NH 4000-Footers- 38 Down, 10 To Go

In the last 2.5 weeks, I've banged out 12 4000-footers. It should have been more, but sometimes I was tired or got going late, and weather wasn't always cooperative. So I started this mission at 26 completed. I'm now at 38. I already wrote about Tom, Field and Willey. That was the day I went into anaphylaxis. Since I last wrote, I eeked out 9 more, trying to hit the ones with the shortest drive first and then making my way to the ones farther off. I'm not liking the driving so much because it kills so much of my day. The driving was the main reason I never finished off the 4000-footers to begin with, but now I'm committed so it's happening. However, I won't be doing as many at once as I was these last 2.5 weeks.

I'm really glad I decided to do this, though. It has made me super motivated, not just because of the goal of completion, but also because every run is new to me. All trails and summits that I've never been on before, so I'm liking the new scenery. I've also increased my fitness level quite a bit in just this short amount of time. I've been snagging the Strava course records or close to it on all of the climbs, and I was only trying on 2 of them, Tecumseh and Waumbek. Well, I wasn't really going for the Waumbek one, but I saw the time to beat. I honestly didn't think I would, but it still pushed me hard on the climb. Snagged it by only 12 seconds or so. It's interesting that most of the women in the top 10 for the Strava climbs are all the same people for each climb. I find that pretty neat to see how we're all matching up with each run and with different weather and trail conditions. Even though I'm a really good downhill, technical runner, I don't bomb downhills anymore unless it's a race. I've learned that doing that often causes the plantar fasciitis to flare up. It's always worse in the summer, but for the first time in over 3 years, it's GONE! Most likely due to not racing and not bombing downhill. I can't believe my foot is pain-free. I'd forgotten what that felt like. So I've been focusing on pushing hard on the uphill climbs and running comfortably on the downs, so not even close to the CRs there. Haha.

Run-Down of the last 12 4000-footers

E. Osceola/Mt Osceola- 7/7/2020. I ran up from the Greeley Ponds Trailhead which was a mostly easy run for the first 1.5 miles. After that it turned into a pretty tough climb that was nearly straight up. Mostly just hiking for this. Reached the summit of E Osceola which was tree covered. I only stopped to drink some water, then carried on to Mt Osceola. I started seeing quite a few people and then remembered that it was an easy hike up from Tripoli Rd from the other direction. Duh. I had originally wanted to do the whole Mad River Notch, Osceola's, Tecumseh loop, but I wasn't into the time consumption of that. So it was only an out-and-back. The run between the peaks was pretty easy so it was a quick one out before turning around. Nothing too exciting. Great view from Mt Osceola, but the crowd had me stopping for a only a few minutes. 7 miles total. 2:09:59 for time. 3,098ft of elevation gain.

North/Middle Tripyramids- 7/9/2020. Today's run was extremely humid. The was a fog in the air above Sabbaday Brook the entire run up. I actually got a fairly early start which was need to get a parking space at the Sabbaday Falls lot. I only passed a few people then headed off into the wilderness by myself. This was a really easy run until basically the last 1/2 mile of the climb to the ridge. It was very gradual and followed Sabbaday Brook the whole way. I walked through every crossing since the cold water felt good. The brook was absolutely gorgeous as I got higher with the moss-covered rocks. After the brutally steep and wet climb to the ridge, it was an easy run either direction to hit North one way and then Middle the other. My solitude was cruelly ruined by a large crowd of people on the North summit. I quickly drank some water, then left. Luckily had the Middle summit to myself and with decent views. The way back down seemed to go by quickly. The last two miles were really fast and fun. 10.8 miles. (GPS lost about .6 miles with the run being mostly in a gully). 2:30:30. 3,351ft of elevation gain.

Mt Hale Loop- 7/12/2020. I got off work at Conway Fire at 6am and drove straight up to Twin Mt to run Mt Hale and Zealand Mt. The lot was already full, but luckily, I really didn't run into many people between there and the hut. We had had only one call overnight, but it was still around midnight, so by the time we got back and I had done my report it was around 1:30am. I was wide awake so it took me until after 2am to get back to sleep. Wake up was at 5am so I basically got no sleep. I was feeling it badly as soon as I started the run up Hale and was pretty sure I'd be skipping Zealand Mt. The climb up seemed extra difficult today, but somehow... Strava CR. I took it from Jess Marion, so I wouldn't be surprised if she takes it back pretty soon. Haha. As soon as I got to the summit, it started pouring rain and it continued to pour rain the entire run to the hut on the Lend-A-Hand Trail. It was SO slippery, and I was making very poor footing decisions while wearing shoes with no tread. I knew I was too tired and made the definite decision to bag Zealand and just make the loop back to the car via the Zealand Trail. It was very slow going on the trail with it being so slippery, but I was grateful for the rain keeping me cool. Passed the hut by and ran down to the Zealand Trail, which I had never been on. Now I know why so many out-of-shape people do this one. It was SO EASY. Almost Diana's Bath-like. Unfortunately this meant running into at least 45-50 people on my way down (no exaggeration!), but that was better than having to pass them all from behind. From the Zealand Trailhead back to the Mt Hale Trailhead was an easy mile on the road. Now that I know how easy this trail is, I'll just come back and to Zealand Mt from there. That will have to be an early start, though. I was so tired on the drive home I could barely keep my eyes open. 8.2 miles. 2:04:16. 2,332ft of elevation gain. Felt good to be home by 10:30am...with more cider donuts in hand.

