Sorry I have been way behind with the blog these past few weeks. I have busy vacationing, working and getting my miles back up. I headed to Stowe, VT for family vacation. Alumni weekend this upcoming weekend. Cannot wait.
August 6: Woke up at 5:45am from a strange, not fun dream. I was heading to a road race. I step on the line and see Brian Pennarola next to me. We greet each other and I haven't tied my shoes yet. I start tying them, but mad loose. The gun goes off. I am off running about 20-30 seconds back. I end up not catching anybody or finishing the race cuz I got lost. 1st was 15:15, 2nd was 17:15 and BPenn grabbed 3rd in 20:05. Not the most realistic dream, but it felt real.Finally got out of bed @ 6:45am. Walked over to my bearbox in my boxers to fetch my cooking clothes. Made breakfast. I ran out of Jetboil fuel so I had to boil 16oz of water in the pot. The suggested amount of water is 2 cups (16oz), but I guess it's more like 12-14 because my oatmeal was a bit soupy. So breakfast was bumped up a notch with 5 packets of oatmeal. John stopped in with a little green truck (4072) and head in for the normal river edge patrolling. At 9:47am I officially ran out of Nutella. Ahhh! Chilled at the campsite until 11:30 then tried out some campsite monitoring to learn the ropes on my own. It went well. I talked to a mom about bear management, saw the marijuana guys, and a couple that were having a funny conversation in front of me. The guy was trying to describe a group and he said,"The woman with the big boobs, remember?" The woman didn't remember so the guy tried,"The guy with the cheap mustache?" The woman remembered that. Hahaha. It was comical. Took a rinser in the river, but much more difficult without running beforehand. I probably wouldn't hop in the river everyday if I didn't run. Sorta gross, but I do run so it's all good in the hood. Plus, I wear deodorant maybe 2 out of the 7 days of the week. Anyways, made my rounds from 6:30-8:15. Cut it close for dinner. I prepared, ate, cleaned up, and brushed my teeth in less 20 minutes. It was a record. I was in edge the whole time because it was pitch dark out. Power walked (jogged) into my tent to be done for the night.
August 7th: Last day of no running. I am itching to try out the legs tomorrow. I woke up at 6:30am. Hit up the bathrooms right away (nothing new there). This morning Lokie (pronounced low-key) was the first to greet me by jumping into my arms and licking my face. I greeted him with a tummy rub and some scratches behind the ears. Lokie is a shetland sheepdog. Reminded me of Chelsea so much (family dog growing up). Made me miss her a whole bunch. I am always excited when people bring up their dogs and allow me to play with them. This family was extra nice and invited for cappuccinos that morning (and dessert last night). I politely turned down their offers. Made some breakfast and took another round at 8:20am. I searched for the bear scat with the husband of the extra nice family who found it the previous day. We couldn't find it right away so Lokie and I continued on until we stumbled upon it. Fun size Twix wrapper sticking right out of it. Cool! I returned Lokie back to his family and we talked for a while about dogs and shelties. Chilled back at my site and napped from 11-1:30pm. Destroyed my last two PBJ sandwiches because I was planning on Subway the next day. Campsite monitoring from 2-3:30pm. Crossed the river without taking off my boots. Completed two sites. Found some wild blueberries along the way, which I picked and ate as if I hadn't eaten in days. Found some cool spots along the river. As I made my returning trip back to my campsite, I met a couple at the ranger pool with two dogs. More dogs! Yay! Talked for a bit and headed back to make another round at the campsite. Talked with the AMC Wilderness Team, changed out of my uniform, ate a Clif bar, filled a bucket of water for filtering, and relaxed until 6pm. Started up Born to Run again. Soooooo good! I cleaned the bathrooms and got chatting with this husband and wife. And apparently there children are just the bees knees. Holy Cross, grad school, nationals for track, trialthons. Wow, they just kept one upping me. It was mostly the wife. She would actually interrupt her husband to take over to make sure I knew all the details about her children. Wow, thanks mom and dad for not bragging to random about any of your children's accomplishments. At least, I don't think you do. I made dinner at 6:15pm tonight to make sure I didn't wait until 8:15 like last night. Dinner was a complete success with the refried beans, rice and cheese wraps. I had a little bit leftover, but I was able to finish it and be part of the "Clean Plate Club." Cleanup was quick and minimal water was used. I ate the rest of the Oreos while cleaning up. I forgot about them so I was able to finish off the sleeve of 8-9 (14 total in a sleeve). I actually brushed my teeth unlike last night which was more of a graze over with the bristles. One last round to check in with the AMC crew. They were making some fancy dinner so I let them do their thang. As I was walking back to my site, I hear "Ooooooohhh" and "The bears!" They must of dropped something or spilled something. Oh well. In my tent by 7:30pm and read Born to Run before dozing off to a deep slumber.
August 8th: Woke up @ 6:25am. I was ready tackle the day. I began stuffing my sleeping bag into it's sack, but the normal necessity to use bathroom took it's priority. I almost didn't make it. I was "pokin nylon." Got back to organize the tent and get breakfast going. Finished up the normal oatmeal with raisins. Headed out for some more campsite monitoring and head out of the campsite by 12 to reach HQ for job applications. Worked on job applications until 5. Got back and tested out the Achilles on an easy out and back. No pain! I can tell it's still there, but better than last week. The rest of the night was filled with laundry and Subway (Buffalo chicken).
