Mountain Llama: 4/4-4/8/2016

Monday, 4/4/16- Coming off of 4 days of feeling awful, Monday started me off on the right foot. I felt much better. I walked about 2.5 miles on the "new" treadmill at work during the middle of the day. I was on-call again for the night, so I had to run close to the base. My usual route was snowed on and very slippery so I had to modify it to stay on the main road and never be more than 20 minutes from the base. That meant only going so far down Ossipee Lake Rd before turning around and then two loops of Ossipee Lake Rd/Rt. 41. The main road had very few slippery spots so I was able to run this one on the quicker side. 7.6 miles at 6:48/mi pace. Of course, this is almost entirely flat, so it's easy to run it fast.

The "new" very old treadmill at work. But it works!!

Tuesday, 4/5/16- One of my last "long" road runs before Boston. It was 19 degrees when I started, but the skies were clear, and I managed to stay perfectly warm. I ran one of my usual out and backs through Cranmore Shores and up Tasker Hill and Allard Hill Roads before turning around. I ran comfortably without pushing myself and ended up with a decent run. 12.5 miles at 7:29/mi pace and 1,036ft of elevation gain.

I ran some errands with John after picking him up from his homeschool group and then worked in some weight training and ab work before his ninja class. I had planned to be consistent with this, but that has already fallen by the wayside; I can't seem to focus on running AND weight training anymore.

I bought this because of the bottle. How could I not?

I decided to be a jerk on Facebook that night by showing my dislike for ridiculous Strava Run titles, i.e. song titles, lyrics, paragraphs and just plain ole brain spewing. Expecting to be unfriended and unfollowed (yes, please!), I was instead treated to fun Strava titles written just for me the next day. Everyone of them cracked me up!! I loved it.

Wednesday, 4/6/16- Bagged the treadmill run again and didn't feel bad about it. I wanted to save that extra hour in case of an all-nighter. That didn't happen. It was a quiet day and night. I caught up on my sleep which suits me just fine.

Thursday, 4/7/16- Onto my 10-hour shift in Tamworth. Walked 2 miles on the treadmill during the middle of the day. We had a late call that got us out an hour late, but I still managed to head over to the Bolles Preserve for a nice trail run. The rain quit just as I got started, and I finished just when the light was getting too low. Perfect. 5.7 easy miles and broke two of my own CRs on Strava. Went right from there to Taste of Thai. I needed Yellow Curry like there was no tomorrow. I felt like I hadn't eaten in days, so it really hit the spot.

Friday, 4/8/16- I slept in a little and then headed over to H&R Block to do my taxes. I had already done them, but I was hoping I had done something wrong. Nope, I had done them all correctly and still owed the exact same amount I came up with. I have to say it was pretty disappointing being penalized over $800 by the Healthcare Marketplace (with no explanation available) when I paid for crappy insurance ($5800 deductible) through them the entire year. I think I actually "used" my insurance twice all year...and obviously paid it all out of pocket. It also sucks when you're not considered a parent for tax purposes (we alternate who can claim John every year) when the reason I live here and am limited professionally is because I'm a parent. I feel like one of those people caught in the middle here. Not poor enough, but still downright poor. Haha.

Anyway, that visit was followed by a VERY MUCH needed run. I didn't want to do anything crazy the day before Merrimack, so I opted an easy 7.2 mile run up to the top of Black Cap Mt via Red Tail and a run down Kettle Ridge. It was the perfect run to clear my head. I thought about all of my adult life choices and how they've led me to this point. I wish I could go back to my younger self and knock her "live in the present" attitude out of her. Haha. But I can't do that. I can only keep thinking that there has to be a better way to live. Not sure what that is yet, but I'm keeping my mind churning.

Spot on Black Cap

Spot and me on Black Cap

I had some time to spare, so I went to Frontside Grind again for a coffee and then picked up Phoenix at Rozzie May in Conway. She had finally gotten spayed. The poor thing. I felt so sorry for her pitiful face.

I picked up John at his Tin Mountain homeschool group, then went to Walgreen's to pick up Phoenix's pain medication. Knowing John was getting dragged around the next day to a race, I decided to let him play his video games the rest of the evening while I got my stuff together for the Rivah the next day.

I've been having some fun with those stupid quizzes on Facebook. I don't post them, but I do take screenshots of a lot of them. Here are a few of my recent favorites.