Friday Night Vertical 2021

Friday Night Vertical 2021

Wednesday, April 11, 2018

2018 Doyle's Emerald Necklace


Coming off a bad race and my body a mess meant it was time for a down week. Would I have done that on my own? No. Probably not. Haha. Thank you to "Coach Person" for keeping me at bay because it did wonders. I struggled through some of my runs with the lack of energy the first part of the week. Energy came back, but I was still struggling to breathe due to the congestion that lingered. The cough diminished, but I would still have many coughing fits...especially when someone made me laugh. I still had no appetite until Thursday when it finally came back. So things definitely got much better by the weekend, just as I was hoping since Doyle's Emerald Necklace was on Sunday. I wanted to have a good race for the first time in forever. Crazy how much better I felt in a week since the Boston Tune-Up. Tendon pain was significantly diminished. I needed this light running week more than I thought. It was a nice mental break, too, kind of like my week off LAST April when I didn't have to think much about running. Basically just getting some runs as best I could. Ended up with 37.1 miles this week. 1,463ft of elevation gain. One zero day that I really needed on Monday. One treadmill run, one trail run and 4 road runs, including the race on Sunday.

Unfortunately, the only thing the light week didn't help was the intestinal issue. It's safe to say that it wasn't bacterial. Kills me that I took antibiotics for nothing, but it was still worth trying. I thought that maybe, just maybe it was getting better, but nope. Some days are definitely worse than others, but overall, there has been very little, if any, overall improvement. Where do I go from here? Haha. Nowhere. Just going to deal and hope my body will eventually heal on its own. Positive thinking...which I do very little of these days. I guess it's time to start.

Monday, April 2, 2018- I originally thought I felt good enough to get up and run something, but when my 4:15am alarm went off, I knew it wasn't happening. I needed the extra hour of sleep more so than a run. I needed it more than I knew because we'd end up having our asses handed to us overnight at work. Work was somewhat busy. Just Jen and I alone had 5 calls total and 4 transports. There were 3 more transports plus 3 other calls combining all the crews. Just by luck of the draw, we did the most. The early evening calls were fire alarms so we ended up in fire alarm battles with the other overnight crew hoping we'd win out. We lost. Haha. It was fun, though. Actually had Jen and me in hysterics as I tried to clear us over the radio, fumbled my words, started over and then we both busted out laughing over the radio. Haha. That was followed immediately by a message to me from Duncan, the one who was dispatching us, with a "Wowwwww." And laughing emojis. Haha. Duncan used to work with us until he got the dispatching job; his leaving was the reason I was able to take the Monday 24 hour shift Tamworth. It was pretty funny, though. The only problem? Laughter brings on a coughing fit that lasts about 5 minutes.

Speaking of coughing. I was feeling better on Monday, except still pretty congested. I took a walk around the ambulance base many times to make the 3 miles. We had beautiful weather up here while southern New England was in a snow storm.

We ended up with 2 calls overnight which left us little sleep time. It seems like intentional overdosing season is here. Tends to happen at the end of Fall and the beginning of Spring. This was our second overnight call. We had the misfortune of the worst paramedic I think I've ever worked with showing up and taking over the scene. He was awful. And when I say awful, I mean AWFUL. He doesn't know what the hell he's doing so he panics and then starts screaming at everybody. It was totally unprofessional and uncalled for, and he did very little for the patient still. Jen and I did our jobs while he fiddle-fucked around and then questioned my blood sugar reading because he assumes our equipment is faulty. He literally stopped patient care to take the test strips out after I had taken the reading. I knew what he was doing, and I finally got a little snippy with him. He was looking to see the expiration date of our strips because he didn't believe the reading I got could be accurate. I said, "Those strips aren't expired. I checked those myself this morning." Honestly, I even had it memorized. 11/18. Still delaying care, he says, "How long have they been opened?" I said, "I can't tell you that." Him, "Well, if it's over 3 months, then they're expired." Me, "It's highly unlikely these have been opened for over 3 months. We go through them quickly." Then he mumbled something about me switching trucks which I can't even figure out the meaning of. He was also making up different women's names for me the entire time. "Janet" and then "Sue". That dick knows my name so I don't know what the fuck that was about. First off, he ended up doing nothing for this patient other than delaying further care by sitting on scene. Jen and I did most of the work before I got in the driver's seat to drive. First thing you learn as a basic EMT. This is not your emergency. It's your patient's. Well, he turned this into his emergency and made clear his incompetency as paramedic. I came really close to telling him to calm the fuck down, but I bit my tongue. He's a dick and will always be a dick. Turns out he did the same thing to another crew later that day. He was even screaming at nurses and other people on scene. Totally unprofessional. If I knew a complaint against him would go anywhere, I'd make one. His behavior and terrible care were uncalled for.