Mt Tecumseh- 7/16/2020. Now, this one I did go after the CR via the trail from Tripoli Rd. Haley Heinrich has the CR for the other direction, but it added on over 8 miles to my drive. There was no way I'd beat her time anyway. I knew I had a chance at the Tripoli Rd one even though I was running on 3 nights of no sleep by this point. It's tough getting going after over an hour drive, but I had to just do it if I wanted that CR. It didn't help I was testing out the new shoes that finally arrived (Merrell MTL Cirrus) that I didn't tighten enough, but there was no way I was stopping to fix that. I really pushed hard on this one especially the last half mile as I watched the clock. The last steep climb never seemed to end, but then suddenly I was at the top, breaking the CR by almost 3 minutes. It took awhile to catch my breath so I spent some time up there and then headed down. Nothing exciting for this one really. Also nearly fell asleep on the drive home. 5.4 miles. 1:27:50. 2,496ft of elevation gain.

Mt Waumbek- 7/19/2020. I had originally planned on Mt Cabot, but just that extra bit of driving was just too much for today. It was going to be in the 90s so I wanted to get John and the dogs out on the lake. Waumbek was still enough of a haul, but it was a good choice. The lot was full, but it's not a big lot so the people were spaced out well. Legs were stiff at the start, but I warmed up fast. The temp was cooler than at home, but the air was thick and stagnant the whole way up. It's a fairly easy climb, but it felt like forever. Made it to the top in 56:38. Wooded summit so I only stayed long enough to have some water then easily ran down. Nothing exciting. There was one view, but there were too many people there to stop. I ran into Eva Johnson up there hiking with her dog. This is the second time I've run into Eva up on a mountain. The whole run down had a nice, cool breeze of course. Haha. 6.7 miles. 1:38:51. 2,715ft of elevation gain.

Mt Flume/Mt Libery- 7/21/2020. I was supposed to go to Dover for a massage, but Tina hurt her shoulder and had to cancel on me. I had only planned a short local run, but now, I had time to get some more 4000-footers out of the way. I lucked out with perfect weather since it was cloudy and about 10 degrees cooler than home. The trails were also really dry. I really couldn't have asked for better weather. Unfortunately, my stomach wasn't feeling so hot. I parked at the trailhead parking and ran the Pemi Trail over to the Liberty Springs Trail. From there I took a right on the Flume Slide Trail to start the Mt Flume/Mt Liberty loop. I really wasn't feeling great right off the bat, but it wasn't until 2 miles in when I started to feel sick to my stomach and thought I might throw up. I debated turning around at this point but decided to keep going since I had made the drive over here. I didn't run hard at all even though the trail was very runnable for the first 2 miles. I really could have hauled here if I'd wanted to. You go from this easy trail right to a wall basically. The start of the Flume Slide. I think the pain of the climb up this thing made me forget about my stomach. Although I'd never done the slide, I'd read enough about it to be prepared. It was definitely a challenge. I'm not certain of its exact distance, but someone made a segment on Strava that showed as .7 miles, 1,604ft of gain at a 43% grade. I think this is pretty accurate according to a GPS because .7 is close to what my watch had, as well. Took me 27:54 to do this section. I learned after I uploaded it that I got the CR for the slide portion! I was like, "What?! That's ridiculous." I wasn't even trying and never even looked at the segments for the climb up. I missed out on the CR for the entire Flume Slide Trail by 3 seconds! Haha. But, reading Larisa Danis's run description, she had muggy weather, mud and wet trail. I basically had a completely dry trail. So it's hard to really compare these segments anyway. I think it's fun for a personal push to work harder on the climb, but they really don't mean much. It's why I'm also not into FKTs. (Although I'd be a hypocrite if I didn't mention that I did put myself down for the Warner Trail FKT just so I could create it. I honestly don't care about FKTs otherwise).

