11/9-11/15/15

Monday, 11/9- 10 hour shift at work, as usual. Started off with a bang for a 2-car motor vehicle accident. Ended up being nothing, and the rest of the day was quiet. I walked 2 miles in circles around the base. After work, I went to The Mill as usual. 30 minutes elliptical, 30 minutes aqua jogging. Weird group of people in the pool area. Like 7 people who came together who were all mad at each other. Very awkward. Typical Monday.

Tuesday, 11/10- Went to The Mill first thing. Same as the night before 30 minutes elliptical, 30 minutes aqua jogging. John came home around 10ish. I had a lot of errands to run during the day, so we only took a short walk at Whitaker Woods from the hospital in the afternoon. Ran into a few people I knew in that short half mile. Haha. Took John to ninja. Typical Tuesday night.

Wednesday & Thursday, 11/11-11/12- Start of the busiest two days I've ever worked. 48 hour shift, 7a Wednesday to 7a Friday. Unlike the week before, we were insanely busy. Most of the calls we get are for minor things, but on Wednesday, we got a really good call. When an EMT refers to something as a "good call", it means we actually got to use our skills. We had someone with an unknown issue circling the drain right in front of us, and we had to keep him going. The thing that always impresses me is how calm we all are and just start doing what we know to do. I was in the back of this tiny van ambulance with 3 people I have been working with for years. We all calmly did our job working together and kept the patient alive. That is what we call a "good call".

We had a few more calls that day, plus a transfer until about 1am. My partner and I were the same two on for the next 24 hour shift, but the only truck on, so when it came to one call after another after another, it was just us. No serious calls that day, though. One easy 911 in the middle of the night, and then our shift was over. Busy 48, but I will take it any day over the quiet days like the week before.

Oh yeah. So after begging, we got new batteries for our power stretcher! It was a lifesaver for me with the stress fracture, especially with that many patients over 2 days.

I was psyched to see the 2016 NE GP potential races come out. It only took me about 10 minutes to mostly decide my picks, except the 7th race. I have no idea on that one. I'll figure that out when it's vote time. My top 6 picks are An Ras Mor (5K), Middlebury Maple (Half Marathon), Vermont City Marathon (Marathon), Bobby Doyle (5 mile) (although, the End of Summer Classic is a close 2nd), NH 10-Miler (10 mile) and Lone Gull (10K). 7th race? No idea. These are all totally selfish picks, too. Shouldn't they be? Knowing I'll still be coming back from this injury over the winter, I don't want any races except the 5K until May. That will give me time to get back up to speed, I hope.

Friday, 11/13- Got up at 6am, washed our truck for the next crew. It was filthy from the rainy day the day before, and I didn't want them coming into work with a dirty truck. Got the second truck supplied for the second crew since we had swapped out equipment on it the day before. Got my bags together, then bolted at 7am. It was HIKE DAY! Yay!

I decided on Chocorua via the Hammond and Liberty Trails, so Spot and I drove over to the trailhead and started up. I decided to stop running these for awhile because I'm worried about overcompensating and injuring my right side. I did run a little bit up, though, but it was very slow with short steps, mostly a speed hike. I saw 3 other people along the way, one of them I've seen every time I've gone up the Hammond Trail. Local dog walker with a group of dogs. The other two were stopped at the Jim Liberty Cabin. So these were all brief encounters and then I had the summit all to myself. It was super windy up on the summit. I took a few pics from the very top then hid behind the rocks for awhile to get out of the wind. It was raining a bit and then ice pellets started falling, so we only stayed up there for maybe 15 minutes. Got to see a rainbow that never disappeared the whole time we were up there.

Rainbow

We made our way back down the way we came up. At one point along the Hammond Trail, I came to an opening and looked out to see ANOTHER rainbow. It was awesome.

It was a nice hike, but I realized along the way that hiking is just way too easy for me. I really need to be RUNNING mountains. Kept reminding myself that I'll be back, even if it takes half of next year. I will be back. Enjoy the moment of just being able to be out there. To have that very small amount of free time once a week to do something for myself.

Picked up John from his homeschool group in the afternoon. I brought along his ski boots to try on to see if they still fit. They did!!! This means this is the first year I didn't have to go to the ski sale to buy any new gear or clothes!!!! I am so psyched!! Skis will need a simple wax and tune-up. Season passes were paid for in June, so we are all set for ski season at Black Mt at the end of December. I'm super excited about getting on the slopes again. Between that and snowshoe racing, I enjoy the winter. I'm hoping to do Nordic Meisters at Great Glen Trails this year, too. I only have backcountry xc skis, but I'd still like to do their weekly race, just for fun.

Saturday, 11/14- With no race this weekend, I didn't really know what to do with our day. I decided a simple hike to the Great Hill Fire Tower in Tamworth. It was cold, windy and blowing snow flurries at the top, but it was such a beautiful little walk.

Great Hill Fire Tower 

From there we went home for a few hours. When the evening rolled around, we drove over to The Mill so I could get on the elliptical for 45 minutes. Typical Saturday night for me with nothing better to do, so why not hit the gym? :) After 3 days of no intense exercise, this felt really good. But still, it's just not enough. I need to be running now. I'm starting to feel it. That need! But the elliptical is what I had available, so I just did it. Soon enough. I can feel it. The injury is changing. It's not healed, but it's starting to feel different. I'm getting an x-ray at my chiropractor on Tuesday morning. It should show up at this point. I can't wait to see what it looks like... kind of.

Sunday, 11/15- Slept in and woke up to a beautiful morning. I took the dogs out then sat in the sun for about 45 minutes with my coffee. Probably one the last days I'll be able to do this until Spring. The sun was SO warm. I was really bumming to not be at the L'il Rhody Runaround Trail Race that I had signed up for and was SO looking forward to, but it is what it is. I'll just have to shoot for it next year. When my coffee was gone, I went back inside and made pancakes for John then got us out at a decent time for another hike. We drove down the street to White Ledge Campground to hike up to White Ledge and back. It was super slow going today. John played the whole time and even laid down on the trail quite a bit. He even asked me to go up ahead while he waited behind. Ha ha. Um, no way. :) I had the patience today that I didn't have yesterday, so even though it was excruciatingly slow, it didn't really bother me. It was kind of funny. We hiked up to the top and back down the way we came instead of doing the loop. At John's pace, the loop would have taken an extra hour. Haha.

We got back to the car about 45 minutes before dark and headed into town to get me a drink at Starbucks and John a smoothie at Circle K. As soon as I got out of the car to walk into Starbucks, there it was!!!!

Kevin's car in the drive-thru!!! 

I thought I was being sneaky, walked up and took this picture without Kevin and Jess seeing me. Little did I know. Kevin was in the process of sending me this:

Haha!! I said hi and talked to them for a minute before they had to move up in the line for the drive-thru. I thought I would beat them by going inside, but they won this round. Haha.

We went home, and I took the dogs for a walk up Heavenly Hill in the dark with a headlamp. I don't have to worry about deer hunters in the dark, so I just let the dogs run free. Good walk for them and me since I could go at my own pace. Haha.

The weekend flew by. Back to my regular 44 hour work week this coming week. I have to admit I really like the 48 hour shift, so I'm kind of bummed to not being doing it, but I was just filling in the last two weeks for someone on vacation. With two weeks of 58 hours, the overtime in my check will be sweet!