Friday Night Lights Uphill Ski Race #1

This past Friday marked the beginning up the uphill ski race series put on by Ski the Whites. While I will never fit in with this cool crowd, I still love this stuff. I was super excited when John said he wanted to try it with me and couldn't wait for him to get out there. Between two ski setup rentals and two entry fees, it was going to be a really expensive night, but I worked a shit ton of overtime to afford it, and it was worth it for John to try it out. I don't plan to do the Friday Night Lights at Black Mountain after this first one since I prefer the Racing to the Moon Series at Shawnee Peak, but I wanted to get John out early to try it. If he liked it then he could join me at the Shawnee Peak ones (every other, since we'd have to alternate weeks to make it affordable).

One of the reasons I don't really enjoy the Black Mt ones is because of the huge crowd. It's just too much for me, and like I said, I don't fit in with the crowd at all. I don't even pretend to. There are people I know from the summer vertical races and other locals, but other than that, I don't socialize much with the real ski crowd. At Shawnee Peak last year, we had such a small group of regulars with whom I did fit in. I'm hoping for a similar crowd even though they got moved to Saturday nights from Thursdays.

John and I left pretty early on Friday night so that we could get our set ups then head out to let John try it out before the start. It was so hectic already by the time we arrived that we barely had time to test stuff out and literally had our gear on and ready only 30 seconds before Andrew said, "Go!" Haha. John ended up being given the set of skis in the photo above. They were a brand new set up and really nice, but I think it was way too heavy for him, especially for his first time out AND it being in the mid-40s. Absolutely gorgeous, warm night out, but we were sweating to death within 5 minutes. John started struggling right away and we fell back behind everyone for the 1st lap. He's been working out a lot lately, but not cardio. He was immediately red-faced and sweating and had to take a lot of breaks. Lighter skis would have helped some, but not much really. For me, this was an extra slow pace, and I felt badly that he was struggling. I was so hoping he would like it or at least be motivated to try it again, but it just wasn't a good experience for him. I stayed with him the whole 3/4 mile climb up to the transition. It took us 34:20 to get to the transition.

Knowing I was going to have to hoof it to get in a second lap, I made sure he was all set with changing over to downhill mode. He said he was. (Amazingly, he got this transition stuff down after only practicing once, unlike me who took a few events. Haha.) So I left him to head down. I was thankful for an easy downhill since it gave me a chance to get my ski legs under me again. Got to the 2nd lap transition and made a quick change back to uphill mode. John came down while I was still there, said hi then skiied on to the finish.

I continued up for the 2nd lap going as fast as I could. I kept having to stop to move my hair out of my face and mouth. I totally forgot that my hair was about 2 inches shorter at this time last year so I definitely have to pull it back next time. I still moved as fast as I could which was a nice shocker to my system, and I was drenched in sweat. I had been the last person but passed two other people mid-way up. Yay for not being last. Haha. Just as I got to the base of the climb to the transition, I saw people pulling all the lights for the downhill! Nooooo! I tried to say something, but no one seemed to care. I guess they had to have it all down by 8pm and it was just past 8pm. I got to the transition in 16 minutes flat, made a really quick turnaround  and then headed down. Luckily I was able to follow a snowmobile track for most of the way and then remembered the sharp right turn. I was a little annoyed about the lights since you would think they would sweep from behind and not backwards, but I get it. It took me longer than was allowed. I came through the finish with no one there to get my time, but I emailed Andrew my time to be added to the results. I don't care if I'm last or 3rd to last, I still wanted to be counted in the results. 1:06:01 total time for me. It's crazy looking at the HR graph. It was so low with John and then it shot up once I started the 2nd lap.

I found John downstairs waiting for me. I changed clothes quickly in Andrew's office, not realizing until two other skiers came in to let me know I was literally changing right in front of Andrew's webcam he uses to watch Squall. Hahaha. Of all places I chose to stand. I really hope he doesn't see it or he's going to barf. Haha. We went upstairs to join the crowd for the raffle. Tonight was a definite beer night so we went to the bar. Of course, it wouldn't be a ski crowd without some dude who had already had drinks literally butt in front of us to place an order of 3 drinks. We finally got our drinks just as the raffle started and then moved to the less crowded part. Neither of us won anything. I brought a beer for the raffle table and watched the woman who chose it as her raffle prize also grab a second raffle prize and walk away unnoticed. I wanted to snatch the beer out of her hand and put it back on the table. Haha. John ate some pasta while I finished my beer and chatted with Lisa Plante, whom I know via Six03. It was nice to have someone to talk to there.

