Oh, hello there.

Posted on January 12, 2015 by HaleyComet

I’m late to blogging, late for the “new year resolution” entry, blah blah. It’s been a crazy month, month and a half. No way I can even catch up, but I’ll recap a little bit here.

Went to Lake Placid at the beginning of December and it was so much fun. I learned so much about skeleton, bobsled, luge, how the USOC works, and meeting some neat people. I had so much fun, I extended my trip another week because I didn’t want to go home. I ended up with a nasty sinus infection & cold while I was there, but not unexpected.

A couple days after I got home from LP, I packed up the kids (dogs) and hit the road to Ohio to spend the holidays with K’s family and see friends. What was supposed to be 2, relaxing, weeks (we hardly made any plans!), turned into 2 stressful, busy, weeks. UGH. Not restorative, not relaxing, not enough sleep, still trying to get over my sickness.

Zombie Nativity in Cincinnati!

So funny.

Left there and drove straight to Knoxville for the Pistol ultra, to pace a friend doing the 100. The weather was cold, miserable, and I got about 2 hours of sleep -in the drivers seat of my car- in 40hrs.

Left Knoxville and drove to DFW to dog/housesit for my good friends who were going to run the Dopey & Goofy Challenges at Disney. They were going for almost a week and needed someone. Good reason to see them, and another opportunity to -hopefully- relax and do fun stuff.
Nope.
Arrived on a Sunday evening and was exhausted. Monday, felt more human after a great night of sleep.
Normal day Monday.
Woke up in the middle of the night with food poisoning.
Not a functional human on Tuesday.
Recovered from that for about 2 days.
Then wake up with a cold on Friday. Spend the weekend hydrating, bone broth-ing, NyQuiling.

Watch all the squirrels.

All the puppies!

And now…today…I get to take my computer into Apple where they will send it off, wipe it clean, replace some important hardware, and send it back to me. I will probably be without my computer for a week.

Nope, not so good.

Don’t think this is supposed to keep happening.

One of my friends said after the food poisoning, “well, you’ve got nowhere to go but up!” Well, apparently not and while I’m upset about my computer, they’re fixing it pretty quickly, and free, and I caught the issue in time to backup all my photos and important files. Small victories!

While I feel like I’ve been run down, sick, and not home, I’m generally ‘ok’ with it all. I’m handling it well. I’ll get home, be able to rest, get into my routine, and eat well. I’ll get better, my computer will be fixed, and this crap is just temporary. I think big, good, changes are on the horizon too…which could be stressful, but hopefully worth it in the end.

When I return, I’ll have my “goals” for the new year written. I’m starting my “new year” later this week when I’m at home. Who says it has to start on Jan. 1?

Until then, I leave you with a needy pup.

Your pillow is mine, peasant.

Where I try to catch up.

Posted on November 19, 2014 by HaleyComet

That’s probably worthless and boring, but I’ll add hit some high and low points in the last couple of weeks.

Non workout related: the maps people are making on FB of the states they’ve visited make me laugh. Many people are counting states they’ve driven through, on their way to visit another place. The people who are NOT doing those maps? My runner friends who are chasing 50-States status. Like my friend who has done a marathon in all 50 states, 3 times. I’ve been keeping a map of the states I’ve done marathons in for 5-7 years now. So, I will not be participating, but you can check my map that I keep here! (I’ve visited far more states than I’ve run in, btw)

Good stuff: great workouts until about a week ago, Thurs?. I even was FIRST female in the gym ranking on 11/6! So cool! Of course it was a moderate weight, long workout, with running. Right up my alley. Or, trailer park. (The term du jour is “wheelhouse.” I loathe the term. So, when someone uses it, I reply with, “Oh your trailer park?” Yes. Yes, I do.)
Anyway…
10 rounds (for 10 years), of 11 air squats, 6 hang cleans, then 2004 m run.

