There's no way I could recap all of 2022 in one post. The server wouldn't be able to handle all of my photos! There is actually a legitimate reason that I haven't been updating my blog since June. I have been SO busy since the last week of May! While still working full-time, I started taking classes over the summer at White Mountain Community College so it took up a lot of my free time. Then... in the fall, I started full-time classes while still working 48 hours/week. Man, was that brutal. I literally had one full free day a week. 20+ hours of school and 48 hours of work. Super hard. This has been a tough transition for Ryan and me. Plus, he's putting in long days at work 5 days a week.
To add insult to injury, Ryan's dad got into a bad accident in August and never went home again. We had just visited him 2 weeks prior and had a bad feeling about him out driving. He wouldn't have stopped no matter what Ryan said, though. He still would have done it. All he wanted was his independence. Ryan spent a lot of time going to visit him and being involved in his care as he bounced from hospital to hospital and then finally landing in a nursing home. Ryan visited him fairly often. It was sad how quickly he deteriorated, but once you stop moving at his age, you go downhill fast. Watching him decline at the end was tough. On November 27, Ryan's dad passed away at the nursing home. Luckily Ryan had been able to see him one last time 2 days before he passed. Ryan went into overdrive and got everything put together for the wake, funeral and reception in less than a week. All of the services went well. I didn't have much time to get to know his dad, so it was nice to hear other people's stories about him at the wake. It was an emotional, stressful weekend, though. I'm glad John and I were able to be there to support him. I took this photo of Ryan cutting his dad's fingernails at one of our visits to the nursing home. He didn't know I was taking it.
So needless to say, we've been dealing with a lot over the last 6 months. But that doesn't mean we didn't make the best of our free time together. We did a lot of running together and even got back into racing more this year...and with a lot of success! After Promise Land, we ran the Soapstone Mountain Race (which was back to a slightly longer race this year, just over 25K). I, unfortunately, sprained my ankle within the first 2 miles. Man, I've had some ankle sprains, but this was a really bad one. I felt the pop. I had to limp for a bit, then walk, then finally decided to run again and planned to drop out at the last water stop before we started on the section of no return, but I didn't realize where it was and had no choice but to finish the race. Surprisingly, I was still able to finish 2nd female. Ryan had a really good race that day, too. Full Results
My ankle took quite a while to heal, and I honestly don't know if it will ever be the same. The summer was fine, but after running with it in the fall with leaves covering the hidden gems, it got a little jacked up again. Not a big deal, though, because I was mostly done with running for the season anyway. I also only had time for short runs during the week.
In May, my company sent me to Washington, D.C. for 4 days for the Stars of Life awards sponsored by the American Ambulance Association. They put us up in a really nice hotel on the wharf. It was a really awesome trip. Two other women from my company went, also. I had great time exploring D.C. again since I hadn't been there since my flight attendant days back in 2001. I rented a scooter to ride around the city. Fun...and maybe a little scary, too. I can't say I felt like I deserved this award and trip, but I really appreciated being chosen.
Should have kept the hair down
Post-race drink
Race winnings!
We registered for the Ragged 75 Stage Race so we spent the rest of June and July preparing for it. I had already done it before in 2017 (see blog post here), but I am not in the same running condition I was then, so I was a little nervous about it. I was still doing mostly road running in 2017, and doing it well. Not like before I succumbed to high hamstring tendinopathy, but still pretty fast. And Ragged is almost all runnable. This time around, I was going into it with the intention of doing it much faster so I put a lot of pressure on myself. Luckily I have the best guy in my life who encouraged me to do the long runs on the weekends. I spent 2 years not wanting to do any long runs, but Promise Land lit a new spark so here we were! I also did most of the Summer Series 5Ks at Whitaker Woods like I do every summer to have a little speed boost. I ran faster this year than last, so that was encouraging. We started off doing Friday Night Vertical, but we got bored with it halfway through. It was also a weird crowd. By the last time we did it, more than half the people were starting early and not doing the group start. So stupid. These were people who used to do the group start. Isn't that kind of the point? It wasn't like they needed to leave early because they were still up there when we finished and when we headed back down. And not to mention that more than half the people there hate us for things we didn't even do so why hang out with them? It was good for a few Fridays, but I think I'm all set with that scene to do it again. There are people there that we do really like, but it's very few people. I'm all set with this place, and Ryan is REALLY all set with this place. Keeping our eyes on the prize of a new scene in less than 2 years!