Summary: 3+ miles. 12 minutes out and 11:10 back. A couple test out strides. Good, but gotta take it easy this week.
August 9th: Woke up at 6:25am and made a homemade heating pad while I ate a diesel breakfast (4 eggs and a bagel). Work cruised right by with all the weeding. Jean made me some blackberry jam. Yum! After work, I stopped off at HQ to apply to a couple more jobs. Once I got back, I was excited to test out my achilles on a little longer run. Another successful run. Yessss! Iced after and relaxed the rest of the night.
Summary: Uplifting run. The weekend off was leaving me bumming. Cigna is this Thursday and I wanted to race it. After these two days, I decided to bandit the race and pace my sister Sarah. I went 5.5 (37:19, last mile in 6:05) and it was awesome to get back out there even if it was a short break.
August 10th: Huge breakfast of cereal, eggs, protein shake, bagel and a piece of toast with the homemade blackberry jam. Work was a breeze and another day of the daily grind. All I wanted to do was test out my achilles again. I got out of work and relaxed for a while before preparing for another run. Heating pad for 20 minutes and adding a few miles on from yesterday's run. Nothing! Good to go. Relaxed the rest of the might.
Summary: Cigna tomorrow will be fun because it will be the first road race that I will not actually be racing, but excited to pace my sister. I am thinking 7:30 pace for her. Not sure what she is looking for. I know she said she wants to run fast and is pumped to run a 5k with all her marathon training she has been logging the past weeks. 7 miles today (51:10). Some serious strides and not sallying them like the past two days. Went well.
August 11th: Another filling breakfast and last day of work before a week off of care taking and landscaping. Woohoo! Headed out of Plymouth and drove to my cousin's place in Hooksett, NH. Sarah and I chilled for a bit before heading to downtown Manchester. We were pulled over by a cop for not displaying registration on her license plate. The woman was nice and let us go with a warning. The funny part was that I thought she had a shaved head (I was in the passenger seat) and Sarah says she had a ponytail. I still don't know. We warmed up to the starting line, stashed our stuff behind a tree in somebody's yard, met up Sarah's friends, and found a good spot in the mix of the competitive section. Sarah and I people watched until the gun went off. Entertaining as always. Awesome race. Beers after at the local bar on the main strip and jogged back to the cars after. Relaxed for the night.
Summary: Sarah told me she ran 21:30s for this 5k a month ago or so and she felt good. So I thought try to get as close to 21 flat as possible. We hit 7:00 for the first mile, 13:35 and she finished with 21:12. Siiiick. 6:50 pace. We checked back at those previous results and she ran 22:30s. So that means she killed it! 6 miles for day.
August 12th: Woke up in the couch around 9am. Made a egg and cheese sandwich. Frank (my cousin) woke up and came downstairs around 10am. He was making a bunch of bacon. I said I would make him a bacon, egg and cheese. He was for it and I taught him how to cook a egg the proper way. Relaxed for the day until popping into Starbucks (that where Sarah works). She got out of work at 2:30. She made me this delicious chocolate banana shake thing. It was awesome. We headed over to Melissa's (one of Sarah's friends who is training for the half marathon and ran the race the day before). Sarah headed out for 9 miles and then Melissa joined her for the remaining 11 miles. I was helping Sarah out by bringing her car to get inspected and have an oil change. Oil was changed, but the inspection didn't happen. I was stressing because the guy checked the tint of the windows and asked if I had a permit for them. He starts barking at me about it being illegal and a $1000 dollar fine if I get pulled over. I was pretty much silent and didnt have much response. Once the oil was changed, I jetted out of there because the other guy let me know I was gonna fail the inspection with the window tint. Hmm. I got back and headed out for a run. I hooked up with this old railroad bed trail and it was friggin sweet. Perfect on the legs and ending up hitting these snowmobile trails as well. All said and done, I hit double digits for miles for the run. Last time I did that was over a week ago. We picked up some chicken on the way home. Sarah marinated them in some peppercorn sauce and Sweet Baby Rays. Mm mm, delicious chicken and cheese sandwiches. Sarah whipped up some chocolate cakes for vacation. Relaxed the rest of the night.
Summary: 14 miles (1:38:19). Felt amazing. No pain and beautiful trails. Stowe tomorrow for most of next week. The whole family will be there and maximum relaxation.
August 13th: Woke up around 8am. Chilled at the house for the day. Sarah was working until 2pm. I was gonna run at like 11, but I left my car at Starbucks the day before. Dumb me! So I just waited until Sarah got home. Frank's friend stopped by at about 1 or so with her dog. Crazy dog, but awesome. Less than a year old with a ton of energy. Her name is Penny. Sarah and I departed at around 3:30 or so. She renewed her XM radio before we left so we were blasting the beats all the way up to Vermont. Heard some new jams that we were excited to show Katie and Erin (Erin might still be stuck on Hot in Herre). Once we arrived, the rest of the day was all about Scrabble and pizza. I had rancid gas that I couldn't hold in so I just let it go as I usually do.
Summary: Day off because of the travel day. It wasn't necessarily a planned day off, but it worked out. Tomorrow will be a longer run on the Trapp Family trails.
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