2018 Millen Mile

Not the most flattering pic, but I still like it.

Other than the Millen Mile on Friday night at Kennett High School, this was a race-free weekend for John. And I was really happy to sleep in both Saturday and Sunday myself. Got my mileage back up into the 40s for 45.3 miles for the week. Had I NOT had the Millen Mile, it would actually have been more since I would have done a longer mountain run on Friday instead of a slow, short trail run, but that's ok. I wanted to do well at the Millen Mile. After being sick as a dog last year, I needed redemption, and I felt ready. Maybe not 2016 ready, but as ready as I've felt since my last indoor track meet back in February. I really think that's the last race I felt trained for and pretty confident I could pull off. I had minimal pain then. Two weeks after that meet, everything went to shit. But anyway, I've written enough about that. I was REALLY looking forward to the Millen Mile. I had looked up a conversion chart from the 1500m to the mile (the Millen Mile IS an official mile on the track at 1609m) so that I could have some sort of prediction on where I "should" finish for time. 5:36.51. I figured that was doable, but I made a goal of sub-5:40. I would have been happy with anything under that. So I pretty much planned my week's running around this so that I wouldn't be worn out or regretting doing something stupid. Plus, I needed my tendons to be as happy as I could get them. Other than running most of the week was pretty low-key even though we did a few fun things. John's back-to-school potluck, a hike and a water park.

Life-wise, nothing has changed. I did finally get the title to our old 2004 Dodge Sprinter. It was Bryan's in the divorce, but 2 years ago, he bought a new smaller van and asked if he could park the Sprinter in my driveway temporarily. Well, it's still in my driveway...2 years later. Haha. He lost the original title, and I only learned about 6 months ago that my name is still on it. It took awhile to get a duplicate (NH's fault), but I finally have it in hand, and I want to sell this thing, even if just for parts. It's a 9 passenger van that we bought in 2009 with 27,000 miles on it. We ended up living in that van off an on over the two years following that and took it on two road trips. On the way to move from California to Fort Bragg, NC in 2009, the engine and transmission seized up on it at 37,000-ish miles. We were about 1.5 hours out from the start of our drive east and in the middle of nowhere when this happened. Funny enough, we just happened to be 45 minutes east of the ONLY Dodge dealer/service place with an actual Sprinter technician in the area. What are the chances?! Little did we know that we would spend another MONTH in California waiting on the van to be repaired, but it ended up being an awesome "vacation". The reason for the repair delay was getting the Mercedes parts involved in the repair. They had NO idea how both the engine and transmission both seized up at the same time, but they suspected that the last mechanic we took it to for a basic belt change the week before had left a tool or something loose in there that eventually reaked havoc. Luck was on our side (and probably the last time I've ever had such luck. Haha.). Bryan's aunt lived outside of Santa Cruz, just an hour north, so we had a place to stay for the month. His uncle in San Francisco had a second unused car that we borrowed. AND the Dodge dealer made sure everything for the repair (which was estimated at over $30,000!) was covered under the Diesel warranty and Dodge warranty. Insane. We paid $100 deductible that Dodge never took from this dealer so about 6 months later, a $100 check was returned to us.

So anyway, not sure why I'm going on so much about this, but after we got divorced, Bryan moved into the van, lived in it for 2 years and left it kind of a mess. The body needs a lot of work, interior and exterior. It smells like mildew inside (that happened from just sitting there for so long), but I'm going to try and clean that up. It does need some other work like new brakes and a new battery, but other than that, the engine itself is in good shape. The odometer is at 143,000, but the engine and transmission are basically at 106,000 miles. Way less than my car! I'm pretty annoyed that he just left it to rot and didn't try to sell it right away. The parts alone are worth quite a bit, especially that Mercedes engine! I don't know if I'll be able to sell it with the body as it is, but I'm going to try. After that, I'll just have to sell it for scrap. We got $400 for my Subaru, so I'm thinking this would at least be the same. Might be easier just to do that than try to sell it. It will be less money but less hassle. I'll search around for quotes on that and make a decision. Anyway, totally useless information for my blog post, but it was something I worked on this week. I was going to do more with it, but Bryan moved it to the wrong place from its 2-year parking space when he jumped it. I wanted it where the hose could reach it so now I'm just going to have to get jumper cables and move it myself. Haha.