Some of our long runs included a double Moosilauke, Zealand to Lincoln Woods traverse so I could finally finish up my NH 48. It only took me 24 years! Haha. Hard to believe I had NEVER done the Bonds up until this year. I honestly rarely ever had the time between work and full-time parenting. The only long runs I had time for over the years were on the road since I could get them done faster and get back home in time for John.
I did my own long run at Pleasant Mt., what I call the quad. 18+ miles of hell. Every time I've done this route, I've stumbled it in at the end. It's a lot harder than it looks on "paper." Plus, it was hot and humid ALL summer. Every single run was a struggle. No lie. I might as well be living back in the south. Horrible. I hate it so much. Plus, the bugs. Gross.
We also did a lower traverse from Zealand to Lincoln Woods early summer. Neat route via the Cedar Brook Trail, but SO many blowdowns the whole way. I finally did Huntington Ravine for the first time this summer. How I hadn't done it yet, I don't know, but it was cool. I thought it would be scary, but it wasn't at all. Now that I know the route, I'd like try again, but faster.
The longest and worst run we did was loop of the Dry River Trail, over Eisehower and back via Mt Jackson and Webster Cliff. The Dry River Trail is horrible. I'll never do it again. Haha. It almost made me quit long runs forever! Haha!
Friday Night Vert finish at Cranmore
Zealand to Lincoln woods via Cedar Brook Trail
2nd ascent up Moosilauke
Cheesecake to celebrate my 48 finish
We also got in some paddleboarding this summer. I took Phoenix out once in the kayak.
Where we had our first date 8/6/2020
John had an exciting year. He finally got his driver's license! I ended up giving him my Kia Sorento. It made sense for me to use the Kia Soul for my school commute, but I'm really missing my heated seats right now! It was a little scary watching him drive away alone for the first time, but he's been good so far. It's also opened up his world. Without wheels, you're totally isolated here. Now, he's off visiting his friends all the time. Plus, I don't have to drive him everywhere so I was finally able to go to school again. I do kind of miss picking him up from school, but it definitely is so much easier on all of us with him being able to drive.
He spent the summer working at Storyland, mostly at the Roar-o-Saurus. It was a great job for him. Now, if I could just get him to do better at home with his dishes, that would be great. Haha.
He's been taking an aviation course at the high school since he was a freshman, and he's on his way to getting a pilot's license within 2 years if he applies himself. He's already taken off and landed the Cessna's they practice with all by himself (the instructor is still there with him). I got to try out the high school's flight simulator during John's parent-teacher conference. That was really cool.
The weekend before the Ragged 75, Ryan and I decided to run the Kingman Farm trail 5K. I had never done it before, although it's the same course as the old snowshoe race that I did once in 2016. Ryan ended up winning overall, with me 2nd overall, but we didn't take the win easily. There were 2 women who gave us a run for our money almost to the very end so it was a hard-fought win for us both. I hadn't run that hard in a long time, not even at Whitaker.
I had to work the North Conway fireworks this year.
John brought me ice cream!
Thursday rolled around so we headed over toward Sunapee where we were going to camp at the high school there. We stopped at the Flying Goose for dinner and beers first while a complete deluge was unfolding outside... along with lightning and thunder. This made us cranky knowing we could be setting up in a field with thunderstorms and rain all around. We got there to find no one else there and the regular field had signs saying to stay off. Grr. We went up to the baseball field and set up by a dugout to keep our stuff dry. Luckily it was only drizzling, but there were still storms nearby. We set up the tent and went right to sleep... only to be woken up by a sprinkler hitting our tent. Hahaha! It wasn't funny at the time, though. We spent about 2 hours with this sprinkler hitting our tent every 2 minutes. It was so loud. Needless to say, this was the worst night's sleep.
We headed over to Ragged Mt for the start of the race. We looked like the biggest shit show compared to everyone else. Everyone else was dressed and ready to go. Packs on, gear in the UHaul. And here we were loading up the last item just before go time. Haha. We were also wearing waist packs which got a lot of looks and questions later on. I personally have a lot of neck and shoulder issues running far with backpacks so I decided to try an Ultraspire waist pack. Ryan got one too but it was a little smaller. We looked like a couple of newbs... but we certainly didn't run like them. Haha.
The crowd was a lot different than 2017. We didn't know any of the other runners. We'd get to know some of them over the next few days, but really only the ones we ran near the whole time. We mostly only knew the volunteers, but that was ok with us. So getting on the start line, we had no idea who we were racing against. I had some slight confidence with course knowledge so I knew to start off stupidly slow for the first part. Unfortunately, my course knowledge of day 2 was inaccurate in a bad way, making us think we were near the end when we weren't. Oops.
