Aug/Sept 2017 Catch-Up Post

He's actually snuggling with me. This is a rarity. Haha

I know! I know! I'm finally catching up. I have WAY too many photos picked out for this post, so I'll have to narrow them down for sure. I'm not going to go into huge detail on the races I ran. None of them were extremely important and not much to write about (LIES. I'm adding this in after I've finished the post. Haha). Going to break this down week by week. I'm sure this will still end up too long, but we're talking 4 weeks, and there are few things I have to say that will be more detailed. I'll save the Downtown 5k week for the next post.

Week 8/15-8/20/17- Took the first 3 days off to recover. Realized this was a big mistake and will probably never do it again unless I'm injured. Ended up way too stiff by the first run back on Thursday morning. 29.1 miles for the week. 2,195ft of elevation gain.

Tuesday- Walked 3.2 miles in the Albany Town Forest with the dogs. 14 minutes of upper body and abs. Went to Whitaker Woods for the Summer Series awards. Pretty annoyed that they chose to give the 3 pairs of shoes to people who had already won something AND to a person who did NOT complete the Series. Yep, the one person who beat me during the Series because she had the fastest time. I could have easily beaten that time and would have actually run race pace to beat it if I knew they were going to award someone for the first time EVER who did not complete the Series. I suggested for next year that they raffle off the shoes to all of those people who completed the Series. Give them a chance to win something. I didn't care about getting the shoes, but I did care how they awarded it. Fucking Julbo sponsored it with their same SHITTY glasses again. What the fuck. I hate that company with a passion. Why they give actual running glasses to other races but not this one shows they play favorites. Stop sponsoring the Summer Series, Julbo, if you can't stop giving it the horrible sunglasses you can't sell. I immediately gave my sunglasses away to Laura Holtby who had completed the Series. I also gave away the bandana and chapstick. I won. I don't need any of that and decided to share the wealth with the other racers who never get a chance to win anything at the Summer Series. Interested in what I had to say about Julbo in 2015? Click Here.

Summer Series award winners. Fake smile since I was holding a pair of Julbo's.

Wednesday- 2-mile walk on the trail at work.

Thursday- Ran 3.1 miles from work down East Conway Rd and back. Could barely move I was so stiff. Took me 24:45 to run it. Haha.

Rented that paddleboard rental I won thanks to Al Bernier, who randomly happened to be out on Silver Lake while I was out on Conway Lake with the paddle board. One of the windiest days to be out, but it was still fun.

Just like 2016, I had decided on Tuesday to make a money gamble and signed up for Saunders at Rye Harbor 10K. I knew it would be a slow one, but I was hoping to win some masters money. The weather was perfect this year, and funny enough... I ran into Al Bernier there. Haha. I knew after the 2-mile warm up that my legs were far too fatigued for speed and thought I was doomed when I saw a Dirigo woman there. I lucked out with a slow field (behind me) and finished 4th woman with a super crappy time in 40:39. 1.5 minutes slower than I normally run here. How no woman passed me or was even close, I'll never know, but I'll take it! $100 and the awesome Asics shirt and shorts. Corey Dowe and I exchanged shorts. She needed the medium top; I needed the medium shorts. Worked out great. Haha. Stayed after to have beer with Tim Horan, Al and John Sheedy. Then the three of us had dinner with Andy Schachat at the Dover Brickhouse after. Andy was very cool to buy all of our dinner and drinks. I got home after 1am and barely made it without falling asleep. Full Results.

That was NOT Redhook in my cup. Had to bring my own Nightshift Santilli.

Friday- Ran in the pouring rain at the Moat Mineral Site Trails. A short 6.4 miles.

Saturday- Promised John a no-race weekend. This worked out great having already gotten racing out of my system with Saunders. Very slow 5.7 miles through Cranmore Shores in 44:07. 15 minutes of upper body and abs.

John and I drove to Holderness for a short hike with 100s of other people up West Rattlesnake. We were fortunate to find a spot with a view just before the summit without other people around. I love this hike.

Found some free cucumbers set out by a farm and snagged a few then filled up the water jugs at the Sandwich Spring.

