2019 USATF-NE XC Championship

Beth Lazor-Smith and me at Ogie's Trailer Park in 2017

So many things have happened in the last three weeks that I've put off writing since it just seemed overwhelming. I have to start with the worst of them all... the death of Beth Lazor-Smith. Beth and I became friends when I started regularly going to Rhode Island for races back in 2016. A beer aficionado and a strong, no BS type of woman like myself, Beth and I hit it off immediately. Although too far away to hang out with often, we still had a good friendship. Unfortunately, shortly after I met her, her health started on a downward spiral.

She was diagnosed with Lupus after a year of tests. Treatments either worked only temporarily or not at all. She was in chronic pain. But the girl kept moving. She ran when she could. She biked a lot...and she always walked her dog, Jax. After about a year, Beth began to suspect Lyme Disease as a possibility for her issues. She was in chronic pain and nothing seemed to help. Fast forward to this summer. Beth began feeling weaker and weaker and was sent to Yale for a few days for some tests. After three days there she suffered a stroke (probably a TIA) and it was discovered she had a bad heart valve. Surgery was scheduled for last Wednesday. All went well. She was recovering in the ICU. Then a blockage blocked an artery to her brain. They couldn't save her, and she passed away on Thursday.

I couldn't believe it when Muddy sent me the message. I also couldn't believe that I had failed Beth as a friend. I interacted with her last in August, but then she went dark. I thought maybe she was just taking a break. I never checked in on her. I was too wrapped up in my own life, and I'll forever regret it. She was such a fun, intelligent person. Way too young to be gone. And I still can't believe it. And I think of how pissed off she would be if she knew that after all that she had gone through and fought against the last 2 years that it would end like this. She was in a dream on Saturday night. All I remember was that she said, "It's not worth it," in reference to the stressful corporate job. I was waking up at this moment and actually said out loud, "Thank you, Beth." I feel like if Beth knew her life would be cut so short, she would have given up that stressful corporate job in an instant. I honestly think she would have said the words, "It's not worth it." Although just a dream that my own brain made up, it still reflected truth and hit home with my own current reality. And it was so surreal because I feel like it was the right advice. Even if it wasn't really Beth's advice, I'm pretty sure she would believe that right now.

My sadness has come in spurts, much like how I deal with the bad things that come from this job. It took awhile to cry. And then when it did, it came out of nowhere and it was wailing. And now, it's short moments of tears, followed by laughter at good thoughts about Beth. I still think I'm in a bit of shock over it. Like it's not real. I honestly don't want to believe it's real because then I just get pissed off. She lived life fully, even through her issues. It's just not fair. I went back and read her last blog post Saturday night because the words are when Beth was alive. This was her living still. Talking to Muddy yesterday, he said he did the same thing. Beth's was like mine. Very open and sharing of our inner selves. Reading hers brought her back to life. What a gift it is to have it. Beth Runs RI.

Beth loved dark beers. I drank this one in her honor.

The last time I saw Beth. At my race (Dirty Girl Trail Race) in May. She was so happy to have been able to finish.

Mentioning my dream about Beth telling me the job wasn't worth it ties in with that job I was trying to get. The job was for the Emergency Preparedness Coordinator for the Carroll County Coalition of Public Health. It would have been a M-F job with about a $15,000-$20,000 annual pay raise. The money would have been great. The job would have been great for experience and future options. I had a second in-person interview on Halloween. I thought it went well, but in the back of mind, there was a fear of it. Knowing I've tried to leave my current field before and then begging to come back within the first 2 weeks, I worried that I would do that again. But I was ALL in if I got offered the job. I need to be working for a better company, and I most certainly need to be making more than $11/hr. But, I also felt that maybe I'm where I should be. Maybe this field IS for me. So I decided that if I didn't get the "real" job, I was going to make a move to further my EMT career. You know where I'm going with this... I didn't get the job. I honestly didn't think I had the experience they were looking for. And after being in limbo with it since July, I finally had an answer! And when I did, I wasn't upset at all. Not even a little bit. I was somewhat relieved... except for the financial part.

To go back a little bit, a week after my interview and 5 days before I found out I didn't get the job, we got a very surprise memo...