The view from Mt Flume was a lot prettier than I expected. I only stayed on the summit briefly then headed down the Franconia Ridge Trail over to Mt Liberty. It looks like a long climb back up from Mt Flume, but it really wasn't. The summit surprised me since I thought I had farther to go. I actually chatted with a few people up whom I had passed on my way up when I was still on the Liberty Spring Trail. But I didn't stay long and made my way down. The downhill movement made my stomach get woozy again for the run down. It seemed a lot longer than it was, but I wasn't moving fast at all. Finished the entire loop off in 2:31:43 for moving time. Elapsed time was 2:40:05. For some reason, I didn't show up in the segment for the entire loop, but I was much, much slower than Larisa Dannis's 2:22:24. I'm not sure I'll ever do that loop again. Haha. 9.1 miles total. 3,788ft of elevation gain. I drove straight home when I was done. I really wanted something to eat, but Lincoln kind of sucks for quick bites.

Flume Slide

Mt Flume

Other notable runs:

Nanamocomuck Ski Trail/Boulder Loop- 7/11/2020. Due to the torrential downpour, I didn't want to do anything mountainous so I opted for a run in the rain on the Nanamocomuck Trail from the Albany Covered Bridge down to Lovequist Pond at Rocky Gorge. Ran the pond loop trail then headed back taking this other ski trail most of the way back. It had a name I don't recall, but it was kind of crappy since it had been logged recently. The entire run was wet and muddy. When I got back to the covered bridge, I ran straight to do a clockwise loop of the Boulder Loop Trail. I only stayed on the summit briefly in the rain before heading down the trail. Never realized it was slippery going this direction since this was my first time going clockwise and doing it in the rain. 9.8 miles total in 1:50:23. 1,553ft of elevation gain.

Top of the Boulder Loop Trail in the rain.

Lovequist Pond

Treadmill Workout- 7/14/2020. Only putting this here because this was a good workout. Only fast because it was on the treadmill, but the effort was at my max for the 2nd interval, just the same. 2x 5K. Ran a 2-mile warm-up just over 8min/mi pace. Ran the 1st 5K in 19:59. Way slower than I had planned. I actually screwed the numbers up in my head and thought I was running around 19:30. I should have known it felt too easy. Ran a half mile rest just under 8min/mi pace. 2nd 5K in 18:58. That was tough mentally. I wanted to slow the pace down multiple times, but I just kept telling myself, "You made it this far, what's one more half mile?" I got down to the last mile, and it was a struggle to keep up the pace, but I did. Just squeaked under 19 minutes. Ran 1.3 miles for a cool down. 10 miles total in 1:08:23. Treadmill always somewhere close to 2% grade. I should measure the grade...but I'm too lazy.

Moat Mineral Site Trails- 7/18/2020. Nothing special. It was so hot and stuffy. I was pouring in sweat immediately. Wanted to quit by mile 3. Shortened my plan by skipping Whitehorse Ledge. 9.4 miles in 1:34:18. 914ft of elevation gain.

Sweating like crazy

Hiking and Paddling with John

Nanamocomuck Walk- 7/7/2020. 3.1 miles out and back.

The Kancamagus Zoo. Place is so gross. 

Someone got in the mud

Blueberry Mountain Hike- 7/12/2020. This ended up being miserable. It was so hot and humid, and I chose the wrong route up. John was miserable and hated every minute of it. I had no idea how steep of a climb up it would be starting from Pickett Place in Evans Notch. It was straight up and all wet rock. By the time we got to the first opening with a view, John was done. I went on a little further to the summit and then came back. He was SO mad. On the way down, I slipped and scraped my arm. Nothing crazy, but I said to John, "That probably made you smile a little bit seeing me fall after I tortured you with this walk." He kind of smiled and said, "Well, I'm not going to lie." Hahaha. The only thing worth hiking this route for was the brook that had carved into the granite making a flume. The view over to The Basin at the top overlook was cool, too, but it was mostly just a miserable hike. Haha. Plus, I was exhausted after little sleep at Conway and running Mt. Hale. The hike was about 3 miles and over 1,200ft of elevation gain.

He was yelling at me for taking his photo.

Blueberry battle wound haha

McNair Scenic Trail- 7/14/2020. I'm always trying to come up with places where we won't see people so this was a good choice. It's a trail that goes around a pond off E Madison Rd. Had the trail to ourselves. After so much rain the pond was full. We had to walk the road back to the car briefly, but it was still a nice walk. 1.5 miles.

Chocorua Lake- Finally decided to test out if Chill could ride on the paddleboard so we could paddle across the lake and hang out on the beach. It wasn't easy to paddle him, and I definitely couldn't stand up, but it was doable, and I didn't want to leave him at the house on such a hot day. We ended up staying out there for 3 hours while John played with the dogs in the water. I lied down on my paddleboard and relaxed. John and the dogs had a great time; it was a perfect day.

I was really hesitant to post this, but maybe everyone will stop brushing me off when I say I've gained weight. There it is IN YO FACE. Ha!

Conway Lake- Took another paddle out on Conway Lake. Another disgustingly hot day.