I wanted it moved into the middle of the driveway, not into the yard. Haha. Oh well.

Monday, August 27, 2018- I was extra lazy. Zero running, zero walking. Did abs. Work was the usual so I don't remember it. Haha. It was in the 90s out. That's all I remember.

Tuesday, August 28, 2018-  Another day predicted to be in the 90s and humid. Stop it already. I wanted to get a longish run in so I drove straight from work to Potter Rd to get going as quickly as possible. I didn't do my "long" run from here that included Davis Hill, but I still did the Potter Rd, Brownfield Rd, Gulf Rd loop that I used to do quite a bit back in 2015. I still do it occasionally, but not as much now, and I hadn't done it in awhile so it kind of appealed to me. One of the reasons for that was that we were supposed to have the Kennett Challenge that night where the White Mountain Miles compete against the KHS XC team and the Fryeburg XC team in a cross-country meet. It's always fun and good food after. Even though I was still running 11 miles this morning, I thought the hillier loop would be best since it would keep me running slowly. And that I did! My second slowest time running that loop ever. Haha. I did luck out by beating the heat, but not the humidity. Oh my god. It was awful. 11.2 miles in 1:29:39. 1,003ft of elevation gain. Gulf Rd is a killer. With about 2 miles to go, I ran into this little guy. Mice are super cute except when they're in my house, then all bets are off. Haha.

The only place to spend time in this heat was the lake so John and I went right to Conway Lake. I attempted to put up my umbrella, but after looking like an idiot when it turned inside-out and tried to blow away in the wind TWICE, I gave up. Haha. While we were there, I got a text from Terry Ballou saying the Kennett Challenge had been cancelled by the school superintendent. Seriously? LAME! He cancelled all after school activities due to the heat. I get he was erring on the side of caution, but come on. I ran XC in August in Georgia. Every practice and meet was in the 90s and 100% humidity. It was never cancelled. I wouldn't have cared much if they could have rescheduled, but because school started later this week, it wasn't possible. Huh? I don't understand school starting having anything to do with being unable to reschedule something. It's probably just some public school thing I don't understand since I don't have any experience with public schools other than giving them my tax money which I could go off on another rant about if I wanted to, but I'm pretty sure I covered that already in a previous blog post. Hahaha.

We spent about 2 hours at the lake. John found a pocket knife underwater and became obsessed with it for days. Haha. When we got back to the car, I told him I actually had 2 pocket knives in there...and then I realized that oops, no I didn't. I had a 3rd one in my purse...But wait! I also had a small one next to one of the big ones. Pretty funny that I realized we had 5 knives total in the car.

I had to swim to keep cool today.

Messing with the knife

He stuck all 5 knives into a Styrofoam cup.

I was bummed about the race being cancelled, especially by the time the race would have started, it was in the low 80s. Grr. I'll get over it, though...eventually. :)

Wednesday, August 29, 2018- So much for getting up to use the spin bike every Wednesday morning. All of a sudden, I just can't get up. I couldn't figure out why I just all of a sudden am struggling. It's not from lack of sleep. I actually think it's the darkness. This was the first week it was still pitch black dark out when my alarm went off. I rarely had a problem before with this since I almost always got up to run on the treadmill Wednesday mornings, though, so I think it also has to do with just not feeling as motivated. The treadmill was a big part of my training when I was doing fast runs on them. Once I started only running slowly on it, I kind of lost interest. Now, the thought of running on it in pain over sleeping just hasn't won out. And as much as I enjoyed the spin bike at the gym, I think since I've found no good workouts, I'm also less motivated. But grrr. I love spinning, but I just refuse to get myself up.

This did not end up a zero day, though! I brought running clothes and made a plan to run 3 miles on the trail out back. And I did it! It's not fun; it's monotonous. But I'm getting something in. It wasn't fast. 25:00. 8:12 avg pace, but it was something. I showered after and felt so much better. 3 miles was better than nothing.