(10/27) We did Helen too. I love Helen. I am at least 2+ min slower than my PR. 😦 My pullups need some work, and my engine could be a little stronger, but I’ll get there.

Speaking of working on pullups, a week later we did this killer WOD. It was a LOT of push jerks and pullups. It was a miracle my hands didn’t rip and I’m so glad I did it Rx.
For the 2 of you that care, that’s 10, 9, 8…1 of push jerks, and 2, 4, 6…20 pullups.

Random workout pics:

knot in my back hurt, stopped at 6rds instead of 7.

Veterans Day: 3 Wise Men. Named after the 3 Wise brothers, 2 of whom died in combat. 3 WODS.

THE WISE BROTHERS.

What I wore on Veterans Day. Tights are black camo.

Painful 3-6-9 workout of hang cleans, burpees, and squats. 18 solid rounds though!

That’s enough “catching up”. The last time I blogged workouts was the end of Oct. That’s too many days. Moving on.

The not-so-good: I slept wrong on Wednesday night. Or had poor posture. Or both. I don’t know. I felt a knot in my shoulder and it was uncomfortable. It got worse as the day went on. Friday, I was pretty miserable. I went to the gym thinking I could roll it out on the lacrosse ball, heavy duty foam roller, and other Mobility WOD torture toys. I couldn’t lift my arm, I had shooting pain up my neck. I was nauseated.
Unsuccessful (multiple) calls to my massage therapist, and no ART practitioners were open on the weekend.
Let’s just say I spent the weekend doing a recovery WOD:
hot pad on the floor.
Lax ball.
Epsom bath.
Stretching.
Sleep.
Repeat.
Repeat.

Tuesday (yesterday) and I went to the gym as I was feeling more functional. Spent many minutes on the Mobility ball. Did a scaled workout. Felt ok. The knot is still there, but it’s tolerable. I have the number of a masseuse the women at the gym recommended.
Scaled workout: 3 rounds of 50 double unders, 10 power snatch (45lbs). Time: 16:15.

I leave you with this funny. I was thinking about providing a fun little snapshot at the end of the blog, sort of like Anderson Cooper’s Ridiculist.

Would have been wrong to hit this car? I think this is even worse than taking up two spaces. Let’s just park right in the driving lane, shall we?

Eat all the things!

Posted on October 29, 2014 by HaleyComet

Has anyone else seen Hungry Games? No, not the movie. It’s a new Richard Blais show on Food Network. The show explores the games our brain plays on us when we are craving and eating food. It’s light and accessible, but still really interesting.

After watching the latest episode: Burgers, I wanted a burger. Because: tv.
(I did not fall for the pizza and ice cream episodes! I was strong!)

Lazy jalapeno roasting

I’ve eaten stuff in these mini romaines all week. Tacos, shrimp, burgers, tuna. They’re brilliant. Way to go, Costco. Way. To. Go.
The best thing I made this week! It was so good!
Spiralized Teriyaki Zoodles and Shrimp.
While I did really enjoy it and will make it again, next time I will reduce the amount of sesame oil. I also sauteed my veggies in bacon grease, as I needed more calories. I don’t use “cooking spray” for anything. Many of her recipes are classified as “light”, which is great as they are veggie heavy, but I need more calories if I’m going to be lifting heavy things. OH..hahaha…I used 1/2 pound of shrimp. Not “3-4” . I’m from the coast, we don’t eat just “3-4” shrimp.

Chopsticks make anything better!

Chopsticks like a boss.

Chicken sausage from Costco, horseradish mustard and jalapeno kraut. Love it when one of my pics will be “ok” and then the shit rolls around and mustard falls off and gets all over the broccoli. Yay. I don’t even care if the pic looks like crap.

Thanks, wiener.

They’re pretty good.
Excellent soft boiled eggs, 1/4 sweet potato with coconut cream & cinnamon.

Very lazy dinner.

