2017 Run 4 Kerri

Run 4 Kerri finish

Since I'm so far behind on my blog, I'm going to attempt to speed through most of the week stuff and get on to the weekend in Rhode Island. I can't remember much anyway since I'm weeks off of this stuff. 52.5 miles for the week. 5,430ft of elevation gain. Just shy of 8 hours on my feet. Upper body and abs took a backseat this week with only 2 5-minute ab workouts and one 5-minute upper body workout.

Monday, July 31, 2017- No run. Walked a mile outside at work. Picked a bunch of blueberries. 911 call cut it short. Too hot and not motivated to go back out after we got back.

Dinner at work. Pretty much a perfect reflection of my life. Eating right out of the pan because who cares.

Tuesday, August 1, 2017- How is it August 1st already?? Wtf. Even John already realizes time is flying by. I mentioned we wouldn't be able to go to Whale's Tale this year. His reply, "Good thing we already went this year." Haha. Had to tell him that was a year ago. Things haven't changed much in a year, though. Starting to notice I do the same runs every year almost on the same day. First time since I graduated college that I've settled into such a predictable routine. It's also the longest I've stayed in one place since 1998. Kind of freaking me out. I daydream of leaving every day. Not necessarily permanently, but just going somewhere else for a month or so.

Anywho. Can you believe it?? Not much sleep because the exact same 911 call from the middle of the night the week before happened again. Same person, same reason. This time, the person was oriented and was able to refuse transport, so it wasn't as long of a night, but then multiple tones for a Wakefield 911 kept me up for probably an hour. I had a few good hours of sleep, though, and woke up ready for my run.

Hadn't done a run from work up to Washington Hill in awhile so I opted for that. Despite my foot (plantar fasciitis) fucking killing me, I still had a decent run. Nowhere as fast as past runs, but I'm not in that shape and have accepted it. This run is almost flat for the first 4 and last 4, with a lot of climbing and downhill in the middle 5. I ran down 41 to 113 then up High St following it to Washington Hill and back to 113 to make a loop back to 41. Miles 5-7 and 9 are total bitches, but I made up for the slow pace with the downhills. Managed to actually run the last 4 almost exactly the same as the first 4, which is good for the positive split queen that I am. Haha. 13.3 miles in 1:37:22. 7:19/mi avg pace. 819ft of elevation gain.

I had some coffee and food when I got home. John and his friend, Dylan, were here still. The sleepover continued for 2 nights. Haha. I didn't mind at all. It's great when kids are older and have friends over. After eating, I opted out of my upper body workout to finally help out my friend and neighbor who has breast cancer. I debated posting this here because I don't want to be one of those people who only helps someone out to make themselves look good, but since it's my blog and not Facebook or, my nemesis, Instagram, I decided to post. She just needed help with her dog who was in dire need of exercise. I felt badly that I hadn't been able to help her out with him as I promised, so I made time today. The poor dog needed it so badly. He chewed his leash apart before we even left her house. Haha. I brought him home so that I could walk him up Heavenly Hill with Spot and Phoenix. (Chill is unneutered and is a total asshole with other male dogs.) Sweet Elroy is young and wanted to play with Spot and Phoenix. Spot wasn't having it so she turned around and went home. Phoenix wasn't pleased either since he kept trying to play, but I made her come anyway. I let Elroy off leash and he was in heaven. (Heavenly Hill!) He ran and ran and then played in the water on the way down.

Elroy and Phoenix

Elroy on Heavenly Hill

I took him home right after. My friend messaged me later on to let me know he was so calm all day. That was great to hear. I wish I had the time to help out more.

After the dog walk, I took Dylan and John to Conway Lake to swim. There was this group of kids probably only a year older than them there that just gave me the worst vibe. Just kids you know will be pieces of shit. It was so interesting to watch these kids that horrified me and then see the sweet innocence of John and Dylan playing in the water. I know that won't last, but these other kids, I can't even pinpoint it, but if they horrified ME, then you know something is off. Just a bad feeling in my gut. Other kids who knew them showed up at one point and were staying away from them. I heard them say they went to the same elementary school as Dylan, so I asked if he knew who they were. He said he did. I told him to stay away from them; there's something very wrong there. I can feel it. Just bad news all around.

