do bad things always come in 3's?

This past weekend was chock-full, busy as could be and in ways I didn't expect. At the beginning of the year I printed out the Sub5 schedule and put it on my fridge to keep track of my points for the series. I also wrote on the calender all the races in the series so I didn't double-book, one has to prioritize and this year's races were close to the top of that list. Last year I should have learned my lesson when the Pumpkin run in Blue Hill was erroneously marked on one list as a Saturday and on another as the next day. The same thing occurred this year with the Turkey Trot and I was the only soul prepping and driving up to Brewer for the race last Sunday afternoon. However, I did manage to show up again yesterday with Maggie and Charlie in tow to run in tights, gloves, and hats to fight the bitterly cold 24 F day with head winds for the last 1.5 miles. 

It was a brutal run, but we quickly got warmed up and changed to drive to Orono for a piano concert I had bought tickets for months ago. Unfortunately, after missing out on the awards for the race to make the concert, I found at Will Call that they had no record of my purchase. I was so angry after having to rearrange Mass attendance, the misinformation about the race, and then being subjected to the snobby women in the ticket office telling me that I needed to buy more tickets to get in, that I just gathered our things and walked out. We got some hot cocoa and a little supper and went home to recover. However, when we were driving down our road I noticed red flashing lights beside our house. 

The town fire engine was there and I imagined the worst: injured child, the back of our house burnt down... a mother's mind can so quickly panic. After I pulled on a heavy coat I went out to discover that Tim had put the supposedly dead ashes from the wood boiler in the woods and they had spontaneously ignited and charred about 30 feet of brush. Apparently he hadn't learned his lesson either since he set fire to the compost bin last year doing the exact same thing. 

So, after one cross country banquet, one group piano lesson, one showing of Catching Fire with 15 8th graders, one road race, one non-attended concert, and one trip from the Fire Department, I'm really hoping Thanksgiving will be calm and peaceful with no drama.     

back on track

All this past week I taped up my ankle and headed out for a run. My injury left me unable to work off all the extra calories I eat and my pants were starting to feel a little tight. Monday I ran 5 miles and by Thursday I was up to 10 miles. My foot is purple along the outside and is still a bit swollen, but with the Turkey Trot tomorrow, I didn't want to attempt it without some training. 

My gear has undergone a change with the shift downward in temperature: tights, gloves, winter shirt, and a blaze orange hat so I don't get mistaken for a running deer. Every fall I think about poor Mrs. Karen Wood from Hermon who was shot in her own backyard by a hunter 25 years ago. Because of that tragedy, laws have been changed dramatically in terms of hunters having to see what they are aiming for as well as educating the public about wearing orange when outside in November. Her death likely has contributed to the saving of hundreds of lives, which might give comfort to her family in some small way. As the winter progresses I will have to add more layers as well as grips on the bottom of my shoes. But running every day gives me a chance to be outside in the beautiful Maine countryside and be able to eat what I like without worrying about the wardrobe consequences.  

DNF: did not finish

I have run my last trail race and I wish that I hadn't. My friend Shane was right in how treacherous yesterday's course was and I managed to fall twice. There were many opportunities to fall, slip, go right off the side of the mountain, and I waited until 2.5 miles into the 4.2 mile course to trip over something and go down wrong on my ankle. After taking off my shoe and sock I sat quietly until Maggie came along the path and got up to continue on. However, at the very end of the race, with only 1/10th of a mile left, I tripped on a root and hit the deck. I asked the next runner to send back help and with a burly man holding me upright, hobbled to the school to get some ice. I managed to drive home, thankful I wasn't driving the standard shift Jeep, and made french toast for the crew before I succumbed to the pain and lay down on the bed for the rest of the evening. Tim took the day off from work and it looks like, with my ankle swollen to 3 times its normal size that we are going to hit the ER later today.
So, my lesson for the day is, after 3 trail races this year, and 4 falls, I'm not suited for this sport and will stick to races on nice, level, non bumpy roads. Hopefully my foot will be back to normal by the Turkey Trot in 2 weeks, where I still hope to bring home the Thanksgiving dinner main course as a prize. 

another trail race, another fall

Maybe if I ran a sedate 10min/mile pace I wouldn't have these calamities, but today I ran the Great Pond Mountain Conservation Trust trail race, 6.3 miles and took a tumble. The race went up a mountain so steep that I was walking the last bit to the top and then down on single track paths that would have suited a mountain goat. At the bottom of the first mountain as my friend Dave was catching up, I slipped and lost all the Gobstoppers in my fist (my shorts didn't have pockets) as I hit the dirt. Luckily I didn't hit any rocks and my only injury was a tiny cut on my palm. I was sure that we were mostly finished, but his handy GPS said we had only run 3.2 miles at that point. We ran a little flat piece and then up another large hill and flew down some wide paths to the end. I finished 3rd for the women with a 8:11 pace. The second race in the trail series is next week, a 4 miler that supposedly is even more hair-raising than this one. I can't wait.