After we left, we stopped for food for John and then went home. It was almost 10pm by the time we got home, and I was STARVING. A month ago, I would have gone right for a frozen pizza out of the freezer, but the new me went right for the ingredients to make my own low carb pizza, and it only took 30 minutes total! This pizza ended up being SO good. Totally hit the spot...so much so that I ate the whole thing... so maybe not low calorie, but believe it or not, even eating the whole thing, it was STILL low carb. I didn't need to worry about calories. I had a second beer that I bought at Widowmaker Brewing to go with it.

Despite John not liking the uphill thing, it was still a great night. I'm so glad he at least tried it. I'd be lying if I said I'm not a little disappointed. It would have been fun to see him continue with it at the Racing to the Moon Series. Who knows, though. Maybe he'll try it again some day. I, on the other hand, can't wait for Racing to the Moon to start. Not sure Andrew needs help with registration this year since Hilary can do it on Saturdays (she couldn't last year on Thursdays), and if he doesn't I'm not sure I'll be able to do the whole series since affording a rental every week is expensive. Hopefully, Brewster Ambulance makes the change over for us over the next 2-3 weeks, and we get our raises. If we do, then I can afford it. Not only that, it's possible I'll be able to buy a used setup at the end of the season to use next year. And even though I just heard something great, "Hope is not a strategy," I'm still stuck on the HOPE cycle for now. Haha.

Ah, yes. This week was Christmas, and I didn't care at all. I love the holidays, everything that leads up to Christmas, but the actual day, I couldn't care less. This year my scheduled shift was on Christmas, but I also picked up Christmas Eve overnight (7p-7a) which meant a 36 hour shift. I'm so sick of picking up overtime, but until we get those raises, I have to pick up one overtime shift a pay period. We have so many open shifts that I could literally pick up anything from a 10 to a 24 every single day, but this job is not my life. I would be in misery. But anyway, it made sense to pick that up with John in Marshfield through Thursday. I was hardly home at all the entire time he was gone. Only Tuesday day did I get a chance to get out in the mountains.

Monday was my first 24 hour shift. I had to bring Phoenix with me the entire work week which was nice but also a bit of a pain since we had a lot of people come by the base, leading to barking.

Monday evening we had a meeting with one of our former co-workers, soon-to-be supervisor with Brewster, Kelly. I put Phoenix in the car for that one. Kelly was actually the first person I ever worked with on my first day as an EMT so it's cool to have her back. She was great with answering questions and giving us a little more info. She's hoping to get us moved over to Brewster sooner than we've been told, but it would be contingent upon passing the background and driving checks and physical test on whether we would stay on with Brewster. I have no problem with any of that so it wouldn't be an issue. I'm really looking forward to the change and having a boss that requires you to do ALL aspects of the job so maybe I won't come into work on a Monday to find the truck a mess...

Not a single complete IV kit and all of it was just thrown in the box. 

It seems like forever since I've been able to get in the mountains. I was bummed to miss the perfect day on Monday, but Tuesday morning was still nice enough. I wanted to get out to Mt Eisenhower, but the wind today was insane, but I did get up on Mt Pierce. And while very windy and cold, it was still beautiful. My plan was to run up if I could but bring extra gear in case the hip bothered me and I had to turn it into a hike. But not enough gear that I couldn't run.

The trail ended up being perfectly hard packed so microspikes were all I needed. I started with the run and just kept it easy with light, short steps to minimize pounding on the hip. Although somewhat slow, I was still able to run up the entire way, about 3-ish miles. It felt so good to be running up a mountain again, and it helps that this is a pretty easy grade. As I approached treeline I could hear the wind and see the clouds racing by above so I stopped to put on some winter gear then made my way up. Last time I was up here, I had to turn around .1 from the summit. Today was much better, but still really windy. Eisenhower was in a cloud and I imagine the trail was covered in snow drifts. So it was confirmed a definite no for today. Mt Pierce was good enough. I was able to stop for a bit for a few pics and a video.