I went to get sushi with my cousin. The waiter recommended this tuna salad and it was excellent! Tuna, squid, crab, avocado, cucumber, more veggies, seaweed…spicy chili.

(sorry for the dark pic. Restaurant was dark and I wasn’t about to use a flash.)
(Oh, and I totally brought coconut aminos so I wouldnt have to use soy…)
(pps: the waiter was excited about the coconut and said, “I love that stuff!”)

Obviously this isn’t everything I’ve eaten. Just the highlights. My staples are salads, sides of bacon with a plate of veggies, and avocado dip.

I think that’s it! I’d say it was a pretty good food week.

Figuring it out

Posted on October 27, 2014 by HaleyComet

I ended up taking 3 days off from the gym. It was hard, I desperately wanted to go. I was a “good” sore on Tuesday, but still feeling it. I decided to just do some KB stuff at home instead of driving to the gym for about 6 min of a modified workout. It wasn’t what I wanted to do, but in the end, I’m glad I did.

10/21: KB: lots of one arm snatches, SDHP, some swings

10/22: BACK AT THE GYM! WHOO! I made sure to eat enough calories on Tuesday and got 8hrs of sleep. I woke up and my legs felt…normal! I was mentally and physically ready.
I saw the posted WOD and while I knew it wasn’t going to be easy, I was so glad it wasn’t heavy lifting. I could have done it, but my legs appreciated the chipper. Still leg work with the rower, box jumps and burpees…but I can go a speed that is reasonable for my abilities. I think I paced this well and didn’t feel destroyed after.

click the pic to make it bigger

WOD: Time: 18:45. 2nd in my class. Overall, I came in middle-of-the-pack of all the women in the gym. Not bad. I’d like to rank higher since I know I’m capable of more, but I need to accept that this is where my body is at right now. My ranking DOES NOT MATTER at all; it means nothing. But, it’s great for me as I’m really enjoying the motivation it provides. Performance: my T2B were my limiter. Felt great on every other item. My arms and abs are weak…

10/23: Still feeling good! This means that I went the appropriate pace and intensity yesterday. I’d felt like I’d worked out, but I wasn’t incapacitated or overly sore.

Back squat reps, Amber borrowing my shoes.

WOD:
As K says, I’m good at scaling, knowing my limits, and what pace to go in most events or WODs. But this one, I didn’t know what to do. I *can* do handstand push ups (HSPU) against the wall, but to do 44 of them in a WOD that is supposed to be ‘fast and hard’ (says coach), it would take me foooreeevvveeeerrr. However, he agreed that scaling them on a box was waaaay too easy for me, it feels like I’m doing nothing. So, we set up bands to do them hanging from the bars. It was perfect for the WOD!

Now, my new gym friend (that is leaving this weekend,boo) is stronger than me. Not significantly, but in some areas, a good amount. In some areas, I’m better. She’s a good workout partner for me, I’m going to miss her. Anyway…I knew she was too strong to use a box for HSPU (I mean, this girl knocked out an almost 200lb back squat in warmup with no problem…), but she didn’t have the coordination to do a HSPU on the wall. She has never really practiced it. So, with my “encouragement” (shaming her that she was going to let fear dictate her workout…those are fighting words for military women…), I taught her how to get comfortable kicking up on the wall, then helped her get onto the bands for assisted. She was SO EXCITED! “Can you take pictures of me?! My friends won’t believe I finally did this!!” It was awesome. Here is this girl that has pushed me for the past 2 weeks to “lift more,” and she was so excited she could do something new. (I knew she could do it, she just needed the right pressure push and someone to tell her she could). We went about the same pace in the WOD, so I helped her kick up into the bands, then went back to my reps.