At this point, my future employment was all in limbo, but upon further inspection, things on the EMS side looked promising. As it turns out, Brewster Ambulance is one of the best private ambulance services in the country. I'm talking the complete opposite of Careplus. Did I luck out?! Or is this just going to be some sort of tease with better everything (and a decent raise) only to be let go in a few weeks? Well, I don't know. Tomorrow will be my first interaction with someone from Brewster HR, but that's only for training on their system. Other than that, we have no idea what's happening with us up here in North Conway. But just knowing this was a possible better future helped me not be upset at all over not getting the "real" job. And then dreaming that Beth told me it wasn't worth it (really my own brain telling me but using Beth as an example of why) pretty much sealed the deal on me staying in this job for now.

Oh but it doesn't end there! Last Monday, we had just brought a patient into the ED, and an EMT on Conway Ambulance whom I've known since 2011 approached me and asked me to apply at Conway. They just voted that you are no longer required to have your Fire 1 to work there. They've been hurting for staff so badly that they decided to remove that requirement in order to get more people who aren't fire certified. I'll be honest that I never thought I would be wanted there. I applied back in 2016 for the same thing, part time and on call for the second ambulance, but I had zero availability that worked. The timing now was so incredibly perfect that I feel like something bad with my "career" MUST be lurking around the next corner. Haha. But anyway, I brought my application by last Thursday. He said I was good and didn't need an interview. The only issue is that all new members have to be voted on at the monthly meeting... and the next monthly meeting is in January. But it's ok. That job would just be a second per diem job. However, getting into the fire side of EMS is where you can make a career out of this job. And I've been thinking over the last month that that's where I need to be at some point, but that also means I have to find a way to advance. So my first goal is to take the Advanced EMT course in 2020. Then, as much as I never wanted to be a firefighter, I should definitely take Fire 1. I've never had the time or money to do this training until now... well, I have the time now... not the money. So I'm applying for scholarships for the AEMT class. I think the service would pay for Fire 1 at some point.

It's just crazy how I've been thinking about this for the last 2 months and then it has somewhat fallen into my lap. Of course, it's on a very limited basis right now, but I have some hold on a real possibility. And all of this stuff happened within the same week. Real job interview/denial, Brewster and Conway. I still can't hold my breath, though. I don't have good luck... but as I was just typing these last few sentences, Brewster Ambulance people arrived to put radios in our ambulances. They look like real people! Haha. We had a 911 call as soon as they started to put in the radios of course. I got back and tried to call our dispatch, but the phone rang and rang. On the 3rd try, they picked up, but it wasn't Careplus. It was Brewster. Changes are happening!

And on to the rest of the things that have happened in the last 3 weeks. The judge dismissed my restraining order against Bryan. He stated I didn't prove he was dangerous. He did stated in there that Bryan was guilty of harassment. At first I was mad, but after thinking about it, it doesn't matter now. The temporary order served its purpose when I needed it. Bryan's trial date is coming up so once that's done, I'll know better what to do from there. He's been mostly good. He did start to spew messages at me, but he stopped himself quickly and has only messaged me about Chill since. So I'm glad that something good came out of the restraining order. I should never have done it at all, though. A waste of time and stress, but I didn't know what else to do at the time to stop his behavior. He hasn't tried to talk to John at all, and John hasn't wanted to talk to him. I've never stopped them from communicating. It's all really sad, and some days I wonder how this is really affecting John.

Other things... um, well this happened last night at karaoke at Sea Dog and should be in the next blog post, but it's too funny (if that's the right word) not to share now. I swear every time I go out here, I get hit on by creeps. This guy at least got points for being bold, and it did make me laugh. I never even looked at him once while we were there so I'm not sure why he thought I would be interested. But apparently he thought I was the whore type from afar. So all of sudden this guy appears in front of me and passes me a note on a napkin then walks away...

It did make me laugh, but come on. Within a minute he comes back with another one...

Did NOT see that coming, but it did still make me laugh. I'm shocked, though, that he thought this would work. It must have worked in the past, though, but, not with this girl. I just stayed in my chair at the bar with my friends until he finally came back over. It was time for his rejection so I just said, "I'm working on my backflip." He walked away. Haha. I swear the only decent guys who hit on me are ones I'm not at all attracted to. They're usually older and desperate, and I'm just not attracted to older men. So I'm really limiting my pool since they only ones that like me are huge creeps or old guys. I guess I'll just settle for this...

