AEMT Class/2020 Irish Road Rover 5K/Covid-19

That's me on the right

Busy, busy was the name of the game for February. I felt like I had no time for anything. The Advanced EMT class was really fun, and I enjoyed the break from work, but the Monday-Friday gig left no time for much of anything. We had take-home tests every night that took about 1.5 hours so this left me with no ability to read the text book without immediately falling asleep. But that's how it is with an immersion class. You do the stuff in class that you absolutely need real instruction on and then it's left to you to complete the rest on your own. Which is what I'm doing right now and why I still haven't updated my blog. Haha. I want to do the written test in the next 2-3 weeks so I'm trying to get the textbook read. Once that's done, I will go over all the practice tests and then follow up with the stuff I'm really struggling with. Then it will be time to torture myself with the National Registry's (NREMT) computer-based test which is absolutely horrible. I still don't know how I passed the Basic CBT. Multiple choice "trick" questions are not something I did in school growing up. Our tests were mostly short answer and essay questions. I learned multiple choice when I went to a public college, but I still struggle with it. It's just not the best way to test knowledge. Anyway, once I get the CBT test out of the way, I'll have to work on my practical exam stations. These are so nerve wracking. You have to follow a specific order and hit all critical factors. I find this very challenging because this order is not really how you do things in the field so I have to relearn it all.

I wrote the previous paragraph 2 weeks ago. I've been spending my free time at work reading the AEMT textbook. I hope to have it done by the end of this week and hopefully test next week sometime.

Shit is crazy. So much change since my last blog post! And even just since 2 weeks ago! 1 week ago, I was pissed that the New Bedford Half Marathon was cancelled. Today, I made the official announcement that I'm postponing the Dirty Girl Trail Race! You change your tune quickly when the reality of the situation hits. We are in scary times right now. And if you're still denying it, then wake up. The country is basically shutting down. John's school is closed. Ski areas finally closed today. And that is much appreciated due to all the tourists who think their work/school closures mean time to vacay in the Mt Washington Valley. No skiing gives them one less reason to come up here. No one wants you here right now. Stay at home. And that's not personal, but with the ever increasing cases of Covid-19 in Massachusetts, you people really shouldn't be traveling up here where we have less capability of handling an outbreak. I just got hired yesterday by Memorial Hospital as additional personnel to be on hand to man the Covid-19 tent. Yes, tent! You heard that right! That's what we will have for people if this virus spreads rapidly. So let that sink in to your thick skulls before you plan to come up here. Believe me, I didn't think this way a week ago, but it's critical now that people understand what one infected person can do to the Valley.

Last week (above photo) I volunteered to participate in a drill between Conway Fire & Rescue and Memorial Hospital. Josh MacMillan and I acted as the care providers for a fake Covid-19 patient. We went through an entire scenario of donning our PPE and PAPRs, arriving on scene, examining the patient and transporting him to Memorial so they could test their system when we arrived. There were a few changes that needed to be made, but it all went well. I was nervous as hell since WMUR-TV decided to come film the whole thing. That was probably the quietest I've ever seen Josh, and I barely uttered a word myself. Haha. But here's the video on YouTube if you want to watch. It actually came out well. I'm in the majority of the video, but you just can't tell it's me most of the time. Very good training.

I'm so glad I was able to join Conway Fire. Although, I still haven't had the chance to drive with my little red and white flashy light to the station to cover a second 911 call, I'm sure the time is coming. I'm only doing one shift a month right now when needed, but I find myself at the station a lot for other stuff.