As planned, Ryan and I ran the start together. We assumed we'd run separately the whole 3 days, but that just isn't how any of our days and races went. We learned that we run almost exactly the same speed overall. We didn't even have to try to run together; we ended up that way anyway.
The weather was as bad as predicted. So gross. So I'm glad we started off easy. A group of maybe 4 men and 2 women shot off the start line and pulled away quickly. We hung back at a comfortable pace until we got off the road and onto the trail...and then we started passing people. We passed both women and Ryan went ahead passing 3 men. Unfortunately, he went off course for a bit and ended up behind 2 of the men again. I caught up... so we ran together for awhile. It didn't take long to start feeling the effects of the humidity (93% today). The first day goes over Ragged Mt and Kearsarge Mt so it's a tough day. Ryan had an issue with his water bladder so he fell back for a while then caught up just before the Kearsarge climb. We'd run together again until we got to the awful clear-cut that was new in 2017. It was now like triple the size and miserable. Ryan dropped back again here. He was really suffering in this weather. The sun was beating down on us. I couldn't wait for day 1 to end. Day 1 in 2017 stopped at a local high school. This year, we'd pass that to go another 3 miles to Wadleigh State Park. I passed the school at 15 minutes faster than I had in 2017 so I was happy with that, especially since I was dying.
The last 3 miles were a torture session. I was so glad to come through the field and finish day 1. I needed cold water ASAP. Ryan finished less than 4 minutes back from me. We finished 5th and 6th for the day. No daily results were given so nobody really knew anyone else's actual place or time. The rest of the day involved sitting around drinking beers with the Six03 people since we never really were a part of the rest of the group. I guess we didn't feel like we fit in. We had showers and a great dinner. It was still miserable weather. We would roast in the tent overnight. We could never get cool. Just sitting, we were hot and pouring in sweat.
Day 2 was even worse. I didn't heed my own advice to start off slowly and got caught up in my competition who would start off every day WAY too fast. I tried way too hard to get ahead early on and paid for it. The weather was just as bad at 91% humidity. Ryan's water bladder ended up exploding and he had chafing so bad that he had to ask for help at the Sunapee aid station. Luckily someone had an extra water bladder and diaper cream. He would be miserable from the chafing all day, but he would still destroy me up Sunapee and had a nice kick at the end of the day as I suffered. We did end up on the summit of Sunapee together. I was overheating so badly. We went in the lodge where I stuck my head under the faucet in the bathroom. I drank a ton of cold water, then Ryan got us a bag of ice. It was a lifesaver. Have I mentioned how much I love this guy? I don't know if I could have made it without that. We ran together the rest of the way until the last half mile when Ryan crossed the road ahead of me and beat me on day 2 by 20 seconds. He finished feeling pretty good. I was DYING. I grabbed my bag and went right for the shower. I sat on the floor under the cold water for 10 minutes. That's no exaggeration!! I just couldn't cool off. I was in the bathroom for at least 45 minutes. Haha.
Hanging around outside was pretty miserable. Most people set up in the dark gym to relax. Everyone was beat, and a few people had dropped out already. We even moved up a spot to finish 4th and 5th for the day. We celebrated our 2nd anniversary with some beers... then drank a lot more beers all day. We set up right in the school's entryway where we had a fan. Pretty much stayed there the entire rest of the day. If you moved, you sweat. Pure misery. I had to completely change up my game plan for day 3. The goal became just to finish. I let go of my time goal and decided that I just needed to finish.
I would end up catching up to Ryan when he stopped to get water. We ran together to the next aid station around mile 11. It was overwhelming me with all of the people so I got the hell out of there. Ryan was trying to open a Gatorade pack, but I assumed he would catch right up. I didn't see him again until mile 32!!! I would end up running alone for most of the rest of the way. I played leap frog for a while with my stage race competition because I literally stopped at every water hole I could fit in to dunk myself. It was the only way I got through the 3rd day. The whole time, I was worried that Ryan was hurting... but then with less than 3 miles to the finish, here he came! He'd caught me. I was dragging so he passed me by. He could have beaten me by minutes, but instead, he was waiting for me when I got out to the top of the lift so that we could finish together. 💓💓💓 I love this man! We ended up finishing 4th and 5th overall for the stage race. I barely beat my 50K time from 2017, but I was happy just to finish this one and beat my stage race time by 31 minutes. I had a plan to beat my time by an hour or more, but it wasn't in the cards. The weather really destroyed me this time around. I don't plan to do this race again, but I would do another stage race for sure. Transrockies has been on my list for over 10 years. And now there are many others out there to do. Full Ragged 75/50K results
Less than a week later, Ryan got the phone call that his dad had been in an accident and was in the hospital and life became different for Ryan. It was stressful and an emotional rollercoaster, but he really came through for his dad at the end. At the wake so many people told Ryan that his dad used to talk about how proud he was of him. His dad would have also been proud of him for handling all of the wake/funeral arrangements. It was nicely done. I'm not sure people realized he did the work on his own.
