2018 USATF-NE XC Championship

Sorry this blog post won't be nearly as exciting as the last one. Total let down. Right?! I thought I'd start this one off with a little info on where the whole "Llama" thing came from. Why this blog called "Mountain Llama". Well, it basically started with this ring in the photo. Most people who know me know that my trail name on the AT and PCT was "Llama", but I wasn't named this by someone else. I was a total newb when I walked on the AT in 1998 and already had my own trail name picked out, which you aren't really supposed to do. I named myself "Llama" because of this llama ring. My grandfather was stationed in Peru briefly while in the Air Force in the 1940s. When he came home, he brought my dad this ring. It's a tiny ring, almost too small for me, so my dad gave it to me when I was very young. I rarely wore it, but in college I went through this phase where I wore rings on every finger and this became one of them. My first email address was llamaring@somethingIdon'tremember haha. (Even my instagram handle is "llamaring"). For some reason, it just became my thing and then became my name. I went by "Llama" (not Leslie) for 1.5 years of my life. So when I decided to start this blog in 2010, I called it "Mountain Llama" since I love the mountains. Not an exciting history, but I was looking at the ring the other day when I took this photo and thought I'd share the whole llama thing.

So speaking of my blog. I decided to look back at my first post when I restarted the blog in 2015. Pretty hilarious when you read the first paragraph (complete with typo haha) because I obviously didn't follow through on my plan...

No TMI, huh? Funny. My last post had "TMI" in the title! And I obviously didn't quit the blog since I'm still reigning champion at brain spewing. I guess I failed at my intentions. Totally laughing at myself. If you want to read the rest of that very serious blog post, you can read it here. It's actually a really good race report. Haha.

Well, I succeeded in starting the blog with positive stuff instead of the woe-is-me crap I was going to start with and what I'll bore you with now. Yeah, so that running thing I like to talk about? I'm done with it. Ok, that's a partial lie. I'm still doing the race I have planned on the 18th, but I won't be running a step in between now and then, and then I won't run another step until the week before Christmas. I AM DONE. The XC championship race at Franklin Park was my breaking point. I planned to hang on another two weeks of running; attempt the Warner Trail again and try to get back in some sort of decent shape for that race, but I can't do it. I'm done. Yesterday was the epitome of awfulness. I felt so defeated, so stupid, like a broken failure. When I came across the finish line in a time almost 1.5 minutes slower than last year, I literally hung my head. I can't do it anymore. I shouldn't even do this last race, but I really like the people, and I need to be around them because for the next almost two months, I'm going to be 95% alone (not counting John). I need my last bit of social life with running friends. I'm doing it for that. I was SO out of shape for the XC race that I can't wait to see how out of shape I am in two weeks. It will hurt mentally and physically, but I have to do it.

I did actually run 4 days this last week, and it felt great. Definite shock to the system, but running trails brought me back to life. Prior to Thursday, I looked like I'd aged 5 years, but after running one day, I looked alive again. I took the right amount of time off so that all of the muscle soreness from the marathons was gone. A trip to see Tina Carr for a deep tissue massage was the right decision. She worked out the last bit of soreness in my legs. My legs were probably still fatigued, but the soreness was gone. So I decided to go ahead and start running again on Thursday. Yay! However, my tendons didn't feel great, but it wasn't bad just doing a slow trail run. The left hamstring tendon had improved by about 0%. Haha. No lie. The right side's pain is still present, but minor. I had weird pain outside of and radiating behind my left knee that I've never had in my life. I figured that was some sort of tweak from NOT running. My foot is still in constant pain, but it's changed to the point that I think the plantar fasciitis is gone and what I have now is either a heel spur or something worse haha. Despite being that mess, every run still made me feel rejuvenated inside. I felt like me again. Now, 4 days later, I'm saying goodbye to it again. Ugh.

On a positive note, I'm going to be starting back high intensity cross training TOMORROW. Now that the legs are mostly recovered, I'm ready to cross train. Yay! Getting my heart rate up and feeling like I'm actually doing something again will definitely keep me from going down that dark road of non-running anxiousness. I need to get the balling rolling now. Minus one day, no more running. I'm never going to heal if I don't stop running. I feel like this is already going to take much longer than I want to admit, but I can only do it in spurts. That's why I've set the week before Christmas before I test it again. That race could be a setback, but I'll probably be running so slowly that it won't do much harm.

Today, I finished day 11 of the 21 Day Booty Core workouts. I only skipped yesterday since it was the XC race. So other than that, I've been committed to it. I'm already seeing some improvement. And something I tried to focus on while running last week was using my glutes on the climbs. It took a conscious effort, but I was actually able to squeeze my glutes as I ran. I don't know the last time I was able to do that. I couldn't really hold it long, but I still have a long way to go. 10 more of those workouts to complete the 21 days, but I'm not going to stop. I'll keep doing these. A nice perk to these workouts is the core work. After slacking off on my abs for months, I'm actually back doing core work every day. About 10 minutes total if I add in the extra 5 min abs after the workout. So I'm finally back doing ab work consistently and can see results from that, as well. I'll start day one of Insanity Max 30 tomorrow. I know I won't be able to do some of the jumping exercises fully since it will hurt the tendons, so it will be interesting how that goes modifying. If it's too much, I'll postpone it and just get on the bike. I really just need to do something that will keep me in shape.