Even with EMTs being in critical need, my current full-time job (yeah, the one I complain about all the time) is STILL uncertain. We STILL haven't been hired by Brewster, as Brewster continues to hire new employees to work here with us at their pay rate. A brand new, out of school EMT got hired making $5-6/hour more than the rest of us. I just can't. Morale is super low. We've started having to do all of the Brewster requirements... yet we aren't employed by them. I never thought the job here could be worse than working for Careplus, but it is. We have been lied to and given the run around for 4 months now. It's bullshit. The best part now? I don't even know if I have a job here in 2 weeks. We lose the Tamworth base (due to the loss of that contract) on April 1st so only the North Conway base will remain. Where are the Tamworth crews going? No idea. We don't know if they're replacing us. We don't know if we still have full time hours or even what days!!! TWO WEEKS! We haven't been hired by Brewster. We haven't gotten raises. We're being kept in the dark. I walk into work pissed off to no end due to this bullshit. Our manager can't fill the current open shifts so she begs us to help out and pick them up. Well, fuck no! You wouldn't have open shifts if you had given us all the raises you promised. Instead almost everyone has quit. Just out of principal, I refuse to work anything other than my scheduled shifts. Unfilled shifts are not my problem to fix. The best part, though, she sends out praise e-mails constantly praising individuals, especially for helping out by picking up shifts. Managers should NEVER send out group praise emails. EVER. Don't get me wrong, I really like our manager personally. I worked with her on my very first day as an EMT. I'm not blaming her for the problems, but Brewster really needs to provide her with some sort of manager training course. So yeah, I'm pissed off. My temporary job at the hospital will be paying me $18/hr! That's more than I make working overtime here right now. I make $11/hour regularly. So if I get fucked with in 2 weeks, I will walk out with no notice. I have a back-up plan to apply at AMR in Manchester and commute. And then maybe a hospital job will open up at some point. Who knows. At a time when EMTs are needed and the job should be secure, mine is not. Stop keeping us in the dark. You're fucking with people's lives! Especially right now when we're dealing with a rapidly spreading virus. UGGHHHHH. (Oh and I must add one thing. That job I applied for and waited on for 6 months last year would be a NIGHTMARE right now. I am SO thankful I didn't get it. This pandemic is exactly what the job entails. I imagine the person who got the job is working around the clock right now. I dodged a bullet with that one!)

Ok. Deep breath. I had to get that off my chest before I could go on with positive stuff because most of the last month has been positive! Let's start with the AEMT class. It was so much fun! It was an awesome break from work, but I can say that I'm happy I don't have a M-F 9-5 job. How do people get anything done?! Haha. We had a great group, though. Four of us in the class were on Conway Fire, so we kind of formed our little click and were definitely the class clowns. It was a comfortable setting with Josh (same one I did the Covid drill with) as our main instructor and Chris (in my original WEMT course) as our back up instructor. Since it was an immersion course, our brains were stuffed full of info fast. We also only had 2 weeks to perfect our skills. We were doing IVs on each other by day 2. We had take home tests every night to prepare for the National Registry exam. It's going to be awful, but that's why I'm reading the entire text book beforehand. There was literally no time to read during the course, but that's part of the deal with a course like this. Get the didactic portion out of the way and then the rest is on your own time. This format only works if you're self-motivated. The 2 weeks flew by. I'm missing my buddies, Marissa and Tom. I still see Garrett and Tyler all the time at the first station. I miss the 3 meals a day and my snowshoe walks at lunch. It was almost like a 2 week vacation. And it kind of was. After my 96 hour work week, I only worked one 24 hour shift the following weekend and then not again for another week while I finished up the course. I still had to do 3 12-hour clinicals after that, though. Two were back-to-back overnights at the hospital which was really tough to stay awake for. We weren't super busy, but I got all my skills done except one...that I'm still waiting on. My IVs sucked badly there, though. The following week, I finished it off with a 12 hour clinical at Conway Fire, and we didn't have a single call. I did get to ride in the fire truck for the first time, though. I'm able to use my Advanced skills at work since I'm still under "student" status. We have had two critical trauma patients that I was able to get IVs on with an 18g. One was in the back of a bouncing ambulance (well, technically 2 IVs, but the horrible driving caused me to pull out the first good IV. Grr). So I feel a little more confident.

Time for photo overload...

Day 1. I drew the inside of the skeleton. Hahaha.

Practice IV arm. Tubing had leaks. Haha.

After this, Marissa tried to Ben an IV and he nearly passed out.

I posted this on FB just to be funny. Garrett gave me a middle finger for it. Hahaha.

Chris joined me my first day out on snowshoes at lunch. I posted this on Facebook, too, since it was a bad photo. Haha.

Marissa giving Tom an IV

Me prepping Marissa for an IV

Failed prank on Tyler

Psychedelic CPR

We got Kindle Fires with our textbooks on them. We got to keep them.

