Friday Night Vertical 2021

Friday Night Vertical 2021

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

2019 Paddy's Road Race


I just have to start this post by saying the foliage this year was AMAZING. Just look at those leaves!! I don't recall the last time I've seen such great foliage up here. Maybe 1998...?

Cheap-ass film camera shot of the Bigelow's in Maine. 9/24/98
Pretty sure this post will be overloaded with foliage pics, although my Google Pixel 2 camera sucks and barely captures how awesome it really was. Unfortunately, this beauty brought way too many tourists up here to make life kind of suck for those of us who live here. Traffic was horrendous, and vacationers act like total idiots. Seriously. I don't know what happens to their brains when they cross over the NH border, but it's unreal how dumb people can be. They're all mostly really nice and happy to be here, but it makes life harder with them around. I had to work hard to find places to go in the mountains where I'd run into none or very few of them. I'll never understand why anyone would want to share a trail or mountain top with a 100 people or wait for a restaurant table for over an hour and a half. But I guess I'm just not like those people. I grew up in a city, but I've always preferred to have peace and quiet away from people.

But anyway, I still managed to get out in the peace and quiet a lot over these 3 weeks. Since this is yet another catch up post, I'm going to attempt to keep the catch up brief. I'll still do the day-to-day, but pick the highlights to share, which will be way too many photos, but first let me catch you up on the Bryan situation. I left off the last post with the day before our hearing for the restraining order...

I mentioned being so stressed out, and, man, what a difference I feel right now after getting that over with. It was so nerve wracking and just like the last time, the judge got mad at me for talking too fast. I'm a city girl. I talk fast. I can't help it... so I got yelled at 3 times. I think the last time I got yelled at twice. And these are two different judges. Haha. Oops. I was so nervous getting to the court house. Of course I had no one there with me for support. I truly have no friends. My own fault, but it is a fact. I'll  refer to people as my "friend" or "friends", but I don't mean real friends I can count on or call or anything like that. I'm so alone here that it scares me sometimes, so I try not to think about it. But when I'm walking into a court room for the second time for a restraining order with once again no support, it just reminds me how much I suck. I was never so glad to see my police department liaison who had just been a voice over the phone appear at the court house to sit in on the proceedings. She was a stranger but better than any "friend" I have because she showed up. It was nice to hear her thoughts on the situation and have someone to bounce stuff off of as far as the hearing goes. Her support there meant a lot. It really did.

I don't know how long we were in there, but my written statement took at least 10 minutes for me to read. Better than the original 14 minutes. None of this felt good. It was awful. I hated every single minute of it. I felt like I was just ripping him apart, but I had to do something to stop the shit I've been dealing with for so long and to make sure there was a legal protection in place for John. Bryan came in looking beaten and sad. He wasn't dressed crazy. He didn't have much to say at first when it was his turn, but he had 3 requests. John be allowed at the Cape for his uncle's funeral service and for him to bring John there alone. And he wanted Chill. I had already planned to give him Chill here so I had brought him with me to the courthouse. I also wanted John to go to the Cape, but the order had to be amended to allow this since it says, "No visitation," on it. I was perfectly happy to meet this request since there are plenty of family members I trust who can ensure John is supervised around Bryan at all times. I was definitely NOT ok with him driving John down there alone. And that was definitely not approved. I'm just happy John won't miss this weekend. And it worked out well since I was already going down for the Cape Cod Marathon anyway. It's a pain, though, since I have to go down Friday afternoon now to get John there. This means I'm going to be living out of my car for 2 nights instead of just one. And no showers for 2 days. This wouldn't be that bad if I wasn't going to be running Saturday and then the marathon Sunday with my next shower being Sunday night. Haha. Oh well. Baby wipes baths will get me through it. Haha. But anyway, back to the court room.