Ok, so I wrote all of the above 2 weeks ago! Just too busy at work and no way to write the blog while I was on vacation for Thanksgiving. So the rest of this will be vague. But first I should add that even more happened since I last wrote! I'm officially OUT of running for a bit. On November 21st, I got off work, went home, ran an easy 6 miles on the road, took a shower, got in the car to drive to John's school, got out of the car to find a sudden onset of left hip pain. WTF! It felt like a bruise so that was my first thought since I'm always nailing my left hip on the O2 regulator on the top of our stretcher when walking around the ambulance. I was so tired that I couldn't remember when I had last done it, but I thought maybe I had the day before.

So I kept running on it. But every day it got worse and worse. And the pain increased during every run. I'm thinking maybe it's a stress fracture, but the pain is pinpoint pain on the outer hip bone. It doesn't radiate into the groin at all. I also noticed the very first day that it was puffy with edema. Like you could feel it AND see it in the mirror. WTF. Finally, I pulled up a diagram of hip anatomy, and lo and behold, the pain is directly located on the Trochanteric Bursa. Like the exact place. I'll be honest. I had no idea such a thing existed there, but after reading up on it, it appears my pain is most likely Trochanteric Bursitis. So I read up on it and it says it's a common running injury and can also be caused by trauma. Of course, I'm thinking, "This is the second 'common' running injury I've gotten that I've never heard of. Why me?!" Now, I'm once again having to self-diagnose since I have no health insurance. But luckily I think this is a correct diagnosis. I read other people's symptoms and it fits theirs to a T. Hurts with all movement. Hurts worse at night. Hurts walking up stairs. Hurts to the touch. Of course I could be wrong, but I can't find anything else that fits this so specifically, and not to mention the "edema" I was feeling which makes sense with the inflamed Bursa Sac. Reading up on this, I was probably prone to having it because the left leg is slightly longer than the right and sticks out slightly more. Also, the constant trauma to it from hitting the regulator. And of course...running.

So anyway, since I'm stubborn, I continued to run on it for one week. I had signed up for a Half Marathon in Texas on Thanksgiving Day. I should never have driven over there, but I immediately dropped down to the 10K after getting my bib. This would turn out to be way too much. That was SO painful and my worst 10K in probably 6 or 7 years. The pain increased as I ran, and I regretted being out there. I should have at least dropped to the 5K. As stupid as it was to do this race, it was what I needed to get me to stop running. I was able to get by with the pain running at slower speeds, but at a sub-7 minute pace, it was excruciating. There was no question that I would stop running after this race. I'm glad I didn't attempt the half marathon because I would never have finished. It was sad to leave such a disappointing race as my last run for awhile, but it's just the way the cards fell.

In reality, I've been running with increased pain in the high hamstring tendons and my right foot (plantar fasciitis) for 2 months. Since I write about these all the time, you would know I've had both chronic injuries for over 2.5 years and that I've had varying levels of pain with both. Most of the time I can still run (even if it's slower), but these last 2 months have been extremely achy. Ever since the Waterville Valley Mountain Race. So I needed the break. The only way I would do it, though, is if I had an injury I 100% can't run with. Well, I got that! Haha. I'm just SO pissed because I took 8 weeks off at this time last year (with zero relief/improvement), and it took me almost 6 months to get back in shape. I'm so dreading having to do that all over again. And I have ZERO idea how long it takes to heal bursitis (too many varying accounts). Plus, my cross training is very, very limited. It hurts just to walk. I've found I can get on the spin bike for 30-45 minutes, but I have to stay seated. Standing on the bike hurts. Also, too much resistance starts to bother it, as well. BUT, it's something. I just wish I had access to a pool so I could swim laps and just drag the leg, but I don't have access to a pool anymore since Purity Spring took away public membership access on the weekends while also increasing the monthly cost from $35 to $50. Assholes. Seriously. Locals were the only ones ever in there. But anyway. I'll just be happy with the fact I can do something.

This injury is really bad timing, though, (and this could be part of the cause for the injury!) since I put on quite a bit of weight suddenly in only two weeks. My horrible sugar/carb addiction that I get this time every year combined with low mile weeks while I attempted to recover from Cape Cod turned me into a FATTY. And yeah, I'm sure no one else can tell, but I literally can't fit into my pants. They are so tight and the belly was squeezing out the top all Thanksgiving week. Fortunately, I think quite a bit of that was PMS water weight because I dropped 3lbs within a day of getting back. But still. There's this visible fatty layer all over my body. So I finally have to take control. Literally cut out the sugar and most carbs (including beer). If I were still running, I wouldn't cut back on so many carbs. But it's the carbs that make me crave sugar more. That doesn't mean forever, but at least until I can run again or until I have some sort of control over my bad eating habits. And that doesn't mean I won't have a beer or two, but I'm planning to just stick with red wine if I want to drink.

