2018 Downtown 5K- USATF-NE GP#5

This was kind of a strange week. And this next part will be long. Things finally came to a head at work on Wednesday when I ended up in a very heated argument with my manager on Wednesday. I was willing to go home because I was standing my ground against something. And I started walking, too. Threw down the hose (since I was in the middle of washing the truck), grabbed my coffee and headed for my stuff. I was really looking forward to the unplanned day-off. Too bad he followed me. So ridiculous. And just unfuckingbelievable. Nothing got accomplished from our argument except the very little respect for him I had before is now completely gone. Lying, lazy, shady fucking hypocrite. I knew it was coming, though. I pushed the envelope and was ready for it. I was willing to take one for the team (those of us who actually do our jobs). Had I gone home, I would have come in the next day for my track shift only because I wouldn't want to screw the track over, but after that, I would have waited until about 10pm Sunday night before I sent an "I quit" text. No two weeks notice and not enough notice to fill my shift the next day so that he would have to come in and do it. I owe him nothing. I have PLENTY of references who can vouch for me as far as a new job goes. I don't need one from him.

I did get to say a lot of the things I've wanted to say, but of course, after the fact, you remember the things you wish you had said. But anyway, this place is SO fucked up. Rewarding people who don't do their job and threatening to send someone else home who ALWAYS does her job. And his reasoning was the most hypocritical. I was "disobeying an order". Well, a lot of people disobey his orders everyday and for actually something that is part of the job and/or required by the State. They've never been sent home. I refused to use a USELESS black military pouch that ONE employee decided should go in all of our jump kits. It provided no benefit to our job whatsoever. He said, "It was to protect the basic drugs." Well, funny, I've never in 7 years had any of those drugs be damaged. Jumpkits are designed with pockets specifically for these things. I was able to come back at him that a bottle of narcan was crushed in the bottom of the jumpkit since using the black pouches. They aren't designed for this use. They are for military belt loops. Not only that. They waste time just getting them open. It's been pretty obvious to nearly everyone else that these things are pointless. Oh, and what happened last week when I opened the black pouch? No shit, but the narcan fell out into the jumpkit...

In reality, he wasn't just pissed about the black pouch thing. I also threw him under the bus on Monday with the scam I was pretty sure he was pulling with the new "supervisors". I had been thinking about the process in which they were "promoted" and it was all extremely fishy. No posting that positions were open. Interviews only with the manager (never happens this way; it always goes through upper management). It just didn't seem right so I decided to send an email to every person in upper management asking for confirmation that these three people who were identifying themselves as supervisors were in fact supervisors. The email I got back was from the President/CEO which read, "Thanks for your e-mail. At this time there are no new supervisors in the Tamworth/North Conway system." I fucking knew it. I'm not an idiot. I've lived and worked in the real world and actually have experience with how things work. I knew there would be repercussions for this, but once again, it was worth it. I'm willing to stir shit up because I can't just sit by and let it happen anymore. Everything has gone downhill so fast. None of the promises made to the towns have come through. Although we did get two new employees who've been filling in every gap in the schedule now! Their names are "Shift Covered" and "Careplus South". But interesting how they never show up for work. But you can do that here. Even the manager shows up hours late when he's forced to cover shifts. Everyone knows this place is a joke. We're a laughing stock. It's embarrassing. And if I lose my job over it, so be it; I'm willing to take the risk. Things just can't continue like this. In the meantime, I'm doing my job 100% because I believe in a good work ethic. I'm not doing it for some sort of reward. And I actually really like the job! Do I want it to be my forever career? Nope. But, I do like it. A lot! It really is a shame remembering what it was like when I was hired and looking at the crumbling mess it is now. Anyway, I know this was lengthy, but I had to write about it to get it off my chest. And the funny part is that the rest of the week was mostly great, thankfully.

Ok, enough of that crap. I probably shouldn't have written any of it. Any future employer might read it and think twice before hiring me, but if he/she had to work in the these conditions (don't forget about the maggots!), I would hope my behavior makes sense. But let's get on to better things, shall we?