I share one of her very excited poses:

Like I said, she’s leaving the gym after this weekend. She’s Active Duty and was just here temporarily. Such is the military life: meeting awesome people, only to have them leave too soon. (and sometimes it’s better that way, before you learn too much.) As a parting gift, I sold her my lifting shoes she was raving over every day. I do love my Reebok Oly Lifter Plus shoes, but she needs them & can’t order her own. I hope the good Karma comes back to me in the form of finding some shoes on the same level on sale. If not, that’s ok as I can get another brand that is just as good for my abilities (which is “suck”, btw) that are cheaper.

After the WOD, the runner dog and I hit the trail for a short jog/walk in the swamp.
10/24: AWESOME DAY!
My arms were a little sore when I woke up, but not overly. A definite “good” sore. Tired as I woke up at 0430 for no reason, but other than that, no reason to take the day off. I think I’ll take off from CF Sat & Sun, then be ready to attack next week fresh! After overdoing it last week, recovering well, and going to the gym 3 days in a row…I’m glad of how this week went.
WOD:
Time: 15:53, 95lbs. (second female in the class. 1st girl did 45lbs). I beat my friend by a couple minutes! I was so excited. She’s just edged me out of all the WODs these 2 weeks. Sometimes, by just a couple seconds. Hang cleans were not her strength and she was tired. She went 1 extra day than I did this week. We had a great chat about it. My strength is coming back…quick. And the importance of her taking rest days.
Last week, I did just a COUPLE of 95lb hang cleans after the awesome strength WOD. This week, I did 45 of them in a WOD, with sore arms?! Oh, body, I love you.

Hurts so good.

Coach forgot to do pullup skill work before the WOD, so they did it after. I decided to use that time to torture myself on the Mobility balls.

10/25: rode bikes with my mom, 1hr. She decided to take her beach cruiser off road to let runner dog run safely in the grass away from the path.
10/26: I woke up and wanted to spring out of bed! I thought to myself, “Is it Monday?! How much time do I have before I have to leave for the gym?!” I was EXCITED. Then, sadly realized it was Sunday. Sigh. That has never happened.
So, I mowed the lawn! It’s work. Thus, part of a workout.

Stole this from Instagram. Love it.
Need to rest up for another big week! I can’t wait!

Food & rest days

Posted on October 21, 2014 by HaleyComet

It really sucked taking 2 days off, and my 3rd (today), I’m going to “open gym” and doing a workout more suited to not killing my quads.
READ: not doing the class because I’d go too hard and not scale enough because I can’t control myself.
I really wanted to go to the gym yesterday. I’m going to have to slow my roll and scale some of the workouts. I don’t want to since I technically *can* do most of them…but it’s not worth the pain, feeling like shit, and extra forced rest days. So, if I slow the hell down (or lighten the weights, duh) I can stick to a schedule I am happy with, rather than being upset that I suck. Sigh.

10/19: 45min AM walk.
10/20: 1hr AM walk.

Some things I’ve eaten this week:

‘sloppy joes’ over 1/2 sweet potato. They were really good. I added extra to make it spicier.

Some salads

Spinach, red pepper, tuna beets, carrots, celery, balsamic, and anything else I could find.

More sloppy joes, post WOD, pre-errands.

Scrambled eggs w/veggies (yellow pepper, garlic, onion, spinach)

So good!

Some squash soup (coconut milk, curry powder, broth, roasted squash, etc)

My hilariously pathetic attempt at a Sonoran dog, with guac.

Bacon-sorta-wrapped chicken sausage w/green shit

Extremely lazy lunch yesterday of ‘fried’ cheese with 1/2 Honeycrisp apple and 2 tbsp of NuttZo.

Looks gross.

Everything else is either boring or repeats of the above. I ate more bowls of the spaghetti squash and meat sauce from last week as well. My food is lasting forever now that I’m the only one eating it!

Oh my quad, Karen!

Posted on October 20, 2014 by HaleyComet

So last Wednesday was the amazing strength complex WOD. It went downhill from there. Back to the normal, “oh these workouts are so hard, they suck, is it over yet?…oh, that was amazing.”
10/17:
I knew 150 wall balls for benchmark “Karen” wasn’t the best idea on Friday (took the Thurs running WOD off), but I really wanted to do the benchmark. This will be extremely helpful later to track progress, despite just having done a bunch of snatches and cleans on Wed.