Bryan did have one more thing, and it sounded like he was about to confess to possibly have mental problems. I wasn't the only one who thought this because the judge saw what was coming and stopped him. He read him his rights under the 5th amendment. Bryan seemed to understand after the judge explained it twice so Bryan didn't continue. I kind of wish he had so maybe it would have helped him get the help he needed sooner, but I agree that this hearing was not the place to bring up something that had to do with his other case. One thing I did learn today was that Bryan is caught in a vicious cycle. Apparently, if I understood correctly what the judge was saying, the prosecutor's attempt to get him a forced psych eval was approved by the court, but then it was sent up to someone else who denied it since Bryan is representing himself. Well, one of the reasons the prosecutor wants the psych eval is because he doesn't believe Bryan is mentally stable enough to represent himself. So I don't know what's happening with that at all. I haven't been contacted by the prosecutor yet. Not sure if I will be. But anyway. The court was adjourned with the temporary order still standing, plus the amendment for the Cape trip. My liaison walked Chill from my car to Bryan's van. I felt horrible. But then I wondered if it was all an act. The sad, beaten victim. I didn't think it was at the time...until I saw Bryan's Facebook post later that day. It was written to the prosecutor for whom he has the nickname "Wee Willy". "Wee Willy, I'm already winning, don't let this be another black mark on your career." So Bryan thinks he won something at our hearing? He won nothing. I had already planned to ask for the amended order and give him Chill. Just made me really question whether his court demeanor really was just an act. He's a master manipulator. And if it was, he honestly had me fooled. Even if it was, though, it doesn't make me feel any better about the whole thing. It all makes me so sad, especially since the documents I handed over to the court could basically support a guilty verdict in his criminal trial. I hate it that it came to this because all I really want is for him to get mental help. That's it. I don't like to see him going through any of this. It's fucking awful.

Oh one thing to add on top of this... I finally got a phone interview for THE job, but it was the day before the hearing. I was so stressed out from my life that I wasn't able to think straight. I'm not even sure I was coherent. Haha. Honestly, I really don't know if I'm what they're looking for. I just don't have much experience. My only plus is that I'm part of the community and have connections in place, but that's it. My learning curve could be steep. I assumed for a long time that I had already been passed over, and now with everything going on, I was just too stressed for an interview like that. I really didn't do well with it, but I'm hoping an in-person interview will go much better.

Some stats Dave Dunham put up from the USATF-NE Mountain Series. I feel like I'm still a newcomer to it all, but when I see I'm one of the top participants in the history of the Series, I'm blown away how time flies.




On to the recap...

Week September 30-October 6- 42 miles. 6,148ft of elevation gain.

Monday, 9/30Zero Miles.

Tuesday, 10/1- 7.5 miles. Ran up to Carter Notch Hut and back on the 19-Mile Brook Trail with Phoenix. Easy recovery run. Technical, but very gradual. Somehow with totally trashed legs, I took the Strava CR. I expect that to get broken in the very near future. Very nice run. Trail was wet from Monday's rain and then foggy in the notch, but that meant very few people on the trails. Loved this one.



Another Phoenix wrap by John. And a photo John took of himself that showed up on my phone.



Wednesday, 10/2- 2.1 miles. Ran the trail at work. I had to bring Phoenix with me since John was staying at a friend's house that night. She ran the first half mile with me then protested the rest. 17:18. I didn't really feel like running at all, but I wanted to get something in since I thought I was working a track detail the next day. That ended up getting cancelled.

She sits next to me while I work on the computer.
This was the day I started getting hateful messages from Bryan and endured a 20 minute phone call that my work partner listened in on. I was thankful to have a witness to it.

Thursday, 10/3- 9.8 miles. After dealing with more of Bryan harassment, I drove right to the 3rd Circuit Court in Conway where I sat for almost 3 hours waiting for the judge to sign the paperwork. It was a depressing 3 hours, but I felt like I needed to do something.

As soon as I left I drove right to the trailhead on Thompson Rd to run. It was SO needed. A huge stress relief, even if only temporary. Ran the loop up and over Black Cap and Cranmore. Stopped on Black Cap where I had the summit to myself. The silence and peacefulness were what I needed today. 9.8 miles in 1:59:24. 2,474ft of elevation gain.