We went to Whitaker Woods after the lake for the final race of the Series. I was pretty beat from the morning's run and thankful for no competition for once. I ran it nice and easy in 22:31. My slowest time for the Series, but it felt good. Haha. John didn't want to go to ninja that night so I actually hung out after and socialized a bit. Afterward, we hit Taco Tuesday for takeout and then took Dylan home. The day really flew by, as Tuesday always does.

Wednesday, August 2, 2017- Couldn't get up to run. Too tired. Ended up doing a 3-mile trail run out back of the base. Lucked out with no 911 calls during the run. My foot was actually bothering me less today than the day before, so that was good. Still slow at an 8:13/mi avg pace, but like I said before, Wednesday runs are basically just getting something in.

911 calls were steady with one right smack dab in the middle of the night. Fortunately, in North Conway, calls last about an hour total, as opposed to Tamworth when it is a minimum of 2 hours, so I got some sleep after we got back.

Thursday, August 3, 2017- I had a busy day ahead of me, so I opted to run Chocorua. Less miles but still getting in a mountain run. I drove right by my house and on to the Piper Trailhead, less than 10 minutes away. I pulled into a nearly empty parking lot which was nice. I changed clothes, then headed up the Piper Trail. It was warming up quickly, but I got out early enough to beat most of the heat. The run up was good. I would only make it up there in my 3rd fastest time, but that's ok, since I really didn't care that much. Once at the top, the air was stifling. No breeze, no nothing. Hazy skies. Bugs were biting me so I didn't stay up there long.

I ran back down the Piper Trail, which I rarely do, but I was in kind of a hurry and needed to get home. I ran into hoards of people on their way up. Luckily I had had the summit to myself. 7.8 miles total. 1:58:37. 2,745ft of elevation gain.

Rushed home to shower and make a tuna pasta salad for the I'll Be Dipped Prediction run later that night. I love tuna pasta salad. Weird I know. Haha. My main reason for rushing was my 2pm 90 minute deep tissue massage with Tina in Dover. So you may be saying, "Wait a minute. I thought you had no money." Well, you're right. I had sent Tina a message 2 weeks prior just to let her know why I hadn't been to see her in awhile. I didn't want her to think I wasn't happy with her service. Just mentioned I was planning to get a second job hopefully in late August or early September and that I would be back. Tina insisted I come in. She said to bring her Tuckerman beer and some local squash in exchange. I don't do this often, but I burst into tears and cried for 10 minutes. I felt like I didn't deserve her kindness since my financial situation is my own fault so for her to continually insist made me cry longer. Some people are just the most giving. Tina Carr is one of those people. Not only is she a fabulous massage therapist (I travel 1.5 hours to see her!), she has the best heart. So, I rushed down to Dover and had a wonderful, so needed, deep tissue massage. My PF needed to be worked on so badly, and the glutes and hamstrings. Everything! My back! The craziest thing was that she working on an area near my shoulder and said, "I need to check your diaphragm." She's never checked my diaphragm, and it was the craziest thing. She found a spot in my diaphragm just below my right rib cage that I never would have thought to mention. Ever since John was born, I will sometimes bend over to tie my shoes, get dressed, etc and my diaphragm does this funky thing where it folds under my rib cage. I can't even describe how crazy it is, but she found this spot without me saying anything and could feel it. So awesome. And a good indicator that she knows her stuff. I walked out of there feeling like a million bucks! Amazing.

