2019 Cranmore Mountain Race

Well, this was a bit of a busy week. You already know I did the Warner Trail on Thursday, but there was a lot more than that. I did the first race in the Friday Night Vertical Series and the Cranmore Mountain Race, both on tired Warner Trail legs. It's safe to say I was beat after the week was over and had to take an easy recovery week the next week.

With the Warner Trail run in there, I was back up to just over 60 miles for this week, which makes two 60 mile weeks in a row. As I said before, I'm happy to hover between 50-60 miles/week this time of year. That's my body's happy place as long as I keep the road running minimal. I'm also feeling so much stronger all of a sudden. It probably helps with all the elevation I'm getting in now. 9,288ft this week.

Running for the Week

Monday, 5/27- Zero. I didn't really need to take the day off running, but I'm very unmotivated at work. 24 hour shifts don't make it easy. I did walk out back on the trail for 2 miles and then did the usual chest/triceps weight training and 10 minutes of glute activation.

I never got to the abs part of the workout because I got a call from the animal shelter to let me know that Chill was there. Ugh. She said some boaters found him on an island on Conway Lake. I had her call Bryan since he was the one who lost Chill so she did then I got a call back that he couldn't pick Chill up because he had to pick up his son from school. Meanwhile, it's Memorial Day and John is at home because he doesn't have school. I was really irritated, but Chill needed to be picked up so Jeff and I took the ambulance over there so I could bail him out. Since we were already in Conway, we decided to just take Chill home. I got to give John a quick hi and then I left.

I was mad that this happened again, but happy that it worked out ok. I knew that Bryan and Chill had just gotten separated while kayaking, something we've done with all of our dogs. They run along the shore and swim as we kayak. Bryan has lost all of our dogs doing this because he can be scatterbrained so I just assumed that's what happened. Turns out that is exactly what happened. When Bryan realized Chill wasn't with him, he paddled back that way and didn't see him. So then he had to make a decision on whether to stay looking for Chill or pick up John. That should have been the end of it. I didn't expect to end up spending that evening and all the next day actually defending Bryan on Chill's found dog post on Facebook (probably his 4th or 5th; yes, I'm rolling my eyes. Haha).

The people who took Chill from the island on their boat were cool. They picked the ticks off Chill (they caught in his fur when running on the lake shore) and took him to the shelter. The FB post was theirs. The commenters, though, OMG. I've never dealt with such dog stupid whack jobs. Seriously! The girl who said she found Chill on the island said he would have "DIED" if she hadn't found him, and her fishing trip was messed up because of this. (turned it from being about the dog to being about her) She said she was calling for a rescue! Omg. This is Conway Lake. It's freshwater, and the island is only about 50 yards from the shore. Chill is used to this activity. You'd think Bryan had abandoned him on a desert island in the middle of the Pacific. And about half of the commenters were oh so sure Chill had been abandoned on purpose. Honestly, this interaction was pretty scary just seeing how ignorance built up the angry mob. I found myself picking up the pieces for Bryan to explain they were dead wrong. Total wackadoos. The one who found Chill sent me a PM to tell me how eerie it was that Bryan had a picture of the island on his FB page. And then she just got fucking weird and said she was worried about me. WTF, crazy people. I told her I was fine and that I'm able to take of myself, my son and my dogs just fine. She said she knew that and that I had "an immaculate reputation." WTF does that mean, crazy head? Haha. She followed that with "God Bless." Don't ever say that to me. Ugh.

But seriously, never thought I would see the day I'd be defending Bryan after he lost the dog AGAIN. Haha. He LOVES Chill and would never have left him to die. He's our fit, super happy boy dog.

The woman on the boat who took him to the shelter asked for a photo that night to show Chill was safe. While I was rolling my eyes at the overly dramatic reaction to this, I was thankful they picked him up, so I obliged.

In the end, if they had just left Chill alone, Bryan would have found him not long after and none of this would have happened.

I look like I have 5 chins. Haha

 Chill's "Found" dog photo on FB...