Tuesday, April 3, 2018- I was super tired when we got back to the base after that call and wasn't super psyched to see a message from John's school on my phone that John never showed up at his van stop. OMG. I'm in a panic just hoping he overslept. Fortunately that was the case, but it was too late for him to catch the van. I was already getting out of work late because of the last call so I told John I'd come home and take him to school as soon as I could. Tamworth->home->Tamworth. Oh remember, that change in the parenting plan I didn't agree to? Well, Bryan did it anyway (unofficially since I didn't agree to it) and picked up a permanent shift that morning. So I was able to throw that right in his face. He's stolen even more of my time now. He was supposed to be responsible for John until 10am. It was perfect timing to show how him violating the parenting plan resulted in me having to pick up his slack. Will he learn? Nope. He's not there in the mornings to make sure John is up for school. He thinks because he's working every day he deserves a pass at parenting, like that makes up for it. Instead he's shirking his responsibility as a parent. He spends (if even!) a total of maybe 10 hours with John a week. Maybe 4 hours on Monday and Wednesday evening and then maybe 2 hours tops with him on Thursdays before he drops him off at home with me even though it's his parenting time. I just don't have the heart to make my son live in a van anymore. I provide his only home, and if he wants to be there every night, he can. Me? Tuesday, Thursday (most) and Friday from when he gets out of school until he goes to bed. And then I have him every weekend. All of it. That doesn't qualify as equal parenting time, and if I wanted to pursue it in court, he wouldn't have a leg to stand on. A judge would probably laugh in his face. However, I'm trying to avoid court because it costs $$$$, and I want him to continue following through on paying for John's school since it's the first real financial contribution he's made to John's expenses in the 3.5 years we've been divorced. So, anyway, Bryan drama. And guess what, there's more! But I'll leave that one out. Just more attempts at manipulation to leave himself in a better position and me screwed over. He really and truly thinks I'm stupid if he thought I would fall for what he tried to pull today. Amazing. The one positive thing that HAS occurred since John started school that I should point out is that their relationship has improved greatly. No more angry outbursts. No more fighting. So in a way, I really shouldn't complain because now the time they do spend together is actually quality time, and that's a huge deal. They needed the space apart to make their relationship better. I'm just irritated that I'm getting taken advantage of in the process.

So as soon as I got home from work, I made coffee quickly since I was struggling to keep my eyes open, then John and I got in the car for the drive to school. He was less than 30 minutes late so it wasn't too bad. Once I dropped him off, I decided to go ahead and take the dogs for a walk on the Jackman Pond Trail (it literally runs through and behind John's school's property) before driving home. It was actually a really gorgeous morning. We walked about 1.5 miles total then I drove home.


Still in my uniform and you can tell how tired I am. Greasy hair. >26 hours since my last shower. Haha.


I was feeling the lack of sleep at this point, but I still needed to get a run in. It was too nice out not to. I parked at the Conway Lake Beach and ran up Davis Hill, partly up Gulf Rd and then back to the car via Brownfield Rd. I coughed quite a bit in the first mile, but it mostly stopped after that. The run was slow for the long, gradual climb up, and then faster for the last 4-ish miles. I definitely felt worn out, and my head was pretty congested, but it was still an ok run. 8.2 miles. 1:04:29. 7:51 avg pace. 574ft of gain which is almost all in the first 4.5 miles.