Eisenhower in the cloud

The trail heading down to Mitzpah Hut was packed so I decided to loop back to the Crawford Path that way just for something different. The trail wouldn't be as smooth as the Crawford Path, but it was still runnable except for a few shallow snow drifts. I stopped at the hut to take off my puffy jacket then continued on the trail back to the Crawford Path. The first 2 miles were really fun just running down the smooth trail. I purposely held back a bit, but it didn't help. With a mile to go, I started to really feel the hip. I should have stopped and walked the rest, but since it was just a mile, I finished it up and proceeded to have hip pain (albeit minor) for the next 4 days. Which meant I was back to no running. I didn't regret it, though, since getting up there was so worth it, and I needed the mountain run...especially before my 36 hour shift. 6.5 miles total in 1:40:25 (1:51 total for time out there). 2,407ft of elevation gain.

I didn't stop anywhere on the way home. I decided to have a beer as soon as I got there because my window of opportunity was short due to going into work at 7pm. It's amazing how much better the beer tastes when I'm not drinking it every day, and this was kind of my Christmas celebration. Haha.

As soon as I was done with the beer, I took Phoenix on a short walk in the Albany Town Forest. 1.6 miles. We had a little time to veg on the couch that evening before going into work at 7pm.

A tone dropped for a car accident as soon as I was turning into the base, only to find the ambulance was gone so that I couldn't relieve the person who was supposed to be leaving. I wasn't sure what to do so I called them and ended up having to grab our back up ambulance and go solo to the 911. The other crew went to it from wherever they were. It kind of sucked showing up and hopping in the other truck that I'm not used to doing 911s on. They did end up needing me for a second patient, though, so it worked out. I didn't transport him since he signed off and went with his parents to the hospital instead, but I did have to bandage up a laceration. Luckily that was the only call until the next day.

Wednesday was just another day even though it was Christmas. I've worked 6 out of the last 9 Christmas's and it's just as well. John was with his grandparents so I might as well work. We had a few calls but nothing crazy. I did get up early in the morning to do a workout on my work spin bike so I got some exercise in.

Speaking of John, he didn't have a great time in Marshfield. Said it was really boring and that his dad was really annoying. Woke him up one morning and interrogated him for 30 minutes, including asking John to drop the charges against him. He still hasn't figured it out that John isn't the one who is charging him with anything. It's the State of NH. Poor kid. I felt so bad. He sent me photo of a candle his grandparents have. Said it smelled so bad of suntan oil. Haha.

John was super excited to get an Apple Watch for Christmas from his grandparents. The only problem? He doesn't have an iPhone. As luck would have it, I had just paid off his phone in November so we were eligible for an upgrade so I decided to get him an iPhone. A refurbished iPhone 8 sold out in less than 30 minutes so I had to order him a new one, but it was still way less a month compared to my Google Pixel 2 phone that I still have to pay off for a year. Grrr. I was really excited to have my cellphone bill go down now... only to have it go back up. Haha. But it was the only way for his watch to work and it's affordable with the monthly payment.

The day was pretty boring in general. Between the two calls, I just sat with Phoenix upstairs or took her out on short walks. I did do two Peloton workouts. Abs and Arms. I also ate my regular food plus whatever sweets ended up at the base. This was not a day to turn down yummy stuff so I had a homemade cheese danish and a slice of pumpkin pie. And then a Cranberry Apple tart from Trader Joe's that I brought for myself. So good, even if I did feel like 300lbs after I ate all of that.

Sunrise on Christmas

My typical lunch. Haha.

I was so happy to get out of work on Thursday and go home. I did my spin bike workout then headed south to pick up John in Braintree. This time I picked the spot to meet which was so much better. I arrived about a half hour early so I drove about a quarter mile up the road to grab some cans of the milkshake IPA from Widowmaker Brewing.

After John was dropped off, we drove down the street to hike up Buck Hill in Blue Hills with the dogs. It was really, really short, but just enough to get some exercise before the drive home. John had never been up there, and I thought he would like the view of the city. Luckily, he did!

The drive home wasn't bad. Stopped at Trader Joe's, Starbucks and the car wash but that was it.

The weekend was pretty low key, except for the aforementioned ski race. I'll admit it was super nice having nowhere to be for 3 days. I slept in until 8 all three mornings. It was glorious....but I'm missing racing.