Typical morning start

snowshoe walk during lunch

Marissa and I with Hal during the Sim Lab

I had just done that IV on Tom

Cold lunch walk when Josh drove by and almost hit me... on purpose. Haha.

The class, minus Tom and Ben

Josh placing an LMA

Me prepping an IV that I would end up missing. Haha.

Me napping in room 6 in the ED during my clinical when we literally had zero patients my second night. 

Riding in the fire truck during my clinical at Conway. That's Tyler behind me. He would end up with the flu that night. 

Arrived at Conway for my clinical to find $400s worth of clothing for me. So different than Careplus where I'm still wearing my same shirts from 2013.

I stole Sol Rosman's mug during the clinical. Sol and I used to be Thursday partners in 2015 when I worked in Tamworth. He's on Conway Fire, too.

Marissa and I trying on dry suits at the fire station for our upcoming Swift Water Rescue I course in April.

John and the dogs got the shaft a bit, but thankfully John was in school then. I was able to bring home food from SOLO every night so I never had to worry about making dinner or anything for the two weeks. We were all set. I did manage to get John and the dogs out some, but my time was so limited. John was really helpful the first day of class. I came home to him shoveling the driveway! It was a HUGE help.

John playing in the snow one night for almost an hour...after skiing at Cranmore for 3 hours.

I did manage to run during all of this. Miles were low and almost entirely on the treadmill early before class, but I got it done.

Week 1, Feb 10-16- 34.8 miles. 1,053ft of elevation gain.

Monday- Treadmill. 1 mile. 6:41.
Tuesday- Treadmill. 10 x 1 min on/off. 5 miles. 37:27. 7:29/mi avg pace
Wednesday- Treadmill. 6 miles. 46:04. 7:41/mi avg pace
Thursday- Treadmill. 2x 2 miles. 13:21, 13:11. Total: 6 miles. 42:41. 7:07/mi avg pace
Friday- Corridor 19 Snowmobile Trail during lunch. 5.2 miles. 44:14. 312ft of gain
Saturday- N Sandwich/Wonalancet road run. 11.1 miles. 1:26:52. 7:49/mi avg pace. 741ft of gain
Sunday- Zero Day. Had to work my 24 hour shift and didn't feel like doing anything.

Week 2, Feb 17-23- 35 miles. 2,067ft of elevation gain.

Monday- Got up early at work for a 30 minute Tabata ride on my work spin bike.
Tuesday- Treadmill. 4x 1 mile. 6:31, 6:27, 6:24, 6:19. 6.2 miles total. 43:14. 6:58/mi avg pace
Wednesday- Treadmill. 5 miles. 38:40. 7:44/mi avg pace
Thursday- Treadmill. 3 miles. 21:29. 7:10/mi avg pace
Friday- Allard Hill Rd run after the class ended. 6 miles. 51:57. 8:39/mi avg pace. 748ft of gain.
Saturday- Tabor/Wildwood loops to avoid cars. 8 miles. 1:06:22. 8:18/mi avg pace. 802ft of gain.
Sunday- Kanc/Bald Hill/Snowmobile Trail. 6.8 miles. 55:15. 8:05/mi avg pace. 520ft of gain.

The week after the course was over, John had winter break. Tuesday was his 14th birthday!! Unfortunately, he needs a physical for school next year and this morning was the only appointment I could get. Poor kid's birthday didn't start off well. We went to Sunrise Shack after that for his birthday breakfast and then to the movies in the afternoon to see Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey. It was pretty good. He didn't want to go out for dinner or do anything else so it was a low-key birthday. Crazy how much he has grown in a year!

My breakfast pizza. So good.

Oh yeah, speaking of food. I had no choice but to let my low-carb diet go during the course. I didn't have time to make anything, and with 3 meals provided every day, I was going to eat it. Honestly, it didn't affect my weight or anything. Once the course was over, I attempted to go back to the diet. It was a failure. As I've ramped up my mileage in the 3 weeks since the course has been over, there's just no way. I'm starving all the time. I'm trying to eat minimal carbs on the days I'm at work and sedentary, but as predicted, the low-carb diet isn't sustainable for me combined with running. It sucks, though, because I'm now back eating things that irritated my gut. I've been good still about beer, though. Sticking to minimal amounts of it. Sadly sugar has creeped into my diet again, but I always crave it the last few weeks of March every year. It's SO weird. But I really think my beer consumption was my biggest problem that needed correcting and so far so good. I'm sad to be off the low-carb diet, but that doesn't mean I'm still not using most of the recipes I was using. I'm still eating the awesome soup and making this amazing "bread". It is SO good.

