2019 Sleepy Hollow Mt Race/Hilton Head Island

At the Salty Dog in Hilton Head

I'm so far behind on my blog! I'll try to keep this somewhat condensed, but you know how I am with that. I left off at Sleepy Hollow with my last blog post. We had quite the week ahead of us with this race, then leaving for our trip to Hilton Head the next day. I would end up fairly sleep deprived for these 2 weeks despite it being vacation. Haha. We returned from Hilton Head on my 43rd birthday. I'm not sure I've had such an anticlimactic birthday before. We finished off the weekend with another race. So it was a busy, yet very relaxing, much needed break. And oh my god. I loved Hilton Head so much!!! I miss it already! After we had to cancel our trip to Texas, I rebooked the airline tickets to Atlanta since it wouldn't cost anything extra. I had planned to go to St. Simons Island, GA where I spent most of my childhood summers, but after looking at the cost of hotels, that was out. I decided to look on Google Maps and pick something else. I'd been to Edisto and Charleston. Then I saw Hilton Head. I'd never been there! So I just randomly chose it as our destination. It ended up being the perfect choice! I couldn't wait to get out of the dark gloom of New Hampshire and into warm weather and sun. I just had to get through the Sleepy Hollow Mountain Race first.

Sleepy Hollow Mountain Race

Fortunately, the race doesn't start until noon so we didn't leave until 7:15am. I knew I wouldn't be sleeping again until the next night so I was glad not having to get up super early. The drive over was all gloom and rain and salt spray on my car. I knew mud awaited us at Sleepy Hollow, but that's nothing new. We haven't had a sunny race there since 2015. They moved the race to the end of April in 2017, and it's been a gloomy every race since. The mud has varied, though. I thought last year was bad, but after a warm up on the course, I realized this year was way worse. It wasn't so much the mud, but the saturation. I assumed this was going to be slow anyway, and I was not in shape for this. I didn't even expect to break an hour. My fastest time since they made this new course in 2016 was 52:41 in 2017. Although it was drizzling the entire race and wet, it was nothing like 2018 and 2019. In 2018, I ran a 57:35 and was perfectly happy with that. I was in a lot of tendon pain at that point and struggled badly on the climbs. And it was really wet and muddy. Although my tendons always hurt, they weren't to the degree of last year, but like I said, I knew I wasn't in shape at all. Last year, I was actually still fast and in decent shape. But I didn't care. Today would be all about effort and just working my way back in shape. I knew going into this that the best I could finish was 5th so it really didn't matter at all. I'm over it. Sure, I love to win and be in the top finishers, but I'm not getting upset about it if I don't.

Before the race, I ran a short warm up with the dogs and then did my usual loop up to check out the first climb. I knew right away this was going to be slow-going. When I got back down to the start, the rain started...and never stopped. I went back to the car to get ready to race and to get John. He was going to work the water stop at the field. I had volunteered him so he would be doing something other than sitting in the car or round house this time.

Dog warm up

When I got back up there, we all huddled under the pavilion while Kasie Enman gave us race instructions then we moved up to the start which they had moved slightly up the hill to avoid the snow patch. John walked on up to the field to the water stop. I lined up near the front with Haley Heinrich. I had no plans to run as fast as the people around me, but there was no way in hell I was getting trapped behind slower runners on the first climb.

I actually felt much better on the climb than I did in the warm up and it went by quickly. I was 6th female at this point, but I didn't care. Once we crested the top, we started down my favorite descent of probably any race. I don't know why I love this one, but it's just so difficult that I think I really enjoy testing myself on it. I knew that everyone I passed would pass me back, but I just can't help myself, and why would I if that's my strength? It was so wet and muddy, but I passed 4 out of the 5 women in front of me. I ran it 4 seconds slower than last year in 5:54. 2017 is my fastest down it in 5:31, but like I said, 2017 wasn't muddy and wet like these last two years.

Sure enough, at the base of the descent, 3 out of the 4 women I passed passed me right back, including Haley. Like last year, I ended up running with Bruce Christensen nearly the entire way. I would also play leap frog with Ed Sheldon until the last mile of the race. Haley was just ahead of me for the next 3.5 miles. I was surprised to see her holding back since she should have been long gone ahead of me on the second climb. The younger girl behind me kept gaining on me, and I had a feeling she would end up catching me. But I tried hard to stay ahead on the descents. I used Haley to pull me along.