As soon as the massage was over, I drove right home to grab my tuna salad and drive over to Dave and Kerry Oedel's house on Silver Lake for the I'll Be Dipped Prediction run they host for the White Mountain Milers every August. It's a 3 mile out and back on Lead Mine Rd. I hadn't had time to eat any food and showed up with 7 minutes to spare. As soon as I parked my blood sugar dropped suddenly. I was shaking, pouring in sweat and nauseous. I got out of my car and immediately ran into Tim Livingston. I told him not to let them start without me, that I needed to run inside and grab some sort of sugary food. I could barely hold the pasta salad or speak clearly, but I got inside and grabbed a brownie off the bar. Shoved it in my face and walked back out towards the start of the run. Fortunately, this always works quickly, so I felt better. I was even happier that I had already planned to run slowly for this. I didn't want to mess up anything from the massage so I put down a prediction time of 24:10. No watches are allowed, but since I still want to record my time, I had Terry Ballou witness me start my Strava app ahead of time and turn my phone backwards in the arm sleeve. Haha.

We started the run, and I just went off easy. I felt like I was going insanely slow and found myself behind a bunch of high school girls. That wasn't easy to handle haha, but I stayed true to my plan to run easy. I assumed I was running slower than predicted, but I ended up 22 seconds faster in 23:48. Haha. Not a bad prediction, but Melissa and Darin Brown would end up winning by predicting their times within just a few seconds.

After the run, a bunch of us swam in the lake and then it was time for the food! I was starving and ate like two dinners and three desserts. Haha. Terry Ballou brought beers to share so I obliged and had a few of hers. We hung out by the fire awhile and watched the lightning off in the distance. For our hosts, Dave and Kerry, it's their last hoorah before going back to Georgia. Silver Lake is only their summer home, but I know them better than I know a lot of year round people here. Such a nice family. They've always been so kind to me and always inquire if I'm dating anyone yet. Haha. Sadly, for the third year in a row, I've had to report no. Hahaha. I'm good with it, and I always answer with a chuckle. After this much time, I'm pretty sure I never will be dating anyone (I don't even know what that is). I've gotten too set in my ways and, like I said before, way too picky. Haha. Maybe they won't ask next year. :)

People actually ate my tuna pasta. Haha.

Friday, August 4, 2017- This was going to be mostly a day of driving to Rhode Island, but I got up and took the dogs on a nice and easy trail run in the Bolles Preserve. As we were running, I started thinking about how I've never run into a single person while running here ever. Soo.....literally 2 minutes later, I ran into 3 guys hiking. Hahaha. Other than that it was quiet as always. 5.8 miles still with decent elevation at 969ft and just over an hour of running. It really is one of the sweet spots around here that isn't teeming with out-of-towners, although I'm sure it's just a matter of time before the newspaper writes about it and they all flock to it... all at once, since that's what sheeple do.

On our way to the run

A lot of the trail isn't maintained. This is actually the trail. You can barely make out Phoenix who is on the trail. Haha.

After the run, I quickly got in a 5 minute ab workout then started loading up the car for our full weekend of camping at Burlingame Campground in Charlestown, RI. The campground has over 700 sites and was completely sold out. How I managed to book the exact same site as last year, I'll never know. It is literally one of the best campsites in the whole place! It was going to be a long drive for us, though, especially since we didn't get on the road until after 2pm. We hit traffic in a few places on 495 and finally got to Burlingame close to 7pm. I was glad we bought dinner at Irving on the way down. Haha. I made John take a walk to the pond by himself while I set up the tent then we just hung out at the campsite for the rest of the night. We had an early morning for race #1 of the weekend. The Henseler Kayak Race in Wickford.

Breaking the rules

I love this thing! 

Saturday, August 5, 2017- 2017 Suzanne M. Henseler Foundation Kayak and Paddleboard Race-

Woke up to very dark skies with the forecast calling for heavy rain and thunderstorms. The kayak race was iffy, but they posted that they would make the call by 7am. Fortunately, the thunderstorms looked like they were holding off until after noon, so the race was a go. The drive up to Wickford was easy. No traffic this time of the morning on a Saturday. Although, I've stopped off at this exit on Rt 4 many times, I've never gone past the shopping center to the water. Wickford Harbor ended up being really nice!