Saturday I took 2 walks. One 1.8 mile walk from home with the dogs and then a second 2-mile walk with John and the dogs on the RR tracks to Pudding Pond. I spent about 3 hours that night making chili for John and a chicken taco low carb soup for me. Omg did it turn out good. Also made another batch of "bread". I can't believe how much time I'm spending cooking now.

I got John this shirt for Christmas...

Sunday, I decided to test out running again. I was a little nervous, but it didn't hurt at all. So far I've had no pain running on the treadmill, but this may only be due to the slight give. It's less pounding on the hip than a hard surface. So I really don't know if I can run outside on a road yet or not. I'm scared to even try so I'll just stick with the treadmill for now. Seems safer. I actually felt really good on the run. Not so out of shape as last week's runs. I don't want to overdue it, though, so I'm not going to run every day. 6 miles in 45:10 for the run.

The two drops are from stopping briefly.

Chill has been looking REALLY scruffy lately so I finally broke out the brush. I couldn't believe how much undercoat I took off just from the back of the legs and tail. I had to cut off 3 large mattes of hair that no comb was ever getting through. I could almost fill a throw pillow with all of that fur. Haha.

John really didn't want to go hiking with me so I decided to go by myself with the dogs. I stopped at Saco River Brewing first to pick up some cans and two imperial porter bottles to take with me to a porter and stout party I've been invited to. They had run out of the cans I wanted but still had the beer on tap. Normally, I'd have two pints if I went to a brewery, but I only wanted to try this one so I just got a 5oz taster. Looks like I found my way to still go out for beers and not drink a lot. It was honestly all I needed, and the beer was great by the way.

Drove from the brewery to Foss Mt in Eaton for an easy hike. Only ran into a few people but had the summit to ourselves briefly until this couple caught up to us. The man turned out to be my NH State Representative, whom I voted for. Jerry Knirk. He was super nice, as was his wife. I let them have the summit to themselves away from my barking tiny dog. Haha. It was a gorgeous evening and a perfect way to end the week. The snow started shortly after I got home so winter is finally here.

Looks like she was having carwash flashbacks. Haha

So as I said, I'm still getting on the bike. No need to elaborate on my workouts so here's a list. All are Peloton workouts.

Monday- 30 min HIIT Ride
Wednesday- 20 min Tabata Ride
Thursday- 60 min Heart Rate Zone Threshold Ride
Friday- 60 min Climb Ride (probably not my best idea the same day as the ski race)
Saturday- 60 min Heart Rate Zone Endurance Ride

I did 4 days of ab workouts, 3 days of upper body and 1 day of hips and glutes in addition to everything else. Hips and glutes took a backseat because they were fatigued for some reason.

So as an update, despite a few beers, I was still good about sticking to my new way of eating except one day a week, which was Christmas this week. I'm holding steady at the same weight as last week and that's good enough for me! Anytime I've ever dropped below my current weight, I've always gained it back, even if it was just back to my current weight. I really don't think I'm meant to weigh under 117-118. I'll admit that posting that picture of that cranberry apple tart I had on Christmas is making me crave another one like RIGHT NOW, but I'll get past it. And I will eat it this coming week at some point... probably Saturday.

Why Saturday you ask? Well, Steve Brightman was awesome enough to put together a group run at Scarborough Beach in Narragansett, basically an informal version of the former Resolution Beach and Trail Race. So many of us are missing the 4th Season Trail races after it was cancelled last year. Despite not being ready to race, I'm still going down to at least jog it and see some of my Rhode Island friends. As soon as I saw the invitation, I was like, "Oh hell yes!" Can't wait even if I'm hobbling. And of course it's beer and food afterward with the group so I might as well top it off with the cranberry apple tart when we get home. Haha.

One last note about running (that sport I used to do) I've definitely made the decision to leave Central Mass Striders for a different USATF-New England team in 2020. Like I've mentioned before, I love the men's CMS team, but the women's team hasn't been a good fit for me since Regina and Jenn left. I'm always hanging out with other teams at races. Now, choosing a new team has not been an easy one, and I still don't know yet since there's a possibility of a brand new USATF-NE team in the works. If that doesn't happen, I've already chosen my backup. I'm not going to post any particulars just yet, but I should know for certain in about 2 weeks. I gave 5 good years to CMS, so now it's time to move on to a better fit. It won't be easy telling Barb, our team manager, because she's so kind and generous, but I hope she'll understand.