That night we finally made it to the North Conway Fire Benefit Concert at Cranmore. Oh my god! That was SO MUCH FUN!!! I'm so glad we went. I danced for like two hours straight. John even joined me for awhile and we did some play fighting. The band was an 80s cover band and they were AWESOME. I was literally drenched in sweat by the end, my shirt, my jeans, my hair. Like SOAKED. I'm so happy we went. I haven't danced like that in a REALLY long time.

Sunday-  John and I met up with Rachel Flaksman, her son and her new man for breakfast at the Sunrise Shack. Love that place. Of course we had morning beers. Haha. Her boyfriend paid the bill! That was super cool of him. I like him; he seems fun.

Mowed the lawn until I ran out of gas when we got home so that I could let my stomach settle before going for a run. Ran a mix of the Waldorf School trails and my neighborhood again 3 times for 5.4 miles in 46:21. 774ft of gain so it's definitely challenging. 16 minutes of upper body and abs.

Week 8/21-8/27/17- 53.2 miles for the week. 5,266ft of elevation gain. Feeling mostly recovered and ready to start picking up more road running and marathon prep. Little did I know this would all be ruined by illness 2 weeks later. Optimism turned to ruin.

Monday- Walked 2 miles on the treadmill at work.

Tuesday- Went right to Potter Rd from work for an 11-mile loop run on the South Conway roads. It wasn't a great run, but I beat the heat of the day that would turn out to be brutal. 1:25:42. 7:42/mi avg pace. 1,005ft of elevation gain. Gulf Rd is just a destroyer. Got in 17 minutes of upper body and abs.

Wednesday- I actually got up at 4:30am for a road run before work!! Only 4.5 miles into Conway Village and looping back via Cranmore Shores. Also super slow in 35:56. I can easily bust out fast miles on the treadmill that early, but put me on the road with a headlamp, and my effort greatly decreases. Haha. Still really happy I got up to run, though.

Thursday- My first day working at Club Motorsports with the ambulance. This is a 9-hour overtime shift and is supposed to be every Thursday so that I didn't have to get a second job. So far, four shifts have been cancelled, so it's not working out well. Ugh. Since I don't have to be there until 8:30am, I got up at 5:45am at work and ran 3.1 miles on the trail behind the North Conway base. Just wanted to get something in before I had to sit all day long again. 25:54. I went home, showered and packed my lunch and bag for the day at the race track. This ended up being fun at first. I was allowed to take the ambulance for a test drive on the race course and then we drove to the top of the property to check out the view. Not too shabby.

Today was cool because Jeep was there giving journalists test drives for their new 2018 Grand Cherokee Trackhawk. We weren't allowed to take photos or videos since they aren't released yet and this was a day for the real media. It was fun to watch at first. Beautiful day to sit outside. Got boring after awhile so I lied down on the bench seat in the back for awhile. Still worth pulling these shifts.

Ran from the Tamworth base after we were done at the race track. I had planned a track workout but didn't feel like driving all the way up to Kennett, so I ran a fast 7.2 mile road run from the base through both aviation communities. Sad to say this speed was a struggle when that pace would have been an easy day a year ago. 48:28. 6:44/mi avg pace. It still felt great to get in something fast. I do miss pushing myself on the road like that. My year sucks. Looks like 2018 will have to be the year of Leslie's return to speed. Haha.

Friday- Slept in then ran from home to do my first long road run since March! It was time to get in marathon shape. Little did I know this would all be pointless. I decided not to pay much attention to the watch. Just run comfortably, which I don't know how much comfort I was in with the plantar fasciitis back to fucking killing me. I ran the Conway/Eaton/Madison loop which I only do once a year since it's one of those runs you really only tolerate every now and then. The run up Glines Hill out of Eaton Center is always a bitch. The run is mostly pavement when you look at it on paper, but in reality, I ran most of 153 and 113 on the soft, dirt shoulder due to the immense traffic. Friday morning was not a good choice. Vacation people were pouring into the Valley by the time I started my run. (They're neverending this year. I can't even enjoy this place in the summer now. Not at all. It's been ruined. Seriously.) The final 4 miles were tough. I ended up SO dehydrated and with the foot pain, my pace was pretty slow...on the downhill. Felt like I was going to keel over by the time I finished. 18 miles in 2:22:21 (7:54 avg pace). 1,632ft of elevation gain. Immediately made a chocolate milk that I chugged. Hit the spot. Eventually got in a 12 minute upper body and abs workout.