I parked and walked over to check-in. First person I see is someone I know, Mike from 3C Race Productions who was there doing the timing. I guess he times a lot of Rhode Island races, but he was wondering what the hell I was doing there. Haha. I told him I was doing Run 4 Kerri and decided to do this kayak race, too. I walked back to the car to unload my kayak. Seeing all of the people with paddleboards (SUPs) really made me wish I was doing that division instead. I would much rather stand than sit, but my kayak is all I have, so kayak race it was. I got John out of the car and set him up by the water so that he wouldn't be in the parking lot alone. He had his bagel with cream cheese and hot chocolate that I made before leaving the campsite so he was all set.

Getting ready to start

There was a pre-race briefing and then we all put our boats in the water. Looking around, it looked like there were only two of us women in the 6-mile kayak race, and, yes, you guessed it (you probably didn't) (or maybe you did), an older woman in a racing kayak! Of course. She also had a scoop paddle. Yep, I was coming in second today. Or should I say LAST since there were only two of us. Haha. Granted, her racing boat was not top of the line, but it was still a racing boat nonetheless. And the scoop paddle. Why I didn't think to rent one of those is beyond me. If I do another race, I'm renting a scoop paddle. Oh wait. Just looked it up and realized they're actually called wing paddles. Wing paddles increase each stroke's efficiency by 5-10% over a standard paddle like mine, so just the paddle alone made a huge difference. The biggest difference was obviously the boat, though.

My paddle is the second one down. The blue paddle is a wing (scooped) paddle.

We started right into a head wind, and my competitor was ahead of me within seconds. I found that in the headwind, she gained an extreme amount of time over me, and much of the way out (the first 3 miles) were into a strong headwind. By the time we turned around, she was 3-4 minutes ahead of me. I have to say the dude that passed me on the paddleboard was pretty impressive. That is NOT easy. It's a lot harder to stay straight in a paddleboard which means digging hard on one side then switching to the other. He was really working hard when he passed me in the headwind before we paddled into the marina. What wasn't impressive was the guy who passed me in a racing kayak like the ones at my previous race. He wasn't even putting in any effort at all. Kind of pissed me off. Haha.

At this point, we started catching up to the slower SUPs in the 2.5 mile race so it was a bit crowded with two way traffic. We fought the headwind all the way to the turnaround. It was a nice break in the tailwind, but I decided to pick up my paddling pace and try to narrow the gap on the woman in the racing kayak. She was pretty far ahead to where I could only make her out by the bright color of her life jacket. (Speaking of, I think I was one of the few not wearing a life jacket; I had it on my boat, but not on me.) With the tailwind now, I decided to really paddle hard and narrow the gap. And when I say paddle hard, I mean, I was out of breath and my muscles were burning. As we got to a turnaround, I realized I was actually gaining on her. Since the turnaround made her more visible, I could see she was also putting in little effort and paddling just behind the guy in the racing boat. WTF. Meanwhile, I'm struggling. With 1 miles to go, the rain started to fall, but it actually felt great. As we rounded the next roundabout and headed towards the last island, I figured I had closed the gap by about 2 minutes. I rounded the island and with the finish in view, I actually was close enough to see her finish. By the finish, I would finish under 2 minutes behind her. 1:11:52 to her 1:10:00. I was damn happy with that considering the hard effort I put in for the second half of the race. I was no match for a racing kayak, but if it had been another mile, I just might have caught her. 6 miles of racing in a kayak was the most I've ever done, and my neck, arms and abs could really feel it. My arms were even shaking a little after, and my neck was so sore the next morning. Full Results

Goddamn medals. Haha.

All in all it was a great time. I got over being beaten by a racing kayaking at the last race, thank goodness, so I was really happy with my race. I would love to go back next year with a rented paddleboard and do the 6 mile race. If it falls on the same weekend as Run 4 Kerri again, I probably will. It was a very well-organized event, and the people were really nice.