So anyway, that's that for my last post of 2019. Next post will be a 2019 recap. Hopefully this blog will about running again soon. Haha.

Quiet December

This ornament was a late addition to the tree. I keep this one out year round in the kitchen. A Facebook memory reminded me of it and almost made me cry. Beth sent this to me after my Spot dog died. It was such a kind gesture. Looking at the 2017, I just thought how can it possible that Beth's date was only 2 years later? Just not right or fair! This ornament now means more to me than it ever did.

The last two weeks have been very quiet. No races on weekends. I've been all about the spin bike, almost daily. I did take one day off completely and then yesterday, I actually ran instead! So the Trochanteric Bursitis (hip) seems to be very close to healing. I've had zero issues on the bike. And I've been loving the spin bike even more since I started using the Peloton app that Joe Viger told me about. Oh my god. It's AWESOME. So many different classes and instructors to choose from. I've been doing anything from 15 minutes up to an hour. Before work is usually 30 minutes. Only 20-30 minutes while at work. And 45 minutes to an hour on the other days. So many different types of workouts. My absolute favorite instructor is Christine D'Ercole. She's fucking hilarious.

Screenshot I got of Christine

The others have been great, too, and they all know what they're doing. I've been so tired of horrid spinning instructors on most of the videos I found on YouTube. Peloton instructors do everything properly and they all have GREAT music to go with the workouts. I will definitely be keeping my app subscription when the free trial is over. $12.99/month is nothing. Plus they have strength training workouts, too. You don't need a Peloton bike for it, but a spin bike is a must.

Here's a list of what I've done on my bike with Peloton over the last two weeks. I've included average HR since that's the tool I use the most for every workout:

12/9- 20 min HIIT ride. Avg HR: 137bpm
12/10- 60 min Heart Rate Zone (HRZ) ride. Avg HR: 137bpm
12/11- 30 min HIIT ride. Avg HR: 129bpm
12/12- 60 min After Burn ride. Avg HR: 149bpm (the most difficult ride I've ever done)
12/13- 45 min HRZ Threshold ride. Avg HR: 143bpm
12/14- 45 min HRZ Endurance ride. Avg HR:125bpm
12/15- 30 min HIIT and Hills ride. Avg HR: 138bpm
         - 20 min Low Impact ride. Avg HR: 125bpm
12/16- Day Off
12/17- 60 min Hills. Avg HR:142bpm
12/18- 30 min HIIT ride. Avg HR: unknown; didn't upload properly
12/19- 30 min Speed ride. Avg HR: 137bpm
12/20- 45 min HIIT and Hills ride. Avg HR: 142bpm
12/21- 20 min Climb ride. Avg HR: 146bpm. Ran on treadmill.
12/22- Day off, but ran on treadmill.

Post workout on my work spin bike

Post workout at on my spin bike at home. This was after Denis's class. See photo below.

Denis. Hardest class I've ever taken.

So you might have noticed at the end of my list of rides was the mention of RUNNING! I did my first test run on December 13th. I chose the treadmill since I didn't want to get all dressed up in cold weather gear, go outside and only make it to the end of driveway. I ran a very easy 2 miles in 15:46. 7:53 avg pace. Felt ok...but there was something still "there" in the hip. Like not pain exactly, but just a feeling. So I stopped at 2 miles. Decided I would try to run outside 2 days later. This time, I did actually put on all the cold weather gear...and only made it just past the end of the driveway before turning around. That was a huge nope! Felt the hip immediately. Almost talked myself into continuing, but I let reason take over. Only .15 miles. Changed into bike clothes and got on the spin bike instead.

I gave it almost a week (12/21) before another attempt, but this time I was just sticking to the treadmill. The only problem with the treadmill is that I have it propped up at ~2% grade so this was tough being out of running shape. Gave me quite the challenge and a huge spike in HR for the first half mile of the run. BUT...I had zero hip pain!! Struggled through the run, but made it 5 miles with only a split second niggle in the hip at mile 4.6. I'm really hoping it's the uphill running that is making this feel so challenging since I only took 3 weeks off, but you lose fitness quickly. Still happy to be running again, even if it's not every day. 5 miles in 38:00. 7:36 avg pace.

Disregard distance... although I'm impressed the watch got 4 miles (GPS is turned off). 