3, 2, 1…go!

I knew I could complete it Rx at 14lbs, but it wouldn’t be pretty. I’m so out of CrossFit shape. Coach and I went together in a second round as there weren’t enough 14lb balls. Ok, no big deal. So I did it. I didn’t go 100% as my legs were a little sore and I’m still fighting this damn head cold. I’d say I gave it 75-80%. My new buddy (sadly, only in town for vacation) was heckling me that I wasn’t sweating enough, but I was having a hard time breathing. I finished in 11:27. Fine. Whatever. It’s what I expected and I could still walk, so that’s a win. I can only get better from here!

(each mark is a set of 10, if you can’t do math)

After the WOD, my mom wanted to ride bikes. Sigh. Not a fan, but whatevs. It was a gorgeous day and I rode my old school single speed.

Mississippi River levee path

T-Bone is the best bike. Even though I don’t like riding bikes.

Saturday: Team WOD.

That’s 100 ROUNDS for time. We had a team of 4, so 25rds each. Don’t be fooled…each of us did 6 reps, with moderately heavy squat cleans, on average every 2minutes. Part of that time was spent going from the wall for the handstand pushup (HSPU) to the bar. Basically, not a lot of rest. I was breathing hard and working hard after about 10rds. It was quite the workout! I loved it.

Lots of hunching over to keep from dying.

Guess what doesn’t love the quad-heavy work on Wed, then the 150 squats (wall balls) on Friday, then MORE squat cleans on Sat? My quads. They HURT. Ouch, ouch. I couldn’t walk right yesterday! I had to use the wall to sit on the toilet! Oh, the pain.

So, what does this extreme soreness, DOMS, mean? It means I need it. It means, I’ll be stronger later!

Round. Round is a shape. And I don’t want to be round.
The bad news is that I’m suuuper sore (not really bad news). The good news is that my knee was pain-free this weekend! Even after all those squats and weights…yay! I’m hoping that strengthening the surrounding muscles, and the rest from uneven terrain, will keep this trend up. I will say it hurt doing jumping jacks, so I just didn’t do those. Hey, if something hurts, don’t do it! There’s still plenty you–and me–can do!

Update: I’m not going to the gym today. I really, reeeaaalllly want to as it’s two of my favorite things: running & thrusters. However, I know I’d push myself and considering I can barely squat right now, it’s probably best if I didn’t try to do 45 thrusters and 1.5mi of running. Sigh. I’ll do something at home instead. I’m to a point of functional soreness, so doing something to help loosen my legs is probably a a good idea. Damn, being “responsible” and “listening to my body” sucks sometimes.

I love CrossFit.

Posted on October 16, 2014 by HaleyComet

Yep. I went there. Sorry, not sorry. The Kool-Aid. I didn’t just drink it, I fell in the damn pool. As my friend TJ said, “well, that didn’t take long.”

I love, Love, LOVED the WOD yesterday. Right up my alley (“wheelhouse” would be appropriate here, but I hate that word. Please don’t use it. It’s awful.). I’m not the best weightlifter, but I’m decent for the average female. What helps is having a husband specializes in Strength & Conditioning who worked for US Olympic team coaches.
During warmup and practicing form, coach had us demo our movement one-by-one. Most of the women (there was only one man in the class) are beginners…I did mine and he exclaimed, “WHOA! PERFECT! Everyone, this is how you do it. Haley, do it again.” Hahaha. Now, snatch is NEVER perfect. One can almost always improve something about their form. But, compared to the others, it was pretty damn good.
When I told K about it, I said, “I knew you’d be proud!” He said he was, but he said he couldn’t wait to tell his old bosses. The learning. It’s good.