Friday, 10/4- Zero miles. My tendons were bothering me so I did 30 minutes on the spin bike instead. Amazing the difference in pain level after just 30 minutes. I felt so much better, and spinning is such a great workout.

I had an interview at Tri County Cap late morning. It wasn't a job I really wanted, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to give it whirl and at least practice interviewing. I actually ended up liking the job until it got to the pay. If I were in a dual income household it would have been fine. I actually felt highly qualified for the job and liked the idea of working alone...but of course I didn't get called back. Which I wasn't upset about. I wasn't going to take it anyway just based on the pay alone. It actually came out to less than I make as an EMT, which is sad, but the benefits would have been nice. I'd love to know how she chose the person she hired just for my own benefit to see what I could improve upon in interviews.

I went right from the interview to a hike with Phoenix on the White Ledge Loop Trail. (That's the photo at the top of the post). It was great. Not a soul around other than us, just like it. 4.5 miles total.


Saturday, 10/5- 17.4 miles. I had a long run plan but ended up shortening it due to traffic on 153. Ran a loop from home and out to Stark Rd. Stopped in a Andrew and Hilary's race, Bubba's Backyard Ultra to say hi then continued on my way back home. I'd be back around 4ish to help out at the race. 13 miles for the run in 1:42:59.

Got John and the dogs out for a hike up B&M Ledge. I was mostly successful in avoiding people over these 3 weeks so once again, we saw no one. Just under 3 miles for the hike.




I left John back at home and headed over to Bubba's. I hung out chatting until it started to get dark. Hilary's dad and I walked one direction on the 3.4 mile loop dropping lanterns while Suz Laughlin's husband and son, Darin and Tucker, dropped them the other direction. We met up just after our 2 mile mark, so I ran about a mile back with Tucker. Once I got back, I had about 20 minutes before I'd run a full lap 3.4 mile loop with Suz. This ended up being really fun because we had a huge group all together for the whole loop in the darkness with a lot of headlamps. I tried to chat to keep Suz's mind off the pain. She was starting to feel it after so many hours of running. When we finished the lap, I changed clothes and hung out by the fire drinking beer and chatting with Ashley Benes until about 10pm. Such a fun, laid back event. Maybe I'll actually join in next year.


Hilary's dad

My headlamp is ridiculous.


Sunday, 10/6- 5.1 miles. After doing high mileage the day before, I stuck with a short run from home to B&M Ledge. 46:40 for time. Skies were gloomy all day, but it never rained.


For the first time ever, I finally broke down and took John to the Fryeburg Fair. I'd never had any interest in going there before now, but I felt like it would be fun. While we were there, we both had fried dough for the first time. Yes, you read that right. We had fried dough for the first time ever. But I grew up in Georgia where we ate funnel cakes instead of fried dough. Similar concept, though. We would end up getting a second fried dough later. Way yummy. We watched one horse race and then toured every single animal barn which was really fun. I can't say I'm a fan of all the animals tied up in small stalls lying in their own poop, but I know it was also just a short time for them like that. And some were neat. We skipped the rides because the line was insanely long. It was definitely worth going, but I'm not sure I'm excited to go back any time soon.



My life is not complete without a visit to the llamas.




It was so cute that I almost bought it.
Week of October 7-13- 49.9 miles. 7,539ft of elevation gain. Totally meant for this to be 50 miles even, but this always happens!

Monday, 10/7- Zero miles. And nearly zero sleep. A code in the middle of the night, immediately followed by another serious call meant only a few hours of sleep. I would be dead tired all week. Got stressed out in the evening since Bryan had taken Phoenix and then used her as a prop to get in the house to see John while I was at work. He ended up coercing John into saying on video how he didn't feel in danger at the river the day Bryan was arrested. I was so made. John let him in, and he hadn't been served the restraining order yet, so there was nothing I could do.