So to sum all of that up^^, I'm a mess. Haha. Fortunately, everything else in my life seems to be going smoothly... even though every time I say that, drama is forced upon me. Maybe it will be different for awhile? I hope. Now, let's see if I can recap the XC race and then a brief run down of my two weeks between this and Cape Cod.

USATF-NE XC Championship Race

I wasn't originally going to do this race, but when I found out John's trip to Copenhagen, Denmark was returning that evening to Logan and I had to pick him up, I figured I might as well do the race. I'm reminded every year why I love this one. It's such a different type of racing for me, and I love the team aspect. Our Central Mass Striders women finally were able to field a full team. Yay! But sadly, I only saw most of them, except Mary Sharkey, very briefly. None of them hung out at the men's tent after the race. I'm usually the only one there, and I'm closer to the men's team anyway, so it was right to their tent after I checked in. Such a nice welcome as the masters men were getting ready to start their 8K race. No one is ever out taking photos so I decided to couple my warm up with acting as photographer for the men's team plus my other friends on other teams. After seeing that no one else took any photos of the men's masters race, I feel bad that I didn't take photos of every runner. Next year! Luckily, Arthur Besse stepped up to get photos of the women's race. I showed him how to do the burst shot thing, and voila! He ended up with a lot of great photos of everyone.

Me on Bear Cage Hill waiting for the masters men to come through

As soon as the men's race finished, we lined up for the 6k (3.63 miles). The weather today was perfect, and I was actually feeling pretty good. The two previous years, I had done this race after only two weeks of rest following 2 marathons in a week. It makes sense why I felt so much better. Sadly, I still wouldn't run near to what I ran in 2017, but I knew for sure I would run much faster than 2018 when I was hurting badly. I ran 24:09 in 2017 and 25:33 in 2018 so my goal was somewhere in the middle around 24:45. I lined up with the Western Mass Distance Project masters women instead of my team because I preferred WMDPs placement on the line. We'd make a straight shot for the end of the field instead of merging in from the left across a muddy field. I went out fast, but I felt good. Once past the field and down by the road I did start to get passed by some women, but I only real goal was to finish 2nd master behind Kasie Enman (just like we finished at Waterville Valley). One woman who did pass me was someone I recognized right away. The woman I ran behind for nearly all of the Cape Cod Marathon. We would end up running this entire race together basically and just like Cape Cod, she passed me before the finish. Haha. It was cool, though, because we were so close in time there and also here at XC in a totally different format and distance, as well.

My teammates

We completed a 2nd loop back around the field and the section by the road we had just done then entered the climb up Bear Cage Hill, and I was feeling good. I didn't make the mistake I made last year in pushing too hard too soon here, but I was still putting in a hard effort. I felt great as we topped the hill and came back through the main area where everyone is was cheering us on. I was surprised at how good I felt.

We entered The Wilderness section which is my favorite. Although it's only a gentle climb in the beginning, I still faired better than the 3 women in front of me and passed them. I got a good jump on them on the downhill and had a good lead back down the field and all the way back up Bear Cage Hill.

The woman I ran Cape Cod with is behind me here.

I had had 3 women breathing down my neck since the Wilderness, and I knew I could stay ahead of them back up Bear Cage Hill, but I knew I wouldn't hold them off with the last kick to the finish. I just don't have a fast kick, but I gave 100% from the top of Bear Cage Hill on.

We ran through the cheering section and took the right for the sprint to the finish... and as predicted, I got passed...by 4 women! Haha. Oh well. I honestly felt good and finished as strong as I could. 2nd master was achieved! Also crushed my goal time with a 24:31. I was also psyched to finish 55th overall which is I think the highest up I've ever finished this race. So all in all a good day. Results

I stayed at the CMS tent post race where for the first time ever there were beers. It was a fun group of guys to hang out and chat with. We cheered on the open men in what looked like torture being a 10K. I'll happily play the woman card and stick with the 6K. Haha. Before they left, Arthur took a photo of Heidi (his wife) and me. She's the sweetest!

I was, unfortunately, a little nipply today.