Almost kayak ready on Conway Lake
I only had time to shower and write my report from the middle of the night call before I had to go back to John's school to pick him up. I took the dogs out again, and Phoenix played with the school dog again. I took a look at the lambs before John came out and realized there were pigs, too!!

Looking much better cleaned up. Procrastinating on writing my report


John is always happy and talkative when I pick him up from school. I love it. He even hung out in the kitchen with me a little bit before going off to his room. I was trying to get a photo of the National Snowshoe Race medal that I didn't want but was mailed to me anyway. Haha. Had no idea until later that John photobombed me. Haha.


This was the photo I was planning to use for this, but I had to put the one above in too...


John's mop head climbing on me in the car
I was surprisingly not that tired, but I still sat around for a few hours before John's ninja class. I didn't really go to bed at a decent hour so I'd pay for that the next few days since I couldn't catch up on my sleep.

Wednesday, April 4, 2018- I was able to get myself up easily for a 5 mile run on the treadmill. I actually felt pretty good and ran it slightly faster than I planned. Also added some 3% grade back in there, too. 38:16. 7:39 avg pace. Not fast like I used to run on the treadmill, but faster than I've been running lately. Haha.

7am marked the start of my torturous 48 hour shift. I did it to myself. I'm too busy every other Thursday this month to pick up a shift so when I saw the open 24 hour shift on the tradeboard for this Thursday, I cringed and then clicked on the pick-up request button. I got the shift and then proceeded to question my sanity for the last week. It's ALL overtime for the last 24 hours of the 48, and I really need the money to get new tires for me car...yep, still procrastinating on those. My car has to be inspected this month, and all 4 tires are bald so it definitely won't pass. haha. Weird that the two back tires lasted 4 years, but the front two only lasted 2 years. They're the exact same tire, just purchased to 2 years apart. It could just be how much more I'm driving now than I did the first year or so with the older tires. But anyway, I sucked it up and packed for 48 hours at the North Conway base with a plan to run on the trail out back on Thursday.

We had just enough calls throughout the day to keep from getting bored. Two of the 911s were to the same place twice. Grrr. The first 911 ended up being a critical patient. And then the other was a sign off. Got in an upper body and abs workout during the day. Yay! Energy is coming back. The last call got us back to base just before midnight. Got only about 5.5 hours of sleep.


Thursday, April 5, 2018-  I got up at 6am to run on the trail out back of the base so I could get that out of the way, shower and get on with the day. 5 miles going back and forth on the trail. It was really cold and windy. Brrr. My 5th mile got a little messed up with the GPS so the time is also messed up. Ran in the 8s for pace even though the GPS shows 9. Added on 5 minutes to mile 5. Haha. I thought I would run another 5 miles later in the day, but Coach Person talked me down since it wouldn't really benefit me much while I was trying to recover. I was happy he said that because when it came to later, the last thing I wanted to do was run again. I did end up walking 2 miles on the trail out back instead and doing abs and plyo. That was enough. The day was painful with only ONE call...a fire alarm. I ended up watching episodes of This is Us on my phone. Haha.

Friday, April 6, 2018- It felt so good going home. Yay!! It took me awhile to get back out of the house for a run up Passaconaway Rd/High St/Crossover Rd. Only 6 miles. I guess I was feeling pretty good because I ran it faster than planned. 44:00. 7:18 avg pace. Rain and snow were predicted for later in the day, but I lucked out with sunny skies and warmer than expected temps.

I ran some errands that included getting my nails done and the grocery store then it was home for awhile. Bryan had the dogs with him all day, and I was really missing Phoenix. 5 minutes before I had to leave to pick up John, they came home. She was so excited to see me and went nuts. I could barely snag a non-blurry picture of her. It was so nice to have my dogs home.


