Completely updated! Ca-chang!

August 26th: Woke up at 6:20am to my 1st alarm (which was actually my second one) so I was a little rushed. Off to HQ, but no sign of John at his desk. Waited and he arrive at 7:50am. Got to the Lincoln Woods parking lot by 9am. No government vehicle so I had to hike in. Not a problem, just not used to it. Once I arrived at 10am, I was off to campsite monitoring by 10:30. Back at 3pm. The highlights of the hike were that I saw a bunch of toads AND one frog in a puddle, John radioed in to me that the forest will be closed Saturday at 6pm until Monday at midnight (Tuesday 12am), I hiked the 5 miles out to the base of Owl's Head for the last illegal campsite on the Lincoln Brook trail, and I dipped the top of my head multiple times in the river to cool off. Once I got back, I made a pretzel nutella tortilla wrap and napped until 4:30 because the hike wiped me out a bit. I ran at 5 and had to turn around at the first river crossing on the Wilderness Trail because the water was too high. It was a weird run, but a nice recovery run through the trails. Took a dip in the river. Ouch! Coldness! Refreshing though as usual. The legs and body needed it after the 10+ miles of hiking and hour of running. Cleaned the bathrooms and bearbox. People left empty garbage bags and whatnot. Sorta annoying. The family made it back from Mt. Flume at about 6:45 (I saw them crossing when I was checking out the river in the morning before crossing myself, long day for them). I did freeze-dried chicken a la king with noodles. Tasty, but my gravity water filter was leaking. Luckily, its a one night stay this weekend. Throw the boiling water in the pouch and let it sit for the 9-10 minutes. Opened it up and placed it in the bearbox (locked it up) before making my final round. I needed to cool off. Made it back to eat dinner at 8:15pm. As I was approaching my bearbox, I heard crumbling of leaves. They were infrequent and small sounding. I tried some "Psst!" and "Yaww!" I shined my headlamp down on the ground and it was a huge...toad. What s wimp! I have noticed it is getting darker earlier so that means I need to toughen up a little. Or just make dinner earlier and go to bed earlier. Fine by me! Early wakeup for a morning run.

Summary: 8.3 (63:55). Ran to the first river crossing and tried hopping on the rocks, but some were covered. Some people said there was some rain last night in Lincoln. So I had to turn around and head down to the parking lot. I exited the parking lot and found an abandoned road that I ran a couple minutes in before turning around. No complaints.

August 27th: Woke up at 6am and ran the horseshoe loop first thing. I needed to go to the junction of the Bondcliff trail to do trail monitoring (measure level of traffic). So it was a quick day. I ran, ate breakfast, hiked to the junction, stayed there from 10-1:30. I was cut short because there were technical difficulties in the front country and a meeting at 4:30 at HQ. I hiked back to my campsite, packed up quick, hiked/did an interval workout down the trail to make it down by 3:05. I was supposed to stay at Lincoln Woods and close it up for the day while Allison went to White Mountain Visitor Center. We ended up closing it down together. Drove to HQ and meeting cancelled. Headed home to Plymouth to find Paul (trail crew) and Dick (works for Forest Service) in my driveway. Dick was kicked out of his trail at Campton Campground and was gonna be my roommate for the next couple days. He's 72 and hilarious. Ain't no problem here! We all chilled for a while inside and outside. Paul was looking after his friend's dogs. A 16 old pug and a 10 year old mutt (dalmation, pitbull, and others). Both awesome dogs. Chilled the rest of the night as we conversed about everything. I ate Oreos/Fig Newtons with nutella and peanut m&ms. For dinner pretty much.

Summary: 11 miles (84:38). Early morning run was relaxing and slow. Heel has been completely healed up all week. Been waiting for it to act up again, but I think I am in the clear. 

August 28th: Tropical storm a brewing. Woke up at 7am and was out the door running before the serious weather hit around 9am. It was mostly just a constant rain from 9am until 5pm or 6pm. Not any crazy winds or anything. Lost power for like 8 seconds. Worked on my blog all day and relaxed inside. Serious napping from 12-3:30. Eventually, I went to the grocery store for milk and chicken. I ended up thawing out the meatballs I made a month ago or so. I tossed that on a couple wraps with cheddar cheese. Sooo goooood! Stayed in the rest of the night.

Summary: 8 miles (54:08). I am glad the weather wasn't terrible and I had a window to run in the morning. Solid run with the second half being a good clip. 26 and change. I was gonna do a post tropical storm run, but decided to hold off. I am healthy and don't wanna get greedy with mileage.