I finally went back to the car to change and took Phoenix for a short walk. She found a ripped up softball that we took home with us. I also took home a box of medals for the Lil' Rhody Runaround which was the 2019 USATF-NE Trail Championship race this year. I was standing in for Paul Kirsch as the USATF-NE rep at the race so I grabbed the award medals from Steve Vaittones while I was at the XC race so that he didn't have to mail them. I would end up short one 2nd place medal and one extra 3rd place medal. Since I have so many of my own that I've won, I just took one of mine to take place of the missing one. Haha.

I had time to kill so I drove into Boston to park and have dinner. I had planned Trillium, but I stopped at Hopsters Brewery instead. This place was awesome. Great beer and great food. It's right near the Children's Museum so on the way back to my car I checked out the new playground area on the boardwalk. It was pretty neat. I went down the slide and climbed the boulder wall. Haha.

From there it was off to Logan Airport where I waited in the cellphone lot until John and 3 others were ready for me to pick him up. Unfortunately, I had to bring the Kia Soul. Something was REALLY wrong with my Sorento (I thought it was just a seized caliper, but it would be more...next blog post!) so I didn't feel it was safe to drive down to Boston with it. I felt so bad because they all had squeeze in and fit luggage, too, but it worked out. I was really happy to pick up John and hear their Copenhagen stories until we dropped them off at a car in Portsmouth.

So you're probably saying, "What?! John went to Copenhagen?!" Yes, he did. A school trip. And he was SO lucky to be chosen for this one. There were 3 different trips. One to Selma, AL, Louisiana and El Paso, TX. Another to Tucson and Nogales, Mexico. Then Denmark. John definitely won the lottery with that one. Each trip was focused on an important issue and what other places are experiencing and/or doing about it. Copenhagen was a 4-day trip where they visited the The EnergyHub and Copen Hill. Copen Hill was John's favorite since they got to go skiing here. It was an artificial ski hill on top of a power plant. It's pretty neat. Check out the link I just gave you. John had a blast there, and I'm so happy he got the experience. He says he wants to go back when he's 18.

CopenHill

John bought a shirt there that depicts what they discovered was a thing in Copenhagen. The people love their wine and cigarettes, and while the city is very pristine most of the time, the people like to party. In the morning, the streets would be littered with wine bottles and cigarette butts.

Love it!

Ok, on to the rest of the recap following Cape Cod up to the XC meet. I promise it will be brief and mostly photos.

October 28- November 3- I didn't even run for 6 days following Cape Cod so I ran a total of 5.1 miles for the week.

Monday- 2 mile trail walk at work. I was INSANELY sore from the marathon. The first time in a very long time I had been sore after a marathon. I was obviously not in idea shape for that. I'm usually fatigued, but I think I haven't been sore post-marathon since 2012.

Tuesday- Went right from work to Starbucks and then to a CPR class with Nina and Jen and another friend's mom. It was fun and laid back.

That afternoon, I took Phoenix on a hike up to Big Rock Cave since it was an easy hike. 3.8 miles round trip.

Some photos from that evening at home. That's not John's beer in the first photo. Haha. It's mine, of course.

Wednesday- 2 mile trail walk at work. Found some photos of John on the school Instagram page.

Thursday- Although I wasn't running yet, it was time to do something so I did a really good 1 hour spin bike workout followed by upper body and abs. It felt good to sweat again after 3 days off. Took Phoenix on a 3.1 mile walk on the mountain bike trails in the Green Hills in the afternoon. Got caught in the rain. Headed over to Saco River Brewery for one beer before heading home.

Friday- Picked up a Club Motorsports shift for today. The wind was INSANE. I almost had a patient when one of the workers was literally blown off the start stand. I spent 3 hours doing the monthly truck check and cleaning on A4 since I literally had nothing else to do to kill the time. I'm not sure that ambulance has a had a monthly done on it in years. The only thing I couldn't do was clean the floors or vacuum the cab, but I wiped down the entire interior of that truck. Did a 30 minute high intensity workout on the spin bike when I got home.

