Hollis Fast 5K

The theme for tired, sore legs continued, but I attempted to rest them after Pack Monadnock. Monday was kind of a forced rest day since I had to go right from the ambulance in Tamworth up to Bartlett-Jackson Ambulance for an overnight on-call shift and to do the billing, so unless I got up to run on the treadmill, a run wasn't happening. I couldn't drag myself out of bed early enough, so it was a zero. We were fairly busy at work, which made the day fly by. My partner and I got a kick out of this call we were on for a fire at the Fish Hatchery in Ossipee. Look at the sign by the road.

Smoked Trout. LOL.

Once I got to Bartlett, I grabbed a radio and then hit Thorne Pond for a walk. Gloomy day, but this place is always pretty. Roger Marcoux came by to bring me some homemade bread and chat. Roger liked my pink EMT shirt and snapped a few photos. Then I headed back to the station to do the billing... for 3 hours! Fortunately, there were no calls, and I got a full night's sleep.

Thorne Pond

Tuesday morning, I went right from Bartlett to Cathedral Ledge Rd for a run. I ran part of the Kismet Cliff Run course up and over Cathedral and Whitehorse Ledges then made a loop through the Mineral Site via the Red Ridge Link, Red Ridge, Tent Boulder, Mineral Site and Lower and Upper Stony Ridge Trails back to the trail around Whitehorse and back to my car. I was thinking the run would be about 8 miles, but it ended up being 10.3. Over 2200 ft of elevation gain in just under 2 hours. I love doing loops, so this was perfect, and, as usual, I was all alone out there. I live in the best place for finding seclusion on the trails... if you know where/when to go.

On my way home from the run, I stopped at Coleman's Rental to pick up a lawn mower that I had reserved for the day. I only own a non-motorized push mower. My yard is huge and had turned into a field, so there was no way my mower was going to work. So for $35, I rented a decent Husqvarna power mower, but as soon as I got home, it started to rain. John came home, and I decided to just let him hangout inside while I cut the grass. As soon as I started, the rain got harder, and I ended up mowing the whole lawn in the absolute pouring rain for 2.5 hours. I was soaked, but I had to finish up the job that day or else I'd be paying another $35. No way was that happening, so I just finished it.

By the time I was done mowing the lawn, I was spent. I laid down on the couch and could not get up for an hour or more. But as 4:30 rolled around, I realized run #2 was coming up, so John and I got in the car and headed to Whitaker Woods for the first race of the Tuesday night Summer Series Trail 5K. It was still pouring rain, but the crowd was decent. A few regulars were missing, but then there were others I hadn't seen in awhile, so I caught up a bit before the start. Since this is always run #2 for the day, I don't usually go out at race pace for these anymore; more like a tempo run, but with the cool, pouring rain, I decided to take advantage and race it. Despite the still sore, tired legs (and just tired self), I ran a good clip, running my fastest time on the course ever, with this being my 5th season out there. 20:01. STILL can't break 20 on that course. I probably could if I ever raced it on fresh legs, but that's not likely to happen anytime soon. Right after I finished, I had to go right to the car and bolt to get John to his ninja class on time. I was so done. I had to sit down for most of the class.

Wednesday, I took another zero day. Tuesday obliterated me, so I had no qualms about taking another day off. I have been terrible about letting myself recover the last 3 weeks, so it was needed. I don't care what other people do or say. I'm walking the fine line between health and injury, so I don't want to fuck it up. I'm still struggling with this since I just want to do everything, but I'm making a weak effort.

It was another quiet day at work. Only one 911 during the day. We had a 3rd rider with us whom I basically supervised since he's almost ready to be turned loose. So I didn't have to do much or even write the report (not complaining about that at all!!). At 8pm, a transfer to Maine Med came in, and we needed a third person for potential intubation en route, so it was Jen, Michelle and me. The 3 of us are a little crazy, and we had heads turning at MMC. Our security escort loved us. and we were in fits of laughter the entire time (after dropping our patient off). I decided to jump in a disgusting bin of used EMS equipment for some photos. Fortunately, I was mostly laying on plastic bags.

In the dirty laundry bin at Maine Med

We had so much fun in our crew of three; that's not a common thing, so we took advantage of it. Once back at the base, we didn't have any other calls or transfers, and I got the most sleep I've had on a Wednesday in the last 2.5 months. 4.5 hours!! Woot. Ok, yeah, that's not enough sleep, but it was better than the usual.

Once I was home on Thursday morning, I took my time heading back out for an easy trail run up B&M Ledge and out and back to the Madison Boulder for 6.2 miles. I had the Hollis Fast 5K that night, so I didn't want to do anything crazy.