Took John to Saco River Brewing that afternoon. I don't make it there enough. He had the maple soda that his former Tin Mountain instructor made at her sugar house for the brewery. It was really fun. We played ping pong for awhile with dented balls that made for an interesting game. Haha. Time well spent. I was glad we went.

Saturday- Needed to be on the trail so I did some "mountain" training up Heavenly Hill. Up and down 4 times. The first one with the dogs. Got in 5 miles total in 1:16:34. 1,895ft of elevation gain. Although I hate doing repeats, I can't complain that I literally have this option right in my backyard up a trail that we built. 14 minutes of upper body and abs.

Beautiful day that ended up actually being a bit chilly so I finally made the decision to take John for a hike up to the Glen Boulder from Pinkham Notch. This is a pretty rough hike, and I had to crack up at all of the people we saw on the trail who obviously don't get that a 1.4 mile hike in the Whites is NOT necessarily an easy walk. We saw people in dresses and women with little kids who were all dying. Haha. This is 1,745ft of gain over 1.4 miles! And this trail is very technical...much like the Exeter Trail Race. Haha. I'm sorry. I won't quit making fun of the Exeter Trail Race for being considered "technical". :)

I so want to be present when that thing finally rolls down the mountain.

Funny thing happened while we were up there. John's friend's mom texted me asking if John still wanted to come over Sunday morning and stay overnight while I went to Rhode Island. Phew! I was really feeling awful about dragging John down to Rhode Island for the Wine Run the next day. What a relief. We hiked down, and guess who was in the parking lot? John's friend and his mom. Haha. So funny.

I was psyched we spent this time together hiking up to the Boulder since I wouldn't spend Sunday with him.

Sunday- Dropped John off at his friend's then headed to Rhode Island. Met up with Rachel and Liam, who were headed north, at Trillium in Canton. I needed a good beer before the race. Haha.

When I got back to my car, Chill was super content sitting outside under a tree where I left him so he wouldn't be too hot, and both Spot and Phoenix were fine. Sound asleep until I woke them up. And then I saw this had been thrown in my window...

UNFUCKINGBELIEVABLE! I am SO sick of these types of goody-goodies who think they're so smart and saving the dogs when they are truly ignorant. My dogs were perfectly fine and in absolutely no distress whatsoever. NONE. These are the same people who constantly call the police over dogs in a car because they think they know better when they really don't. If they only knew just how well taken care of these dogs are. Ignorant. Please don't be one of those people. My dogs weren't even panting, but know that a panting dog is NOT necessarily a dog in distress. Fortunately, I think they were either bluffing or the police rolled their eyes since no police ever came. They get calls like this ALL the time and rarely ever is it legitimate. RARELY.  (I know this because I listen to these calls on the radio all summer here in North Conway). I took my dogs on a short walk in the office park, as planned after I saw this stupid note on a Starbucks napkin (of course it was).

Finally off to the Wine Run that I had deferred to from the Rhode Races Newport Marathon in April. What a good choice that was!! This was fun! I was glad to have the company of Steve and Jennifer Brightman and Scott Mason. Greenvale Vinyards in Portsmouth, RI was beautiful. The course was super fun and actually pretty difficult since the grass was really long. There was decent climb in mile 2, as well. The race director was leading me on the bike since I was leading wave 2 and ran right into the vines knocking her off her bike. Scott captured the look on my face as this happened. Has to be hands down one of my favorite race photos ever. Haha.

Even though this was supposed to be fun, I ran the 3.2 mile course super hard. All out race pace in 21:59. 6:49 pace which was super fast for this course with its turns, rough footing and 213ft of gain. Steve and I would end up finishing 1st and 2nd overall. Haha. After the race, Steve, Jennifer, Scott and I split a growler of Belgian Strawberry from Trinity. It was SO good. Then we had a nice dinner and some wine. It was back to the parking lot in the vineyard where we hung out until we were literally the last ones there and got kicked out. Haha. Funny that the most serious runners there were also the most serious partiers, as well. I got the dogs out for short walk through the vineyard before we left. What a fun day. I was so glad I got the chance to do this since I would never pay $75 normally for this type of race. The money was already sunk from the marathon so it really worked out.

