Conway/South Conway Roads

Bon Bons (breakfast). Do not make fun of my socks.

Just in case you thought I was kidding. (See last week's "Eaton/Freedom Loop" post.) Feet up on dash, seat back and Bon Bons. I was rocking the 60A4 passenger seat. Just as I said, I told my partner he was driving today. I needed a break. Little did I know how this decision of mine would have an interesting trickle-down effect. We ran my partner's errands while I sat back and relaxed. It was so nice to be chauffeured around for once. Finally got back to the Tamworth Base, made breakfast, then a tone goes out for a 2-car motor vehicle accident in South Tamworth. We go lights and sirens which is what you do. Duh. My parter was FLYING there. I was like, ok, a wee bit on the too fast side, but whatever. We get within about 2 miles and get cancelled by Tamworth's fire chief. We clear with dispatch, but my partner decided to continue on because he was curious. We get into South Tamworth, and he pulls around Union Hall Rd, so that he can back on 25 going the other way. I'm looking right for traffic as we turn left. Didn't notice anything. We stop at the scene for a minute then we head back towards the base. Right at the light, Kristina Folcik drives by and we wave at each other. She immediately messages me saying that we had pulled our ambulance out into the roadway by the accident scene right in front of Ryan (Welts) who was in his truck pulling a trailer. She said Ryan had to slam on the brakes to avoid hitting us and it busted his brake line. He couldn't continue on to work and had to drop the truck at a garage and walk home. OMG. Ha ha. I didn't see any of this, as I was looking right, so I asked my partner. He had a guilty look on his face and said, "Was he driving a truck pulling a trailer?" Ha ha. He admitted that, yeah, he did pull out right in front of him. Pretty crazy! Of all people, it was Ryan. And on the ONE day that I chose not to drive. I hope Ryan is enjoying the small town thing so far. It's just going to keep getting weirder. Ha ha. We had another call later in the afternoon that my partner drove like a bat out of hell to. I told him that I was revoking his driving privileges after today. It's time for me to get back in the driver's seat. I guess there's a reason I drive everybody everywhere. I obviously have my fair share of road rage, but I'm still a good driver.

We didn't have anymore calls after that, so I just sat around the last few hours closing my eyes and dreading my run. It was 88 degrees, and the humidity sucked so bad. Even though I've been doing evening runs for almost a year now, I still don't love them. I'm more of a morning runner, but I don't have a choice sometimes. 5pm rolled around, so I went out to my car to get my running clothes. On the way out, I almost passed out. It was weird. I just all of a sudden started going over, like falling, but caught myself. I'm assuming it was just from getting up too fast, since I felt fine. I had eaten and was hydrated. Made me a little nervous, but I didn't feel that way again. Like a truly dedicated runner, I ignored it! Nothing was getting in the way of my run and me, dammit.

I decided to do the run I had originally planned for Friday when Roger and I ended up doing the video shoot on Foss instead, so I drove to Potter Road off 153 and parked. When I got out of the car, the humidity hit me big time. Like a punch in the gut. Wow. The sky had changed from full-on sun to clouds, and it looked dark in the distance. I knew I was going to get caught in it at some point during the run. It's become a new Monday tradition. About a mile in, I passed my friend, Kim Proulx, who was running with another woman I don't know. As they passed, Kim said, "We're going to beat the thunderstorm." I just laughed and said, "I'm not. I'm just getting started," and boy was I right. This is a loop I've done before that I follow up Potter until it ends on Brownfield Rd. I take a left and follow it for a ways to Old Mill Rd and then to Davis Hill Rd from there. Davis Hill is a pretty decent climb. It's not exceptionally steep, but it's long. I was happy with my pace so far in the mid-7s, and I was feeling really good. Davis Hill ends on Brownfield Rd, but I continued straight across to Gulf Rd. Within about 5 minutes, the wind started gusting and the sky went insanely dark. It was crazy. Like almost night time dark. I could barely see. Then just as I was getting close to the top of Gulf Rd, i.e. out in the open at the top of a hill where I'm more likely to be struck by lightning, the rain just started pouring down hard, and the thunder and lightning began. Another scary Monday run, and I had 4 miles to go. Fortunately, I made it over the top and back down into the trees on Greeley Rd without dying, but the rain kept on. The thunder and lightning moved off in the distance a little, but I was still hearing the thunder the whole way back to my car. The last 4 miles were in the rain, but it felt so good. It was actually cold. I kept up a decent pace the whole run and got back to the car with 14 miles in 1:45:11, 7:29/mi pace. 1,167 feet of elevation gain. I was super happy with it, and I felt great the whole way. Made me feel a little more optimistic about the Fall racing to come. Once the humidity and heat are gone, I'm going to be able to fly... I hope. Ha ha.

Feeling good so far this week. A short run in the morning and then the James Wellinghurst 5k in Madison tomorrow night. I was first woman last year. Not sure I can beat Terry Ballou this year, though. Short distance is more her thing than mine, but maybe we'll have a good battle. Whatever. Doesn't matter. Should be fun no matter what.