Saturday- While I was at the track the day before, I decided to look for tires for my Sorento for the winter. The current tires were either totally bald or almost bald so I had to replace them. I was going to buy a new set of all-season tires, but I looked up my size winter tires on Craigslist and voila! One set of for sale for $150 total. And two of the tires were never used! I couldn't pass this up, but it meant a LONG car ride down to Mont Vernon, NH. Ugh! Worth it, though. I got another 1 hour spin workout before we left. John was not a happy camper to be making this drive. As luck would have it, his friend who literally lives right off of Rt 28 called him. We were 5 minutes away getting gas. John asked if he could come over there. His friend said yes so it was a huge win for both of us. He didn't have to make the drive, and I didn't have to hear the whining. haha.

I picked up the tires in the middle of nowhere then took Phoenix on a short walk on a trail nearby in the Haseltine Community Preserve then made my way back north. I made the mistake of stopping at the Tilton Market Basket. Definitely not the good experience I had with the Concord Market Basket. This place like going into a Walmart shrunk to about a quarter of the size. It was a nightmare. Never going back there again. Picked up John on the way back home.

My new winter tires!

Sleeping dog that night

Sunday- 5.1 miles. My first run since the marathon. I just ran up to Carter Ledge on Chocorua and back. My hamstrings were dying. Not just the tendons, but the hamstrings. They would continue to ache until I was today years old. Haha. Still really nice getting out on the mountain for a run. I'm already missing mountain running so much. Hopefully this bursitis heals so I can do some winter mountain running.

Carter Ledge

Later on, John and I took Phoenix on a walk at the Albany Town Forest.

When we got home, I raked my trail until dark. I wasn't able to clear the trail last year due to the early forever-lasting snowfall, but I made sure to get it done this year.

November 4-10- 36.4 miles. I wanted to do more mileage, but with trying to recover still I just didn't do it. Ran 5 days, though. With the other 2 days getting on the spin bike.

Monday- Spin bike: 30 minutes before work. Walked 2 miles and did glutes at work.

Tuesday- 10.1 miles. Ran a loop on the Tamworth dirt roads. My slowest time ever running it, but it was ok. I was just trying to get in some easy miles. Got caught in the freezing cold rain the last 4 miles. That part sucked.

Took Phoenix on a short walk behind John's school before I picked him up for a doctor's appointment. Two school dogs joined us. One is a cool Belgian Shepherd named Chip.

More night time couch snuggles with Phoenix until the Johnster came in to play with her. Haha.

Wednesday- 30 minutes on the spin bike before work. Did glutes at work. I had to bring Phoenix to work since John was leaving for Copenhagen today. I was SO nervous about his flight getting cancelled so I watched the flight tracker for hours. They were constantly getting delayed then finally they took off. I watched the flight map until they made it to Nova Scotia, then went to bed. Woke up in the middle of the night to check to find their live flight tracker was suddenly gone and only an estimated one existed. Of course being a mom, I immediately thought his plane went down in the ocean. I was in a real panic. Probably the closest I've ever come to a panic attack ever in my life. I kept refreshing and refreshing then finally remembered that another airline was leaving Boston for the same destination about 1 hour after they did. So I checked it. And a huge sigh of relief when I saw that their live flight tracker also disappeared in the exact same place as John's. Phew. They probably just lose the satellite or whatever it is at that spot. I've never been so relieved in my life. Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep.

Phoenix at work

Phoenix in bed with me at work.

Screenshot I took after they had finally taken off

Thursday- 5.75 miles. I woke up relieved to see John had arrived in Copenhagen. Yay! I had picked up a track shift so I went home to drop off Phoenix then drove down. This would be the last day the track was open for the season. With the nasty weather arriving, only 2 cars showed up and they were done early. Just as I was about to leave the track, I saw I had an email. It was that message above about the company being taken over by Brewster. When I got back to the base, everyone was in shock but laughing. Our manager actually showed up surprisingly. He didn't have any answers to our questions, but at least he drove up here. He also surprised me with a $25 gift certificate to the 99 Restaurant to thank for doing the extra billing assistance work. I only get paid an extra $.50/hour for it, and it has been a huge hassle lately so that was nice of him.

I went for a run in the pouring rain from the base around the aviation neighborhoods. Felt way harder than it was. 41:52. 7:16 avg pace.

I went home, showered then drove to Saco River Brewing for one drink and then to the North Conway to drop off a pair of skis and boots to sell at the ski sale. Before I left there I placed an online order for dinner from the 99 and picked it up to eat at home. I made sure it came out almost exactly at $25, only a few cents shy. Although not a restaurant I would normally pick, I have to say that was the best meal I had had in a really long time. I got the baked scallops.