A few random photos I forgot to include:
This ends the recap through Ragged 75. I'll do another post with the rest of 2022.
And now onto serious matters...
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I debated whether to share this or not. I left out her name and email only as a courtesy to myself. Someone tried to get me fired back in August... which would have fulfilled the last check box for my defamation of character case against her. She literally hit every box for a case except that one. All I was missing was proving monetary damages. But alas, I wasn't fired. Sigh. I almost got out!
Also, giving someone the middle finger is NOT harassment; it's protected under the 1st amendment as freedom of speech. Maybe she should have looked that up. I 100% admit to giving her the finger, and she will continue to get the middle finger from me for as long as I have to see her lying face pass by me on the road. She publicly destroyed us with untruths! It's also not harassment for him to call her out on a public FB page for stealing his ideas. Do people even know that it was just Ryan who started AND SOLELY OWNED Rockhopper and who came up with nearly all of the races still currently held? Nope. She has basically erased all proof of his hard work and claimed it as her own.
Oh and she has proof that she isn't insane?! Oh please share it! I can't believe she hasn't already. I would love to see it sometime!
This is maybe the 4th time she has mentioned police involvement regarding Ryan. I'm pretty sure Ryan would have heard about it at least once if there was police involvement. To this day, he has never once been contacted by police in regard to whatever lie of the day she has come up with.
"I have not done or said anything to them...." I'm sorry. Come again? Her lies were literally posted publicly by her on the internet, and hundreds, if not 1000s saw it! Please refer back to having proof that she isn't insane. She is literally a liar. Literally. You know how I know this? Because she has LIED about us.
And "dating?" Really? We haven't "dated" since September 2020. We have shared our lives with each other since then. We've lived together for over 2 years! We also have a joint account...something she would never do with him. No one should be placed in a financial prison by his significant other, especially his wife. He barely made enough to live on when we first got together. I nipped that in the bud to make sure this was OUR money... not mine, not yours. OURS. That isn't "dating." He's also basically been like a stepdad to my son for 2 years now. Also NOT dating. This is what you call a real relationship, so please don't diminish what we have because it still eats you alive that we're together.
And now to the best part: "...if I'm ever in need of emergency care I'm terrified she will hurt me." I have NEVER ONCE threatened to hurt this woman. Never. When I'm doing my job, I will always care for my patient. I've professionally cared for a murderer, a child molester and a guy who had just accidentally killed my friend! This is something an evil person would write, but I predicted this back in 2020. She probably has no idea that my work partner and I were supposed to be on that 911 call she placed about her possible amputated toe. That was supposed to be our call, but as luck would have it, and for the first time ever, we agreed to take a transfer so the transfer crew could get a break. I was driving the ambulance on that transfer when that call came through over dispatch, and I knew it was her because of the address and her age. I told my partner after we dropped off our patient that I would not have gone anywhere near her because, and I quote myself, "She would probably accuse me of trying to hurt her." And why did I think this back in June of 2020 before the divorce and before Ryan and I got together? Because I had already been the brunt of her false accusations since 2016. I also discovered back in 2014 that her public persona was fake when she told me one story then posted the complete opposite story for her followers. Does a woman who claims to have love and forgiveness in her heart lie about people to intentionally hurt them? I'm pretty sure those two things don't go together.
To end on high note, it actually makes me smile knowing that I struck a nerve to make her angry enough to seek revenge for giving her something as benign as the middle finger. She even stewed over it from Monday afternoon until Tuesday morning. (Just basing this on the time I gave her the middle finger until she actually wrote the email, but I could be wrong). It's nice to see this hateful person show her true colors every now and then. I'm guessing it wasn't the "best day ever!"
Oh! And pro tip... consider proofreading before sending an email next time!