More photos of the "abandoned" dog. Haha.

Mid-chew

I told Bryan he owed me $20 for the bail money. He left me $60. Thank you very much! Haha. Helped pay for half of John's new bike and 1/3 of the cost of his new shoes.

So anyway, I do manage to find some sort of drama in my life to keep it just over the line from mundane. Haha.

Tuesday, 5/28- 9.7 miles. Took Phoenix on a loop over Black Cap and Cranmore. Instead of doing the same loop I always do that takes us down the Cranmore Service Rd, I decided to descend via one of the new downhill mountain bike trails, Kandaghar, instead. Holy shit was this insanely steep. Mountain bikers are crazy! Haha. Even I had to put on the brakes running down this. Fun trail, though. It brought me out just up from the Arlberg Lodge so I had to cut across the base and over to the service rd to go back up slightly. Phoenix did not like this because the car was literally "just over there" so the uphill direction did not suit her. She sat down and protested. I had to coax her along and she followed until just past a trail intersection where we had an argument. She told me I went the wrong way. I said I didn't and made her follow me up, up, up, until I realized she had been right. Haha. Dogs always know the way. Always a fun loop (or variation of). 9.7 miles in 1:55:37. 2,527ft of elevation gain.

View from Black Cap

Sign at the top of Kandagnar. They weren't kidding!

Actually steeper than it looks.

Phoenix made the decision to ford the brook.

I bought Phoenix a chew at Four Your Paws Only and made the mistake of letting her eat all of it. She vomited twice that night. Oopsy.

Wednesday, 5/29- 3 miles. Got in 3 miles on the trail at work. 24:16. Nothing crazy. Also did my glute exercises, abs and back/biceps weight training.

I was pretty bummed to be at work today. I had to tried to trade my 24 hour shift with other people, but no one would. It meant I was going to be missing John's portfolio presentation at school. Last year, I had someone cover me for the 4 hours, but this year I had to miss it completely. The presentation is where they each set up a table to show everyone the work they had done over the year. Each kid decorates his/her table how h/she likes it. Not only did I miss that, but his group wrote a song and performed it. I was SO SAD I missed it. I at least got to watch the video of the song, but it wasn't the same. John said it would have been better if I had been there. Why do they do this on a Wednesday night every year?! Grr. I found a photo from that night on FB and then John had someone take a photo of him at his table for me the next day. He said he thought he did really well with his portfolio. So I'm happy he was happy with himself. I just wished I had gotten to see it.

My cute!!

Jeff at least made my day better at work by taking me for ice cream at Trail's End. We had a few people worried there was an emergency when they saw the ambulance. Well, yeah, an emergent need for ice cream. It was freezing out, but that didn't stop us. Haha. (And funny. Jeff interrupted my writing a little bit ago to get ice cream at Ben & Jerry's. Haha.)

Thursday, 5/30- 33.8 miles. See my previous post about my day completing the Warner Trail.

Friday, 5/31- 1.7 miles. It's safe to say I was junk after the day before. I didn't get much sleep, though, since I was in bed after 1am and up by 7am to make John's lunch for school.

I called Frechette Tire that morning to double check my Kia Soul was all set before walking over there. It was. And it was quite a big chunk of change. Over $400. BUT, $135 of that was changing the tires from my winter to my summer ones and the State Inspection fee. I also had them do an oil change. What killed me, though, was the labor on the check engine light EVAP code. I didn't get lucky enough for it just to be a gas cap, although that was one of the 2 issues. It was the Purge Valve that needed replacing. It actually made perfect sense with the way the car had been running lately. The part wasn't crazy expensive, but all of that added up. Ouch. But honestly, it had to be done. Still at 151,000 miles I've hardly had a single issue with that car. And it was crazy how much better it has been driving since I picked it up that morning.

I had to walk there from home and mostly took the tracks. Although reluctant to walk across the RR bridge, I did anyway since it cut off over a half mile. But ugh. Stepping on the RR ties as I watched moving water below me made me dizzy. It was scary. Just under 3 miles for the walk over there.