The last week of February was interesting. This pissed me off...Haha.

On Saturday, John and I took a walk down Corridor 19/19A with the dogs. We parked at Coleman's. When I went to grab my puffy jacket, I realized I had forgotten it so I had to use my bright yellow work jacket. I would be SO thankful I had that jacket 20 minutes later. We stopped at bridge over a pond. John climbed out on one of the giant stones so I pulled my phone out to take some photos.

As he stood up and turned around, I held the phone up to take another photo, but the phone slipped out of my hand onto the icy snow and continued to slide into the pond. John and I looked at each other in disbelief. Omg. What do I do? I stood there for a minute contemplating this. My phone is waterproof. If I leave it, I have to pay $150 for the deductible for a new one. I had to try and get it. It was that simple. I had to try. Well, luckily, the phone screen was still on so I could see where it was. It appeared to be only 2 ft down. I got in and sunk about 3 ft down in muck. This would mean, I'd have to go under. I was hyperventilating from the cold and had to control my breathing before I went under or I risked sucking in water that would cause a laryngospasm. Lucky for you, John decided to film the whole thing. Haha. 

I have never been so cold in my life. Luckily I had the big coat and hoody and my hat. The walk back was only .8 miles and we were about half a mile drive from home. I went right into the shower when I got home. Was it worth it? Hell yeah! The phone was totally fine. I didn't really like my Google Pixel 2 before this. I like it much better now. For the record, I would never have gone in there if I were alone. That would have been too risky.

2020 Irish Road Rover- The following day was the Irish Road Rover in Portland, ME. I did this race last year and really liked it. It's a really challenging course. Definitely not one most people would PR on. This is why I like it, though. Although slightly colder than last year, the conditions were nearly identical with a crazy headwind for a good portion of the course. It has a huge hill and cobblestones in mile 1 and most of the last half mile is uphill. It's weird that I didn't know a single person there again this year, but it didn't matter. I warmed up on the course then hung out in my car where it was warm. I got the exact same parking spot as last year so it was right by the start. Another quick warm up, some hip loosening and it was off to the start. There were 3 women lined up ahead of me that I figured would beat me...and that's what happened. 4th and no prize money again. Haha. I would pass a couple of women/girls just past the start and stay in 4th the entire rest of the race. 

I was trying out my new Hoka One One Carbon X shoes that I got instead of the Nike Next%. They were about $100 cheaper. Not squishy but definitely bouncy. Not sure if they helped or not, though, but I liked them. The race was pretty uneventful. I had some dude breathing ackwardly and loud right behind me the entire race until he passed me just before the finish. I don't understand why people don't realize how annoying this is. Grr. I'd had enough of it by the last half mile and just wanted him to go away. Haha. Last year, I was pretty out of shape at this time and ran 20:01. This year was MUCH better in 19:36. I was so happy to run this time on this course. For comparison, the woman who finished 2nd ran an 18:47. Her last 5K was a 17:45. Not saying I would have run an easier course a minute faster, but I think I could easily run closer to 19:00 right now. Little did I know this would be my last race, indefinitely. Results

I brought her along. She was watching seagulls.

After I finished, I changed clothes and walked to the Holy Donut. Place was packed, but it was worth the wait. I walked back to the car and then drove to Goodfire Brewing. I hadn't been here since my sister visited back in 2017 so I wanted to try it again. As good as I remembered. Had one pour and a taster then took some to go. Stopped in the madhouse that is Trader Joe's then went home. 

Good sour

In the window next to the Holy Donut

The Irish Road Rover culminated my first week of running over 40 miles since October!! Craziness. 43.1 miles total for the week. The 12 hour clinical on Friday made it difficult to get more miles in.

Running for Feb 24- March 1- 43.1 miles. 1,581ft of elevation gain.