My winnings! Seriously over $100 worth of jerky. And GOOD jerky, too. 

Week 8/28-9/3/2017- The last week of optimism. Had a great week! Felt strong for the most part. Got in some good solid runs. 67.3 miles. 10,243ft of elevation gain. Feeling good...until I woke up Sunday and felt the sickness coming on. Ruined everything.

Monday- Actually got on a roll and walked 3 miles at work in circles around the base. It actually helped my plantar fasciitis. Nothing is ever foolproof with this. What works one day doesn't work the next. Ready to amputate my foot. As I was walking, I happened upon a cat leg...just a cat leg.

On Friday, one of my neighbors sends out a group message with a pic asking if anyone has seen her missing cat...

It wasn't likely to be her cat since my neighborhood is 20 minutes from the Tamworth base, but I still cringed and then asked when the cat went missing. Last seen Wednesday. PHEW. I was off the hook for telling her I found her cat.......'s leg.

Tuesday- I was on a roll and feeling good. Decided to run up to the summit of Bayle Mt from the West Ossipee side. I felt great! And the summit views were clear for the first time in awhile. 12.1 miles of mostly dirt road and then some snowmobile trail and .7 miles of steep, rough trail to the summit. Ran the whole thing over 2 minutes faster than the last time. And 9 seconds faster to the summit. 1:50:23. Mile splits were all over the place just due the nature of the route. Fastest mile was mile 10 in 6:51, and the slowest mile was mile 7 in 17:09. Haha.

Bayle Mt view. This mountain brings back good memories of a friendship now lost.

Got in 15 minutes of upper body and abs, then John and I took the dogs on a walk from the house to the Waldorf trails. I broke open an afternoon beer after that.

You'd think my day was over, but, no, I had a race to run. Haha. John and I went to the Kennett XC Challenge that afternoon at the middle school. Every August, there's a 2-mile meet with Kennett vs Fryeburg vs White Mountain Milers. I haven't run it since 2014 so I was excited to go back and compete. I got my ass handed to me a by a girl on Kennett and a girl on Fryeburg, but only in the last quarter mile. I led those two for the first 1.5 miles. Dropped a 5:40 first mile which was dumb in hindsight, but the girl who won had the worst breathing, like out of control. I thought she was going to fade if I pushed her hard enough. Turns out, that's just how she breathes and my second mile was 6:22. Oopsy. She and the 2nd girl passed me just as we entered the woods section which has 3 sharp turns and some rough footing. I hung on right behind them until the last kick and totally got crushed. My former course record of 12:31 was also crushed...by all 3 of us. 1st was 11:59, 2nd 12:04 and 3rd (me) 12:14. Hell yeah. I'll take it! Gave me a huge boost of confidence for the upcoming Millen Mile that I hadn't trained for AT ALL. If I could drop a 5:40 mile on a xc course, I figured I could pull off something respectable on the track. Yeah, we know where this is going...didn't happen. More on that later.

Always a great spread of food so John and I had dinner there. John refused to run in the race, but as we were leaving, he told me to carry all of his stuff. I refused until he said, "But I want to run." Well, then by all means hand that shit to me. He literally sprinted the length of 2 soccer fields. Hmmmm. Ended up with 15.5 miles for the day.

My third Conway Daily Sun cover this year. Haha. They make me look old.

Kennett Challenge award winners

Wednesday- Ran 3.1 miles at work on the trail. 8:00 min pace. Decent. And like every week, I checked my pulse and SpO2. Right on the money!