Thursday, August 20, 2018- I ended up chatting with the incoming crew for 15 minutes which meant I had to rush when I got home. I showered, grabbed the food for John's school potluck that night and all of my water bottles and made it out in time to swing by Tedeschi's in Tamworth for breakfast and coffee. I was bummed not to see the 99 cent english muffins, but instead I could get one breakfast sandwich for $2.69 or TWO breakfast sandwiches for $4. Hmmm. Easy choice. I'd just save one. Got to the Tamworth base where Ernie and I loaded up the truck for our day at the track. This would be another quiet day there, i.e. just sat in the back of the ambulance. Haha. Since I didn't think I'd have time to run after work before the potluck, I had brought my running clothes to run at lunch instead of walk. It worked out perfectly. I ran two laps around the track. The last two times I did this last year, I used my phone's strava app. It came out pretty accurate. Today, using the watch was a Garmin embarrassment. It was WAY off. It showed me playing Frogger down on Rt 25. It didn't even pick up the two segments on the track. No tree cover at all so I'm not sure why it was so bad, but it just isn't a great watch for accuracy. None are going to be accurate, but most are far more accurate than mine!

2017 run using the Strava app on my phone

Today using my Garmin Forerunner 220

Obviously the data didn't affect my run. 5 miles total. 37:35. 7:30 avg pace. It lost about 100ft of elevation gain with its mess-up. The actual gain is just over 1000ft so some really good climbs in there...and downhills. The heat was glaring off the pavement so even though the temp wasn't that bad, but the track was hot and steamy. Haha. I was pouring in sweat when I got back in the ambulance...and the a/c decided to cut out on me for awhile. Haha.

Dripping in sweat. Like I said hot & steamy. ;)

Of course, within about 30 minutes, dark clouds rolled in, followed by rain, and we were done for the day. Sweet! Out early! That meant I had time to go home and shower and pick up Phoenix. It also meant I had time to fill up the water jugs at the Sandwich spring and even take Phoenix on a walk on the Jackman Pond Trail before the potluck. It all worked out well!

The potluck was good. So much food! I brought cheese and crackers which ended up being a good choice since we set up the hors d'oeuvres by the door as people came in. They were gone by the end of it. So many desserts that I went back twice. Haha. It wasn't big formal event. The only thing we did like that was sit outside in a circle and had everyone introduce themselves. Funny, Bryan and I sat on opposite sides of the circle. Not on purpose, but funny that we didn't gravitate to each other at all. As soon as John got there, he was right at home. It was awesome, and I was so glad that Bryan could see that. John climbed up a tree to help move the swing and then afterward spent forever in the group of boys wandering around and horseplaying.

Someone else got a photo that John and I are in.

I wasn't going to make John leave until he was ready, but I was getting cold as the sun set so I went out to the car to sit where it warmer and to take selfies with Phoenix. Haha.'

I wasn't close to where we sat in the circle, but I was close enough to hear someone all of a sudden crying. I look over and see a kid lying on the ground surrounded by adults and all of the boys, including John, sitting quietly at the picnic table next to it. It looked like they were all set, but then I was worried that maybe it was my kid that did it so I figured I should go over. Haha. The kid on the ground was surrounded by so many adults and along with the darkness I couldn't see what was going on. I asked John if he did it, and he said no. Phew. Well, it turned out all of those boys were playing on that bench in the above picture when someone kicked it and they all fell. This poor kid landed on the edge of the bench with his wrist, and when I was finally let in to examine it since they remembered I'm an EMT, I was like oh damn! His wrist was an s-shape! Definitely broken! The poor kid was a trooper, though. We were about to load him in a car to take him to the hospital when the ambulance showed up. Still unsure of who called them, but it was two of my coworkers. I gave them the run-down and helped out a little. I tried not to overstep and just assist as needed. All ended up well, but the poor kid. I felt so bad for him. He is new to the school this year and had been having so much fun. Exciting night, though! Haha.