Just past mile 4, we came back to the field where I passed John handing out water. He was smiling in the pouring rain. Nothing makes me happier than to see him mid-race. I kept pushing myself hard to stay ahead of the girl behind me, but when we hit the 3rd climb, I was junk. I've never felt that dead on the 3rd climb than I did today. Haley, who had only been about 10 seconds in front of me, was out of view within a minute. I was fading. I could feel it. I had maxed out. I was SO out of shape and felt it. The girl was too close. I gave everything I had on the final descent, but that last climb back to the finish destroyed me. Just as we started to climb up to the field, she passed me. Ugh! Frustrating, but I was at my max. I came through 6th female, 3rd master female in 58:13. I was actually shocked and very happy to see it was less than a minute slower than 2018! That was a very good sign! I finally had something I could grasp onto to really know where I was fitness-wise. Definitely not in as good of shape as 2018, but not far off. Very comforting to see that. And I was SO happy with my effort today. I gave 100% which is all I can ask for. Yeah, I got passed at the end, but I was still very satisfied with my race. Full Results

I was soaked to the bone, but I still walked over to John as he stood there handing out water. His pants were drenched, but he wasn't batting an eye over it. His rain jacket at least kept him mostly dry. He didn't seem to care one bit. I really wish someone had gotten a photo of him out there. I'm bummed that I didn't, but my phone was in the car. I stood with him and chatted with other people as they finished for over 10 minutes. I finally realized I needed to get some more clothes on. I was freezing.

I walked down to the round house with this guy, Don, who's a regular on the mountain racing scene. I put my dry clothes on over my wet clothes then grabbed coffee for John and me. I walked back up to give John coffee and wait for the last few runners to come through. John grabbed a burrito then we both walked back to the car. I changed into dry clothes then went back up to the round house for awards to get a burrito. There would be no time for a beer/lunch stop on the way home so I actually ate enough food to get by.

After the awards, I walked out and got in the car...forgetting that I was supposed to grab the shirt that everyone signed for Rich Miller. He's undergoing treatment for a brain tumor so Frank Holmes brought a shirt for everyone to sign. I was supposed to bring it back...but I didn't remember until I was all the way to Waterbury! Such a dope! It worked out, though. I emailed Kasie and she got it to Rich.

We stopped at the Ben & Jerry's Factory for ice cream. So good.

The ride home was also in the rain until we got to Bethlehem. I stopped at the rail trail to let the dogs out again and wished I had time for a longer walk, but we had to get home to pack for our trip to Hilton Head. We were leaving at 2am!

I packed way too much but made sure it was under the 50lb limit. 42lbs! Good to go. Other than the dresses I brought, I would actually end up wearing almost every single thing. I showered and got dressed for our flight then tried to nap on the couch with Phoenix. It was too uncomfortable so I got into bed and got about 1.5 hours of sleep. John stayed awake the whole time.

We left at 2am as planned. I HATED leaving Phoenix behind. That was the only thing I didn't like about going on vacation. I get so nervous leaving her with Bryan since he doesn't really like her. I don't worry about Chill since Bryan loves Chill and he's a big dog. I'm so overprotective of Phoenix and the sad face she gave us as we left just killed me, but I had to hope for the best. It would end up working out ok...well, not without one issue, but she ended up being ok. Haha.

So I have to say that from the start of this trip to the end, every single thing went exactly right. I don't have that kind of luck so I don't know how it happened, but it did. Our flights, the car rental, the hotel, every plan, every detail. Not a single hangup. The drive to Peabody to catch the Logan Express went as planned. Our flights all left early or on time and arrived at all destinations early. This was our first time flying Southwest, and omg, I don't know if I ever want to fly a different airline again! They have it figured out. So organized and efficient. I can't understand why the other airlines haven't copied their format. The employees were happy and fun. Checked baggage was free. Movies on-board were free! I watched A Star is Born on the way down and Life of the Party on the way back. John watched two movies that he really liked, too. The service was great. Their coffee is awesome. There's leg room. I just can't say enough positive things about our Southwest experience.

Once we got to Atlanta, we took the Sky Train to the car rental place. This is where I was a little nervous since I had to use my debit card for the rental. Most places accept debit cards now, but they require more documents, AND, without a credit card, you aren't covered at all for any damage so for the first time ever, I had to purchase insurance on the car. I was prepared with all the extra documentation but not for just how much more it would cost with insurance. $141 was the original booking, but with the insurance, I paid $390 total! Ouch! It was a 5 day rental, though, so it wasn't too bad. Oh, and I did pay for the pre-paid gas which I've also never done. It was significantly cheaper, and I knew we would be getting to Atlanta to return it at 4am so this would be easier. The key would be beating their system by getting there on an empty tank so I paid attention to this over the week.