August 29th: I woke up at 6:15am without an alarm. Forgot to set it. I had a day planned out of going to HQ to apply to more jobs. I made a lunch and everything. I drive down to main street and I am about to cross the bridge. I see cars lined up along the side. Hmm. I drive last them and realize they can't go any further. Flooded! It was crazy to see! For the details, check out my Facebook for the video and pictures. I changed my plan and cruised around town to check out other areas that were flooded. Made it back to the bunkhouse and chilled mostly the rest of the day. Downtown wifi for a bit, laundry got done, and more blog updating. I cooked up the 3 pounds of chicken I purchased and the two squash from before the weekend. Lunch and dinner the next few nights. Got a quality run in before dinner. I was laying in bed and decided to crack open another sleeve of Oreos. I told myself a couple, but it ended up being the entire sleeve (14 cookies). Oops! Still feel asleep with ease.

Summary: 10.8 miles (72:34). 5x100 meter strides after. The course was an out and back. I ran up Texas Hill Road (which I have done before) and then took a left to continue on the same road instead of a right on Reservoir Road. I made it to Walters Way (about a mile) and screamed down the other side of Texas Hill Road for about a mile. I passed a biker (a serious one from the looks) right before my turnaround point. I stepped off into the woods to do my business as always and caught up to the guy only to crush him on the uphill. I started on the downhill and got about 4 minutes down before the guy whizzed by me. Whatever. He's not getting any workout on the downhills, I am. 

August 30th: I woke up at 6am to get ready for the day of landscaping. I knew our building was partially under water, but I didn't know the damage. Eek! I arrived to a mess. Everything ruined! The day was spent shoveling off the walkways to the athletics fields because it was full of river scum. Mad slippery and smelly! Second half of the day was attacking the actual building. Throwing out chairs, desks, and all sorts of things. It was very unfortunate. Once out of work, I took my bike downtown to the gas station to get air in the tires. They beyond needed it. Not riding on the rim, but if I was 20-30 pounds heavier. Then I realized after I biked all the way down to the two gas stations. They just got flooded yesterday. Their air machines (is that what they are called?) are most likely not working. Should I bother to ask? I didn't. Instead, I ventured on next door to my work and asked John (head lawnmower guy) if I could pump up my tires. No problem. Sweet! Then Jim (grounds supervisor) brought down his pressure gauge to measure my tires' pressure for me. How nice! Biked around campus for a bit and parking myself somewhere to surf the net. Made it back to run at 6pm. Shorter run with a quicker last mile. Dinner was chicken, squash and pasta. I had for lunch as well. Popped on to campus from 8:30-9:30. People watched like crazy. With the first day of classes the next day, everyone was out and about mingling it up. A couple guys smoked a joint behind me, two girls asked me where Crawford Street was (I looked it up on my iPad, bam!), a girl asked me if it was alright that she was a lesbian (I responded with "it's cool with me") and two guys asked me which direction they should go to find girls. I directed them down Highland Street towards Main street. A productive night. Relaxed the remainder of the evening.

Summary: 7.5 (49:46). With a mile to go, I was located in the rotary on Main Street. I hear a girl yell, "Nice shorts!" I gladly respond with a smile on my face after a short pause, "Thank you!" She then states, "No really, they look good! I better see you tomorrow at this time!" Hmm. That's a first. 6:25 last mile.

August 31st: Quick day overall. Woke up at 6am. Work was mulching and weeding. No cleanup today. My boss's last day of work. Officially retired. A small gathering at the HUB for punch and ice cream novelties. I took advantage of the food offering by eating a Klondike bar and two ice cream sandwiches. Biked into campus after work because the people watching is excellent. Once I was hungry, I made the trip back to the bunkhouse for a run at 5:30pm. Lounged around after and made waffles for dinner. I smothered em with homemade blackberry and strawberry jam, drizzled a little real maple syrup, devoured each waffle in less than 10 bits. Sick, right? It's the only way I eat my waffles. Najem can vouch for me if he is reading this. If not, many others can. It's just that Najem is a person who takes monster bites as well when it comes to waffles. It's a connection we have.

Summary: 9+ miles (61:56). I did a mini workout by uptempoing and hitting up some side streets for pickups. It went well. A little tired, but a low-key workout. I did not see the girl at the rotary today, which was a little disappointing. I wanted to see if she had any other creative comments since her first was an original. 

September 1st: Woke up at 6am. Did all my dishes. Work was straight mulching the entire day. Made it home to only head back down to campus to grab wifi. Stayed there until 5:45. Biked back, which serves as a nice warmup for the run. Ran a secluded run on the backspace. Made some dinner. Fresh out of leftover chicken and squash. So I made pasta. At the beginning of the summer, I made the decision to not buy Parmesan cheese. I used the next best thing, Parmesan and ramano Ragu sauce. Such a clever idea. Tasted the same and less expensive. Stopped back into town at 9pm to FaceTime with my sister, Sarah. She just got hooked up with the iPhone 4 from a customer at Starbucks. Siiiick! Packed for Keene.

Summary: 8 miles (52:51). A little antsy with the races this weekend. 25:16 second half with 6 flat for the last mile. Felt smooth. 6x100 meter strides. Fitness test this weekend. 1 by grass 5k and 1 by pavement 1/2 marathon.