: Probably the most productive day all around. The workout was a 2 mile warmup (14:10), 3 mile workout (1 min on, 1 min off), 2 mile cooldown (13:40, 6:40 last uphill mile), 6x100 strides. Rocked the calf sleeves for the whole thing. I ended up doing 7 minute on's, which got me to 13:00. Rest until 14:00 and brought home the last 1/2 mile in sub 2:30. I can't say 2:21 because I forgot to split my watch. Total time: 16:21. I was happy. Didn't have any expectations heading in. Basically to dip under 5:30 pace. First mile was 5:36 and overall pace was 5:27. Negative splited which is always a good thing. As I finished, Ryan (safety guy of WMNF) was there at the finish about to do some grass field intervals. We went our separate ways after a brief conversation. He's doing the 10k next Saturday and I'm doing the 5k. And the 10k. Hot Damn! Should be a exciting morning.