Thursday- My Club Motosports detail was cancelled which is good and bad. Gives me the day to do something cool, but I REALLY need the money. I was able to at least pick up that night's stipend shift in Tamworth. Never got called in and made $50. Not the $173 I would have made at the track, but it's better than nothing, AND I got to run Franconia Ridge. The weather was NOT ideal, and when I got up to the ridge, I couldn't see very far in front of me, and the wind was blowing sideways across it. I put on my jacket and made the decision to attempt it. I questioned that decision more than once. The worst was coming down off Lafayette towards Greenleaf Hut. RIGHT INTO THE WIND. Insane. Once I got out of the clouds. I was in clear, calm weather. So weird. For the second year in a row I failed to hit the top of the segment on Haystack as soon as I got up there. I still can't figure out where it is because I was on the actual summit in 1:01, but the segment on Strava has be over 1:02 so wherever it is, it's just past the summit. Oh well. Exact same summit time as last year. Another good sign. The whole run (moving time) was 32 seconds faster than last year. Elapsed time was much faster since I didn't really stop much due to the weather. 2:33:29 where last year was 2:47:02. Haha. 8.1 miles. 3,896ft of elevation gain. Went by Woodstock Station where I planned to have just a beer, but the sweet potato ravioli app looked too good to pass up.

This greeted me in the driveway when I got home that morning.

Franconia Ridge

Lafayette Summit

Heading down to Greenleaf Hut

Nice day below the clouds

By the time I got home I was stuck there for the rest of the night since I was on-call at 5pm until 7am.

Friday- Planned the full Moat Traverse Loop, but after Fred Ross begged and offered up some cash for me to come to his Green River Marathon in Vermont the next morning, I decided mid-run to cut it short to just do the South/Middle Moat Loop. I was going to Vermont! I had planned to run Wapack Trail Race on Sunday, but after seeing the crappy weather in store, I decided Vermont would be a great marathon training run with perfect weather.

I brought Phoenix along for the run. My legs were a bit fatigued so it was on the slow side up South Moat. The ridge was almost windier than the previous day, but I wasn't soaked to the bone from a rain cloud. My variation of this loop was 10.6 miles in 2:45:16. 2,914ft of elevation gain. I felt good for the most part.

When John came home I gave him about 3 hours to do his own thing before we'd leave for Vermont. Since the marathon started at 6:30am, Fred offered to put us up in a hotel. He gave me two choices. I picked the one with indoor pool and got excited for John to swim. We made the drive over to Brattleboro. I pulled into the hotel and went to check in only to find there was no reservation. I guess there was some miscommunication that was confirmed the next morning. Fred was going to reimburse me for the hotel. I didn't know this or I would never have come. Had it been the week before or the week after, I could have easily paid for a room, but tonight, I had $20 to my name. Omg. I realized our only option was to sleep in the car at the 24-hour Dunkin Donuts. Fred was being SO generous already. There was NO WAY in hell I was going to call him and let him know I couldn't pay for the hotel. I couldn't do it. I couldn't be that asshole. I was so upset and nearly in tears while John and I sat in the Wendy's next door for him to use the internet until they closed. I was so angry at myself for letting my life come to this. I'm about to make my son sleep in the parking lot of a very sketchy DDs. I was thankful I had grabbed his sleeping bag at the last minute so that he was perfectly fine all night and slept well. I was also thankful I never took Phoenix's blanket (an old Mt Washington blanket) out of the car, but I still froze all night (it was in 30s overnight) and was SO uncomfortable sleeping in the front passenger seat. I hardly slept. I wanted to cry since I had to run a marathon the next morning. I just wanted to go home and sulk.

Saturday- Woke up at 4:15am. Got us breakfast and coffee in DDs then drove to the Guilford Country Store to meet Donna Smyth and Fred to follow them to the race start. The course ended up being in such a beautiful spot. It followed the Green River the entire way on about 90% dirt roads, 10% pavement. The weather was perfect. There were only 5 of us who ran the marathon. Fred had created this as an official Boston Marathon qualifier for Donna to qualify. They wanted to run Boston together in 2018. She's a little powerhouse and needed to run a 4:10. She would end up running a 3:40. Haha. I didn't need the qualifier since I already have the 2:57 from Hartford, so I was just there to help make the race official (I would end up not registering for Boston after all).

John rode in Fred's car the whole time. Every time they passed, all I saw was a sleeping bag in a seatbelt. Haha. He slept the entire time until the finish. He would greet me at the finish. It was great. Fred took a video, but it's only on Facebook, and I can't figure out how to save it.

