Winter?

Winter seems to be back on the menu, with multiple days with temps in the teens early in the week with a cold, strong and rather unnecessary wind, followed up by snow on Saturday, with just enough to make things messy and have it look like winter again! 

Tuesday was too darn cold and windy for an early morning run in the darkness and by the afternoon, I was exhausted, so I just took a very brisk walk around the school block. (2.6 miles walked)

Wednesday, I was working from home and with no meetings on the docket (It's a miracle! 🎉🎉), I decided to run after I dropped Sam off at school and headed over to the Commons in an attempt to stay out of the wind, and since I haven't run over there since the spring. Downright cold out there with the wind, even in the woods! Should have worn double pants. Brr! (7.1 miles)

Thursday, I ended up with another daylight run in the late afternoon. Ran the cart paths and around the Heath. Blustery and cold. Wore all the layers. Moody sky and marsh. (6.0 miles)

Still windy on Friday morning 😂😜Ran the cart paths in the late morning after getting the errands done. Felt a bit sloggy. (7.1 miles)

Then there was enough time for lunch and a bit of work before taking Sam up to the Y for swim practice and then up to Wiscasset for her Mt. A. swim meet, which had an early 6:00 pm start. Thankfully Y practice was pretty chill, with Jay chatting to the kids for 30 minutes and then water polo. Sam said, well, now I'm warmed up! She swam well, despite not hitting some of the times she was hoping for. It's hard to be 15 and coming back from being sick - she wants to be right back where she was, but we know the pneumonia took a toll and it's going to take a bit of time. 

Look at that rise from the water! 

Saturday, I headed out at 9:00 am and looped on the roads around town. Overcast and cold but at least the winds had died down! (8.0 miles) 

Then it was home for a quick shower and lunch and up to the Y for the day's swim meet. Ryan and I headed out for a short walk around the Bath block before the swim meet started. Enough snow to make it fairly sketchy in road shoes - Ryan’s Hokas were not doing him any favors 🤪(2.0 miles walked)

This morning I continued the trend of the late start run, and headed out around 9:00 for my run. With between 1" and 2" inches of snow having fallen, it was very slushy, snowy and sloppy out there so not the best underfoot but on the plus side it wasn’t windy!!! Saw six bluebirds, and this adorable possum art out back 😍😍 (12.0 miles)

I’ve set some yearly goals but also breaking things up by week to stay focused. Hit my targets this week:

40 miles run✔️

2 walks✔️

1x arms ✔️ (I do regular pre-run core/glute/lower bodyweight stuff before every run but I’m trying to add back in some upper body stuff)

Still have yet to choose my 2025 ultra. It won’t be VT or Ghost Train, I know, but still pondering…

And just for fun, two of my cuties 😻

Happy New Year!

A Wednesday holiday is so weird! I had been off on Monday, then worked on Tuesday, then was off on Wednesday for New Year's Day, and back into work the next day. Definitely not my preferred holiday scheduling! 

It was a quiet New Year's Day. It rained all morning so I was in no rush to run, and instead I did some work, went to the grocery store and then took down the Christmas tree, which is always such a sad chore! The house looks empty with it gone, and I do so love the lights. Then finally, there were no more excuses and the rain had (mostly) stopped, so out I went at 2:15 for my run. Dreary, misty, overcast, damp afternoon. Felt pretty clunky, and I didn’t even stay up and do anything exciting on New Year's Eve - I was in bed by 9:00 😂😂🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️ Ran out into Highland Green. The back road was pretty mucky. (7.1 miles)

Thursday it was back to reality with work for me and Ryan and school and swim practice for Sam, and then on Friday it was more work, some errands, and then finally a late afternoon run for me on the cart paths and around the Heath. Crispy crunchy underfoot, and windy. Brrr. (6.0 miles)

Sam had a high school swim meet up in Waterville on Friday evening, and so all the swim fans were in the bleachers cheering the team on. Sam had some great swims, especially given that she is definitely still not 100% after the walking pneumonia, and finished off the meet with a final push in the last 25 to get her relay team into 2nd, which was fun!

Saturday, I spent a bit of time on the couch and hit the farmer's market before heading out for a run around 10:45. Bright but chilly with the wind, and feeling a bit creaky. (8.0 miles)

Sam spent the afternoon over at Anne's making sugar cookies while I got some cleaning done around the house and Ryan tackled replacement of our really old and finally dying food disposal (final results on the replacement still pending 😬).  I think Sam got the better deal 😂😍

Sunday, with my stomach feeling a bit off and no real drive to do a long run in feels like 10 degree temps with the wind, I headed out around 8:00 to get in some miles. Ran out on the powerlines. Bright and cold. Powerlines are a bit sketchy with ice and uneven frozen sand and hoar frost so a bit of cautious footwork involved. (7.1 miles)

Then Ryan and I headed up to Emily's for a walk out in Butler Head Preverse and to lunch at Mae's. Cold but pretty along the river, and so good to catch up with Emily and see her settled in at the new house! (2.0 miles walked)

And the finally tally for 2024:

December:
188.80 run miles
25.25 walk miles
0.0 XC miles (how did I not ski any miles this year?!)