John had gone back to the car once it started raining, and it ended up downpouring during the awards. I considered going to the after party at some seafood place, but it was just chowder, an unknown beer AND it was outdoors. Instead, I followed through on my promise to John to take him to a coffee shop and let him use his computer for 2 hours. Our plans for a beach day had been thwarted by the rain, so I figured why not. I found what seemed to be the coolest coffee shop near Burlingame, Dave's Coffee. It did not disappoint. This place was awesome. The food, the coffee and the atmosphere. Top notch, and the crowds proved it. The only downside was a group of other patrons who were talking SO loudly about their privileged lives that I wanted to vomit. I got to hear about the upcoming trip to Nicaragua. "It's what Costa Rica used to be. It's so much safer." Yeah, tell that to my friend and former co-worker whose sister was murdered in Nicaragua in 2014. I think this woman should get her head out of the sand, stopping bragging loudly enough for everyone to hear in a coffee shop and read this: What Can Women Travelers Learn from the Death of Karen Colclough. After hearing about that, I had to listen to the dramatic failed attempt at summiting Mt Hood. Her tablemates were hanging on every word. Glad someone found it interesting. I was wishing I had ear plugs. When I say loud, I mean over the top loud in a very small room. It was almost chaotic. I don't even know how better to describe it. When they left after over an hour, the silence of the room was a welcome thing and the room seemed to brighten....well, it did brighten, in fact. The rain had stopped and the sun was peaking through the clouds! Time to get John to the ocean after all!

It was a struggle to get him out of there, but I said two hours was far more than enough time on his computer. I had found a free beach in Matunuk that promised some of the best waves in the area. That's John's thing, but he still wasn't enthused. It was complain city for the drive over there, and I started to do my hand like it was talking every time he complained. Haha. It did actually get him to laugh at least. Took me 15 minutes to get him out of the car with him grumbling that he didn't see any waves when we drove in to Deep Hole Beach. Haha. Yeah, the kid walked out into the water and didn't come out for over an hour later. Waves were as promised. Mostly a rocky beach there, but I took turns standing and sitting on a log while I kept my eyes glued on John. The water was so shallow here, that he was WAY out there in the waves. I'll admit I was a bit uncomfortable because he was just a speck in my vision, but the water was only waist deep on him out there, and he's pretty experienced in the waves. I had a low level of anxiety the entire time he was out there. Haha.

Despite dark skies, the sun did come out eventually.

You can just make out the John speck, and that's zoomed in.

He admitted that the waves were really fun which was great to hear. He was also worn out. Another plus! Yay! I stopped at the small market there in Matunuk and nearly froze to death from the A/C. Omg. I've been in freezing grocery stores before, but this one took the cake. Seriously, I was speeding through there to get the hell out. Grabbed John a drink, some chips and salsa and some meatballs. Haha. Then it was back to the campground. I stopped at the bath house where I waited for John to shower and then went back to the campsite. The sun had come out and the temps were really nice, but the humidity had gotten pretty high. I had been sitting for far too long so I needed to get out for a short run to loosen up my legs. I ran through the campground and onto the trails thinking I wouldn't have a problem following the Brrr-lingame race course, but instead I ended up on the L'il Rhody race course. Hahaha. I wasn't out there long. I felt extremely drained and the legs were like lead. I almost wanted to pass out, seriously. It was a struggle to even finish the run. I did get to see an owl out there to make it worth my while, though. 4.1 miles in 37:02. Nearly a 9-minute pace. Haha.

As soon as I got back to the campsite, I went right for a non-stealth beer to cool me off. I felt nauseous from the run, and this definitely cooled me off.

I took a shower after that and realized that site 402 was by far the BEST site in the park. I already attempted to book it for next year since Friday and Saturday are available, but it's back at its 4-night minimum! Grr! This changes by the end of June when it's all of a sudden a 2-night minimum unless you can find a site with only one open night in between reservations. Then you can just book one night. I figured out their game this year, and that's how I only had to pay for the 2-nights. Just sucks because you have to wait and possibly end up with a crappy site. And there are many crappy sites in that park. Haha.

