Friday Night Vertical 2021

Friday Night Vertical 2021

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Back to Trails

Sunday was the typical Sunday. Even though it was Mother's Day, I wasn't planning on doing anything different, especially if it involved spending money, since I had to pay for it. So I slept in which is always nice, had some coffee, made John breakfast and then hit the usual Heavenly Hill repeats. It was really hot and humid, but it actually felt good, since I really need to get acclimated to that type of weather for the summer races. I was actually pretty sore after Merrimack. I'm not surprised, though. I ran my hardest on the hills which really kicked my ass. The trail up Heavenly Hill was much easier to run on without the leaves, but I still ran slower than usual, due to the fatigue from the race. I did 4 repeats of the hill for 4.8 miles and over 1800ft of gain. I actually ended up getting in over 5000ft of gain for the week, so I hit my goal after all. I'm feeling stronger on the climbs already and am pretty confident about Sleepy Hollow this weekend. I feel like I can PR on the course, no problem (barring a mudfest like last year). I still hit over 60 miles for the week, just as planned.

Since it was so hot, I decided to make our hike short. I needed to fill up my water jugs at the Sandwich Spring, so I took John down to West Rattlesnake Mt in Holderness which was down that way. When we got there, the parking lots were blocked off with tape, and big signs saying "TRAILS CLOSED" were all over the place. I read why the trails were closed. Mud season. Well, after that extremely dry spell we had, I knew the trail wouldn't be muddy, so we parked down the road and proceeded up the mountain. I've been known to break a rule or two. ;) We weren't the only ones. There were a lot of other people up there, and the trail was bone dry. If it had been muddy, I would have complied, but that trail should not have been closed. It was an easy walk for a spectacular view. Only .9 miles up. We were sweating like crazy, and black flies were swarming every time we stopped, but at the top, there was a nice breeze, so we hung out awhile.
John on West Rattlesnake

Me on West Rattlensnake
Since it was so hot, I really wanted a cold beer and went back on my plan of not spending money on myself for Mother's Day. On the way back through Sandwich, we stopped at the Corner House Inn. I had never been there, so I thought why the hell not. John wanted root beer, and they just happened to have it on tap. I hate buying him soda, but I've made exceptions for restaurants and other special occasions. I had a Moat Brown, and we both got flatbread pizza. The pub didn't have any a/c, so we sweat our asses off, but I didn't care. It was great.
Mother's Day at the Corner House Inn in Sandwich, NH
We stopped at the Sandwich Spring on the way back and actually had to wait in a line for once. We don't drink our tap water, so I fill up 20 gallons each time. I felt bad for the guy in line behind me, but the spring is flowing well, so it took me less than 10 minutes.

Monday rolled around so I was up for a 5 mile run on the treadmill. I had trouble getting myself out of bed to do it and almost didn't, but a little bit of a pep talk to myself got me up and moving. Took me awhile to get warmed up, but once the right song came over the headphones, I was moving fine. Same as usual, 1-3% incline, 7:18/mi pace. Not bad for 4-something in the morning. 

I went to work in Tamworth. Not too busy. One decent call. In less than a week, I've taken 3 patients to Huggins Hospital in Wolfeboro. Prior to that, I hadn't taken anyone there since 2011. So it's been odd getting used to a different hospital's procedures and staff I don't know. I'm so used to Memorial Hospital, but I'm starting to get the hang of it. I look less like an idiot each time we're there. ha ha. At 5pm, I left and drove right up to Bartlett for the 6p-6a on-call shift and to do the billing. But first, I grabbed a radio and then hit Thorne Pond for a walk. I did 4 loops around the pond for about 2.5 miles. It was so needed. Once back at the station, I got the billing done, shattered my phone screen and ate a box of $.80 rice. LOL. My manager came by to pick up his truck and hung out for awhile. Literally, less than 5 minutes (no exaggeration) after discussing a place in Jackson that I said I had never been to, we got toned out to that VERY SPOT. No joke. That EXACT spot. And that is how EMS works. The second you say the word "never", you can bet that's what you are doing next. If you say you haven't been on a call to a certain place for awhile, that will be the majority of your calls for the next month. Haven't seen a certain medical issue in awhile and you voice that? Well, that's going to be one of your next few calls. It's so funny how it works that way. That was the only call, so I was lucky to get sleep.

I was up right at 6am because the running week I had been waiting for was finally here! Lots of trail running! I made coffee at the station and drove down to High St for a long run at the Mineral Site. As always, it was complete solitude the whole way. I started at the gate and ran down FR 739 to the trails, hitting the Electric Loop and then onto Lower and Upper Stoney Ridge Trails to the top of Whitehorse. Since this doesn't happen very often, I have to gloat when it does. Look who stole the CR on Lower Stoney Ridge. :)
Lower Stoney Ridge Climb Strava CR

The top of Whitehorse was covered in fog, so it was just me with the fog for the view. My mom HATES my Buffs. I can kind of see why, but I still love them.
Summit of Whitehorse Ledge Selfie

I went back down and veered off the Stoney Ridge Trails back to the FR road to Tent Boulder, to Mineral Site to High School Loop for a 13.4 mile loop back to my car in 2hr10min with 1660ft of elevation gain. Nothing crazy. The run was super easy for me. I felt like I was gliding along the whole way. Amazing how easy 13 miles is. This time a year ago, I was running 20-30 mile weeks and struggling to get back into mountain shape. I was not in a place in my life I wanted to be, and, oh, how that has changed. I never thought I would be the subject of a Level Renner interview for being an Invited Athlete to VCM. I didn't think I had that in me... ever. I still don't know if I'll hit my goal. It could all go to shit, but I'm enjoying the ride. Here's a link to the interview:
Sub-3:00 or Bust for O’Dell (No pressure! Eek!)
I tried to keep it humorous to keep it interesting. Oh, and I do have another nickname I forgot about. "#CW". You'll have to ask me in person what that stands for. ;)

This afternoon, John and I went for another mountain bike ride and brought along 2 of the dogs. I took him over to some trails close to where I ran this morning, but we went in off of West Side Road instead. We hit the Railroad Grade Trail and Ultimate Single Track for 3.9 miles. I had never been on either trail so it was nice to check it out. Mostly flat, but very rooty. We stopped by a pond for the dogs to get water and had a beaver pop up from under water right in front of us. John loved it. It was really cool to see one that up-close.
Railroad Grade Trail

Helmet dork

Caught one of the two of us together
Tomorrow, I will struggle to get up and hit the treadmill again before my 24-hour shift. I'm tired just thinking about it.







No comments:

Post a Comment