Since I always check out the Cranmore Mountain Race Course ahead of time, I decided to just hike a loop with both dogs instead of running one. It was actually much more enjoyable than running it. And the dogs needed the hike. The course didn't deviate much other than a short addition on the ascent, but the rest of it was almost all different and WAY better! The descent started right from the top on the singletrack of the Charlie Doesn't Surf MTB trail. It was SO awesome. Definitely my kind of descent. I didn't expect a win, but I knew this would help me finish with my goal of top 3 women.

The loop came out to exactly 3 miles with .1 added on to-and-from my car. The dogs had a great time. I was really looking forward to Sunday's race now. I knew I wouldn't be 100% after my decision to do the Warner Trail, but I was still confident I would do ok.

Chill had complete disregard for the course markings. Haha. Don't worry. It popped right back up.

Why doesn't Koessler look as steep as it is?!

Downhill singletrack

I ran some errands then picked up John from school. I told him I wouldn't make him go to the Friday Night Vertical Race until he was done with school for the summer so I made him dinner then drove up there on my own.

Tonight had a huge turnout which was awesome. There were so many people there whom I knew and hadn't talked to in awhile. I was still riding a little high from my Warner Trail run and people kept asking me about it so I was pretty excited to be there. I hadn't planned to run at all tonight since my legs were totally dead. I just wanted to powerhike instead, but 3/4 of it ended up being runnable for me. My legs were burning, and it was slow, but I was still really happy to have had the ability to run tonight and still finish 2nd woman. 1.7 miles from start to finish. 22:31. 996ft of elevation gain. Fun course. Full Results

Me coming up to the finish

Group of us chatting at the top

Absolutely gorgeous night....

I ended up walking down with Liz Prior instead of running. This was supposed to be a zero day anyway. The bar wasn't open so there was no beer. I stayed for the raffle then left. Next week I would come better prepared. Slightly fresher legs and beer.

Saturday, 6/1- 5.8 miles. I had to do something super slow and short today so I ran a loop I've never done from home. I ran the tracks into Conway Village and over to the middle school to get on the trails for a loop in the Albany Town Forest. I came across some wildlife back there.

I ran into Kevin Tilton out doing trail work with his company. He didn't see me at first so I snuck up right next to him like someone who doesn't understand personal space. He didn't look at first but then I was so close that he bumped my arm and then looked. Haha. I talked to him for a bit then made him take a photo not realizing until later that his co-worker photobombed it. Haha

I carried on looping back to the RR tracks and then home. 5.8 miles. 49:39. Very slow. Legs were still tired, but I actually felt ok.

Albany Town Forest

Since John and I were biking later, I took the dogs on a walk up Heavenly Hill when I got back from my run. The bugs are atrocious so I had to cover myself in pants, a jacket and a headnet. Although it's a little warm, it does actually make being outside enjoyable again.

John and I came back to the Albany Town Forest not long after that so John could ride his new mountain bike. He was so excited and loved riding it. We're both a bit out of practice, but we did pretty well. We did a 4 mile ride and after we were done, John said we should ride there more often. Awesome.

Even though I didn't have to do early packet pick-up for Cranmore since I was actually working registration, I wasn't missing out on a trip to Tuckerman Brewing. There weren't many runners there yet when I arrived. I talked to Chris Dunn and Paul and Catalina Kirsch for awhile. Then my uphill skiing and trail running friends showed up. Rick Chalmers and Maine Jeff Walker. They were followed by Steve Brightman and Nick Coggshell. This was the first time actually meeting Nick, and it was cool to learn that he had grown up ON the Warner Trail!! He lived on my last road section right on the Mass/RI border. So that was neat. We all hung out for a really long time. At some point I talked to a friend in the band and then Andy Schachat joined me. I think I was there the longest of anyone. As Steve was headed out, he told me that he and Nick were probably headed to the Moat so I went home to get John.