So, who doesn’t do CF (other than occasionally) for 1.5 years, goes back and gets called ‘perfect’? Hahaha. Nothing like a good day at CF to make one feel GREAT about yourself.*

*Side note: wait until a day where I can’t do any of the movements Rx (as prescribed). Then, I’ll feel shitty about myself. Good days and bad. Take them as they come.

Anyway, back to my perfect snatch. The main WOD was an EMOM (every minute, on the minute) snatch complex and then a clean complex.
Felt so.damn.good. My weights were not heavy. I’d say it was moderately heavy. The hang squat snatch was my limiter and since I could snatch and OHS at 75lbs, failing a couple times at the hang snatch was totally in my head. As always, our mental game keeps us from doing so much.

The woman I lifted with was awesome. She had an amazing OHS. So deep.
Yes, it’s perfectly acceptable to lift barefoot. She didn’t have lifting shoes or Chuck Taylors, and her running shoes were not appropriate. So, barefoot.

Ass to grass!

Full DB mode: knee socks, Lulu shorts, and bright lifters.

I’m also loving the WODify program. Many gyms use some kind of software like WODify or Beyond the White Board. This one ranks members by class, and overall for the day. One can see where they rank outside of the class they attended. I got 5th overall in weight for this WOD. Pretty good for starting over.
(Again, this was a strength of mine and I don’t do this to be the best. It’s just friendly competition, and I’m sure there will be days that I’m last.)

I would post a pic of my ranking, but the program shows last names and I’m not posting a screen shot of the other members’ names. So, you get my log:

I’m not going to CF today because it’s a running WOD. I really, really want to, as I’m always a strong runner at CF. Ten years of long distance pays off when most of these people don’t run. But, I’m resting my knee and sprinting 6 rds of 400m is probably not a good idea. I know I’d try to “win” and I need to leave my ego at home. At any gym we’ve belonged to, I’m usually the best at running WODs. If K is there, I come in second, only to him. Anyway. That’s not why I’m CF’ing, so I need to either do some conditioning at home with the sledgehammer and ropes, or take a rest day.

I will ride my high from yesterdays WOD until tomorrow, where I’m sure I’ll be brought down to earth with how out of shape I am. Today is not that day and I don’t need to be mad about a bum knee.

Hope you have a great day and do something that makes you feel great about yourself!

8 weeks: Back at the Box.

Posted on October 15, 2014 by HaleyComet

Over the river (Mississippi) and through the swamp…to CrossFit I go…

8 weeks. Just under 8 weeks until I see K again. I’m resting my knee: no trails. Uneven terrain seems to really aggravate it, so I’m being smart and avoiding my favorite place and races. 😦 No races until Nov. 29, and that one will be a week-of decision as it’s local. Officially, no events until Jan. when I have 3 planned. Even those I’ll be ok with cancelling as none of them are new states and don’t require more than a 1 night trip. Since I’m not doing any races, this is a short term goal to focus on. 8 weeks. Of course I’m not going to stop after that.

8 weeks: to kick my own ass.
8 weeks: to eat optimal food.
8 weeks: to MOVE. More.

I’m not going to step on a scale. I did that last week and it wasn’t pleasant. I don’t want, or need, to obsess over a number. I know a range in which I feel great, in which I look pretty good, and can perform pretty decently at CF and running with only half-assed training. But, bodies don’t always respond in the way we like them to, so no scale. If I do the above things, my body -and mind- will change for the better.

The gym is at the base of that big bridge I have to drive over. Big bridges over the Mississippi are a part of daily life here. Thus, the logo. (Sidenote: really not good for my pretty severe GEPHYROPHOBIA. I only have a problem with them over water. I know where it stems from -several incidents/witnessing accidents in childhood. I *HAVE* to cross bridges over water with my windows down and even then I still get a high HR and sweaty palms…also, my mom thinks it’s funny to email me news articles when bridges collapse in water.)
Now that I’ve given myself anxiety for the evening, lets move on. We all have our issues, ok?