After I showered I got to making us our usual spaghetti for dinner. I ran out of stove fuel when the noodles were almost done, so I just had to let them sit in the pot for a few minutes. This meant I couldn't make coffee or hot chocolate in the morning, though. Boo. I was so hungry and hoped I could refuel enough to feel better for Run 4 Kerri than I did on this afternoon's run. I didn't know what to expect really since I'm in terrible road shape. After dinner, I sat at the table for awhile, and John went back to the car where he was camping. I slept pretty well.

Sunday, August 6, 2017- Run 4 Kerri 4-Mile Road Race-

I got up around 6am so that I would have time to get dressed, eat and then take down the tent. I had gotten John something for breakfast so that he was all set. Unfortunately, coffee and hot chocolate would have to come from Dunkin' Donuts, the only place on the way to Matunuk Elementary for the race. Looked like we were set to leave right on time, but my car battery had other plans. I went to turn the key...and it was dead. Um. Shit. I figured this was a common occurrence so I called the office, and sure enough, they'd be right down. And they were! Like 6 really young park rangers. I guess they were wanting something to do. They were nice and actually did the whole thing for me even though I was told over the phone they could only bring me the jumper cables and vehicle, but I would have to do it myself. Worked for me. Started right up, and we were out of there only 10 minutes later than planned.

I pulled off the highway at Dunkin' Donuts and was shocked to find that good service at DDs does exist. Up here, they are a laughing stock. Like seriously, it's known here just how bad the service is at all but the North Conway DDs. I couldn't believe how quickly I got my CORRECT order, even after being in a line. Wow. Continued on to the school and was still one of the first few cars in the lot. Scott Mason had gotten there before me. I talked to him and Scott Bessette, the race director and Kerri's brother. I had to thank Scott once again for having me as part of the elite field. I think I said last year that I really loved being a part of this race, and the same goes for this year. Scott, along with his family and many volunteers, put a great race here in honor of Kerri. I think part of it is the small town atmosphere and the family feel of the race. Everyone is so friendly, even the competition is like a small family that I'm kind of an outsider in, but funny, how much better I knew a lot of those other runners in the elite room this year.

I brought John in the elite room so he would have a place to hang out and charge his phone. Haha. There weren't too many people in the room before I headed out for my warm up. I think just Dave Principe and a younger girl I didn't know. I decided to do a full 3-mile warm up which brought me right into the Deep Hole Beach parking lot. Kind of funny that this was exactly 1.5 miles from the school. The weather was amazing. Dry and fairly cool. MUCH cooler than last year. I was hoping that would help me not embarrass myself too much. I honestly didn't expect to run under 25 minutes this year. I didn't feel I was in shape for that. I ran a 24:34 last year and even that was a terrible time for me then, but it was SO HOT. I remember expecting to break 24 last year, and I honestly think I would have had the temperature been cooler and had I paced myself better. This year, I knew the course better, even though, there was a lot I didn't remember, but I felt I knew how to run somewhat smarter. Still didn't expect much out of myself.

After the warm up, I went back to the elite room that was now filled with the other runners. It was nice to see so many familiar faces. I was hoping to avoid Ibuprofen for this, but my neck was in agony from the kayak race. Oops. I had felt pretty good otherwise on the warm up so that was a good sign. I ended up walking to the start with Kaela O'Neil. Once we were up there, I stopped to chat with some people I knew, then who do I run into? The sandbagger himself, Matt Pelletier, pushing his extremely adorable 4 month old son in a stroller. Why a sandbagger? Because he said he was only going to run 7-min pace. Yeah, surrrrrre! Haha. I talked to him for a little bit. It was great to finally meet the little guy. Matt told me I was the first person they told (outside of close friends/family) that Jill was pregnant. I didn't know that, but I was probably the only jerk that pointed at Jill's belly and had the guts to ask after the Hartford Marathon. The worst part of that was being sworn to secrecy for two weeks! I had explicit instructions not to tell anyone on the Tuesday Night Turtles. Haha. That was so hard! Haha. It was really great to see him out there pushing Rowan. Rowan even had an elite bib and cute Puma shoes. I do recall Matt saying something that started with, "I won't beat you. If I beat you, then....." And it trailed off. Haha.