Running! This is a running blog turned drama fest, but I AM going to talk about running now. Most of this week was really about recovering from the trail marathon. Although I wasn't really sore or feeling too beat from it, I felt I still should let myself recoup from it a bit. I had the Downtown 5K on Sunday so I hoped my legs would be ready for it. I didn't do any long runs. 8 miles was the longest. I took two zero days, as well, so I only had 31.3 miles for the week. Like I said in my last post, my focus for the rest of the fall is just to get through the races I have planned and the recovery I need in order to do that. This isn't really muscle recovery I'm talking about. The tendons do get achy the more I do, so I actually have to rest them. I often feel totally fine otherwise, but there are days when they can be really sore, so I have to cut back. This week was one of those times. I hoped to do better in the 5K than last year so I wanted to go into it with as little pain as possible. I feel like did an adequate job with this, but unfortunately, it didn't really matter. I've learned after all of the 5Ks I've done this year that I can maintain a pretty fast 5K pace for about 1.5 miles, but that's it. They just can't hold onto it past there. This week's 5K would prove to be extra frustrating due to this. When I discovered I could speak easily throughout the whole race, but my legs just couldn't keep up, it made me pretty upset. I should never be able to talk clearly and easily through a 5K, but there I was at my max leg speed while knowing I had more fitness than that. I knew going into it that my result wouldn't be what I wanted, and I've really accepted that, but in the moment, I just couldn't help the frustration. But, that frustration is actually what's keeping me motivated to let myself heal for real this time. Showing myself that I'm physically incapable of doing well at speed (especially on the roads) is really driving it home to my stubborn brain that I have to do something about it.

Oh, so I literally, like just now got a notification on FB from last week's race. They posted 8 photos! I'm in one of them. So here it is. It's just from the start so it's not a cool trail shot, but at least there is one! Haha.

I might stop wearing those Buffs. I'm starting to look ridiculous in them. I just don't like racing trails in hats since I've clocked myself on low branches I couldn't see. And why does every other woman there have a perfect runner's body except me?

Monday, September 10, 2018- This Monday was a lot less crazy than the one before. The only real excitement was when we got toned to assist in a missing person search. A man with Alzheimer's living in a local assisted living facility walked away and no one could find him. We were up and were the first ones on scene. Unfortunately, this search did not begin properly. And I mean no offense to the person who was in charge of it at all, but he should never have been. He had no experience in this. The man had been missing for 30 minutes, and this first hour was crucial. I believe the one in charge did the best he could to his knowledge so I really fault those higher up the chain who allowed it. We ended up searching all around Tamworth mostly in vehicles. I honestly thought we would find him. But the first hour passed with nothing. We kept going over each other in the search. We should have been on foot. Fish & Game wasn't called for 2 hours. There was a reported sighting of him at a local convenience store so I actually walked a bit out back on the snowmobile trail. I think the lack of action was caused by the thought that "he's done this many times before", so people just assumed this would be easy. We ended up having to go on another 911 and left the search. The search would continue into the night and for the following 3 days. I watched the last effort from the State Police via helicopter for one more pass on Thursday while I was working track. The search was called off after that. Kind of weird that I was present for the beginning and the end. He still hasn't been found almost 3 weeks later.

Run-wise, it was a zero day, but I got in my 2-mile walk. I felt like 2 zero days after the trail race was a good idea.

Tuesday, September 11, 2018- How has it been 17 years since 9/11/01? In a way it does seem forever ago, but 17 years still went by fast. This was probably the first year I really didn't want to see the footage or acknowledge it at all. The "Never Forget" slogan is fitting because it's something I never forget about. I think about it often. The videos bring me to tears still. I still can't bare it. The wave of it affected the course of my life in a very big way, but it isn't that that brings me to tears. It's what happened that day. I still can't get over it. I can only imagine the effect it still has on the people who were there to witness it first-hand and the families of the casualties if it still brings me to tears. I just couldn't bring myself to read about it today; I don't need to be reminded. It's as clear in my mind now as it was then.

I went home after work. Rain was in the forecast and started just as I pulled into the lot on Town Hall Rd in Intervale. After walking at Mountain Pond on Sunday, I realized that I still hadn't run Town Hall Rd, so here I was. It was pouring rain by the time I stepped out of the car so I decided to wear my running rain jacket. That would be a mistake. The rain stopped after mile 1 so I ended up just sweating to death for the next 7 miles. The road out is mostly a gradual climb for 4 miles. It dead ends at the beginning of the Slippery Brook Trail around 3.8 miles so I ran on the trail, which was still an old FS road for another .2 miles before turning around. The way back, as you might guess, was almost all downhill. A pretty nice run overall. Only one car. Just quiet and peaceful. 8 miles total in 1:06:43. 800ft of elevation gain, mostly from the first 4 miles. Pretty slow overall, but that's what I was going for.