Friday, August 31, 2018- Millen Mile- Slept in and it felt SO good. As I said before, I wanted to do well in the Millen Mile tonight so I didn't do my usual race sabotage and actually ran short and easy. Phoenix made sure of that! It is prime chipmunk winter prep time apparently so she was busy being a bad dog. Haha. She had been so good lately that I didn't bring the leash which I hate running with anyway, but it would have been a little better of a run with it today. It didn't really matter much, though. This was basically just a "shakeout", although a little early in the day to technically be called a shakeout, but kind of close. We just did an easy trail run in the Green Hills from Hemlock Ln. No crazy climbs and only 4.7 miles. 47:03. A wicked slow 9:52 avg pace. Haha. But still gained 527ft. Funny. The last time I did this exact run was in December of 2013. Without the leaves on the trees, my old watch got 5.1 miles that day. There is also a short reroute in there that is now tight switchbacks so that would also make the GPS show less mileage this time around. It was a crazy slow run, and if my memory serves me correctly, the trail was slippery with a very thin layer of ice on it. Oh yeah, on the way out, we stopped at Spot's sign. For the first time EVER, Spot's swimming hole was bone dry. It was the one place we could always count on for water even if the brook on either side of it was dry. It was always the one place for Spot to swim and cool off. Strange to see it dry.

CHIPMUNK!

I know we ran some errands. Pretty sure Walmart since I always need something at Walmart, unfortunately. I remember the time when I could snub Walmart and only shop at Target. Now, I'm one of THEM. Someone even got a photo of me and put it on People of Walmart. Cover blown!

I really wanted to make sure I was rested for the mile, so I did a lot of sitting in the afternoon. I was so bored. Haha. I was SO ready to race, and it didn't start until 8ish that night. Ugh. Finally 6:40pm rolled around. Still too early, but I just needed to get moving. For the first time since 2011 or 2012, John didn't have to go with me. I wanted him, too, but he was so bored last year. He was very happy to stay home. When I got to the track, I was met by Dave Dunham who would be racing with us for the first time. The race is typically only open to locals or those who grew up here, but Dave is a legend, so when he asked Bernie if he could join in, Bernie didn't hesitate. It was great to have him join us. He greeted me with a hug and was happy to find a familiar face. Dave probably rarely goes to a race where he knows almost no one. Haha. I didn't even know the majority of the people there. High school football really isn't my circle. Haha. We chatted for a bit, then I walked down with one of the high school girls to our spot to set up on the track. For the first time in 8 years, the high school kids were able to join us. This race is usually the weekend after Labor Day, and they always have a cross-country meet the next day, but with the race being a week early this year, they could join in! And they were very much needed. Sadly, the numbers for the Millen Mile keep dwindling every year. Without the addition of the 6 high school runners, there would only have been five of us total. Zach Switaj, Kelton Cullenberg, Dave, Terry Ballou and me. I don't know if it was just because it was Labor Day weekend that we had fewer or if people are just too intimidated or what. It is nerve wracking racing under the lights in front of the football crowd, but it's really fun. They all cheer for us. It's meant to be competitive, but also fun and a different experience. The high school girls were very nervous, but so was I! Haha. Every year. It's less every year, but still 7 years after I ran the first one, I will always be a little nervous.

It was still early, but I decided to go ahead and hit the Conway Rec Path for a 2-mile warm up. I actually felt pretty good. My plantar fasciitis had been throbbing, but after about a half mile, I could barely feel it. Same with the tendons. It was there, but at a minimum. I had a good feeling about tonight. Once back at the track, we all did our usual pre-race chatter. I did some stride warm ups in my spikes. Spikes aren't the best for plantar fasciitis so I was feeling it a bit again just walking around in them. Fortunately, running in them make me run with a little better form so the PF actually bothers me less. Still had me slightly worried. I had a feeling that I would be able to beat Terry this year, just based off her recent 1500m time, but you can never be sure with her. She's a smart track runner. There was also a pretty fast high school girl there, too, so I certainly didn't think I was going to "run away" with this one.