I moved up to the front-ish. There were a lot of fast looking women up there! Paige Ethier was there. I barely beat her last year and didn't think I could do that this year. I didn't know what kind of shape Renae Chicchinelli was in right now, but she looked fit. I knew Kaela would win by a landslide. Who were these younger girls who looked fast? I had no idea. I resigned myself to a poor finish. I stepped back in line a little...which was a mistake. As soon as we started I was stuck behind a bunch of little kids. I should have known better. Paige shot out way in front. I was like Damn! She would end up hitting the first mile before Kaela and go on to have a really good race. When I congratulated her at the finish she said, "I just pulled that out of my ass!" LOVE IT! Hahaha!

Anyway, I realized that I was right in 4th place for the women immediately. Kaela was almost next to me, so I made sure to stay behind her. She would go out at a wicked smart pace for the first mile. She quickly disappeared, though. After that, there was one of the young women from the elite room whom I didn't know. It looked like she was being paced by the older guy she had been in the room with. A coach/father maybe? I don't know. They were running a good pace that was difficult to keep up with, but I decided to use them to pull me along. I felt like I ran the first mile a lot smarter than last year. It's mostly downhill, so it was still fast at 5:58, but 10 seconds slower than last year. I was happy with that.

I still felt really good going into mile two. It's still slightly downhill or flat, so the pace stayed quick. The younger girl ahead (Lauren Scahill, I would learn later) put a little distance on me in this mile so I did my best to hang on. I remember dying when we hit mile 3 last year, so I was worried my pace was too quick, but I just felt really good and passed a few guys here hitting mile 2 in 6:04. Only 6 seconds off last year which made me a little nervous for mile 3 since it has a few climbs with a steep one right at the end of mile 3 where I died last year. Just past mile 3, Lauren all of a sudden slowed down as we started up the first incline. I decided to make a move and pass her. I was psyched to move into 3rd, but based on the breathing closing in on me from behind, I knew I was about to get passed by a woman. At about 3.75 miles, Marissa McPhillips blew past me. Now I was back in 4th. I still felt really good, though, as we approached the hill. Last year I struggled to make it up this, but this year it was nothing. Hit the 3rd mile in 6:16. 5 seconds slower than last year, which means I should have run this mile A LOT faster last year since I was in wicked good shape.

One mile to go, and I was so afraid of getting passed back by Lauren or another woman. I SO wanted to hold 4th place (where I finished last year)! Mile 4 last year was a struggle for me and I died running it in 6:26 pace. Terrible pacing. I felt like I had a lot more in me this go-round and was able to really push myself up the last hill. I was NOT going to get passed in this last mile! And that's when I heard it! It came from about 5 seconds behind me! "Way to go, dad!" NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! He's right behind me, isn't he? I turned to look and there was Matty P pushing Rowan and catching up to me fast. Matt yelled something along the lines of I'd better pick it up because he was coming for me. Haha. I was like, "Nooo!" Within seconds Matt was at my side! 7 min pace, huh? I should have known! Sandbagger. :) It was Matt, Rowan and me side-by-side down the hill.

RI Jeff Walker got a few photos of us just as Matt caught up to me.