Despite the extra cost, it still went smoothly, and we were on our way to Athens quickly. We'd be visiting my brother, Brandon, and my niece and nephew, plus Brandon's girlfriend and 3 of her kids for the night. I wanted a longer visit with them, but Brandon had to leave on a business trip the next day.

It was such a gorgeous day! We would end up with absolutely perfect weather the entire trip! Sun and warm! I stopped at Creature Comforts Brewery in downtown Athens before we drove to Brandon's house. I love this brewery and wished we had more time to spend in downtown Athens, but I just picked up some cans and left. (And funny little tidbit of info, if you see Avengers: End Game, look closely and you'll see Thor drinking Creature Comforts beer! Kind of cool. The brewery did not pay for this; the movie actually reached out to them.)

Our visit with Brandon and family was low-key. John and I were both dead-tired so we were happy to lay low at the house for our visit. Jessica's kids were all really great, and it was great to visit my niece and nephew, Copelan and Lofton. John played with them for a bit on the trampoline and then water gun fights, but he was pretty exhausted after that. We ordered pizza in and then I tried to hang, but I was dead tired so I showered and went to bed. I was sad for such a short visit, but I'm glad we at least got to see them. It was a really good visit. Much better than last year's visit with Brandon and Jessica in Boston (I blogged about it; it was not a great visit. Got out of hand with too much drinking by Brandon, and I got food poisoning. Haha). I'd much rather visit them in their home.

The kids doing Fortnite dances. It was cute.

Brandon was way too generous and slipped me $300 before I went to bed. He left John $100 on the counter the next morning. He makes a lot of money, but he works really hard for it. He runs two surgery centers, one in Savannah, the other in Hilton Head, so he travels down there for 4 days every week. He used to run the one in Athens, but they sold it. So he definitely earns the money he makes so it was very generous of him to share some with me. This leads to me saying that our amazing trip would not have been possible without my family. My parents originally paid for the plane tickets since we were supposed to use them to visit them in Texas until John broke his shoulder. My other brother, Jason, also travels all the time for work and has so many Hilton points that he can't even use them all. When he found out I had booked the Red Roof Inn on Hilton Head, he decided to gift me some points for the Hilton Home2 Suites instead. I could have never afforded that. It was over $200/night! And then the $300 Brandon gave me allowed us to really enjoy Hilton Head to the fullest. We were able to rent bikes, eat out, buy souvenirs, and do a dolphin tour. Although I felt like a fraud, it was nice to live like one of the haves for a week. I'm not sure I deserved their generosity, but I'm very, very thankful for it.

The next morning, I got up and got a run in before our LONG drive to Hilton Head. As planned I only ran around 5 miles every day we were on vacation. Running was not going to be a priority this week. I wanted to do other things more than running so I did the bare minimum. For me it was around 5 miles. This morning was 5.3 miles around 3 different McMansion neighborhoods. Where I grew up is very, very hilly (foothills of the mountains) so it was pretty slow. 43:41. 707ft of elevation gain.

The drive down to Hilton Head was long. A lot of back roads through the middle of nowhere. Sitting was killing me by the time we got down there. Way too much driving over the last few days. I was SO excited as we crested the bridge over to Hilton Head! As we pulled into the hotel, there just happened to be a guy renting bikes right there so I walked right over. Only $60 for both bikes for 4 days. It would be one of the best things we did. We checked in to our room which was pretty nice then got right on the bikes and headed to the beach. Hilton Head has bike paths everywhere. We would end up biking to and from the beach every day over 7 miles round trip. We ended up with over 34 miles of biking total by the time we left.

We didn't realize we could bike on the beach so we took a walk tonight then biked to dinner. We actually found very inexpensive places to eat for 3 out of the 4 days. Tonight I picked The Lodge because of the awesome beer list and cheap food. Plus, no wait.

I hated this car. Haha.

For some reason, my phone messed up and almost every photo was blurry! I was so sad, but at least I got some good ones.

I won't go into details with every day since it was basically the same. I ran every day on the bike path. The first day was quick. 5 miles 34:53. Progression run at 6:56 avg pace. We biked to the beach where John spent hours playing in the waves. Literally 2.5 hours non-stop. It was SO nice. I LOVED this place so much. John chose dinner tonight at Marley's Burger and Shrimp Shack. I got 3 $2 shrimp tacos and hush puppies. John had the fried shrimp basket. So stuffed after. Then we biked back to the hotel.

My amount of stuff.

Versus John's amount of stuff

We saw alligators and turtles

The next morning, we went for a dolphin tour. I gave John the option of the morning or evening tour. I was pretty surprised he chose the morning since he's not a morning person. He had regret written all over his face...Hahaha!