Other random stuff. The photo below was the house my grandmother built in the late 70s on St Simons Island, GA. She died in 1987 and left the house to my dad who gave it to my aunt. She ended up selling it. Many years later, the house came up for sale again, and my oldest cousin jumped on the chance to have Nana's house again. She has fixed it up and posts photos occasionally. When this photo popped up on FB, all of the memories of that pool came rushing back. I can still feel the cement around the pool under my hands and the railings. I still vividly remember coming up those stairs when my parents came to pick me up after leaving me for 3 weeks with both of my grandmothers. They said they had bad news. I jokingly asked if my cat died, and they replied that she had. My first pet that was my own. Devastating. I still remember my grandmother floating in that pool and thinking it was cool that I could carry her around the pool since she was weightless then. She was slightly obese. There was a fig tree just outside the fence that it is no longer there. She used to climb a ladder and pick the figs. The screen porch was a new addition only a few years before she died, but I remember sleeping out there my last summer there. I can still smell the air. There are so many other memories flooding my mind from this one photo. It's amazing that one photo can do that.

20th Anniversary beer by the Moat

Cool droplets in my yard

Photo of my shoes that I left sitting there for a week. These were what I was wearing when I had the allergic reaction. I was terrified of touching them. I was going to throw them away, but I talked some sense into myself, put on some gloves and set them in the sun on the porch. I sprayed them with windex because of the ammonia and let them sit all day in the sun. Then I put them in the wash with vinegar. I reluctantly touched them with my bare hands. Nothing happened. For now, they'll sit on the shoe shelf waiting for winter when Gore-Tex shoes can be useful.

Last week, we had the most disgusting 911 call I've ever been on. In the most horribly disgusting house I've ever been in. And I've been in a lot of disgusting houses. I can't even describe it because you just had to be there. The hoarding, the trash, the smell. By the time we were done with that call, the 5 of us were literally soaked in sweat and had the smell all over us. Luckily I had been bringing a second uniform (and used it often), but what I failed to bring was toiletries. We were lucky someone left body wash in the shower, and Jeff had a small bottle of hotel shampoo. Learned my lesson. I now have this with me at work every shift. Haha.

Snacks at Huggins Hospital. The EMS coordinator stocks a shelf of snacks, a refrigerator of drinks and Keurig with a really good selection of coffee. I love it. Last Monday I was so annoyed with our supervisor parading around like a hero with my partner following along and not helping me clean the equipment or the ambulance. It disgusted me so much that I took a Party Mix and 15 Twizzlers with me when we cleared to help get out my frustrations. Haha.

Thought I'd do a brief update on how my gut is doing. I haven't mentioned it all really because ever since I started taking the Gut Health Formula a little over a year ago, it hasn't been much of an issue. It definitely didn't go back to normal, but this stuff has made it as normal as it ever will be. I swear by it.

After sleeping on a king sized futon-type mattress for the last 12 years, I finally bought a new mattress from Wayfair. I can't believe I was stuck sleeping on that crappy mattress for so long, but no more! It went straight to my car roof and off to the dump on Thursday. I was happy to pay the $25 to get of that junk finally. They say money doesn't buy happiness. I'm assuming the "they" who says this has never been dirt poor. I can tell you that having enough money to buy things I've needed/wanted for years has brought me a lot of joy. Just being able to afford food and gas now has brought me happiness. I told a Conway co-worker how much I make now. He gasped and asked how I afford to live. I told him I have plenty of money now and compared to how desperate I was before, I feel rich now, so I guess it's all relative, and money can buy you happiness if you spend it wisely.

Speaking of spending money, I signed up for Crossfit! I'm really excited. I start my first session with a personal trainer on Tuesday. I can't wait to see how this works out for me. They require 4 one-on-one sessions before they set you loose so I'll hopefully get that done over the next two weeks and then commit to 3 classes per week. I'm ready for something new and to be full-body fit again. I'm really happy with my current mountain running fitness, but the rest needs work.

Sorry for the less exciting post. I can't really top the nearly dying in the last one. Haha. I'm sure there were things I was going to write that I forgot about. Nothing exciting coming up. I'll still be working on the 4000-footers. Should have them all done by mid-August, I think. I really should drag it out a bit since it's been so motivating, but I'm actually excited to go back to some of the other mountains and see how much better my fitness is now. I'd like to do a Presi Traverse, but I never have anyone to pick me up at the other end and the AMC shuttle isn't running this year. So that might be a next year thing. I don't know. I'm just going with the flow. Probably happier than most people since 2020 has been a good year for me. Life is great right now. Very low stress. That initial anxiety I had when everything started to open back up subsided quickly. It wasn't going to change so I had to let that go. Running in the crowds on weekends helped me ease back into the land of the living. Getting used to people again. Hating most of the tourists in town still since they act like total idiots, but the ones on the trails have been mostly happy, friendly people.  Catch y'all later! It's beer time.