Step 1: Workouts.

I FINALLY bit the bullet and paid for a membership. I’ve been dropping in to this box over the past month or two, actually maybe since August. Things kept coming up so I didn’t join: went to Ohio for 2 weeks, then Washington, then my knee hurt, then so on and so on…paid the registration ‘fee’ (covers WODify account and shirt) and did a discounted 6 month contract (with no-fees if we -hopefully- move at some point).

CFDB bag. Vibrams. Minimus. Reebok Oly Lifters. Jump Rope. Cute G WEAR tank.

The WOD:
10rds for time:
21 double-unders
7 ring dips
7 toe-to-bar
7 pistols

I scaled to 5 rounds. Time: 11:24.
I can’t do anything resembling a ring dip anymore without a band. I can’t do more than 1 toe-to-bar and I can almost do one pistol on my left leg only…my damn right knee is really starting to piss me off and it’s making me weak.
So. I’m starting somewhere (the bottom) and it’s really exciting. I’m actually ok with the current state of fitness affairs. At least I can still do a pullup, DU’s, handstands, and Olympic lifts. And I’m sure there is plenty more I can do. I’m not dwelling on what I can’t do anymore, because I know I will do them again. Probably sooner than later. We shall see tomorrow…

Food
Again, something I’m not going to obsess over. When I eat well, I feel great. The end. I don’t want to add pressure to myself and log everything, but if I attempt to, it will help me be more accountable.
Today:
Post WOD: spaghetti squash with ground beef and veggie sauce (leftovers). Bell pepper from the garden.
Lunch/Dinner: chicken salad over veggies, some chicken with sriracha, mayo & ketchup.

Not a food photographer.

Some bone broth

Nutrients.

There you have it.

NH/ME Double: NH. I’m not very good at this.

Posted on October 8, 2014 by HaleyComet

Click me to see panoramic!

What do you do when you have an annoying knee issue because you were clumsy and slid down a wet hill? You go do 2 marathons that you’re completely untrained for, of course. The trip was already booked, my husband really wanted to do NH since this weekend was peak foliage and it was his only chance at a marathon this season since it’s starting to get too cold up there. Maine was sold out so he couldn’t get in to the one on Sunday…so, I did them both. There was no way I was going to sit out while he did the full with my friends.

Hello, Beantown. I’ll spend Monday walking all over you.

Flew into Boston Friday mid-day after a horrifying landing in a severe storm in ATL. A Maniac friend of mine gave me a quick ride up to Bristol, NH. We hit race registration and that’s when I finally decided to register. The rain & cold had stalled and the weather was not supposed to get bad until after 2p on race day. So, as long as it didn’t rain the whole race, I wouldn’t be completely miserable. To quote one of the pickup volunteers….”You flew here all the way from New Orleans and you don’t know if you’re doing the race? You’re still debating? People do this about 10k’s, not marathons.” Haha. Yeah, well. I’ve done enough races in shitty weather (I’m looking at you, Kansas blizzard, 20 degrees in Tulsa Rt. 66, cold storm in Little Rock, and storming Cajun Coyote 100) and wasn’t in the mood to do it again.

So, we registered and went to the race dinner. I normally don’t do pre-race pasta dinners, but this town was tiny and everyone was at the dinner. My friends said it was the best one they’ve ever been to, as it’s homemade. Sure enough, they were right. A bunch of grandparents made 10 different sauces to choose from, cookies, salad, etc. All-you-can-eat and it was real food. I had a sausage and pepper sauce and it was delicious.

Race day: hung out with a bunch of Maniac friends before the start. I asked Alex what pace he was planning on running (he’s training for 100 and was also doing the Double) so I knew he wasn’t running hard. He said, “Whatever pace you’re running.” Oh, sweet relief! I was dreading doing the whole thing alone since my heart wasn’t in it and my knee definitely wasn’t in it. I was so thankful. So, off we went running 2:1 intervals from the start.