After I got home and showered, I took Phoenix on a walk in the Albany Town Forest in search of the new trails on the other side of the Kanc. Supposedly, they are near the HS ski jump, but I had zero luck finding them. We just did a regular loop for 2.5 miles. Ran into a few people, including one person I knew from the Summer Series. We all had off-leash dogs as always since we have no leash laws here. Most dogs are chill, including today. It's interesting seeing the reaction to off-leash dogs from people who have never heard of such a thing. It just works here and is a way of life. That doesn't mean I don't ever leash them, but it's nice to not have to.

I left there and stopped at Tuckerman Brewing. I'm not a big fan of their beer which is unfortunate since they are close to a mile from my house, but they had an IPA I hadn't tried so I decided to stop in for one drink. 50 Cent IPA was actually pretty decent. I'm hoping this means they're stepping up their game and getting with the times a little bit. The brewery space is nice, and their concert series is a huge hit so it would be great if they could step up the beers a little bit to make an awesome package all around.

Picked up John from school later and that was pretty much it for the day.

Wednesday, September 12, 2018- The morning started off well until the manager showed up...and you already know all of that story. I loved how he walked out after telling me a complete lie because he had slipped up in the heat of the argument and shared something he shouldn't have. His backtracking was a piss poor performance, but I let it go since I just wanted him to get the fuck out.

I hadn't run that morning which was probably a good thing because I needed one after that. I waited until the afternoon but got out back for a run on the trail. Kind of funny that it ended up being the fastest I've ever run it. I guess I had some anger to get out. 3.1 miles in 24:01. 7:39 avg pace. May not seem fast but on that rooty trail and with the 8 out-and-backs, that's actually pretty quick.

Today, we just had a basic level truck. The last time my partner for the day and I had worked together, all of the calls were shit shows. The only call we would have today would be a bit hairy. I used to be on double Basic trucks all the time in North Conway, but it's actually rare for me not to be on a truck with an advanced EMT now so to run a call like this one had me questioning my decisions the whole way. Should I be calling for ALS right now? But then the patient got worse, but I was going with my gut that it was a real medical condition just being exacerbated by an anxiety attack. I used capnography to help me decided. I was second guessing myself the whole way, and this is one of our longest transport times in North Conway. I actually had sweaty armpits by the time we got to the hospital. I was expecting to be chewed out for not calling for ALS, but it turned out I was right. Wow. Huge sigh of relief. She had a legitimate issue that I knew was real, but she needed a med that no one could have done in the field, and my anxiety attack assumption was 100% correct. What a good call, though. I haven't had one like that that I've had to run in I don't even know how long. It was a good test on my skills under pressure. Now, I kind of wish I was able to get my Advanced EMT. It is a possibility now, but I'm trying to decide if the money and time are worth it for a career I don't plan to be in for more than another 3.5 years, if even that long. Time is my biggest issue. I don't know if I want to give it up.

Thursday, September 13, 2018- Went home to shower after my shift was over then headed to Tamworth to work the 9 hour track detail. It started out as a nice day but turned really hot and humid. I ran the track again at lunch. The heat coming off the pavement destroyed me. This week, my phone app only recorded .7 miles of the actual 5 miles. A little slower than the week before in 39:23. I had to manually enter it into Strava. I finally figured out that the battery saver I had turned on had lowered the accuracy level of my location. Once I turned that off, the app became mostly accurate again. Still far more accurate than my watch, and I'm talking on the road as well as the trail.

The State Police helicopter showed up to use the track for a landing pad before going back up for the last search for Dewey, the guy who disappeared. After they lifted off, I changed back into my uniform and hid in the back of the ambulance in the A/C. It had gotten so hot out. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. A hand reached in and, voila! A milkshake was placed in my hand! Yes! Milkshake delivery hit the spot! It cooled me off enough that I decided to hang out at the stand with Ernie and Mike. The shade and breeze were actually nice. I got to wave the checkered flag a few times, and then we ended early. Sweet! Fortunately, we get paid for the entire 9 hours no matter what time we finish since the company gets paid the full amount, as well.

When I got home, I showered quickly and headed for Saco River Brewing. As soon as I got there, I ran into Sandra and Carl Iacazoli. Their 3 year old made me race him across the parking lot. I let him win, but only by an inch. Haha. I talked to them then got a beer and filled my to-go bottle. I only had the one since I wanted to go across the street to take Phoenix on a sunset hike up Jockey Cap. It's hard to call Jockey Cap a hike since it's only .3 miles one-way, but once you're up there, you feel like you're way up high. I was shocked at how hot it was up there. It was so nice, though. Not the greatest sunset, but it's been a long time since I've done a sunset hike so it was worth it.

