Saturday

This is a weird week for me. Today started 3 days straight of my EMT refresher course at SOLO, followed by a 4th day for my Wilderness EMT recertification. So everything has been thrown off. On the plus side, I actually have my first overnight house guests (other than my parents) since I've lived here. My friend, Jeremy, from my original Wilderness EMT class in 2011, texted me on Friday saying he and his friend, Ryan, were coming down from Bangor for the refresher. He said they had a place to stay in Plymouth, but he was wondering if I knew anywhere in town. I didn't hesitate to offer my place. They're super nice guys, and they have made me dinner for the last two nights. You can't beat that since it doesn't happen often. It's been nice to have other people in the house to talk to, eat dinner with and watch a movie with. They'll be here one more night, but I think they're planning to head somewhere to watch the Super Bowl tomorrow night. The refresher course was pretty fun for day one. Our group of locals (including both of my bosses from two different ambulance services) is slacking off, pretty much just talking and hanging out all day. We're still practicing our skills, but it's just super laid back and allowing us to have fun with it.
As far as running goes, it looks like treadmill runs for most of these days. Hardly any elevation gain for the week, and that's killing me, but it is what it is. Yesterday, I had planned to head to The Mill for a swim, but I didn't want to do any extra driving since it was still snowing, so I just came home after work, snowblowed the driveway and then did about 40 minutes of weight training. I am so weak compared to where I was in August. I keep track of the weights and reps, so I can see the difference. I'll get it back, though. This morning, I got up early and hit the treadmill for 8 miles, 7:18 pace, 1-3% incline (that's what I always do). Watched Mad Men again. I felt good. Definitely what I needed before the refresher. Class starts an hour earlier tomorrow, so I'm going to push my run until after class. It will probably just be the treadmill again, but at least I have that option, so I can't complain. I'm bummed to be missing races this weekend like the Cape Elizabeth 10-miler and Beaver Brook Snowshoe Race. It would have even been cool to go run in the Snowshoe World Championship Race in Quebec today, but, once again, it is what it is. Just have to accept it and look forward to a double next weekend.