Not much different going on since the last post. Ran a couple of races and got in some good runs with the love of my life. I left off with the election results hanging in the balance. Pretty much a nail biter for days and now very relieved to see the orange scumbag will be leaving the Oval Office. Such a horrible human being. I don't know how I would have dealt with another 4 years of him. Of course, his followers are still fighting for him to stay President, but it isn't happening. Take down your Trump flags and move on. The real issue now is Covid-19 and its massive spread. I'm now swabbing "asymptomatic" people who are coming up positive. I feel like it's closing in on us and the inevitable will happen. I've been wearing my mask all the time at work, even to sleep in when I have to share a bedroom. I started wearing it at Crossfit yesterday. We stay distant from each other, but with the door being shut now due to the cold, I feel like I should take that precaution. I'll be honest that it really sucked wearing it during my workout yesterday, but I still feel like I'm doing the right thing.
John is going to see family with Bryan for Thanksgiving. I wasn't too keen on the idea and talked to him about it, but I really don't have much of a say since Bryan still has equal parenting rights, despite not seeing John but once in the last 3 months. Ryan and I are the only immediate household members John is with so he really shouldn't be going anywhere with other people, but I'm at least somewhat confident that Bryan's family isn't careless about it. Fingers crossed.
Ryan and I will spend Thanksgiving just the 2 of us. Not sure what we'll do for a run since the weather looks bleak, but we'll do something. I really wish we could go to the movies. I miss going to the movies. I miss a lot of things. I'm just happy to have Ryan in my life now or else tomorrow would have been pretty lonely. I've worked most Thanksgivings since 2011 with a few years off, and I definitely would have worked it this year if I didn't have Ryan. But now I have my person to be with. It never gets old.
I left off with the Blackout 10K up next for racing. We were both a little stressed and nervous about it since we didn't know how certain people there were going to be towards us. I was able to work out a little of my stress by moving Bryan's stuff out of the main part of the garage during the day before the race. I got pretty worked up about it, and I ended up pretty exhausted mentally and physically after that. Not to mention that I was EXTREMELY sore from Thursday's Crossfit class. The most sore I had been yet. I figured my race was doomed so that helped ease my stress. Ryan, on the other hand, was the one who had the most to deal with going into this crowd. Former friends who had sided with his ex without ever questioning her. Did anyone think to ask for proof of her accusations? Apparently not since there wouldn't have been any! She can't prove her lie. And then there was her just being there. I was feeling a bit nervous about it, but I think I was able to get past it mostly before the start of the race. She ended up not even racing! No idea why, but I was thankful I didn't have to be anywhere near her and that she didn't cause a scene. Ryan, on the other hand, struggled all day and at the race. The stress of it all took its toll, and he didn't have a good race or a good time which really sucks since we both used to like these local races. I'm not feeling comfortable there anymore either, and I find myself reading into everything wondering if I'm being snubbed or if it's all in my head. There were a few people there who made the night better, like Jim Boule and some other people Ryan knew who treated us like normal.
Race recap: We got there a little over an hour before start time. Got our bib numbers then got ready for a warm up. Just a 1.1 mile run up the paved road together. I couldn't believe how sore I was. I didn't know how I could possibly race hard. The mile helped me loosen up some, but I honestly thought I was doomed. Back in the lot, I eyed the other women who looked fast. Most were really young, and I hardly recognized a soul. I hadn't recognized many names on the entrant's list prior to the race either. Most were from out of State. That was a little annoying with the whole Covid thing going on, but they just won't stop traveling up here, and I need to stop letting it get to me. So hard, though.
We moved to the start line of the 10K with about 10 minutes to go. I was starting to feel nervous about how this was going to go. The race is two loops up and down Black Mt (not to the summit, but mid-mountain) so the key was not going out too fast. That's easier said than done. A few women were lined up ahead of me. Kim Proulx was one of them, but I didn't recognize her from behind (and I had just talked to her in the lot!). The others I also didn't recognize. At this point, I had no idea Ryan's ex wasn't running so I was still expecting her to win the race. I had no expectations for myself. We listened to the pre-race instructions from Andrew then off we went!