When I got home, the prankster was at it again. Haha.

He's such a goofball.

Friday, September 14, 2018- I haven't been sleeping in on Fridays since John started back at school. I like to get up and make his lunch for him like I do on Mondays and Wednesdays. It's not that he can't, since he does it himself on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It's just something I enjoy doing. This is only his second year at school so this part is still new and fun to me. Bryan tells him I treat him like a baby, but making a meal for him is not treating him like a baby. Bryan had no problem with me making him dinner every night for years. Me making John's lunch has, in fact, taught him how to finally make a proper lunch. Before, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, he would only go with a pack of ramen or nothing; Bryan would rather him starve than make sure he has what he needs. He's a 12 year old boy; he doesn't get these things quickly. I just happened to get home before he left last Thursday morning so I asked if he had a lunch. He smiled and held it up and said, "I made it just like you do." It was so cute. He's not a quick learner. He's not a mature adult, but Bryan thinks he should be. Well, what kind of mature adult with a kid lives in a van?

I still enjoyed a lazy morning before heading out on today's run. I was reminded about a month prior by a local friend's Strava post that I hadn't yet checked out the trail up Mt Kearsarge North via Bartlett Mt. I had heard it was overgrown and difficult to follow a few years ago and then kind of forgot about it. My friend told me that someone had done a lot of work on it and that it was easy to follow. So I decided today was the perfect day for it.

I parked at the end of Mt Surprise Road and followed the trail John and I walked a few years ago through the Merriman State Forest. The trail then was barely visible and leaf covered, but it was blazed. Today, the trail was clear and the blazes actually continued for the entire route! It was very well marked. I didn't bring any water, but I regretted it as soon as I started the initial steep climb. That's when I realized it was extremely humid and I was already pouring in sweat. I regretted not bringing something pretty early on. It was just over 2 miles to the summit of Bartlett Mt, but it gained about 2200ft over this short distance so it wasn't easy. As soon as I got to the summit, I was kicking myself for not doing this sooner. It such a nice view that you don't get from any other mountain. Plus, the solitude. It's not a "real" trail in a guidebook so it would be odd to find other people here. The trail is so new not eroded.

The trail descended slightly into the cooler woods of balsam firs, my favorite scent in the world. Haha. I followed the trail and then all of a sudden realized I was going downhill on an extremely heavily used trail. Before I went to far, it dawned on me that I had hit the Mt Kearsarge North Trail and was descending it! Good thing I had only gone about .1 before I realized it. I turned around and continued to the summit of Mt Kearsarge North which I had all to myself. Another beautiful day up there, but I couldn't believe how soaked in sweat I was. And there wasn't much wind up there to cool off in. The fire tower was way too warm inside so I just signed the book and went back out.

I planned to make this a loop so I ran back down via the North Kearsarge Trail. I made a mental note on where the trail came in from Bartlett Mt because if you didn't know it was there, you never would notice. It doesn't look like a trail exists there at all. I kind of like that...until I go to find it again and can't find it. Haha. The only part of the run that sucked was the last mile back to the car on the road. The first part was easy. The last half mile was all uphill which was torture. By the time I got back to my car, I couldn't get it unlocked fast enough to get my water. I downed nearly all 20oz in one gulp. 7.6 miles total for the run. 1:53:57 for moving time, but I was out there for almost 2:15. I stopped at the summits and also to chat with a hiker for a bit. That was way too long on a warm, humid day to go without any fluids. Dumb of me for doing that. Overall a great run.

I went home, showered and then headed to Sandwich to fill up my water jugs at the spring then had about a half hour to walk the dogs on the Jackman Pond Trail before John got out of school. Chill decided to be gross and roll in something really nasty. It smelled the car up so bad on the ride home. He was then tortured with the hose to clean him. He hates it so much but is too dumb to make the connection that rolling in something gross=a trip to the hose farm. Haha.