B&M Ledge

I got home, had breakfast and then just as I was getting ready to go kayaking, a strange car pulled right into my driveway and parked next to my car. I got a bad vibe immediately. It was a couple, and the guy got out and came up to the door. The woman got out and stood by their car. I knew something fishy was going on, and the kid made up some story about a woman calling him about mowing her yard and asked if it was me. Meanwhile, I'm looking at their Toyota Corolla which has no mower in it. I wasn't nice. I told him it wasn't me. He said three other people in the neighborhood needed mowing, too, and asked if I knew who they were. I said, "No." He turns to the girl and says, "Wrong house." Then they left. They both seemed nervous and shady. She ran over my grass on the way out and stalled out. Gave me plenty of time to get the plate number and call the police. They were probably casing my house and didn't expect to see someone home on a Thursday morning. It really pissed me off since I live alone and haven't had any issues like this. Now, I have to worry about it and sleep with a loaded gun. An officer came out and took a statement and a BOLO went out for them. They knew who they were, and the officer told me they had already had an issue with the woman earlier that morning. He didn't tell me what, but my suspicions were confirmed that they were up to no good. They did find them, and last I heard, they were going to be charged with trespassing.

So this took up at least an hour of my time and cut into my kayaking trip big time. I rushed down to Chocorua Lake for a quick paddle around the lake. It was just what I needed to calm down after dealing with that couple coming to my house. Something about being out on the water just soothes the soul. It was shorter than I liked, but it still felt great.

Chocorua

I rushed home, hopped in the shower and then hit the road for the long drive to Hollis for the 4th USATF-NE Grand Prix race, the Hollis Fast 5K. This was my first time running this one, and I wouldn't have done it if it hadn't been a Grand Prix race. I'm not much of a 5Ker, so I wasn't expecting to be competitive at this one and just thought it would be fun to come out and try and help out the team. It was nice seeing a lot of people I knew, but there were so many people there that I didn't even get a chance to talk to everyone. I didn't know some people were even there until I saw them after the finish.

As soon as I got my bib, I got my stuff together and jumped on a shuttle bus for the drive to the starting line 3.5 miles away. The start was at a school in the middle of big fields and surrounded by woods. It was actually very pretty. I went right out for a warm up run, running 2.7 miles. I ran half solo, then ran into some CMS teammates and ran the other half with them. I hit the bathroom (woods; why stand in a porta potty line when there are woods everywhere?) then lined up in the starting shoot. I wasn't sure I belonged in the "fast" shoot, but it was for sub-19, and I knew I would be sub-19 for sure, so I hopped in. I found Jenn Brooks, Sarah Bard and Amanda Wright. We chatted a bit about the race. I had no idea how to run this one. Not a clue. I was worried I would go out too fast and tank, but then I was also worried about going out too slow and then feeling disappointed. At the starting gun, I just decided to pick someone close to my pace and follow them. That turned out to be Amy Benard. It was reminiscent of New Bedford when Amy pulled me along to mile 5ish. She went out fast, and I struggled to keep up with her, but I just kept at it. I laughed to myself at the mile 1 clock. "This IS a fast race." It was a strange race, too. I was going really fast for the first two miles, but I wasn't really out of breath. As soon as we hit the 2 mile mark, I started to get out of breath, but I kept trucking along. I was passing quite a few women at this point, but I had no idea where I was in place. I had a goal time in mind: the female 39 year old course record. I wanted to beat it. It was 17:33. I knew it was going to be close, so I just hammered it in, crossing the finish line in 17:28 on the clock. I ended up with a net time of 17:27. I found out 2 hours later that I was 12th woman. Whoa! I did not expect that at all. In that field, I thought I'd be lucky to be top 30, so that was a nice surprise, especially for someone who doesn't train for 5Ks. (I was psyched for days to have broken my age record until I found out today that Marin Brown of Madison, NH who held the record for 9 years is actually Darin Brown of Madison, NH. LOL. I thought maybe he had a sister named, Marin, so I asked him about it and was set straight. Now, I feel stupid that I didn't figure that out on my own. Blonde, I tell you! Ha ha.)

The only pic I can find of myself from the race. Can you figure out which one I am? LOL,

I talked to a few people at the finish, like Jeff Walker and Phil Erwin, then joined Jenn Brooks and Heather Rich for a nice 2.7 mile cool down, mostly along the bike path. When we got back, I grabbed some snacks, said goodbye and left for home. I was starving and just wanted a burger and fries, so I stopped at Five Guys in Concord. Just as I was leaving, Sam and Abby Wood, were behind me in the parking lot. Apparently, they had the same idea for dinner. I chatted with them for a bit, then drove home. As I got out of the car, I knew that I was going to be struggling. I could feel that race in the legs already. It was a fun race to do, but it also just seemed like a dangerous one, with the potential for injury. Overstriding at that speed scared me a little, and I woke up Friday morning with some soreness in my left groin. It was subtle, but definitely there. I was going to be pissed if I had injured myself at Hollis.

But as any runner in denial would do, I decided I needed to go for a run. :) I kept it off the road and decided on a Black Cap run via the Red Tail Trail. It was a gorgeous morning, and I just took it easy on the way up. Took Kettle Ridge on the way down for 7 miles total 1635 ft of elevation gain. I ran some errands on the way home, then pretty much took the rest of the day easy in order to be ready for Market Square Day 10K the next morning.... and that will be my next blog post. :)