The race: GORGEOUS. We ran around Newfound Lake. Wonderful volunteers. Great views. Hills. Rolling hills. I thought the race was going to be flat. Wrong. Not much to say about the race itself. We just kept on the interval. Told stories. Joked. Laughed. One guy was on the side of the road cheering on runners and said, “Oh! You two must be married.” We both laughed…I said, “if we were, we wouldn’t be having this much fun together.” So Alex said, “Oh no, our husbands left their wives behind!” As K and his partner Shawn are much faster than us. Somewhere around there he said, “I’m not very good at this.” I replied, “Yeah, I suck at this too.” Oh, we had good laughs about that all weekend and anytime something got hard or someone at an aid station said something along the lines of, “Oh, you two look great! we replied…”I’m not very good at this.” We’re just doing 2 marathons…but we’re not very good at this.

How about some pictures? There was nothing remarkable about the running, except the scenery.

Cute towns

Around and around the lake we go

We ran by Sculptured Rock park and this was about 20 feet off the road. Alex and I took a pit stop here to take pics and put on our ponchos (and it only rained for about 3 minutes).

Time out for history

Ran by a barn & B&B that was being set up for a wedding. I’m not into weddings AT ALL, but this was tiny and very cute. I think what I said was, “I really hate the excess & showing off of weddings, but that was pretty much perfect!” I think there were only 4-5 tables and the barn was not very big.

The houses around the lake were amazing. Some big, but many were just old, small cottages. Loved them. Especially this one only accessible by boat!

Perfection

Well, I guess one could walk there in winter. (The locals said it’s unused in winter due to the plumbing)

Um, no. (source)

And finally…

Finally.

The post race food was great. Tons of food, chocolate milk, fruit, fresh pizzas from the local joint across the street. For a race with less than 300 people, the community support was amazing. ALL proceeds go to 3 local charities. Completely no profit. Overall, a wonderful race. I love a small-town event like this. Would highly recommend it to anyone, even those who are hesitant to do small races: there were cops at intersections, the course was very straightforward around a lake, and still many signs. I felt completely safe and was in awe of the views.

Got in the car and headed to Maine….

More on Maine tomorrow. This post would be too long if I wrote them together.

Kicking my own a$$

Posted on October 7, 2014 by HaleyComet

Still taking it easy on my knee, but it’s time to see what I can do. I decided to not go to CF this week since I have the double marathons this weekend. I’ll start back next week (and see how my knee is feeling). There’s plenty I can do at home, so I did.

9/29: KB sets during the day. Every time I went outside doing things like laundry and garden, etc. I picked up the KB and did some sets.

9/30: 26lb tire drag, .25mi intervals x4. In between, KB sets: swings, SDHP, squats. Tire “box” jumps. Did this throughout the day.

10/1:
AM: walk, 45min outside
1hr on treadmill after

10/2: forgot.

So, I had this written and ready to publish Friday before I left. I log-in this morning and see I never hit “publish” and didn’t schedule it. Great. So, I update it a little bit this morning and hit “publish”. Then of course WordPress had a glitch and I lost everything I’d written after 10/1. Great. Thanks.

Now you get an even crappier post. Today I’ll be writing my race & weekend recap, for you 5 people to enjoy tomorrow. Let’s just say it was gorgeous. The absolute best weekend to go to North American Canada! (I call everything up North “canada”. I enjoy annoying K by calling Ohio the “tundra that everyone hates”. Haha)

Hope no one wasted their time reading this crap today, but I’m too tired to care to fix it. I would say “happy Monday,” but it’s Tuesday. It’s my Monday though. Tomorrow will be better…tomorrow will be better…if we keep saying it’s true, it’ll happen, yes?

haleycomet365

365 days of workouts, Food, and hopefully some fun!