Post hose torture

Saturday, September 15, 2018- Our annual hike against cancer up Cranmore Mt in support of Jen's Friends was today. I tried to get there an hour later than usual, but we still ended up too early. It worked out great, though, since John ran into his friend, Dylan, and Dylan's brothers as soon as we got to the top and I pretty much hardly saw him again until Sunday night. Haha. I was thankful I got some alone time with him for the hike at least. It was a beautiful day as it has been every year we've done this. It's nice hanging out at the Meister Hut with people I know and then watching the dancers perform. John went down with his friends while I stayed up top to watch then I decided to walk down instead of taking the lift. This was a zero running day so I needed the extra walk.

Selfie shadow!

Tried to get the "You Made It!" sign in there but failed.

John with his friends

When I got to the base, I grabbed food and ended up talking to a bunch of people I know in town while I ate. I occasionally saw John playing around and then I realized that he and the other boys were taking all of the balloons and sucking the helium out of them. Ugh. Haha. I felt like a bad parent since they pretty much destroyed all the balloons doing this before I realized it. Oopsy. He did quit when I finally told him to. I did that as a kid, too, so I totally got the fun part, but taking all of the balloons wasn't cool. Haha. He was having so much fun that we were some of the last few people left. I went to get the car and bring it around. John and Dylan hopped in. I thought Dylan was coming to our house but instead, they were just coming to get John's computer and then go over to Dylan's.

I assumed I was picking up John later, but it turned out that they had planned a sleepover. Eek. I had to leave at like 5am the next morning for the race. Ugh. I really wanted John to be able to stay there but I felt bad that he would have to stay until I got back. Thankfully, his friend's mom is super chill and was happy to have John stay over until I got back from the race.

I decided to pass the time by taking another walk, this time with the dogs, at Tin Mountain. It was really hot out so we just walked a 1.7 mile loop then went home. So here I was with a Saturday night free, and I did the same thing I do every Saturday night. Just sit at home. Haha. I kind of missed having John there and kept forgetting that he wasn't in his room. I probably would have done something like go out to eat if I didn't have the race the next day, but I really couldn't come up with anything to do. I'll admit it was a bit lonely, but it was good for John. As he gets older, I guess this means I'll have to make friends at some point, but, ugh, the effort. Haha. I've always been more of a loner, but being an Army spouse made me much worse. I made some really close women friends when we lived in Texas. Leaving them behind to move to California was so devastating that ever since then, I've made little to no effort to make close friends again. It was that fear of having to leave them again that held me back. I had a lot of friends at Fort Bragg, but I was always sure to keep them at arms length. And I guess your quirks get worse with age, so now, friends are kept at a very great distance. Haha. This is definitely a fault of mine that I will have to work on as John gets older and closer to leaving the nest, but I just have no desire to do that just yet.

Sunday, September 16, 2018- Downtown 5K

Last year at the Downtown 5K, I was 2 weeks into a chest cold that would linger for another 5 weeks so I could still barely breathe so I had a horrible race. I was much better shape than what I ran that day, but it was so hot and humid that I felt like I was gasping for air. After that I really hoped the Downtown 5K would be chosen for the 2019 GP, and it was! Little did I know I would still be dealing with this high hamstring tendinopathy issue at a much worse level. Having lost almost all of my speed. All I could hope for today was to do a little better than last year. Such an easy course. Prior to this hamstring thing in early 2017, I was still able to run a sub-19 5K. After it appeared in March of 2017, I haven't been able to run a 5k under 19:20, and it just got worse. The injury was kept at bay for most of 2017. I lost some speed in the longer distances, but I could still pull off some good times. I was happy in early 2018 to run fast-ish at the shorter distances. Still no sub-19 5K, but it was ok. Then that fucking snowshoe race. It all went downhill from there. I think my last fast road race was Doyle's, but after that, the tendon pain got worse and worse. I've written enough about it since then so everyone knows that I now really suck.

So here I am back at the Downtown 5k knowing I no longer had the speed of a year ago. The forecast for better weather started to look bleak as the fog lifted out of Providence leaving behind the bright sun and humidity. Even though the temperature was cooler than last year, it didn't feel any different. I was already sad about the outcome before the race ever started. I had a glimmer of hope, but I knew it was stupid. I ran a 2 mile warm up solo since there's no one to warm up with anymore. My team has been sporadic at showing up, and when they do, I can rarely ever find them pre-race. I wanted to warm up with Christin Doneski, but I didn't find her until about 20 minutes before the race. I felt ok on the warm up, but ok just means minimal pain.