Since this went so well, I decided to attempt another run the next day (12/22). Pushed it to 6 miles and ran this one a little slower. Still felt wicked out of shape. If we do get these raises from the new company, I might splurge on a foot pod to wear on the treadmill. Too bad the raise won't be enough to "splurge" on a Peloton bike and treadmill. Haha. But anyway, got the 6 miles done with zero pain in 46:03. 7:41 avg pace.

The HR drops were from stopping when my bluetooth headphones died and then again when I lost the wire connection on my replacement headphones. Super annoying. Haha.

I haven't gotten outside much recently, but I did do some things. I worked 72 hours the second week so that cut back on my free time. And not only that, I ended up eating something bad that made me sick this past Saturday. I had showered and dressed to go for a walk, but became suddenly sick to my stomach. Finally vomited 2 hours later after lying down. Felt great after that but it was dark so I bagged a walk. The following day (yesterday), I had to drive John down to Braintree, MA to meet his grandfather. He's spending 4 days with them for Christmas since I have to work my regular schedule today (24 hours) and Christmas (24 hours). Spent a long time in the car so my whole weekend was killed of outside activities. Boo. But things I did do...

Upper Body and Abs and Glutes 3 days a week, as planned, except skipped arms and glutes one day but did abs. Amazing how quickly this strength comes back.

12/23- Conway Rec Path walk with Phoenix. 1.7 miles.

Phoenix blur

12/11- 2 miles on the trail out back at work. No snow!! Yay!

12/12- Freezing cold and late in the day after John's parent/teacher/student conference. .7 miles on the Flat Mountain Pond Trail.

12/13- Hurricane Mt Rd walk with Phoenix. Road was clear of snow with some ice patches...and then it wasn't. A snow storm suddenly blew in covering the road so much that I could no longer see the ice underneath the snow. Didn't bring microspikes since it wasn't supposed to snow until later. I ended up turning around short because it became too risky with hidden ice. Despite this I still slipped on some ice and fell right on my left hip. Yeah, the exact place with bursitis. Might explain my "Nope Run" 2 days later. Still walked 2.8 miles total.

12/15- Boulder Loop Trail Hike with John and Phoenix. It was warm-ish at home but once out on the trail, it was frigid. The wind was gusting so we were on the summit for less than 5 minutes. Luckily we went late in the day and only saw a few people. The trail was mostly clear on the way up. Quite a bit of ice on the way down, but it was easily avoidable. We brought microspikes but didn't use them. Phoenix fell in the water at one point so I thought we might have to turn back, but she kept running and dried quickly. No issues there. 3.1 miles total.

12/16- Walked for 30 minutes in the ambulance bay.

12/17- Snowing all day, but it was just another day running errands. Took Phoenix on a short walk 1.1 miles in the Dahl Sanctuary while we were out.

12/18- Ambulance Bay walk 30 minutes.

12/20- Conway Rec Path walk with Phoenix. 2.2 miles today.

Other stuff! Well, I've been eating this very low carb/beer once a week thing now for 3 weeks. I'll be honest that I'm shocked how much it's grown on me. With each week, I feel better and better. And my one day to eat whatever and have a beer...I've felt worse. My body has literally gone back to the body I used to have in 2014-2016 in just 3 weeks of eating better. It's been way more expensive so this upcoming pay raise couldn't be better timing. I'm amazed at my body's transformation in just 3 weeks. Down 6lbs to 117.5. (I go by an avg for the week.) I'm not really one to jump on a scale every day; it's usually months, but right now, I'm just really curious to see how all of this is working out for me. And remember that post I wrote a year ago about my ass (I had to change the title of that post because I was getting way too many hits)? While my ass doesn't quite look like that, and that 114lbs I weighed in those photos is too thin, I'm seriously almost there with my ass. Haha. But I'm actually far more full body fit than I was thin. I think I actually look better. Just too bad my running isn't that fast anymore. Haha. But anyway, I went from being absolutely disgusted with my body 3 weeks ago to now finally being happy with it. I feel REALLY GOOD! And I'm not starving myself AT ALL. Just not eating a bunch of crap. I was literally eating nothing but carbs and sugar on a daily basis just a month ago. And while I love beer A LOT, it was just too much. Too heavy. One day a week right now is hitting the spot. So I did take some photos of myself now...but I did it for myself. Haha. So no ass photos this time around. But let's just say the ass looks good-ish. Haha.