We still had a good time going out on the boat. We saw a lot of dolphins but none really close. We basically saw dolphins every day at the beach just as close, but it was still fun and something different.

Since we were right near Pinckney Island, we drove over for a walk. It was SO hot out in the sun that we only walked to the first pond where we encountered the most amazing birds! SO many Great Egrets in a tree. The noise was so loud. It was awesome!

After walking around this pond, we walked right up on a baby alligator! Haha. Pretty cool, but also crazy.

I gave John some down time back at the hotel and went for my run. It was 84 degrees, and my body wanted to die. Haha. Not ready for that. 5.1 miles in 37:37. 7:21 pace. That was a struggle. Haha. It was back on the bikes and back to the beach again. John said he didn't feel like swimming but then spent over an hour in the water. Haha.

We biked back to the hotel, showered and then drove over to the Salty Dog for dinner. It's the most famous place on Hilton Head so we had to go. It ended up being our most expensive meal, too, but the food was so good.

Salty Dog

The next day was our last full day. I was so sad to leave Hilton Head since it had truly been a dream vacation for us. I realized that this was our first real vacation. Hawaii was a vacation, for sure, but it was visiting family. This was our first fancy hotel, eating out, just us vacation ever! The place was perfect. The weather was perfect. Everything about Hilton Head was perfect. I was sad to be leaving that night.

We still got in the full day. I ran again in the morning. This time attempting a 4xmile workout. I messed up the time a little bit and the splits were terrible, but it was still a decent effort. 5.4 miles in 38:38. 6:42, 6:27, 6:39, 6:38. 3 minutes rest in between.

Then we did our last bike ride to the beach. Today was so warm that I was finally able to get in the ocean and play in the waves with John. It was awesome. I miss swimming in warm ocean water.
Today was John's choice for a place to eat, and he chose Marley's again. That was fine with me. We both got the same thing as 2 days ago. Haha.

I was really sad to lock our bikes up for the last time. The biking had been one of the best parts. We had been able to be so active here, unlike back in New Hampshire. Running, biking, swimming. My kind of lifestyle!! I showered then drove to Whole Foods to get some local beer to bring home and more microwave popcorn for John. (I don't own a microwave so microwave popcorn is like a novelty).

I packed up my things then went down to the lobby to start that last blog post. I tried to sleep a little but I couldn't. At 11:30pm, I loaded the car up, and at midnight we left Hilton Head for the drive back to Atlanta. I was going to miss that ocean air so much. This was one of the best vacations I've ever taken, and it was so great to spend all of that time with John. I didn't want to leave. I didn't want it to be over. Hilton Head is now one of my favorite places ever, so I hope we can go back there again some day. My random choice of places to go turned out to the perfect choice.

The drive to Atlanta was absolutely brutal, though. I struggled so badly to stay awake and even had to stop for 10 minutes to close my eyes. I predicted the fuel would be right on empty when we arrived to drop it off, and damn, I was good. The gas light came on just as we got to the airport. Boom. I win. Haha.

We got to our gate with plenty of time, then had a nice direct flight back to Boston. We arrived to rain and dreariness and a 2 hour drive for me after the bus ride back to Peabody. Brutal.

It was so exciting to see the dogs!! Yay! Phoenix was so happy to see us, too. Chill...not so much.

I was dead tired, but I tried to salvage my 43rd birthday as best I could. A friend sent me a $43 Starbucks gift card which I'm still waiting to use! I used my free birthday drink that afternoon, but our Starbucks has been closed for renovations since! Grr. I don't know how I did it, but I managed 3 miles on the treadmill before going out for my Starbucks and to get my nails done. I had to do something for my birthday. John wanted to stay home since he'd missed his video games. On the way home I picked up pad thai which I ate alone. John was sound asleep in bed when I got home and didn't wake up until the next morning. I don't know how I managed to stay up so late, but I did. Not the best birthday ever, but it wasn't bad. I couldn't complain. 43 isn't really anything to be excited about, especially since it sounds so old.

Had fun with the nails this time around. Color changing polish!!

Her face is funny.

I slept in until 9am the next morning. I hadn't slept in 2 days so I needed it. Over the course of 2 weeks, I basically had 3 nights where I didn't sleep at all and another night with two 911s in the middle of the night. It would explain why I was so tired last week and didn't get around to this blog post until today. I also just ran a 50K on Saturday that has made me even more tired...but that's for the next post.