I went back up to the start and was so thankful to finally find Christin. She was really worried about a sudden injury that appeared in her foot. She wanted to do the race so she showed up, but she had a feeling it was a bad decision. I didn't blame her, though. Not doing the 5K would mean losing her age group for the GP. I would have done the same thing (and I kind of did in 2015 when I ran the last Seacoast Series race with a torn gluteal tendon, just to complete the series). She's probably the only one I can commiserate with on things so she was the perfect person to hang out with pre-race.

They lined us up the opposite of last year with the elite women on the right instead of the left. It actually made a lot more sense because we were such a small number that it was easier for us to merge to the left after the start than all of the men and the rest of the racers. I really, really love this separate start for the women. It's just a nice little perk. So, I lined up next to Amy Bernard and Christin. Amy's hamstrings were still bothering her a bit, but I was pretty sure she would do ok today. I knew I wouldn't.

The start was fine, but after turning left at the bottom of the hill, it got tighter and a bit chaotic. Amy and Christin got stuck outside the cones so I moved left really quick and motioned them in before they ended up trapped for the next right turn. I felt good at first, as I always do. I went out fast, as I have to now. If I don't go out fast before the tendons get worse and keep me from going faster then I'm going to run a shitty overall time. It doesn't matter what distance or speed I'm running at, there is a point where the tendons fatigue and my pace drops. Today would be no different. I've realized now that in every 5K, I can make it about 1.5 miles at the pace I want before my legs lose speed even when fitness-wise I feel like I can give more. I was able to hang with Holly Madden and the other women I've been running with this entire year, but then all of a sudden, that was it. I found myself slowing and getting passed all the while, I could still talk easily. I passed Ralph Lufkin out cheering us on around mile 2 and easily said, "Thanks, Ralph!" I shouldn't be able to talk during a 5K like that. Lindsey Close passed me and I easily said, "Go, Lindsey." WTF. It was like I wanted to give more but couldn't. It's not like I wasn't trying and then dying at the finish. It was still hot and humid, but I just know that I'm faster than that. There was more there if my legs would let me. I came through the finish better than last year, but barely. 19:32. Full Results

Scott Mason posted the photos the next day. The one of me is good, but that's not why I bought it. I bought it to save a visual on what I look like right now. My limitations are visible. Looking at it, you can see my stride is so much shorter than it should be just before the finish. I look back at VCM and Bobby Doyle and I look completely different. The effect of my injury is there in my photo. While it looks like great form. It isn't the form of a faster Leslie. With my back leg where it is, my front leg used to be much higher at that same point. And this is my worse leg, too. I just can't lift it anymore than that. It's why I was stumbling at the end of the trail marathon the week before.

Photo by Scott Mason

Bobby Doyle 2016. Not quite the same angle, but you can see my back foot is in close to same place while the other leg is significantly higher than the Downtown photo. Funny that my face hasn't changed at least. Haha.

Even though I've tried to accept these mediocre results, I won't lie. I was still disappointed. Not so much with the results but with my body. How one day I was doing so well and the next I wasn't. I'm also a little disappointed in myself for letting it get to this point. I wish this had been an injury I wasn't able to run with like my first one. I was SO good about healing (minus that aforementioned Seacoast Series race). But this, I could run with it...so I did. And look where it got me.

Fortunately, I did suck it up. I didn't just leave like I did last year. I chatted with people post-race and even ran a 2-mile cool down. Then met up with Steve & Jennifer Brightman at Union Station for lunch and beers. I even "dressed up" since it was a rare opportunity to be childless post-race. The weather was great so we sat outside. The beers and company were great. And as I always say, Steve is way too generous and paid for my food and drinks. The generosity continued when they invited me back to their house because Steve had more beer to give me to take home. Their dog was awesome. Kind of like Phoenix in the behavior, but he ended up becoming my pal pretty quickly. Steve, Jennifer and I split a beer they had picked up recently, then Steve loaded up a bag of like 10 beers for me!

The drive home wasn't bad at all except for how badly my body swelled up. I had retained so much water and my stomach was so bloated that I looked 3 months pregnant. No lie. I had had a lot of water on the way home, but prolonged sitting after racing and then eating often does this to me.

John was dropped off shortly after I got back. He had had a really good day swimming and then ice cream. It was so good to have him home. It felt good to get the dogs out for a short walk to help my body recover from that drive.

So excited that she's blurry

The only pic I could get where she wasn't wiggling

That was it for the night. Kind of a crazy week with the work shit, but other than that, mostly good. I had big plans for the next week and even took some time off work.

This song is fitting for this week...