The race wasn't anything exciting to write about. I planned to average an easy 7:50/mi pace. With the dirt road and the gradual uphill for the first 14 miles, I didn't want to run super hard. I started off with a guy named, Dave, who was out there to qualify. He needed a 3:25. That was pretty much the pace I had planned to run, so we started off together. I didn't tell him my qualifying time...until he asked. I don't think he expected me to say a sub-3 Haha. He mentioned me running with him to help him get that 3:25. Sounded good to me...until he took off ahead of me by mile 3. I didn't keep up...on purpose. It was sad, really, because I realized the uphill nature of the course and kept it super comfortable while watching him destroy himself. I could tell he was overly exerting himself and pouring in sweat up ahead of me. Why he didn't stay behind with me, I don't know, but I couldn't help him out after he went up ahead. I knew I could fly for most of the last 12 miles. I ran the first half in 1:42:something (forgot to hit the lap button). After the mile 14 turnaround, I passed Dave and flew for a good chunk of the last 12 to the finish. 1:40:something for the second half to finish in 3:22:23. Perfect. Awesome training run. My GPS lost a signal in miles 21 and 25 and went from being only .07 off of Fred's mile markers to a full .2 off by the finish. My Strava is completely wrong since it shows moving time of 3:12:43 when I never stopped once. Haha. Poor Dave would end up finishing around 3:53, I think.

The race elevation profile.

Miles 21 and 25 aren't accurate since that's where I lost my signal.

I went down to the river for a post-race beer, then John and I joined Fred and Donna for lunch at the Guilford Country Store. Great little place. I had to tell Fred that we slept in the car when he asked how much he owed me for the hotel. I kept it vague and just said, "It was too much." I didn't want him to feel bad because he was already giving me $200 for being there and for winning the marathon (haha). (Oh, and my foot wasn't too bad the whole race. I felt it, but it was minimal pain.)

By the start

The race field

Donna, Fred and me

Post-race beer

I was happy for the early race start since it got us home early. My bed never felt so good that night.

Sunday- The beginning of the end of things looking up. I'm guessing lack of sleep Friday night followed by 26 miles wore me down and made me susceptible to the germs. I could feel the sickness beginning in my chest. Oh no! I still felt good today, though. Ran a very slow 3.4 miles around the neighborhood, 1st mile with Chill and the 2nd with Phoenix. 31:00. I was kind of sore but not bad. Plantar fasciitis was nearly absent. What is this? Was Steve Brightman right the weekend before when he told me to run a marathon to get rid of PF? Hmmm.

As predicted, the weather was super crappy pouring rain. I did not regret my decision to skip Wapack. I took John to open skate at the ice rink since we have some free passes. I was sad to see John fall early on and hurt his tailbone. He wasn't being wimpy; he tried to keep skating, but I could see by the look on his face that he was really in pain. We called it quits and went across the street to Tuckerman Brewing for the live music. The place was stupidly crowded. It hurt for John to sit so I just got a small flight and enjoyed the music for a little while, then we left.

It was super cold out so I made a fire in the woodstove that night. Well, I learned I had actually prepared the fire over last winter and never lit it. I had no memory of doing that, but I thanked myself for it.

Week 9/4-9/10/17- Sick. Just sick. ALL week! How I managed to still run 29 miles AND 3,763ft of gain, I don't know. None of those miles came easy, and I probably shouldn't have done any of them. I knew it as soon as I woke up on Monday with an excruciating headache and a chest full of gunk that I was done. My hope for decent Fall racing was now over. Any chest cold will do you in for weeks!

Monday- Lied in bed all day at work when we weren't on calls. We had 4 calls, I think, but they were all spaced out. I had to take Ibuprofen to kill the headache so I could function, but I still felt like I was in a fog. Had a moment in the afternoon where I all of a sudden felt ok and walked 2 miles around the base. I felt like shit shortly thereafter, though.

Tuesday- I was begging and pleading to get out of work on time. I couldn't do a 911. A tone dropped around 6am; thank goodness it was the other crew's call. My head was pounding so I took some Ibuprofen and lied back down. And then it happened. OF ALL MORNINGS! At 6:32, 28 minutes before the end of my 24 hour shift, the tone dropped!! NOOOOOO! I wanted to cry. I was so thankful I had taken that Ibuprofen because the headache was mostly gone by this point and I was able to get through the (absolutely ridiculous) 911. A new frequent flyer whom we transport to the hospital at least once a week now. Infuriating. She had just been there the day before! But ugh. That's my job, so I sucked up and was nice. We got back at 8:30am.