The snow started on our way down to pick up John. 1-3 inches possible. I thought it would never stick, but it definitely was. And it didn't stop. Got heavier and heavier. After I picked up John we drove all the way to Saco River Brewing in Fryeburg for their first ever can release. By the time I got home, my car had accumulated about and inch of snow on the hood. It was crazy. And the snow never stopped. By the next morning, we had close to 4 inches of snow! WTF. Ugh. Fortunately, this time of year, it melts really fast, but still. We didn't do anything but hang around the house the rest of the night.

Their beer is great.

Phoenix was extremely jealous that John had Chill up on the couch.

John snuggling with Chill
Saturday, April 7, 2018- Woke up to a beautiful mostly sunny morning. It made the new powder snow look so pretty.


I had some bills to pay that morning and decided to do my car and dog registration online. The pin they gave me for the car didn't work so I ended up doing it by mail. Saved me the $3 fee anyway. Then I went onto the dog registration page which did work...except it said their rabies vaccinations on file were expired. Huh. I pulled their rabies certificates out of my file. Phoenix's was good since I did it last year, but oops, Chill's had expired in FEBRUARY. Eek. I had no idea! I realized that this had to be taken care of TODAY since they were due on April 30th. I couldn't make any of the other clinic times at Petco, Petsmart or Tractor Supply except today. And of course, neither our Petsmart or Petco offers them so I realized we had to go to the Rochester Petco and get there before 1pm! Ugh. I had no desire to make the drive today, but it had to be done, and it's only an hour from my house.

Good thing I only had 4-5 miles in the plan for my run this morning. I decided to do a loop from home through Conway Village and back via Cranmore Shores. The way out was fine, and I felt really good. The quicker pace came easy. This was a good sign for the next day's race. I felt like all of my energy was back. Yay! Unfortunately, running through Cranmore Shores on the way back was a bad choice. The paved portion still had a lot of snow on the road, and the dirt road part was completely covered. Slowed me way down, but that was probably a good thing anyway. 4.5 miles in 34:09. 7:34 avg pace.

I showered then we headed down to Rochester. It ended up being a better choice since most of the snow in the woods was melted unlike my planned hike here in North Conway so it all worked out. We got to Petco at 12:30. It only took about 25 minutes to get in and out of there. $19 for an exam and the vaccine is all I'm willing to pay. Any regular vet would have been a minimum of $100, I'm sure. No thanks. I'm just complying with the law. My dog doesn't need all the other crap they would try to push on me.

Chill didn't love Petco
Since I still wanted to take a walk/hike with John and the dogs, I did a search for nearby trails and one caught my eye. Mt Teneriffe. Never heard of it, but it wasn't a long drive north into Milton, so I followed the directions and voila! In basically the middle of nowhere, a hiking trail owned by the Nature Conservancy with no one else at the trailhead. We had the place completely to ourselves. There was no trail map and very little on the internet, but it seemed to be some sort of loop trail so we just followed it. And sure enough it was mostly a loop trail. No real mountain summit that I found, but after seeing a friend's Strava who decided to copy our hike this week, it looks like there is an open summit on the trail from the opposite side of the road since he checked that out, too. I didn't even see that trail. Next time! It was a really nice walk in the woods, though. 2 miles total. John seemed to really enjoy it and didn't complain once. Not even when we got there.



It was cool to find a new place to walk in between here and Rochester. On the way back to 16, I discovered another set of trails just off the highway that I never knew about either. That trailhead was packed, though, so we made the better choice since the dogs were free to go off-leash where we were.

Once home, I had some weird motivation and energy to sweep the whole house then do a 10-minute ab workout of Zuzka's that was new to me and then 10 pull-ups after. I'm still slacking on the abs, but I will get back into it. Part of the problem is that I used to come home after my runs and go right to an ab workout, but this time of year, I'm so cold when I get home that I have to get right in the shower. Last year, I was still motivated to do a workout later in the evening. This year, not so much. Hopefully, once it warms up, I'll stop slacking off.