And I found a meme from one of my favorite memes...

As I'm writing this, there are so many more things going on that I want to add, but I'll do that blog post on Monday. Instead, I'll finish off this week's stuff. 

Running

Thursday, November 1, 2018- There wasn't supposed to be any running today, but my track detail got cancelled (no more until 2019!). My old ambulance partner sent me a link to a milk stout being released at Schilling Beer Co so I'll be truthful in that I chose today's run because of its proximity to the beer. Haha. But, I did find a place in Littleton that I'd been wanting to check out. PRKR Mt Trails. It's mostly a mountain biking network, but based on what I saw, it isn't heavily used. I found their interactive map online to guide on a loop I made up as I went. Phoenix joined me. The day was dreary with rain in the forecast, but we lucked out by missing it until just after we finished. The place was quiet, and we ran into no one. The trails were obscured by leaves but not too difficult to follow, and they were all well marked. I chose a loop to the summit of Parker Mt and then back down via Linda's Lookout. Clouds covered the Presidentials, but it looks like it could be an amazing view. I ran easy, and wow, was I out of shape. Total shock to the system, but at the same time I felt like I was home...running in the woods. I needed this mentally, as well as physically. I had no idea on the mileage but it came out to 6.2 miles which was a perfect distance for today. 1:14:21 for moving time. 1,296ft of elevation gain.

I went right to Schilling after for beer and pizza and ended up meeting a really cool couple with common interests and acquaintances. I always meet the best people whenever I travel outside of the Valley. We agreed to keep in touch to do some training together for the long runs. 

Geppeto Milk Stout. Wicked awesome.

Amazing pizza there. I ate the whole thing, of course.

I walked up into to town to get my nails done. What a great place. Really good selection of colors and I wasn't pressured to get gel polish. I'm never going back to Katie's Nails in North Conway. The second you say you don't want gel polish (after being hounded over and over) they're rude and do a half-assed job. This nail place was so good that they might be worth the trip up every three weeks.

Friday, November 2, 2018- Pouring rain but I lucked out that it stopped only a few minutes into my run at Tin Mountain. I was finally testing out a new course for the Dirty Girl Trail Race that included the new White Pine Trail. I also tweaked the end of the course a bit to add in the Frog Loop Trail that runs above the pond and has the only mountain view on the course. I'd never been able to fit this in with the old course. The new course was SO much fun. I loved it. I guessed beforehand about 5 miles, and it was exactly 5 miles on the GPS. Perfect! 754ft of elevation gain. 56:54 just running easy. 

I was super excited about the new course but worried that racers wouldn't go for the shorter distance even though it eliminated the loops. But later it just suddenly dawned on me. Duh. Offer two distances. 2 loops for 10 miles (and over 1500ft of elevation gain!) or 1 loop for 5 miles!! So perfect. I was SO excited...only to have it come crashing down this week, but I'll write that story in the next blog post. Just so I don't leave you hanging too much. The new courses in 2019 are still happening, but this will be the last time I'm holding the race at Tin Mountain. I am so angry right now that I've actually lost sleep over it this week. But more about that on Monday, I hope. 

Saturday, November 3, 2018- With the XC Champs the next day, I wanted to run something faster but on flat so as not to tire out the legs, so I got on the treadmill for 5 flat miles. Not like my old super fast treadmill runs, but it was enough to see how a little bit of faster running would feel on my tendons. 38:08. 7:38 avg pace. Felt ok but the tendon pain was present. I wasn't nervous about the next day, but I think that's because I just knew it would be bad.

Sunday, November 4, 2018- USATF-NE XC Championship

Like I said, I knew this would be bad, but I wanted to finish off the All-Terrain Series. I didn't stand a chance at winning, but I thought I could improve my current 5th place overall/4th master standing by showing up. Only doing 4 out of 5 races made it difficult to even surpass the generally slower women in front of me because I would score so low in xc. I usually come in somewhere in the 50s for place, but I knew today would be much slower so my chances of surpassing anyone were slim. 

Thanks to the time change, we left at 7am, which was basically 8am. It was a gorgeous day, and the drive was easy with no traffic. We arrived to park before the men's masters race started but didn't get over there to actually see it until they were almost a mile in to their 8K distance. I decided to do my warm up where I could catch everyone I knew and snap photos. Unfortunately, the light and shadows made most of them come out terribly, but I still enjoyed watching their race. 

Once I was done, I caught up with some people then hit the woods one last time before our race. Somehow, porta potties were never ordered so there a whole bunch of us back there. Haha. I didn't care about the porta potty mistake, but I'm sure there quite a few people who did.  