Monday- No run. Work spin bike. 20 min tabata ride with Robin

Tuesday- Conway Village/West Side. 7 miles. 51:50. 7:24/mi avg pace

Wednesday- Treadmill. 3 miles. 22:11. 7:24/mi avg pace

Thursday- Treamill workout due to gross rain/ice. 10.2 miles. 1:10:34. 6:55/mi avg pace

                 

Approx 11min warm-up

3min MP

1.5min HMP

30sec 5KP

3min MP

1.5min HMP

30sec 5KP

1.5min jog

4min MP

2min HMP

1m 5KP

4min MP

2min HMP

1min 5KP

2min jog

5min MP

3min HMP

2min 5KP

5min MP

3min HMP

2min 5KP

2min jog

3min MP

1.5min HMP

30sec 5KP

3min MP

1.5min HMP

30sec 5KP

Friday- Treadmill. 4 miles. 31:09. 7:47/mi avg pace

Saturday- Corridor 19/19A snowmobile trail. Wore microspikes. 12 miles. 1:53:54. 9:26/mi avg pace 1,086ft of elevation gain. 

Sunday- 6.8 miles total. Warm-up + Irish Road Rover 5K

Life was mostly back to its normal schedule these last two weeks. I only worked my 2 24s and then just did whatever else I felt like doing. It was so nice. I finally got back to over 50 miles for both weeks. Yay! 50 miles is my sweet spot for weekly mileage so I'm happy.

Running- March 2-8- 51.4 miles. 6,348ft of elevation gain.

Monday- No run. Spin Bike before work. Hill Climb with Cody. 30 minutes.

Tuesday- Bear Notch Rd Snowmobile Trail. 14.2 miles (gate-to-gate-to-gate). 2:10:50. 9:12/mi avg pace. 1,507ft of elevation gain. The first 3 miles were solid with microspikes. The rest was soft footing that just got softer as the temps rose. You can see I was overdressed in the beginning. Good run.

That afternoon, I took Phoenix on a hike up Middle Mt. I've missed my afternoon hikes with Phoenix.

Wednesday- Treadmill. 3 miles. 23:27. 7:49/mi avg pace. These Wednesday runs are just to get something in before work.

Thursday- Middle Mt/Peaked Mt x2. I did the first loop with Phoenix and second solo. Snow was solid on the Middle Mt side and really soft and rough on the Peaked side. 10 miles. 2:33:49. 15:14/mi avg pace. 3,392ft of elevation gain. It's time to start getting back in mountain running shape.

post-run

Friday- Haley Town Rd out-and-back. One of my go-to's for a quieter paved road and gentle hills. 8 miles. 58:02. 7:15/mi avg pace.

After dropping John's skis off at Cranmore, I took the dogs on a 2-mile walk on Town Hall Rd. This road is a snowmobile trail in the winter, but that didn't stop these people from trying to drive on it. I couldn't contain my laughter, but I still stopped and asked if they needed help. They didn't. Checked on them again on the walk back and could NOT resist a selfie with the car. PSA: Don't follow your GPS onto a snowmobile trail. But that provided me with a day's worth of laughter so I thank them for that.

Saturday- Cranmore Shores up Tasker and Allard Hill Roads. 10.1 miles. 1:19:23. 7:49/mi avg pace. 870ft of gain. This run gets REALLY old by March, but there's light at the end of the tunnel for an early spring.

Took a 2-mile walk with John and the dogs on the snowmobile trail in Tamworth that afternoon since we had to fill up our jugs with spring water down there anyway.

Sunday- North Conway Loop with my friend, Jill Pelletier. She and Matt were up with friends for the weekend. 6 miles. 1:00:59. 10:09/mi avg pace. Really enjoyable run. 

Something was wrong with my car ignition so it wouldn't start and I had to break out the Kia Soul to make it to our run. I finally got the Sorento to catch and start after multiple tries when I got home. I left it running, then John and I drove it to Frechette to leave it. It was such a gorgeous day so we walked the 3.3 miles home on the RR tracks with Phoenix. 

Random photos from the week:

Dale throwing a baseball. Pretty sure he was about to code.

Caught my eye at Walmart! How could I not buy it? Turned out to be so good!