John didn't want to go and told me he liked being home alone. sniff sniff. So it was off to the Moat with Steve and Nick. I probably shouldn't have gotten the nachos, but I did. Only one beer, though. We had a race the next day!

Sunday, 6/2- Cranmore Mountain Race- 6 miles

I was up pretty early since I had to be at the mountain at 7am to do registration. I had a really hard time getting out of bed. I was SO tired. Oh boy. I hoped that just some coffee and fresh air would wake me up.

I showed up ready to work in my old acidoticRACING volunteer shirt. Chris Dunn asked if I'd wear this top he was holding. I look over to see him holding up a really nice Saucony aR pullover. Of course I would. I know it's a bit awkward since I left the team 4 years ago, but I don't have any hard feelings, and I don't mind repping acidoticRACING gear, especially if I'm working an aR event. I still even wear my aR Buff at least once a week. I still have all my aR gear.

Anyway, my tiredness did not go away. In fact, it got worse. I started to feel like I had been hit by a train. I was also a little shaky. My brain was in a fog trying to hand out bib numbers. I don't think it was noticeable how tired I was, but just following alphabetical order on the sheet proved difficult. To be honest, I was bumming out about this big time. I knew I was going to have tired legs and run a little slower today, but I wasn't expecting to feel this bad. I actually questioned being able to finish the race.

Around 8:30am I left the registration table to go get ready to race. My nervousness got worse as I ran a half mile warmup. I didn't know if my legs could do this. I lined up a few rows back from the start line next to a woman who looked SO familiar. Like I knew she was really fast, but I couldn't place her. She seemed cool, though, and asked me about the course markings. I had a feeling she was going to be our winner today, but it could be close between her and Corey Dowe.

Chris made his announcements and then we were off. This start was way too fast. Corey shot out hard. This other woman was next to me and then passed me right away. I would watch her on the first ascent move effortlessly ahead, passing Corey and then disappearing. Wow. It wasn't long before I got passed by another woman who was also amazingly strong on the ascent. I thought she might be a master runner, so that was the only thing that bothered me. My only hope was that she couldn't run downhill. So this put me in 4th position for the women. I struggled through the first half of the climb, but felt slightly better after the breather before the steep climb up Koessler. I was actually shocked to be passing a few men and gaining on Rhode Island Jeff Walker. I did have a guy right on my heels here, but he never quite caught me before the descent.

I was actually shocked to find myself next to Jeff by the time we got to the top of Koessler. I knew this wouldn't last, though. I made a quick comment to him that furball wasn't being quite as loud today then told him the rest of the climb was an easier grade before the descent. I had told him beforehand that he would do well on that part, and damn, he really killed the downhill.

We topped the first climb and rounded the bend past the aid station and started the drop down the singletrack. Yes!! My favorite part. I had no idea where the 3rd woman was so I booked it. I saw Eric Vandendries walking and yelled out, "This is the only place I can beat you, Eric," He laughed but he was hurting with locked up legs. As I passed him, I realized the 3rd woman was right in front of him and passed her easily. YES! We were still close to the top of the descent so I knew I could gain 2-3 minutes on her here and hold 3rd even if she still ran faster on the 2nd ascent than me. But I couldn't hold back and just went all out.

As we exited the singletrack onto the Bandit ski slope, I saw Ed Sheldon right in front of me. It's funny how close we finish in up/down mountain races. It didn't take long to catch and pass him just before we hit the slippery, muddy section. Although you had to slow it down through here, it still wasn't that bad. The course cut through the woods then straight down a slope and back into the woods for the singletrack before one last ski slope to end the first loop.

This part was actually great since they had a timing mat there just as you started the climb. Andy Schachat was calling out names as we crossed this mat so I noted my time. 30:32. All I had to do was listen for the next woman's time to know the distance between us. I kept listening and listening. I heard Ed get called. Then Rich Fargo. Then Bruce Christensen. Then finally "Kaitlin Sheedy in 33:04." Oh wow! I had seen her name on the pre-reg list, but I never saw her that morning. I don't know her at all, but she ran a lot of the USATF-NE Grand Prix in 2015 and 2016, and she's insanely fast. An OT marathoner! So now her uphill strength made sense. Based on her time, I knew she wouldn't be able to catch me on the climb and then even if she did, I would pass her on the downhill. But that didn't mean I let up. I knew my second loop would be slower, but I still had to push it.