I lined up with Barb McManus and Kim Gordon behind the WMDP ladies since I knew a few of them. I purposely put myself in the back so that I wouldn't go out too fast. I actually made the right decision and felt I wasn't overly exerting myself early on, but, man, did I feel that! Wow. I hadn't done any kind of speed since Lone Gull so I felt this in my chest and stomach before we left the field. That burning you feel in snowshoe racing and when you're at your max towards in a track race or 5K. The sad part is that I was moving so slowly. My left tendon ached pretty badly. I felt like I weighed 200lbs. So out of shape and injured. I just had nothing, absolutely nothing. I felt like I was dragging my left leg up Bear Cage Hill since the tendon couldn't hang. I was too much of a mess to be here. Like previous races here, I ended up with Williams College girls for most of the race. Old, fat cow running next to young girls in bun huggers. Haha. I felt ok going into the The Wilderness even though it was so slow (27 seconds slower than 2016), and for the last part back up Bear Cage Hill, I could feel how even more I was slowing. 50% of it was the left tendon and other 50% was just being purely out of shape for this type of race. How quickly we lose speed as we get older. I didn't want to see the clock as I came down the final stretch, but when I did, it already showed over 25 minutes. I crossed the line in 25:34 for the 6K distance. 70th place and 5th master. 1:26 slower than last year. I hung my head. I tried to just walk away, but Amy Rusiecki caught up with me. I didn't mind, but I didn't want to spread the negative thoughts going on in my head with her. She'd had a pretty good race. I was ready to get back over to John. I was sad and disappointed. Some of that disappointment was with myself for being out there in the first place, but I wanted to be there, so I had to deal with the outcome and just get over it. On a positive note, it did boost me in the all-terrain series results. I ended up 3rd overall and 2nd master. had I been able to complete all five races I would have been 2nd overall and 1st master. I'm perfectly okay with it because my friend Nancy Cook ended up winning the women's ATR as well as 1st master, and Nancy is such a kind, fun person that I'm happy that she was able to take the title. I only got to know Nancy through the ATR series, and it dawned on me that it's because of this series specifically that I have met so many new people in New England. If the series hadn't existed I would not have met one of my closest pals back in 2015. I know not many people participate in this series, but for me it's been one of the most important ones for 4 years now.

Women's Results

Once back at John near the CMS tent, I started to put on some warm clothes. Steve Brightman told me a few other guys were going to Backlash Brewing which sounded good to me. Just as I got changed, Kara Haas came over and we talked for quite awhile. Having a comrade who knows injury well really helped. Something I didn't know was that here issues all started with high hamstring tendinopathy. EEK! Kara is the kindest and so positive so talking to her helped boost my spirits a little bit before we left for the brewery.

Steve, John and I were the only ones there at first. The place was really nice. Kind of on the Roxbury/Dorchester line and only a few miles or so from the Back Bay. The beer on draft was alright. The other guys showed up shortly thereafter, and it ended up being a really good time. Caught up with Jim Pawlicki and Todd Callaghan. Jim ordered us pizza which was nice and then as always, generous Steve bought my beers, plus gave me about 5 more from RI that he brought. 

Central Mass Striders crew

Really good stout of theirs that I brought home

Hikes/Walks

Tuesday, 10/29- I didn't have much time on the way home from my appointment with Tina in Dover so I stopped at Mt Teneriffe in Milton for a short 1.8 mile hike. 

Friday, 11/2- 1.5 miles on the Jackman Pond Trail before picking John up from school.

Saturday, 11/3- Took John and the dogs out to the Green Hills Trails for a walk. We ended up in the heaviest downpour and got drenched. Only walked 1.7 miles. I had planned to bring John with me to volunteer at the Blackout 10k/5K, but I had to take him home to get in dry clothes. I also had to change out of my soaked pants. I let him stay there while I went on up to Black Mt. 

At the Blackout race, I only helped out with registration. Saw a lot of friendly faces which was nice. I wasn't too sad not to be running. Just being involved was good enough. I did have to look my arch enemy in the eyes for the first time in 2 years. She shot daggers at me so I just smiled back at her and proceeded to talk to only her husband just to fuck with her for accusing me of sleeping with him 3 times...which I did not do. I then turned and smiled at her again. Pretty sure she wanted me to die, but I never did anything to deserve that. All of this is in her crazy, fucked up head. All of that seething anger inside her over something that never happened. 

Sunday, 11/4- Took the dogs on a hike in the dark up Heavenly Hill. Cleared a lot of debris as we hiked up. When I got to the top, I turned off the headlamp, lied down on the rock and just stared up at the stars for about 10 minutes. They weren't the brightest, but I could still see the Milky Way. It was rejuvenating to just lie there in the quiet and dark for a bit. 

Random photos from the week

Chill lost his body so we just attached two paws to his head. Haha.

Woke her up from a nap after I had been in Schilling

On the way to the XC champs

We had already parked. John decided to lie back down and Phoenix crawled on top of him.