Where she loves to be

John and his friend at school working on a podcast

This last week was another good week for running. Plus I made it out to the last Friday Night Lights Ski Race. On Monday, I was pissed to hear the New Bedford Half Marathon was cancelled. Friday night, I was actually feeling uneasy being in the crowded lodge with all the skiers. Like I said already, I changed my tune pretty quickly when the seriousness of the Coronavirus was finally acknowledged. 

Running March 9-15- 52.5 miles. 3,153ft of elevation gain.

Monday- No run. I'm committed to sticking to the spin bike on Mondays. HIIT and Hills with Olivia. 30 minutes. Since I started running again, I can barely get my HR over 150 on the spin bike now. While spinning kept me fit, I've gotten even more fit very quickly.

The trail behind work was clear of snow! Walked 2 miles.

Tuesday- Tamworth/Wonalancet Snowmobile Trail. 9 miles. 1:29:41. 9:57/mi avg pace. 938ft of elevation gain. John and I were wondering during our walk if we could make a loop out of it. The answer is yes, but it's 9 miles. Haha. Footing was fairly soft for nearly all of it, but still runnable with microspikes. Total solitude and quiet. Really enjoyable run. Tried out another new pair of shoes during the run. The Merrell MTL Sky Fire. SOOOOO comfortable as soon as I put them on and for the entire run. The real test will be the grip when the trails are clear. If it's solid, I think I may be switching from La Sportiva to Merrell. I don't recall the last time a trail shoe ever felt that comfortable.

I went to Conway Fire after I got home to get fit tested for my PAPR mask for the Covid-19 drill on Thursday. It took 3 different masks until we found one that passed the test. It turned out that my mask used to belong to my old boss here, Mitch. I took a sharpie and crossed out his name and wrote mine next to it. I texted it to him later. Haha.

I attempted to ski on the snowmobile trail with Phoenix after, but the trail was so melted that it was a half walk/half ski, but we still did 2 miles.

Wednesday- Treadmill. 3 miles. 21:40. 7:13/mi avg pace.

Thursday- The Covid-19 drill was first thing in the morning and lasted until after noon. Headed down to Chocorua for a run after. Chocorua dirt roads, 113A, Gardiner Hill Rd and back to the dirt roads. 11.75 miles. 1:33:17. 7:56/mi avg pace. 892ft of gain. 

Camera guy putting a mic on Josh.

Took the dogs for a walk on the RR tracks later. 2 miles.

Friday- Nasty day. Rainicing so I did a workout on the treadmill. 4xmile. 6.2 miles total. 42:13. 6:49/mi avg pace. 1 mile warm up. 6:20, 6:15, 6:12, 6:06. 0.3 rest in between and to finish.

The weather bored me so I went to Tuckerman Brewing to try a new beer.

Dawn Patrol IPA

It finally cleared up for Friday Night Vertical, even though the wind kicked in. This was a different format with it starting at the top of the loop for a down, up, down, up course. I was shocked when I saw the skis Andrew had given me. They turned out to be Hilary's skimo racing skis! They maybe weighed a pound each. I had never skied on anything like these so I was a little nervous about the downhill. I have skied with the light bindings before, though, so I was psyched to have such a lightweight set-up for the uphill. 

I skied up to the Lostbo Cabin where the start would be. Amazing how fast it was going up without putting in any effort. I was way too early but didn't have time to ski back down and then skin back up. I wish I had, though. 

On the way up. Pretty sky!

I waited for the start which was freezing and windy by that point. They started us off like a real ski race with us doing a run around the pond before putting our skis on. I knew I would be dead last for the downhill so I didn't try to run that hard. I realized quickly that I couldn't anyway. Running in snow mush in ski boots really hurt my tendons.

Me in the run

Me on the left struggling to get my boot in the binding as Jim Stevenson heads out ahead of me.