Half time of the football game arrived and it was a quick introduction of runners to the line. I like that it happens quickly with no time to be nervous on the line. I got cut off a bit by Terry and one of the high school girls, but quickly made my way past them. I actually wanted to lead today. I ended up right behind Dave Dunham whose back would become my eyes' focus the whole race. He was the only one I could see ahead of me the whole time, and I had to have someone else to focus on so that I didn't get distracted. I had talked to Roger Marcoux earlier in the day and he had asked me my game plan. I told him that I was leaning towards going out hard for the first lap and just seeing how I felt from there. I followed through on that plan and ended up right behind Dave for the first lap in 82 seconds. It was a little fast so I decided to back off a bit since I also already had a gap on Terry. I still felt good like I had a lot of energy, but I didn't want to blow it in the 2nd lap. Dave had gaped me by a lot in the 2nd lap and would continue to, but my eyes were still on his back. I don't know my splits for the rest of the race, but I decided to continue with my current pace for the next 200m in the 3rd lap. Normally, I wouldn't pick it up so soon, but I still felt good and knew that I could so with 1.5 laps to go, I added it on. I could see Terry still far back enough that I knew I would beat her when I hit the bell lap. Even if she put on a faster surge than me in the last lap, I was too far ahead, but I still felt like I had more so as soon as that bell rang, I pushed it even faster. I never looked back. I knew I had the win! I came through in 5:36 just milliseconds from 5:37. Almost exactly my predicted time! Yes! (I never got the official time so I'm still working on getting the milliseconds from Bernie). Terry came through in 5:45 which really wasn't that far back. Dave ran a 5:21 while Zach passed Kelton across the line for the win. Another photo finish just like Terry and I had in 2016. The high school girls ran well! The fast came in right around 6:00 and the other two about 15 seconds behind her. It was great. I was so psyched with my time. Not my PR of 5:26.1 and not even close to my second or third best times there either, but today, I ran fully to my potential, and I was so happy with that. They decided to do with the crystal bowls as awards this year, but Zach and I were ok with that. While they were beautiful and I loved them, this would have been my 4th crystal bowl. We got $50 gift certificates to the Black Cap Grill instead which is great! I love food!

Unfortunately, there were two professional photographers there snapping away, but neither shared their photos except the one for the newspaper that is at the top of this blog post and one other of Zach and Kelton finishing. This is typical every year, though. I just wish some regular person would stand out there and take photos of everyone, but it's never happened. At least Roger always comes out and does his video which he did this year with a new camera. I thought it was much improved over previous years' videos. Link to Roger's video. Sorry. He only put it on Facebook, but you can still watch it...kind of.

Right after a group of us, Zach, Dave, Kelton and Terry went out for a cooldown. It was so dark that we had to run around the school. Terry only went about a mile while the rest of us did two. It was good chit-chat along the way. I said goodbye to Dave, and then joined Zach to get our stuff still on the track. As I got back to my car, Terry invited me to Barley & Salt for a drink with her, her sister and someone else. I was like, "YES!" I just had to call John first to let him know. And guess who picked a bad time to let his phone die? Mmm hmm. Couldn't get ahold of him. Tried him on Google Hangouts which he ALWAYS answers. Nada. I had to go home. So I texted Terry and said I couldn't join them and went home. He was fine as I assumed. For some reason Hangouts didn't pop up on his screen like it always does so he never saw it. I was a little bummed not to be able to go out, but it was ok. I knew John was ok, and I had beer in the fridge to drink.

Saturday, September 1, 2018- Slept in until almost 9! I never do that! Had coffee, made John pancakes, then got ready to run. Although I would have preferred a short run today, we had plans to go to Maine the next day so I didn't want to run longer that day so today was the day. I decided to make a loop through Conway and back into Madison. Not really a long run at 13 miles, but for me, it would equal the longest distance I've run since May, and only about 14 hours post-Millen Mile. I wasn't sure I'd make the whole loop so I made up to other options to shorten it, but when I hit my last bail out point around mile 6.5, I felt good enough to continue on to finish the 13. I had run a mostly easy pace for the run so I figured I had another 6.5 in me easily. Well, I had another 3.5. The last three miles, I was all of a sudden feeling beat, but I made it the 13 miles in 1:42:31. 7:53 avg pace and 831 ft of elevation gain.