The race started with a gentle climb and two women shot out ahead of me. I stayed next to Ryan until I realized that one of those women was Kim so I picked up the pace to get ahead of her. The next woman up I hadn't seen at the start line, but she already had a good gap on me. I focused on trying to get into a good position before the conga line started. Luckily, the first climb was short and we had a short but decent downhill before the longer run up the switchbacks. I unfortunately didn't gain any ground on the woman in front of me which was discouraging so I had really push hard to keep close on the long run up. I knew I was pushing too hard for the first loop, but I couldn't hold myself back. Finally, she started to fall back and I gained some ground... only to be passed by a tall blonde woman like I was standing still. Damn! She was a good uphiller so I just assumed I'd be finishing no better than 2nd or 3rd today.
We reached to top of that climb and had a short downhill over to the next climb up. This was steeper so I was powerhiking. I started to feel a little more comfortable in my breathing, and the leg soreness had subsided. The major leg fatigue remained, but I had gotten myself in a good mental state by this point that I was able to push through it. I finally caught the woman who had been ahead of me from the start. She lost it a little bit and I was able to move past her and focus on the other woman. She had gotten a lead on me, but we hit a longer, steeper downhill, and I went for it. I was completely out of control and hoping for the best and luckily passed her quickly. So at this point, I knew she wasn't a great downhill runner, but on the uphill, she had me beat. The course climbed again, but I had gotten enough of a lead that she didn't catch me. I had expected the race to go to the top of ski area so after a climb up, but it was followed by a long downhill where I stepped in some soft grass and went down suddenly. I wasn't hurt at all, but I was completely prone on the grass and had to get myself up fast. I was shocked to find the course heading back down instead of uphill. Was that the top of the course already? I questioned it, but the downhill seemed way too long to be going back uphill, but we kept making turns that would go uphill. I finally realized we were definitely on the way down and picked up the pace as much as possible, but every look back, the blonde woman was visible. Too close for comfort for the upcoming 2nd loop. I had already turned on my headlamp for the darkness of the second loop. I was thankful for having light for the first loop so it would be familiar on the second. I knew it would be slower, but as I hit the start/finish area and checked my watch, I was pretty sure I'd break an hour for the race.
The climb back up hurt and all I could see was the blonde girl gaining on me. I took each downhill as hard as I could to hold her off, but I couldn't shake her. I knew, though, that if I could hold her off until the same downhill I'd passed her on on the first loop, I would have the win in the bag. It wasn't easy, though. She was running super strong so I was never sure... until I hit the downhill I had been waiting for. And that was it. I never spotted her again. I didn't hold back, though, since I had no idea whether someone else could have been holding back only to catch me at the end. I was running scared until the last .3 or so when I knew for sure I was going to win. I was so psyched to hit the final downhill to the finish where I crossed the line in 56:06. I couldn't believe I had pulled off the win! At my age, wins are becoming a thing of the past.
I saw Jeff Walker by the finish so I walked to him to talk a bit and wait for Ryan to finish. He wasn't too far back, but neither was the 2nd woman... and not the blonde woman either. It was the other woman I had been behind at the start. She came through a second ahead of Ryan and a second behind another guy (the results are wrong. Ryan's time is wrong, and the other guy is completely missing). They were about 40 seconds behind me. Ryan told me the blonde girl had taken a bad fall on the way down and had had to walk. I actually felt pretty bad for her since she had had a good race up to that point. Ryan and I walked right to the car. He said he'd had a sudden pain in his left hip flexor on the last downhill so he had to hold back a bit. He definitely wasn't happy with his race, but it was mostly all mental. I'm not faster than him and normally wouldn't have beat him.