I felt way better on this loop. I always do. I think part of it is going out too fast at the start. By the time you start the second loop you're in a groove. Ed Sheldon passed me back about halfway up, as expected and got a really good lead on me before we ever got to Koessler. From this point, no other guys passed me, but I was able to pass one guy and then almost caught Jeff Walker again just before the top of Koessler. Not quite, though. He'd ended up killing the descent again and beating me by 43 seconds. One of the photographers caught some cool fog photos just before we climbed up by the Meister Hut.

As soon as I made it past the hut, I knew I had 3rd in the bag. That didn't mean I was going to let up on the descent, though. It was a little chewed up from all the runners so I did end up running it a few seconds slower, but I was happy with that. Joe Viger was taking some some downhill shots as we neared the end of the singletrack. I yelled out, "Make sure all the skin is going up!" as he snapped this one.

As I hit Bandit again, I saw I was catching Ed in the EXACT same place as the first loop. In fact, we were nearing the same exact spot I had passed him when all of a sudden, Ed put it in high gear and started flying. I couldn't pass him. I could barely stay on his heels through the wet mud. Damn! Ed gave me a run for my money for quite a stretch here. I finally passed him, but it was barely before we turned onto the last single track. The guy I had passed on the ascent caught and passed me here. It was out of the woods, across the ski slope and down to the finish. 3rd female. 1st master female. 1:02:22. 31:51 for my second loop. I got smoked by the first two women, but that's ok. I was super happy with my race. Full Results

I ended up chatting with Eric Vandendries for awhile and then Maine Jeff Walker came over with the first woman and Corey. He asked me if I knew Jess Marion. OHHHHH!! Now I realized who she was. We had never met, but I had seen enough ski photos of her over the winter at Ski the Whites events that that was why she looked familiar. It was actually cool to finally meet the person who takes all of my Strava CRs in Bradbury and in the Whites. Haha. She was super cool so I talked to her and Corey for awhile. I ended up interrupting her mid-sentence when I realized we were both wearing the same exact earrings. Funny that we both race in them, too. I got mine 2+ years ago from the Tarma Designs website, and her husband bought hers at the ski museum in North Conway. I thought was kind of neat.

The earrings

I slipped away after that to head home and shower before going back to Tuckerman Brewing for the post race stuff. It's a nice perk to live right down the street. It was a good time. Chris Dunn was very generous and bought me lunch from the food truck for volunteering. I won some coffee and granola. I chatted with Nicole Gray (the winner of my 5-mile race and the brewer) and Tom Hooper before they left. And Hilary and Andrew showed up. Steve and Todd Callaghan were around for awhile.

Squall!

Steve and Todd

It seemed like the place cleared out and all that was left was Chris, Paul and Catalina so the four of us hung out and talked for awhile. Then I thought I was the last one left. That should surprise no one. Haha. I finished my beer and was about to leave when I saw that Jim Boule and a few others were still there, too. Phew! I wasn't the only one.

My new top!

I went home and loaded up the bikes since I'd promised John another mountain bike ride. I was definitely still a little buzzed for this so I had to be extra cautious. It was back to the Albany Town Forest. John wanted to cut it short to 3 miles so I was fine with that since I was toast. I didn't get any photos today because he was too fast for me!

We went to the store then home finally. I was dead to the world. I had done a lot this week which meant the following week would really need to be focused on recovery. Nothing fast and no big miles. I wasn't just recovering from the Warner Trail, but also a mountain race so I needed a down week.

This had been an amazing week running wise, but this high wouldn't last long. Time to start focusing on the rest of the summer. I feel so good right now. Things are looking up!