Tuesday, 10/8- 11.5 miles. I was nearly delirious so I thought I'd bail on my plan to finally do the Whiteface/Passaconaway Loop from Ferncroft, but sometimes my best runs are on no sleep. This turned out to be the most perfect, gorgeous day and probably my favorite run this year. I'd never done the Rollins Trail before. It connects Whiteface with Passaconaway. It is now one of my favorite trails in the Whites. It was SO beautiful. Phoenix joined me on this run and was really good staying with me the whole time. I chose to do the longer loop back to Ferncroft which had way more climbing than I anticipated, but it was still just awesome. And the foliage was AMAZING (even though you can't see it in my photos). What a day!! 2:48:42 for time. 4,578ft of elevation gain.






Bryan was finally served the restraining order that night. He flipped out.

Wednesday, 10/9- Zero miles. Unplanned. I was going to run, but dealing with Bryan getting arrested again just stressed me out. Plus I ended up with both dogs at work again. I brought Phoenix on purpose since she had been having bad diarrhea since Bryan dropped her off Monday night. I ended up with Chill again since Bryan turned himself in. I had to drive over there in the ambulance and get Chill. It was a beautiful day out so I spent a lot of it outside with the dogs.




My partner, Jeff, with a spoiled Chill
Thursday, 10/10- 8.1 miles. I didn't have a lot of time so I chose a run on pavement this morning on the Mountain Division Trail in Fryeburg. I love running this for a speedy run. It was absolutely gorgeous with foliage hitting its peak. I felt really good, too. 57:52 for time. 7:07 avg pace.


I had to pick up John early from school for another doctor's appointment to catch up on some vaccinations so I walked the dogs the 2 miles on the Jackman Pond Trail behind his school, finishing just in time to pick him up. I found him bouncing on a pogo stick. Haha.



Friday, 10/11- 5 miles. I worked the Club Motorsports detail today. It started off pretty tense since it was mainly a big BMW event (with some other types of cars in there, too) and people were running off the track within the first 10 minutes. Luckily no one ended up crashing all day so I just hung out reading my book. I had planned to run at lunch as usual, but with the event, lunch was cut to 30 minutes so I ate the free pizza instead and took a short walk.

Neat lenticular cloud 


By the time I got home it was dark so I ran on the treadmill. I keep forgetting to try and fix the incline. It's almost pointless without that working now that I ended up doing 3xmile just to feel like I was doing something. 1 mile warm up. 6:40, 6:29, 6:18. Nothing that fast, but good enough. Cooled it down just enough to make 5 miles.

Saturday, 10/12- 7.4 miles. Ran from home up B&M Ledge and then out and back to Whitton Ledge. Only ran into two bow hunters target shooting so another run in peace and quiet. It was foggy and rainy so no mountain view, but Whitton Pond still looked pretty. 1,079ft of elevation gain.



When I got back, I took John and the dogs on a walk at Tin Mountain. Traffic was so bad that I didn't want to drive any farther from home until later. We only walked 1.5 miles, but it was nice.


He was making this face to be funny.
I'd been dying to go to the movies so John and I went to see Joker. And, wow. That was INTENSE. And it hit a little too close to home with the mental illness part. Not that Bryan is like the the Joker in any way, but there were some parallels with the believing things that aren't real part. Great movie, though. Honestly, if you are into dark and sometime violent movies then I recommend it. It's good.

Sunday, 10/13- 17.7 miles. I had zero desire to do any long road runs, but I really needed to do at least one before Cape Cod. I refuse to try to go at a fast pace anymore since I just end up hurting so I ran an easy 8:10 avg pace on a really hilly route. I left early in the morning to avoid traffic on 153, and it turned out to be perfect. Ran the loop up Allard Hill, over to 153, up Glines Hill Rd and down to 113 back to the house. 2:24:43. 1,700ft of elevation gain. I was really happy to feel like I hadn't even done a long run when I was done. It felt so easy. Good sign. Will adding speed to it at Cape Cod feel as easy? Doubtful, but we shall see.