View from my run

As soon as I took my shoes off when I walked inside, I all of a sudden felt awful and ended up with another series of post-run trips to the bathroom that left me feeling completely drained and tired, but the day had to go on. I showered and then got John and the dogs in the car. I was hoping this would pass, but it didn't, and we were hiking up Peaked Mt. I struggled badly through the whole hike and felt like I could lie down and go to sleep. It was almost like the hike up Mt Major when I was anemic and felt out of shape. I struggled up the trail. I was so glad I was able to pull it off, though, for John's sake. He had a really good time. When we got to the summit, I was finally able to stomach an RX bar which did actually help a little energy-wise, so the hike down was fine.

I even looked tired.

After the hike, we went home where I proceeded to feel awful again. My stomach just felt woozy and achy. This lasted for hours so I just laid on the couch the whole time just hoping it would go away, and then suddenly, it just did. I have no idea what that was about, but it never came back, thankfully, but it was kind of a miserable night. I had to make John take the dogs out since I couldn't get myself up. Ugh.

Sunday, September 2, 2018- Woke up feeling ok but still a lack of energy. I didn't even want to run at all, but I forced myself out for 3 miles into Coleman's and back. 24:14 for the miles. The struggle was real.

After I showered, we drove over to Splashtown/Funtown in Maine for Public Safety and Military Appreciation Day. It was free admission for me and $15 for John. It would have been $60 otherwise so I figured this would be a good way to get John to the water park. We came here once when he was 7 or 8 so I couldn't remember much about it. I was bummed there was no wave pool because that's John's favorite thing at Whale's Tale and Kahuna Laguna, but for $15, we couldn't complain. We did the scariest water slides that were actually pretty fun. The ones that drop you in the tube are just crazy. Haha. John swam in one of the regular pools for awhile and we ran into Terry Ballou! We chatted and then we realized we were thinking the same thing. Come to a water park in Maine on Public Safety day if you want a boost of self confidence. I felt like a super model here. Haha. No lie. It was crazy. We laughed about that, and I was glad I was alone in that thought.

John actually got bored so we only stayed about 2 hours. I stopped to get him an ice cream and then we drove to Nonesuch River Brewing which was about 10 minutes away. I had literally just watched a show on the Maine channel on Thursday night that featured this brewery. When I looked it up and saw it was right near the water park, I knew we had to make a trip. This place was really nice and huge! Two floors. We sat outside on the deck since it was such great weather. I talked John into the pulled pork poutine since I have a love of poutine ever since I first had it only 3 years ago. I couldn't believe what I had been missing most of my life! I tried two of their beers that were pretty good. Definitely a good choice to stop here.

We went home from there. I took the dogs out and had another lazy night on the couch with Phoenix. So predictable. Haha.

So sorry for the pretty boring, drama-free blog post. Believe it or not; most of my life is actually pretty dull. Haha. There will be drama to come, though. Work drama, not Bryan drama. Yes, it's true, but you have to wait since I can't catch up on this damn blog!

Races (completed and upcoming)-
Sept 8, I ran the Groton Forest Trail Race "26.5" mile. That will be the next blog post.
September 16- Downtown 5K. So happy to just be doing a 5K this weekend. I'm hoping for redemption at this one after still being sick at last year's race.
Maybe something long and crazy the following week that isn't a race, but we'll see if I'm up for it.
September 23- Kismet Cliff Run, after a 2-year hiatus, I'm going back...that is unless I do that crazy long run 3 days beforehand. Then I'll just volunteer instead. So that's all up in the air.
September 29- Lone Gull 10K for the 4th year in a row and hopefully the last for at least one year.
The GP really needs to change next year or else I'm only committing to 3 races. I have other races I want to try that keep ending up on the same dates as the NEGP races so I'm probably going to choose them over the GP if we don't get new ones.