I don't normally leave John to go for a long trail run, but he needed a down morning after all of our traveling so I drove over to the Thompson Rd trailhead. John Lamneck had posted while we were away that the east side trails were clear so I planned a loop. He was right. Zero snow. And a lot of the trail was already cleared by NEMBA volunteers...and then it wasn't. And I had a really hard time following the trail. It was totally covered in leaves and debris and I had to stop a lot and search for it for a decent stretch of trail until I found the very familiar section leading up between Rattlesnake and Middle Mountains. I ran to the top of Middle and then back to the trailhead. I was pretty beat from this, and my legs were sore the next day. Yep. Still out of mountain running shape. Haha. 8.6 miles. 1:41:46. 1,799ft of elevation gain.

That afternoon, we took a short walk on Ledge Pond Rd with the dogs. I felt bad that we ran out of time for a longer walk, but we had a movie to get to. Avengers: End Game! I had stopped on the way home from the run and purchased tickets for the afternoon movie since I figured it might sell out. Pretty sure it did. John was dying to see it. It was actually really good. Long, but I enjoyed it. Attempted to hold back tears twice. Haha. This guy sitting next to John fell asleep and started snoring. John didn't hesitate to lean over and tap the guy on the shoulder. When he woke up, John said, "Um, you're snoring a little bit." Omg I was dying laughing. Haha. John LOVED the movie so much. He was so excited as we started to walk out...and then he called Bryan back since Bryan had been calling him over and over. Bryan had bad news that his Uncle Paul had died. Both John and I went from happy to full-on tears. I loved Paul. He was great; I considered him my own family. Paul was in his 60s and a type 1 Diabetic, but led a very healthy life. He was a huge record album collector. He introduced me to Anchor Steam beer back in 2002. I'll never forget that. I don't know why. I'm glad I got to see Paul one last time two years ago at Bryan's parents' house when I was picking up John. Such a kind, fun person.

Paul on the right. His sister, Marianne. And Bryan's grandfather. Such great people. 

Walk before the movie

The next day, I decided to jump in the Running Rascals 5K in Effingham. It's been around many years, but it's never worked out for me to do it. I figured I needed the speed work, and it was only $12. Plus, it was a local race so I figured I'd know a lot of the people. It started at 10 so we didn't even have to leave until 8:45am. Perfect.

I ran into Terry Ballou when I first got there, so we did a warm up together. Slow and easy around 1.5 miles. I did one more very short warm up before the start. There were actually a lot of people I knew there. I didn't think I would have any competition here today besides Terry and maybe Jessica Cullen whom I noticed just before the start. It was a small crowd. Carol Veins gave us instructions which included to turn around at Nason Rd...or so I thought. Terry said after that she thought she said the same thing, but it's possible she just said to turn at Nason Rd.

Anyway, we started off, and I was immediately out front. It's cool to be out front but then it isn't. I'm not good at pacing myself without people to race against. It felt a little slow, but I figured that was probably better. Hit mile 1 in 6:12. So yeah, on the slow side, but whatever. I got to Nason Rd just as the volunteer got there and he told me to turn onto Nason Rd. I'm an idiot and thought he was wrong because I thought she said to turn AROUND at Nason Rd so I did just that. Turned around. Terry and Jessica were a decent ways back when I passed them. I was psyched I had such a lead. Then all of a sudden this 12 year old boy gets close and says, "Did you already to do the loop?!" I said, "What loop?!" He pointed to my left. Dammit. The volunteer was right!! So I turned around and started hoofing it. Terry and Jessica were already pretty far ahead. By the time I got back to the turn, I had gone .24 miles the wrong way. In a way this was good because I finally had people in front of me. I was trying my hardest to catch them. The splits were slower, but my effort felt much higher. I realized that I was making progress, but when they turned left to head back to the finish, I had less than a mile left. Somehow, I suddenly made gains on them and with about .3 to go, I passed Terry. Jessica was just a little too far ahead with not enough distance left. I gave it my all and nearly caught her, but it was too late. I finished in 20:53. Haha. I was laughing at myself for being such a dope. I still ran an avg 6:15 pace which comes out to a 19:25. Funny that that could have been my fastest 5K in over 2 years, but who knows. Without anyone in front of me I probably wouldn't have run that fast. Oh well. I'm such a shit show so far this year, though, so it didn't surprise me. Haha. I was there for the workout and I got that so all-in-all it was good. I wasn't upset at all. How could I be? No effort wasted.

Jessica, Terry and me post-race

The awards were quick. I won sunglasses that I gave to John. Since we were close to Green Mt, we drove over to the Dearborn Trail for a hike up to the fire tower. 2.8 miles roundtrip. I was pretty beat from the race and the sleep deficit, but it turned out to be a really nice, sunny day and I love hiking with John. It was the last day of our vacation, too. Boo. Back to reality.

This performance is amazing...