Matt was egging me on, and I was laughing! I remember saying that Scott Mason is going to get a picture of this! I said, "If you beat me, I'll never live this down!" I remember Matt telling me to stop talking, so I just started laughing more. As we crossed the road and turned onto the school driveway for the run into the finish. Matt was still egging me on pushing me to run faster. "Oh, I just made a bad turn!" This just made me laugh harder, but I was actually running hard so that he wouldn't beat me! We crossed the line with the exact same gun time of 24:47.7, but with Rowan and Matt getting 29th and 30th places, respectively, over my 31st with a 24:42 over my 24:46 chip times! Haha! I have to say that was the most fun finish I've ever had in a race. When would I ever race Matt Pelletier across a finish, even though he was definitely holding back and could have beaten me easily?

A sleeping 4-month old beat me! Haha!

We gave each other a high-five after we finished. Matt looked like he had only warmed up while was bending over to catch my breath. 6:16 for that last mile, which I probably owe to Matt and Rowan. 10 seconds faster than last year! That was something to be super psyched with. And only 12 seconds slower than last year. I was shocked to break 25. I'd take it. I had to. This was something to be happy with. 4th place again, too!! 1st Master Female. Full Results.

I talked to a lot of people at the finish then went to the elite room to say hi to John and get ready for a cool down with the girls. Haha. This was the first time I'd met Claire Gadrow. I like her intense vibe and how she basically told us we were running 4 miles. Haha. The rest of us only wanted to run 2. This was a good group of women. Kaela, Claire, Renae, Nicole L'Etoile and me. Conversation was fun. Kaela and I would end up moving ahead of the others for the last two miles, and I really enjoyed this. We have had some similar stories in our adult lives with divorce, and I loved hearing her story on how she met her current husband. It was nice to hear how well things have worked out for her. This was the first time ever getting to know her really, and I thoroughly enjoyed the running and the conversation.

I was spent after the cool down and realized we only had about 10 minutes until awards. I took one last quick look at the raffle board after realizing I did actually have a bib number and realized I won something! Yay! It turned out to be an afghan made by one of the race volunteers!

I had John take a photo of me with it later that night

After I got the afghan, I hurried back inside the school to change.  A quick baby wipe bath, deodorant, a hat to cover my hair mess and nice dress made me feel much better and only took about 3 minutes. Haha. I told John I was going back out for awards, but he wanted to stay inside still. He was actually extremely content all day which was nice. No complaints about going to lunch after either, and he seemed to really have fun there. It was great. The awards didn't take too long. I won $150 this year which was awesome since I was now able to afford lunch for myself; I was only planning to buy John lunch and just have one beer and no food, but this gave me enough money to eat, too! Yay! I had money left over to pay gas, groceries and car insurance until I got paid again on Thursday. Super score. I also won another coffee mug like last year, but just realized I didn't take a photo of it.

It was right to Mews Tavern with the Tuesday Night Turtles and Michael Crutchley, my fellow outsider friend. Haha. Rachel Flaksman showed up for lunch and joined us at our end of the long table with Scott Mason and George Ross. And similar to last year, I was in stitches practically the whole time because George is so damn funny. Kind of sucked being at the long table since we couldn't really interact with everyone at the other end, but I think we lucked out with the best comedy show at our end. Haha. I had two good beers and a calzone. John had his favorite, a pulled pork sandwich.

Scott Mason on the other side of the lens. :)

Crutchley, George and Scott

We got out of town at a decent hour and didn't hit any traffic really for the drive home. John slept almost the entire way. I was happy to see the dogs when we got home. I miss them when they have to stay behind. I needed to get rid of the soreness so I took them on a bug-infested walk up Heavenly Hill. This time a year ago, I could hang out on Heavenly Hill with hardly a bug, but this year, the mosquitoes have been atrocious around dusk. The dogs did a lot of running so they were well taken care of. I finally hopped in the shower and got on the couch with my new afghan. John said he wanted it. Hahaha. No way. I told him I won that because I ran today and that if he wanted to win something in the raffle, he had to run next time. Pretty sure he'd rather give up the afghan. :)

I'm going to see War on Drugs in Boston on September 23rd, so I think I'll have a War on Drugs theme for my blog end songs until then. :)