I got to the skis and struggled to put them on then headed down. Yep, almost died. Didn't realize that these have no tails. Tried to turn, my right leg flew out and I came within a few centimeters of running into the marker light post. Haha. It was terrifying on these skis. I thought I was going to die the entire way down. This was probably my slowest downhill of the last two years. Haha. Over 6 minutes!! Good thing I was the only woman doing 2 laps even though I was way faster on the uphill than the other women, their downhill times would have given them enough time to stay ahead of me. My transition was really quick with these skis since there isn't much to them. Up I went. 15:05.7. I was dead last at this point. Another very quick transition at the top since you don't have to take these skis off to remove the skins. Love that part. I finally figured out the downhill in these skis, but I still didn't go fast in them. Under 4 minutes down this time. Caught up with this guy Alfred and Rick Chalmers came in behind us. He would have normally been ahead but he lost his phone and stopped to search for it. Another quick transition. Left the base with Rick and the two of gained on Alfred. We passed him, then I passed Rick. Amazingly my second uphill was almost identical to the first. 15:05.8. These skis were awesome uphill! I'd love something with a tail but with light bindings like these. Not sure I will be able to buy a set-up now, though. Frechette just called. $300 for a new starter. But we'll see. If Memorial needs me right away I'll be making good money. Finished 3rd to last in 45:50. 1,453ft of elevation gain. I love this stuff!

Once again, I won 1st woman by default...since I was the only woman. Haha. I really don't understand why more women won't do two laps. I'm assuming because they're the opposite of me and don't like the uphill part. As I was standing there taking off my skins and talking to Andrew, I looked down to see only on ski. The wind had blown the other one down the slope! Oops. I ran down and yelled out that I'd lost a ski. Jim Graham's son happened to find it pretty much on the trajectory I had assumed. I would have felt so bad if I lost Hilary's ski!

I skied down, changed clothes then hit the bar. The pizza was gone, but I had a beer then talked to Jim, Rick and Alfred for the rest of the time. Didn't win a raffle prize unfortunately, though. Fun time. I'm glad I made it out for the last one.

Andrew told us not to smile, but the other woman couldn't do it. Hahaha.

Saturday- I will admit that sleeping in instead of racing was SO nice. Haley Town Rd again. 8.1 miles (turned around just a tad later than last week). 58:41. 7:14/mi avg pace. Slightly faster than last week. Tailwind on the way out. Headwind on the way back. 302ft of elevation gain. Realized during the run that I was wearing gear from my two previous teams. Haha.

I had to take Phoenix to Tractor Supply for the rabies clinic so John and I walked the dogs on the Cotton Valley Rail Trail first for 2 miles.

Phoenix did NOT like getting a shot. She almost bit the doctor. I couldn't really blame. Poor thing. Drove over to Ocean State Job Lot after to grab some stuff. This week is First Responder Discount week. 25% off. We save over $10. Should have gotten more. If I'd known that people were going to be greedy fucks and strip the shelves clean, I would have. 

Sunday- I was supposed to originally run 15 miles with Rich Fargo, but his injury from last summer resurfaced after running the Hampton Half. I settled on just doing a loop from home. The same old boring run through Cranmore Shores up Tasker and Allard. Left on muddy Dollof Hill to the easy Stark Rd. Looped back on 113 to Conway Village then headed back home via Cranmore Shores. Gorgeous day. Only saw 2 people I knew. Haha. 14.4 miles. 1:52:19. 7:46/mi avg pace. 1,029ft of elevation gain.

When I heard people were ravaging the grocery stores that morning, I knew I needed to go back and get two weeks worth of extra food. John and I hit the Family Dollar first. All paper products gone. I can't understand this at all. That is NOT a necessity. Morons. Shelves were pretty cleared here, too, but anything I grabbed that was low in stock, I was sure to leave some for others.

We took a walk on the RR tracks after that with the dogs. Turned around short because we were both getting cold in the wind and shade. 1.5 miles.

Reluctantly went in Walmart after. Luckily, it was pretty empty of people...and food, but surprisingly it still had plenty of it. Just not bread or butter. I decided that I would just make my own bread so I brought my bread maker back up from the basement and had bread all made before bed. We already had plenty of food since I could make so much from scratch, but I wanted to buy some easy stuff that John could make if he had to.

Other random photos from the week...

John drinking sparking apple cider from a champagne glass

Got my nails done. Who knows when I'll be able to do that again?

Letter I received from DCYF on Saturday. Come again? Makes no sense whatsoever.

So there's a glimpse into my life update. I don't know if I'll get another blog post in next week or not. Who knows how things could change in a week. I could have Coronavirus by then! Or I could be working around the clock helping sick people. Or things could be just as they are now. Who knows.