We changed clothes and grabbed some beers then headed over to the awards with Jim Boule. They somehow messed up the women's awards and gave 2nd place to the wrong person. Upon realizing their mistake, instead of having her give back the award, they gave the real 2nd place woman what I think was my masters award since I was announced as first overall and first master but only got one bag. Luckily Kim, who was 3rd, got her award accurately. I was still psyched to win a 5lb bag of Ski the Whites coffee and a 4-pack of beer. The bag was some swag from Merrell. I then won another small bag of coffee in the raffle. I thought I'd hit the motherload. Great awards until I found out that I was supposed to get a $170 Merrell gift card in my bag. Mine wasn't in it (I triple checked). I would never have known if Jim Boule hadn't said something the next day. I was perfectly content with the awesome awards I did receive, but this just made my mind churn. Was it on purpose? Was it only in the masters bags that went to someone else by mistake? I'm going to tell myself that it was a mistake, but at this point, I don't trust anyone in the trail running crowd around here anymore so I'll forever be skeptical. I won't, however, be ungrateful. What I did get was awesome. We're still drinking the great coffee I won, and the Tuckerman beer was pretty good. And I'd had a really good race. I was there with a really awesome guy. What more can I ask for really? Not much.
When the results were finally posted, neither Ryan and I were in them, but Andrew admitted in the post-race email that they had messed up the results. Just thought it was odd they knew I finished 1st woman but then got left out of the results. I again thought this might be on purpose, but we were both added to the results as soon as I sent an email back with our results, so I'm sure I was just being paranoid. Full Results
This race really got me excited for the Friday Night Lights Ski Races coming up. I'll miss the first one on New Year's Day since I'm working at Conway Fire that night, but I'll hopefully make the rest. I'm really excited to use my new AT set up!! It's finally complete! I had IME mount the bindings and trim the skins. The poles finally arrived so I'm now good to go! Yay. I don't have a photo of the whole setup and I'm at work right now so here's a photo of just the skis. Brand new, but factory 2nds. $300 instead of $600.
I got barely used 2019 Fischer My Ranger 90 boots for $200. And Black Diamond skins and poles to go with the Black Diamond skis. It's not a fast setup, except for the Dynafit Speed Radical Bindings, but speed isn't my forte when it comes to skiing. Haha. Really looking forward to using this stuff!
The day after the Blackout 10K, Ryan and I met up with Adam Wilcox for a 15-ish mile run at Bear Brook State Park. I had never run there before so they took me on a tour. It was really warm out for November, and I was feeling the hard effort of the night before, but I hung in there. It wasn't until the last 2 miles when I started to fade badly. It was a good run otherwise. Nice to check out a new place to run.
Earlier in the week, I took the dogs to the Dahl Sanctuary for a walk down to the Saco and found some rock art that I thought was great. The dogs went swimming in the perfect weather we had this whole week.
On that Friday, we moved the Covid Testing Center at Memorial from our secluded spot in the Physical Therapy Building to the "Covid Cabin", as we call it. It's right at the ED entrance so now we're in the loop of the goings-on at the ED. The cabin is great right now, but winter will be a challenge with the cold air blowing in and out. We are testing double the amount of people per day than we were 2 weeks ago. It's crazy.
That night, Ryan and I took the dogs on a sunset hike up Heavenly Hill.
We were lucky to have two more days of really warm weather before it left for the season so I made it point to get back out on the lake in the kayak one last time. I got in a good run off of Lead Mine right after work and then went straight to CrossFit. This left me the entire afternoon to get out on Silver Lake.
Views from my run...
I brought Phoenix along for the paddle. It was gorgeous but just a tad chilly in the wind so after attempting the bikini top and lying to myself that it was warm, I had to give up on that idea. I'd planned to paddle end-to-end-to-end, but for the first time ever, Phoenix fell off the boat! She decided to stand up and shake, lost her balance and went right in the cold water. Not the best day for that, Phoenix. So I paddled to the shore and dropped her off so she could run to warm up. It actually worked until she decided to get back in the water to get to the kayak. Haha. So back to the shore she went for another "warm-up". Haha. She dried off fast this time so the paddle back was nice.
On Thursday, I took a quick trip over to Portland. Stopped at Trader Joe's, some breweries for beer and the Holy Donut. Took the dogs on a walk on the Fore River Trail, too. The weather was really gross so we only walked about 1.5 miles.