Our Fall would not be complete without a hike around Mountain Pond. The area was insanely crowded with tourists everywhere so I had to pick something where we'd run into very few people, and Mountain Pond always seems to be it. It was absolutely gorgeous today. One of my favorite easy hikes. 2.8 miles total around the pond. Amazing views the whole way.







Week, October 14-20- 36.9 miles. 4,836ft of elevation gain. Two weeks out from the Cape Cod Marathon meant it was time to bring the miles back down this week. Plus I was back to racing Sunday at Paddy's Road Race, the last of the Pub Series races for 2019.

Monday, 10/14- Zero miles. Like I mentioned at the beginning of this post I was so stressed out all this week and couldn't sleep. My body was all messed up, too. Amazing what stress will do to you. I spent all day in between 911s working on my court presentation for the hearing on Thursday.

Tuesday, 10/15- 8.4 miles. John was out of school for a second day in a row for teacher workshop so I opted for a local trail run on the mountain bike trails in the Green Hills. Ran a loop of Twilight Zone and Outer Limits. My GPS got the mileage close to accurate, but the map showed that I had done only a point-to-point run of about a mile. Haha. 1:19:54 for time.

Took John and the dogs back to the Green Hills for a walk on different trails later in the day. We did a 2.8 mile loop. Ran into very few people. Yay!

Wednesday, 10/16- 2 miles. I had planned a longer run than that...but I forgot running shoes and had to run in my work boots. They were so heavy! I was done at 2 miles. Surprised I still ran in those on the trail at an 8:21 avg pace.


My phone interview was this morning, and I spent the rest of the time tweaking my hearing statement. I was SO nervous. And of course, once again, no sleep really all night. Only fire alarms but they still keep you awake. Ugh.

Thursday, 10/17- 8.5 miles. I think I wrote enough about the hearing already. It was at 8:30am. Started a little late, but we were out before 9:30am. Even though I felt awful, I felt the weight on my shoulders was mostly gone.

Ran the short loop with Phoenix at the Moat Mineral Site. She drove me bonkers the whole run by chasing every chipmunk squeak. This time of year is awful to run with her, but I wanted her to get some exercise so I dealt with it. Still wanted to flip my lid by the last mile, though. Haha. 1:33:28. 1,528ft of elevation gain.


I hadn't been to Saco River Brewing on my usual Thursday night, so I drove over for one drink before going home for the night. I miss going there every Thursday, but I've either just been too busy or didn't have the money.

Friday, 10/18- Zero miles. I was working another Club Motorsports detail, and since I didn't know what today's lunch break would be like, I got up early with the intention to run. But the spin bike appealed to me more. Only a 30 ride, but it was super intense. Way better than getting on the treadmill for 3-4 miles.

The track was super boring today, but I still got a walk in at lunch...since it was the normal hour. Walked up to the top and back for 2 miles.


I always stop at Tedeschi's to get breakfast before my track shift. How could I not buy these? They were only a dollar. Haha.
Saturday, 10/19- 11.7 miles. Finally a day for us to sleep in. I'm not sure why I chose the run I did with the race the next day, but I kind of wanted to get some miles in. I did a Black Cap/ Cranmore Loop, but made up a new one. Started at Hurricane Mt Rd by the water tank, ran up Red Tail then to the summit of Black Cap. Down the Black Cap Connector trail to the unmarked trails that lead to the Cranmore Service Rd. Ran back up Cranmore via Jen's Friends Hill Climb route and Charlie Doesn't Surf where I almost got run down by Ryan Murphy on his bike. Funny, because I had a feeling I'd run into him again out there today. Ran up to Kettle Ridge then down that to Senderro and back to the car. It was a challenging run for sure. 2:22:03 for the 11.7 miles with 3,120ft of elevation gain. My quads were feeling it.