With the ibuprofen masking the illness still, I thought I would run. I could barely move or breathe. Not smart.6.7 miles from home, up Bald Hill Rd, Chase Hill, down to the Kanc and back home. I felt like death when I finished. Not even worth it. 56:54 of torture.

I really wanted to get John some exercise so I made him take a hike up to the Sexton Shelter in Eaton. It was only .6 miles to the top, but I could barely walk. I was completely out of breath. John was so far ahead of me for the first part. It was a struggle. I wanted to curl up and sleep when we got to the top.

Lied down for 5 hours straight on the couch when we got home. My head was pounding. I just wanted to sleep. I suspected I had a fever so I did get up to check that, and sure enough. Low grade fever just over 100. I managed to drag myself up to take John to ninja class. I HAD to go to the store, too, so I walked around Shaws in a complete fog. I was wearing layers because I felt freezing from the fever. The fever broke just as I got to the check out. I started POURING in sweat from the layers, and I think they noticed. Haha. Drove back to the gym and lied down in the car while John finished up his class.

Wednesday- So thankful for the slow day at work. I was in bed ALL day. I read almost my entire book when I couldn't sleep. Although I knew what it would be, I checked my SpO2 and pulse. HUGE difference than the week before. 74 for a resting pulse is a huge indicator that my body was fighting something off. The 97% SpO2 didn't surprise me either. I was definitely lacking oxygen.

Thursday- Had to work at Club Motorsports for 9 hours. I was feeling better but still run down. I was coughing up a storm by this point. I either lied down on the bench seat in the back or sat out in the sun in my chair. I think all of the rest really helped because the headache was gone. It was the full lungs that were now the problem. My energy level would remain low, as well. After sitting for almost 3 days straight, I HAD to run after work. I was going crazy so I drove to the Freedom Town Forest. I ran the loop up the Jackman Ridge Trail and back over Mary's Mt. It was super slow because I couldn't breathe, but it wasn't a horrible run. I saw a small bear at the beginning of the run. When I got to the Mary's Mt climb, I decided to do a test run on how I felt. It's .4 miles to the top, and the last time I did it I ran it in 6:01. That's close to what the next day's Millen Mile would be for time. I needed to know if I could sustain 6 minutes and still breathe. If not, I was going to, very reluctantly, back out of the Millen Mile. I hit the lap button on my watch at the bottom and booked it. I was sucking wind so badly, but I was surprised that it wasn't until the last minute that I actually felt myself really slow down. As soon as I hit the top, I hit the lap button again. 6:01. No fucking way. That was a good sign. I could do the Millen Mile. It would not go well, but I could do it. After a nearly vomiting coughing fit and taking a photo, I proceeded on and finished the run. 6.2 miles in 53:25 (6 minutes slower than the last time I ran it haha). Oh, I forgot to mention this...so my plantar fasciitis completely went away for 4 days! I started to get excited...until this run. It came back. :(

View of Ossipee Lake from Mary's Mt

Despite coughing up gunk all evening, I actually felt pretty decent. I decided I would attempt an easy mountain run the next morning.

Friday- I slept in super late since I needed more rest. With the Millen Mile that night, I'm not sure why I ran up Middle and Peaked Mountains, but I really did keep it super slow. I brought Spot and Phoenix, too, which meant a lot of stops. I didn't feel that bad running up Middle. I could only run as fast as I could breathe so it was a crawling pace. Looking back, though, I really shouldn't have done it. I probably would have felt better for the Millen Mile. But I felt so good, and the day was beautiful. I really needed to get up in the mountains. 5.1 miles in 1:06:02.

Us on Peaked Mt.

On Peaked Mt. Middle Mt in the background.

Felt good enough to do a 12 minute upper body and abs workout. Yet, just something else I shouldn't have done. I think I already knew the Millen Mile would be a disaster so I just didn't care. I did rest the rest of the day. The Millen Mile wasn't until 8ish that night during the football game.