YTD:
1,543.00 run miles
300.00 walk miles
0.0 XC miles

Out with 2024 and Onto 2025

Rain and cold temps on Monday morning meant that I was not enthused with my plan to head out for a run before we headed home from MA, so I didn't 😜 Instead I got in a walk around the indoor track up at the Y in the early afternoon while Sam was at high school swim practice. She was feeling much better, so we thought it would be worth it to get in the pool for one practice for the day, but didn't push it for both practices. (3.1 miles walked - so many laps!)

The rain stopped later in the evening, but temps dropped and things were looking quite slick out there on Tuesday morning when I woke up. I needed to head into the office to get some things completed by year-end, but I also wanted to get in a walk and a run  (silly goals!😄) so I decided I would walk in the morning as it would be easier to be cautious while walking versus running, and then run in the afternoon. Headed out at 6:30 am to wrap up my walk miles for the year. The pavement was definitely sketchy, so I did a lot of walking on the grass. (2.9 miles walked)

After some time in the office, I headed home to get ready for the final run of 2024. Sam had headed with Lauren and family down to Old Orchard Beach for the night, and Ryan had finished up work for the day, so he decided to join me for the run, which was nice! We headed out through the woods onto the cart paths and down to the river. Very soggy and squishy in the woods and on the cart paths, and the river was roaring with all the rain! (6.1 miles)

And with that, it's a wrap on 2024! 

Of course, as always, the year is not simply defined by the miles, and I always love to look back through my photos and think about all the adventures and fun we've had in the past year, and 2024 was no exception. While there were the inevitable lows, like Ryan and I having Covid at the start of the year, my torn hamstring, the election results, and Sam having walking pneumonia this month to name a few, there were a lot of highlights too. Sam turned 15, got her braces off and started driving (!), Ryan and I celebrated our 25th anniversary (!!), we celebrated my dad's 80th birthday, the three of took a great trip to Quebec in the late summer, Sam had another year with a fun two weeks at Y camp and being social with her friends (I do so love to see the girls together 😍), Ryan and I had a great weekend crewing for Emily at the VT100, we saw an eclipse and the aurora borealis (so cool!), and we had some great times spent both on the trails and off with family and friends throughout the year 💗

Looking back on my goals for the year, I give myself a solid C 😂😂

• Continue to stay healthy, happy and reasonably sane. I'd say I mostly achieved this, although the health component was shaky a few times with Covid and the torn hamstring, and of course the sanity is always in question. 😄😉
• Time with Ryan and Sam, including some outdoor adventures together. Sam had a busy year and she is a teenager after all, but we did manage to get in a few hikes and walks together, and we had a great time in Quebec as a family!
• Time together with my parents. It is amazing to have my parents just a few miles away. I am so grateful for the time we get to spend with them!
• Visits with Irene, Dana and the rest of the family throughout the year. Hopefully we will get to see Kristen and Morgan in 2024. We didn't manage to get down to Meg and Chris' new home in NJ but we did spend time together at Thanksgiving and after Christmas, we saw Irene and Dana several times outside of the holidays, and Kristen came to visit for a week in October, which was so fun!
• More time with friends, both on the run and elsewhere. Hoping to get together with Corie and Kris this year for a girls weekee running/hiking adventures. Get back to the Pemi and do more running up at Ragged and Camden. I did get in some nice time running, walking and hanging out with Emily, Emma, Val, Mindy and Anne this year, and we had a fun dinner with Keri and Tyler, which was great, along with our annual trip to Chalk Pond to see all our Bowdoin friends, and Ryan was able to ski with Michael and Kendra out in Colorado, but Corie, Kris and I weren't able to make a trip happen this year, nor did I do any mountain running, so I mixed bag on this one!
• 2,000+ miles run, with a goal of 2,200. I did not hit my running goal for the year of 2,000 miles run. The hamstring tear saw to that. Got in 1,543 miles instead. Disappointed because I like to reach my goals 🤪 and while I ultimately know that the miles don't really matter, I am a bit sad to have my streak of 2,000 mile years broken. However, that being said, I am grateful for what I was able to do, especially given the injury, and glad to be back running and over that hurdle, and am looking forward to next year’s hopes and dreams and silly running goals and miles ❤️
• 200 miles walking/hiking. Was more successful in my walking goal for 2024 with the goal (over)achieved. I had set a goal of 200 walking miles for the year but when I tore my hamstring, I was walking much more than running so nudged the goal to 300.
• Be able to race the final 20 miles of Twisted Branch 100k. Nope, didn't even make it to the start line
• Strength work 2x a week plus hill/speed work 1x a week during training. I let these things slack in 2023, and want to work this stuff back into the routine in 2024. I did so-so with the strength training, hitting 2x a week most weeks, but let things slack off at the end of the year, and there wasn't much training so there wasn't much hillwork either.
• 60 books read. Read 122 books! I wasn't training as much so I had more time to be spending on the couch - ha!