I got all the packing for the next day done. Put all the laundry away and was in bed at a decent hour. So unlike me, but I guess I finally felt good just in time for Doyle's. I still expected to suck speed wise, but I hoped that I would feel ok at least.


Sunday, April 8, 2018- Doyle's Emerald Necklace 5-Mile Race-

I got up at 5am which was way too early, but I was excited about the day. John and I were both getting a break in that he didn't have to be dragged to my race, and I got to go kid-free and without mom guilt! Yay. John's grandparents were back from Florida so I had asked them if they were available that day. I really didn't want to bring John to Doyle's this year. It's basically just a big party and I just couldn't do that to him. Plus, I really needed a stress-free day from the worry and guilt about having him with me. I wanted to hang out and just have some fun. I don't think that's wrong. Haha.

The drive down seemed quick since it was less than 3 hours. Haha. Oh the days when I had a strict 2 hour max drive time limit. That was mainly just so I could get back home in time. Haha. Now, I'm like, "Yeah, 3.5 isn't too bad." :) I got there really early and got basically the exact same street parking space as last year. I picked up my bib and then had 45 minutes to sit in my car and recoup from the drive. I put my feet up since the drive makes them swell up and I shut my eyes for awhile. I didn't sleep, but it helped a lot. Right around 10am, I went out for a warm up. It was a little early, but I knew I'd do a little more before the race start. Went out and back for 2 miles. I did NOT fall into the golf course mud like last year so that was a positive! Haha. It was pretty cold and windy out there in spots. Definitely not quite like the day we had last year that was sunny and much warmer. I went right back to my car to get ready for the race and waited until 20 minutes to the start to come out. It was going to be COLD in a singlet and shorts just before the start. I ran up there and then added on enough to get myself another mile. I totally forgot they started late last year, and it looked like this year would be the same. Fortunately, it wasn't quite as long. Boston's mayor showed up and got the show on the road. Two Boston firefighters and a Boston police officer sang the National Anthem which was awesome. I found a pic!


The race finally got underway, and I started off quick just like last year. I knew my closest competition there was Amanda Watters, and since she had beat me at New Bedford and the Boston Tune-Up this year, I was pretty sure she would beat me today. Other than that I wasn't sure, so I kind of wanted to go off fast again like I did last year, just not THAT fast. Last year, I was actually much faster than I am right now, but the tendon problem had just started about a month prior, and I was in a lot of pain (which led to a week off the week after Doyle's). I was in much less pain today, but I knew I didn't have the same speed as last year. My only goal was a sub-32. Since I knew the course this time around, I knew where I could be faster or slower and knew that the first mile did not need to be a 5:56 this time around. Haha. This year, I hit it in 6:11 which was fast, but honestly, I thought it was perfect. I was first woman at this point, but I knew Amanda wasn't far back. Mile 2 is the toughest mile of the 5, but this time I was a little bit more prepared for it since I hadn't killed myself in mile 1. I got a little nervous when we turned into the field parking lot, though, because I all of a sudden felt that feeling in my gut. Oh no. No no no. Ugh. I honestly thought from this point on that I might not make it without stopping; I hadn't even hit mile 2 yet! We had quite the headwind in some of this mile, but I still ran it faster than last year in 6:27. Not too long after mile 2 we hit the turnaround. I was nervous to see how close the other women were behind me. Amanda was literally right behind me running with Mike McGrane, her husband. They both passed me a little ways after the turnaround with Amanda looking strong. She's been running really well the last 6 months or so, so I was happy to see her doing well. It was actually helpful for me once they passed me because she gave me some motivation to keep my pace up. Last year, the first woman was so far ahead that I only saw her the first mile, so now having Amanda and Mike ahead really helped me run a fast 3rd mile in 6:08.