By the time John and I arrived, my body felt like a ton of bricks. My PF was killing me, and I couldn't breathe well. My energy level was shot. I wasn't sandbagging either. Pretty sure people believed me after my terrible mile performance. It was bad, so bad, and Terry Ballou, the smart track runner used it to her advantage. She forced me to LEAD knowing that I was going to be dying more and more every lap. She did admit to planning that whole thing. I love it. It was funny, though, because in the first lap, I yelled at her, "I don't want to lead! I have no idea what I'm doing!" Haha. I don't even know the splits, but I remember hitting lap 1 and all of a sudden not being able to breathe well. I slowed it way down. Terry told me after that I did slow way down, and that our second lap was 90. Hahaha. I had Terry, Todd and Hilary right behind me the entire first 3 laps. It sucked so bad. I don't know how to do this leading thing even when I'm feeling good! At the end of lap 3, Terry flew by me. Because of this, I was able to pick up some speed and put myself two seconds ahead of Hilary. Terry would end up winning in 5:40 (I think!). I came in 2nd in 5:52. 5:52!!!!!! I still can't believe it. 1.5 weeks earlier I ran that 5:40 on the xc course. I beat Terry by 23 seconds that day! I knew before I was sick that I wouldn't run anything close to my 5:26.1 from last year. I was fast at this time last year and trained for it! I actually thought a 5:35ish mile. I still can't believe I ran a 5:52. My worst Millen Mile in all 7 years that I've run it. My excuse was legit. Just toeing the line and finishing was really my goal. Gotta keep my Millen Mile streak alive! I'm the only one! But damn if that 5:52 didn't sting A LOT.

John and me at the track before the mile

Probably doing sandbagging talk, even though it was legit.

And more sandbagging talk, I'm sure.

I look HORRIBLE. Seriously. I felt horrible and I looked it. Small field.

Ok so, I made it in the paper again for the Mile. It was all of us at the start. I was horrified. Untagged myself from it on FB. But now, I just think it's funny. The bad photo reflects how I felt. So I'll share it. Probably one of my worst race photos ever...and it was in the paper. Awesome.

Haha. Looks like I put on 100lbs just before the start

Roger Marcoux videoed the race as always. I don't look as bad as that photo, but you can tell I'm off. My foot was fucking killing me so my stride was way off kilter. 2018 will be redemption.

Saturday- Friday had set me back. The pounding headache was back and would stay through most of the weekend. I knew Saturday morning that there was no way I could pull off the Bradbury Bruiser. 12 mile trail race. Hahaha. There was no way. I considered just going and running easy, but I know me. I would end up running too fast. So I made the decision to back out. I was SO bummed. I missed all of the Bradbury races last year and hadn't done the Bruiser in years. I was looking forward to it, but, alas, it wasn't to be.

No running was happening today. Instead, John and I hiked up White Ledge with all 3 dogs. The pace was nice and slow. I felt ok for the whole hike, but I could do nothing else the rest of the day/night. I really enjoyed this time with John. I was glad I had the energy to do this with him. Being sick allowed me to step back for the weekend and make it relaxing for both of us.

Sunday- Woke up with the bad headache. Had coffee and sat around until I felt good enough to run. I knew it wouldn't be pretty, but I needed to run for my mental state. Ran from home to Tasker Hill Rd and back. I was sucking wind so badly it was as if I'd never run before, and my head was in a total fog. 8.2 miles at a slow 8:09/mi pace. 1:07:32. SO slow. I was now a week out from when the sickness began and not doing that much better. Ugh.

Got John out on a bike ride later on the Mountain Division Trail when I started to feel a little better. Same distance as the run. 8.2 miles. I had to bike slower than usual to keep from getting too out of breath, but it felt pretty good. I actually felt much better by the time we got home. My energy level was still low, and I was coughing like crazy, but the headache was gone and fortunately wouldn't come back! Yay!

He's so cute!

Feeling good for beer!

So that's that! Four weeks of catching up. I started to get a little too winded for the last two weeks, but I guess I wanted to go into details on some things. Saving last week for its own post! Hopefully, I can stay no more than a week behind for awhile. Haha.

War on Drugs show is this weekend so this is the last song I'll post...