Comptonia

Friday- 8.1 miles. Had our first snow overnight so I made a snowman in the morning.

Since I own 4 pairs of Dion snowshoes I decided earlier in the week to try and sell a complete pair at the ski sale for $100. I brought them up from the cellar to change out the bindings and cleats with another pair that had accidentally been mixed up with this one. Literally the next day, I get a text from Jonathan Miller asking if I had an extra pair of Dion's I would be interested in selling. How crazy is that?! It worked out well. Jonathan was going to buy them for $100. We agreed to meet down at the Mobil station down in Wakefield, NH. I decided I would just run on the Cotton Valley Rail Trail after we met since it was about a mile from the gas station. Jonathan arrives wearing running clothes and mentions he was about to go run in the exact same place I had planned. So funny. So we ended up running together. I was hurting pretty badly in the hamstrings and tendons so I was glad he wanted to run an easy pace. It was really cold but nice to run and chat with someone since I do it very rarely. Ran 8.1 miles in 1:10:20. 8:40 avg pace.

After the run, I took Phoenix up the road a bit to take a hike on Mt Whiteface in Wolfeboro. I'd been wanting to do this one so today was perfect. The light layer of snow was really pretty. Only 2 miles round trip, but perfect for a post-run hike.

I got Chill back for the first time in weeks since the restraining order was dismissed. It was nice to have my buddy back.

Saturday- 6.6 miles. So I dreamed of a time when I'd have more free time to myself once John was older. He was gone for 4 nights and almost all weekend, my first full free weekend in almost a year! I imagined I'd go out to bars/restaurants or have friends again. But nope. I didn't do anything differently than if he had been there. Haha.

This morning was gorgeous so I took a run up Middle and Peaked Mountains then finished it off with a run around Pudding Pond. 6.6 miles. 1:24:26. On the slow side with the trail being covered in a light layer of slippery snow over the leaves, but still perfect.

I didn't have much time once I got home to drive the dogs somewhere for a walk so I walked them from home over to the Waldorf school and back for almost 2 miles.  After that I had to get in line at the Community Center to see if my ski stuff sold. I was early since I was also in a hurry. I was helping out with the Blackout Mountain Race at Black Mt so I needed to be in and out. I lined up just outside the door as they were getting ready. I was the first one there...until these people arrived one after the other, cutting me in line as they went inside and stood right in front of the volunteers table staring at them. Seriously? After the 6th person walked up to do it also I finally said something. She said well why aren't you in there. I said because they aren't ready yet. She said well everyone else is so why aren't you. My literal reply was, "Because it's rude." She walked right in, but luckily when they opened, she actually had me come in and get in the front of the line. But of course, when I walked up I literally was ignored and they helped the person behind me instead. I just wanted my $24 for the skis I sold. I got it, donated the boots then walked out of there. Downhill skiers are a different bunch than I am, that's for sure.

I left then drove up to Black Mountain. I got there just as Hilary McCloy had opened registration. It was actually fun checking everyone in and seeing a lot of the people I know. We were actually really busy for a solid hour since we had about 30 day-of registrations and about 100 pre-reg show up. Once it was race time, I offered to stay and help on the course. Hilary told me that one of the runners had suggested someone stand up on the slope before the last part of the loop because he said he totally missed the flags there on his warm up. And wow, was he right. The race would have lost nearly everyone had I not been there. It was a sharp left turn on an uphill that wasn't obvious with a headlamp so I stood there for the entire race (except that last runner with whom Andrew Drummond ran in with). I was in my warmest stuff (my bear coat and winter boots), but after standing around up there, I was really cold. I started jogging up and down the slope towards the end just to stay warm. It was a fun time, though, and I was really glad to help them out. Andrew and Hilary do a lot for our running/skiing community up here and not for a profit. They do it because they love it and want to share it with other people, and I always feel like giving back to them. I went inside after for the raffle. The only decent beer in there was none so I got a cider instead. Hung around and won nothing in the raffle then left. I home late and up kind of early for the XC race the next morning.

Hilary and me at registration

Start of the race

The moon was so bright.

Racers' headlamps off in the distance. It was pitch black dark, but the night sight option on my camera made it look light.

Sunday- 5.7 miles. And I've already done the race recap.

The next blog post will hopefully be shorter, even though it's going to cover many weeks. I'll either just do short race recaps for Lil' Rhody Runaround and the Thanksgiving Day race or split them into two posts. I don't know.