Going forward with this, though, I need to be careful and not get completely obsessed. When I do start putting in the miles again, I'm going to need more carbs, so I need to be careful I don't get neurotic about it. I also don't want to get so strict that if I go out with people I'm not being weird about what I'm eating or drinking. I think this is definitely at a happy medium right now. Luckily, it's been nothing but a positive at this point. So much so that it has me cooking again. Last week, I made this awesome soup that was so good, I made it again last night. I also found a recipe for low-carb "bread". With this stuff, the bread craving is totally gone, and I'm only having one piece a day.

Bread made basically of almond flour and whey protein.

Other stuff for these last two weeks. John's school had a Holiday Fair on the 14th. It POURED rain all day so the turnout was less than usual. I worked the cookie walk all day which was fun. We had so many cookies leftover. I spent hours the night before making cookies for it (meringues) only to burn 3 dozen of them. I had 17 cookies to bring to the cookie walk. Haha. Didn't matter since there were plenty. That was tough sitting there staring at cookies for 4 hours. I did end up eating one.

That night, I looked to my left to find Phoenix had wrapped herself in a blanket and was staring at me. Haha.

Friday, the 13th, I decided to stop in at Tuckerman Brewing to try their new Imperial Stout. While the beer was good, the 4oz limit was super disappointing. Not sure why they did that since I know you can get more than a 4oz pour for that abv in NH. I happened to crash a KHS teachers' Christmas party since I knew 4 of the teachers so I joined them for 2 hours and ended up getting another beer. One of the teachers was Jess Tilton, Kevin's wife, so Kevin eventually showed up, too. Ended up being really fun even though I wasn't technically part of the group. Haha. And needless to say, this was my one beer day of the week.

Jess Tilton and Kathleen Murdough

Other random photos from the two weeks. The only way to wash ambulances in the winter is when the temps are above freezing. We had a meeting with our soon-to-be new company leaders the following day so I wanted the truck to look somewhat decent. Mid-40s and pouring rain, but it was the only way to get it done.

Pretty sure Phoenix pushed John off the couch...

What mom can resist taking a photo of her teenage son when he's sleeping. I still see his baby face.

I spotted this behind me while I was on the spin bike...

Found this in my photos. John and his schoolmate while they were working on a group project.

Got a warning on my phone for a snow squall. Looked outside...they weren't kidding!

Broke 2 nails so I had to get them redone. Went with something more subtle this time around. Hard to see in the photo. Also cut them shorter.

To end the week, after dropping John off in Braintree, I drove back north to Rollinsford, NH for a holiday open house. I finally got invited to a Christmas get-together!! I don't even remember the last time I've been invited to anything for Christmas. And it worked out perfectly since I was driving right by anyway. Some Six03 friends put on the party at their home. Roxanne and Chris Serrecchia. I've known them for awhile through Six03. It was awesome because I knew about half or more of the people there so it wasn't awkward. I ended up staying for 3 hours since it was nice hanging out with all of the Six03 people I hadn't seen in a long time.

Me, John Sheedy and Maureen Gillispie

I SO want this in my house!

In general, a good two weeks. I would have preferred more hiking instead of working 72 hours last week, but overall it's been good. The Brewster Ambulance thing is coming along slowly, but it was confirmed my pay will be what I thought. How are we going from one of the worst paid jobs in the Valley to one of the best?! I still won't believe it until I see it, but it seems to be happening. We had a 2-hour meeting which I thought went well. Another meeting today at 5pm. The ball is rolling.

Trying to think if I'm missing anything from the last two weeks. I usually have so much to talk about, but it's just been so low key that there isn't much. Goals for the next two weeks, alternate biking and running. Hopefully get out for more hikes. Do the first Friday Night Vertical Race this coming Friday. John is going to join me so I'll do the first lap with him. I hope he likes it, even though the transitions can be tough at first.

I guess I'll leave this here at the end. Watched most of the last day of the impeachment hearing at work, and I was especially glad to listen to Steny Hoyer's closing speech in full. Not once did  he attack anyone. I thought it was brilliant. Too bad Trump won't be removed from office, but it's still a victory in my book.

I've been a new-to-me music kick the last few weeks so now I have to choose one to share. None of the songs are new, but they're obscure so I only find them randomly.