I ran with that guy behind me until he beat me in the last .25. He helped push me a little for a few miles. Photo by Ted Tyler
At this point, they had gaped me by about 20ish seconds, and I made a really strong effort to keep that from getting bigger, and I found that I was pretty successful. They never got much farther ahead than that. It was definitely because of them that I was able to run miles 4 and 5 also faster than last year. I came through the finish with 31:40 on the clock, but I guess my chip time and watch both read 31:41 for the official time. 2nd woman again! I originally thought this was 2 seconds faster than last year and was psyched, but after looking later, I realized it was 2 seconds slower. No big deal, though, since I was super happy to have run basically the same time as last year. 31:41 is nowhere close to my PR, but considering how my body has been going to shit the last month or so, I will take it!! And not only that, but I ran a MUCH smarter race than last year. And the best news... I made it through without having to stop. I think it just felt off because I was running so fast, and I haven't done that in weeks now. Haha.

2017

2018
Full Results

I love Doyle's because there's no such thing as a cool down unless you mean the cold beer! I only made a quick trip to the car for my jacket and pants before I was in the beer line and heading to the Tuesday Night Turtles table with 2 beers in my hands. Haha. I talked to Mike McGrane, Amanda and Scott Mason while I downed the first beer, then went back to my car to put some real clothes. It turned out to be FREEZING the whole time so I looked like a total dork in my goofball hat and non-matching jacket. The boots were at least the right call. Haha. Good thing about beer, though, is that it starts to warm you up so the party continued. I knew this was a race I had to do when someone first told me about it in 2015. This was confirmed in 2017 and continued in 2018. It's just so much fun and a must-do if you like a good post-race party...which everyone knows I do. Haha. I ended up winning a $15 Doyle's gift certificate, but somehow ended up with $30 more after dancing with Paul Hammond. Haha. So now, I'll have to go back and spend more time inside the bar than the way too short (yet memorable) 2 minutes I did this time around.


Just like last year, all of a sudden we were the last ones left and it was time to go. Boooo. I hate it when it ends and I have to go back north alone. But it was a fun time and soooooworth it. Here's a group shot. There was one other photo of Scott's that I liked of Paul Hammond and me with Dave Principe photobombing it, but I'd have to buy it to post it. Haha. But here's the link: Paul, me and Principe Photobomb

Group photo with a minor tweak. Technically I'm the only one who actually doesn't belong in this photo, but I like to just join in anyway. By Scott Mason
The drive back was fine. I stopped at Trader Joe's on the way and then went right to pick up John at his grandparents'. They had had a good day which was nice. I was so happy it all worked out. We were home early enough that I took the dogs out and then had time to make some dinner since I had basically eaten nothing but half a piece of banana bread after the race. The weirdest part was getting out of the car and not being sore, stiff or in pain. Seemed I'd turned a corner. I was still beat, though, and went to bed pretty early.

So coming off a good race, I'm ready to get back to it. Realizing that my tendon pain had decreased immensely since the race earlier in the day was a good sign. Vermont City Marathon is coming up soon so it's time to get back on the ball and run a respectable race. In the mean time, I'll be racing some trail/mountain races that I'm COMPLETELY out of shape for. Haha. First up is the Merrimack River Trail Race. I missed it last year, and I'm looking forward to the new course this year!

Here are some pics I found on John's school FB page from his baking class. He made the BEST cinnamon sugar bread I've ever had. Seriously.






2 comments:

  1. I don't know why you seem to like traveling so far to races when all of the men in your life in the Albany area are such princes. So unladylike of you to be cussing so dang much.

    If I were you I would find a way to combine your unfortunate physical situation with some much-needed discipline, and make a point of shitting explosively on a couple of the folks you mentioned here. You could declare it accidental, within reason, depending on how you execute the moves. Or you could not bother and just laugh maniacally and have Scott Mason take pics and smell them on Smugmug. I mean SELL them on Smugmug.

    You ain't missing anything but misery by avoiding Boston this year. I'm in the city right now and everything is deteriorating by the hour.

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  2. Love the first picture of Chili and Phoenix! Sounds like you are sort of on the mend, maybe more mentally than physically? Wonder what the work world would be like if people were decent to each other... imagine people being civil and nice and listening... I like to dream.

    ReplyDelete