First snow on Mt Washington for the season
John and I took Phoenix on a walk on a part of the Nanamocomuck Trail that I hadn't been on west of Bear Notch Rd. It was so pretty. We just went out and back for 2.4 miles. John told me he was going to start working out while we walked. I can't say he's followed through on it 100%, but he's been doing it most days.




Sunday, 10/20- 6.2 miles. Paddy's Road Race! I had been looking forward to this for awhile since I love pub races. It's only a 3 mile race so it's over quickly and onto the party. Post-race turned out to be a let-down, but the race did not! Since it started at 11:30, I didn't have to get up super early. The drive to Newton wasn't too bad either. This is a big race that's been going on for a long time so the place was PACKED. I was excited, though. I was really in the mood for a fast, short race today. I warmed on the course and then headed down to the start.

I ran into Paul Hammond and walked with him to the start then found my "girls", Mimi Fallon, Kim Ionta and Heather Spinney in the 6 min pace area. It was great to see them. Christina Campbell joined us, too, so we had fun chatting before the start. This other nice woman from Medford joined us as well, so it made pre-race fun.

The race got started, and I found it was a little crowded for the first quarter mile. I had trouble getting around some people, but once I did, I moved into 4th female position and latched onto Paul for the first mile. First mile was gun time splits. 5:55. I actually didn't feel like I was running that fast, and for a 3-mile race, that was actually perfect. But I still worried I was going to die in mile 3. I pulled away from Paul pretty quickly in mile 2 and found myself running alone the rest of the way. I had Christina in sight the whole way, though, but funny that out of almost 1800 racers, I had no one actually close to me for the last two miles. I was running scared, though, because I knew Kim couldn't be far back and kept expecting her to pass me any second. I was surprised to go through mile 2 in (gun time) 11:58. I thought maybe I could pull off a sub-18 minute race especially when I turned the corner in the last quarter mile to see Paul and Kim right behind me!! I was running so hard I wanted to puke. A sub 18 minute race wasn't to be, but I still held them off to finish 4th female and 1st master in 18:03. 6:01 avg pace. I'll take it!!! That's way 25 seconds faster than I ran that 3 mile race in July. Kim, Paul and Mimi came in not too far behind so we hung out chatting briefly before parting ways to do our post-race stuff.



I went back to the car and changed clothes. I couldn't get John to come back to the post race stuff with me so I only planned to stay until the awards were over. When I got back over there, I ended up losing everyone and stuck in the crowded beer garden with a $7 Guinness. The beer garden was awful. Like so packed. I almost chugged my beer just so I could get out of there.

I found Fred Ross at the awards. Chris Spinney helped Fitz with the awards, and Fred got photos of me getting mine which are funny. It looks like Chris and I are gazing into each other's eyes before we hug in the next photo. Haha. Mimi came over so I at least got to talk to her again, but I never found Kim post-race. It was disappointing so I left right after the awards. Speaking of awards, I won a new pair of New Balance running shoes! Yay! Free shoes!!! Haha.








On the way home, we stopped at the Georgetown-Rowley State Forest for a short walk with Phoenix. I'd never been here before and it's literally right off the Interstate. We even walked on an old overpass. I'd like to explore this place more some time.





I think I did pretty well with a short recap covering 3 weeks, right?! So next week should be my Cape Cod Marathon recap. This race could go either way. My tendons are definitely on the achy side right now which has me a bit worried. They also ache more on flat courses, so that's also not good. I feel great fitness-wise, though. I'm a little on the heavy side, too If I had cared more I would have cut my weight these last two weeks, but I don't care enough. Instead I've put on some weight. Oh well. It sucks, though, because fitness-wise, I think I could run a sub-3 marathon right now. But tendon-wise there's no way. They'll slow me down at some point from mile 18 on. I'm just hoping it's not too bad. If it's not too bad, I think I'll run sub 3:10. If I could run that at Hartford last year on zero training, then it shouldn't be too hard now... unless I have another race like Eastern States 20 when I was in SO much pain from mile 8 on. We shall see. It could go either way. Fingers crossed I'm not too disappointed.