For 2025, the goals will be relatively similar:

• Continue to stay healthy, happy and reasonably sane. 
• Time with Ryan and Sam, including some outdoor adventures together. 
• Time together with my parents, Irene and Dana, and the rest of the family.
• Enjoy a special trip to Paris together! We are headed there in late July/August with my parents, and then Sam, Ryan and I are going on to Chamonix for a few extra days. So excited!😍😍
• More time with friends, both on the run and elsewhere.
• 2,000+ miles run. 
• 200 miles walking/hiking. 
• Get back to strength work, and hopefully hill work too once I choose a 2025 race.
• Run an ultra!
• Read 75 books. 

So with that, cheers to a 2025 filled with more highs than lows, and time with friends and family both on the trail and off 💗

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Running Log Files:
2024 - 1,543.00
2023 - 2,204.00
2022 - 2,157.00
2021 - 2,200.00
2020 - 2,200.00
2019 - 2,116.00
2018 - 2,112.00
2017 - 2,002.00
2016 - 1,900.00
2015 - 1,963.60
2014 - 1,702.00
2013 - 1,557.75
2012 - 1,400.00
2011 - 1,375.00
2010 - 1,100.00
2009 - 675.50 *pregnant/Sam born
2008 - 1,112.00

Walk/Hike Log Files:

2024 - 300.00
2023- 200.00
2022 - 270.00
2021 - 332.00
2020 - 362.00
*still need to search down the stats for these in-between years
2009 - 104.50

Merry Christmas, It's Walking Pneumonia!

Oh the joys of the holiday germ season! 😩😷😬

After a rough night on Sunday night with a whole lot of coughing, I called the doctor on Monday morning and managed to get Sam an appointment. I was in the office, trying to wrap things up before the holiday, so Ryan took her in. Turns out, Sam had walking pneumonia! 😱 Poor kid! 

With that, we started up antibiotics and as much rest as we could muster for the rest of the week, in the hopes that she could kick this thing! Unfortunately the cough didn't abate as quickly as we would have liked, and she was just pretty tired out all week. 

It snowed overnight on Monday into Tuesday morning, which was lovely. Always nice to have a white Christmas! I got out early for a quick trip on Tuesday morning to the grocery store and then came home to get some work done before heading out in the early afternoon for a run down to the river and back. It was fun to run in a few inches of fluffy snow! So pretty! Of course it also hid the ice so even with my spikes I took one tumble on an icy rocky ledge and I passed a lady walking her dog who also took a tumble. I was able to help her up but barely. Aie! (6.0 miles)

Then it was off to Mom and Dad's for some gingerbread house construction (with the glue gun, of course! 😂) and our traditional Christmas Eve dinner of Indian food and gingerbread. Yum!

Woke up early on Christmas morning and headed out for a run on the quiet roads of Highland Green. Cold, calm and icy with a beautiful sunrise. (6.0 miles)

And then it was onto the Christmas festivities! 💗🎄We had a nice morning at home with Mom and Dad, and then Irene and Dana joined us for Christmas breakfast and a bit of relaxing in the early afternoon before we headed down to Tom and Sarah's for Christmas dinner. It was good to see everyone, and a lovely Christmas day overall, although somehow I did not get any photos except this one of Sam and Sugar! 😂🐶

Thursday was another day at home. We skipped swim practice so Sam could sleep, and while I did get a few errands and some work done, it was a pretty mellow day. While it was cold and icy in the morning hours, temps warmed up and with the sun shining, it was quite a nice afternoon. Headed out a little before 2:00 pm for a run, with Ryan joining me for the first four miles, which was a nice treat! We ran over in Highland Green, where things were alternately icy, slushy and clear underfoot. Not feeling the peppiest, but the holidays will do that! (8.0 miles) 

Ryan headed out for a day of skiing on Friday and I took Sam to get her official learner's permit in the morning. 

I had planned to run in the afternoon once the iciness subsided and things warmed up, but honestly I was pretty wiped out - nothing like the holidays and sickness in the house to tire a person out! -  so I chose to take a walk around the school block instead. (3.0 miles walked)

Saturday I was up and out the door into the darkness to get in some miles before we headed south to MA for Christmas #2. Headed out a little before 6:30 and ran into the most gorgeous sunrise 😍🌅Truly beautiful! As I crossed the Androscoggin, the sky began to turn pink and red and I just couldn't resist continuing out along the bike path so that I could continue to see the sky as the color continued to spread. So pretty! Definitely made getting out early worth it! And with no wind, 20 degrees didn't even feel all that cold 😂(12.0 miles)

We got down to Irene and Dana's for lunchtime and then after the typical chaos that comes with visiting with the nephews 😂, we headed into Newburyport for dinner at Agave. Yay margaritas! 

Had planned to run before the Christmas festivities, but woke up to heavy fog and temps in the mid 30s on Sunday morning and decided it would be safer to run later in the day. So instead, it was a quiet morning on the couch enjoying the Christmas tree before everyone else woke up. 

Headed out around 10:30 for my run. It was damp and still very foggy and I didn't have a ton of energy, but glad to get out and have a bit of quiet and wrap up a 40 mile week. (8.0 miles)

Wrapped up the day with a nice family dinner. Merry Christmas!