speedy kids

I am so proud of Maggie for her efforts this year in cross country. She has been an encouragement to her teammates and a natural leader, despite being only a 5th grader. Last week the girls won the Inland Schools Championship and Maggie was one of several girls who broke the previous 5th grade mile pace of 7:15. She and Charlie got up on Sunday morning to compete in the Black Bear 5K, knowing they could run 3 miles well (they both did phenomenally well in the Harvest Run 5K after running the 1 mile race). Both kids placed 2nd in their age brackets. I came in 2nd overall for women (21:11) so we came home with numerous University of Maine t-shirts and backpacks. Charlie has 11 points in his age group in the Sub5 series, despite competing against 19 year olds. I am very glad that I have such great kids who want to be outside, away from the TV, and sharing a sport I so love.    

busy week

Last week the children's auntie came for a visit to Maine and somehow we managed to not only attend 2 soccer games, 2 cross country meets, 2 road races, but also took the little kids on 3 field trips. We suspended school Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to visit Moose Point State Park, the town of Belfast, and Fort Knox. While we didn't see any moose, we did see cormorants, a great blue heron, a lobsterman pulling up his catch, and several photogenic children (oh, we brought those with us). Belfast's candy store has expanded to a soda fountain, where Cheryl and I came out eating pistachio and salted carmel ice cream cones. The kids brought their flashlights to see in all the dark corners of the never-completed structure in Bucksport, designed to protect the surrounding area from the British. 

The last Saturday in September Maggie, Charlie, and I ran a 4K in Blue Hill, where all 3 of us won our age brackets. My legs hurt for days afterwards due to my blistering 6:02 pace. Then this past Saturday we were joined by Timmy and Mary to participate in the Harvest Run, benefiting the girl's school. I won overall for women, Maggie won her age bracket for the 5K, and both Charlie and Maggie ran both the 1 mile and the longer race. For the past several days my knees have been hurting, I guess running on wet grass isn't good. Now things are settling down to normal with both sports finishing up in the next few weeks and no races until Oct 20th.    

mini me

Maggie was in her first cross country met on Tuesday, coming in 3rd place overall with a 8:08/mile pace. The course was wet grass with lots of standing water and mud, though afterwards she said she "could" have run it faster. Yesterday was the second meet on a tough wooded course with lots of rocks and roots and even a small stream to jump over, but she improved her pace to 7:56/mile, coming in 7th place. For the team it was the story of "the little Catholic school that could" as the girls won both meets, over much bigger schools with almost as many kids in each grade as we have in the entire K-8th grade. This youth sports experience is the best I've ever seen with kids who are cheering each other on as well as other teams, a prayer before each race, a coach who is really great with the kids and keeps parents informed, and parents and teachers who come out to support the the school. I'm surprised at how well Maggie is doing as she hasn't been very enthusiastic the past year or two about races. But she is finding it much more fun running with a bunch of friends, ice cream practices, and being on a team competing against girls from other schools.

labor day race results

After pouring up until twenty minutes before the race began, I stepped up to the starting line in damp shoes and socks and ran one of the best races of my life. I stuck like glue to Robin, my only real age-group competition this year, for the first two miles, and then pulled in front right before Goat Path, a gravel and sand track that seems to go straight up. The humidity was high, but I kept a steady sub-7 minute pace to finish in 34:17, coming in 5th place among women and winning the master's award.

I get a kick out of surprising people when I tell them that I have 6 kids, but it still shocks me every time I do well in a race too. I only run about 35 miles a week and have to stop and walk during runs when it is hot/humid. Running is something that gives me strength and mental toughness, something every mommy of many needs to get through each day.   

not risking it

Last night Charlie, Maggie, and I got in the car to go to the last track workout of the summer. We turned around when, halfway there, lightening flashed and the rain started in earnest. "I'm not willing to die to gain a few seconds," I said when the kids started to protest. So, I didn't get to run yesterday, but I did double up on Monday with 5 miles at lunchtime and a fast 6 mile group run that evening, followed by a few cocktails at the Sea Dog. 

I did well enough on Saturday (21:23) to bring home a free pair of New Balance shoes and hope that my missed day won't throw me off too much at the Labor Day 5 miler. Last year I ran it in 35:40, so I'm not shooting for a PR.   

hold on tight!

The ride for the next two weeks is going to be very bumpy. We still are doing summer activities such as swimming lessons and riding lessons, but now the coaches of fall sports are gearing up with soccer camp and group runs for cross country. Will was taken back to camp for the last time, his 8th week, and the Union Fair starts Sunday with rides, cotton candy, and my once-a-year dinner of a steak bomb and a Coke. On several days I'm just going to have to pick which kid is going to be disappointed, I can't physically be in 3 places at the same time. 

Tim was subjected to some of this over-scheduling induced stress this weekend while I was up at the County Half Marathon. Friday he had to pick up the girls at camp, an hour round trip and then on Saturday drop off the little boys at sailing (30 minutes south), pick up Will at camp (45 minutes northeast), drop off Will at sailing, come home and pick up Julia Ellen and take her to sailing for the picnic, and then back home. My 13 mile run may have been less mentally exhausting, but did leave me so tired that I slept 11 hours straight on Saturday night. I was the 5th female finisher with a time of 1:41, beating my old half PR by 4 minutes, and winning $50.  

my trick worked again

Back in early May I took an all day quilt class and then got up early again to race and did very well. Yesterday morning I got up early, drove 25 minutes down the road, and had to turn around because I forgot the little table that slides onto my sewing machine. But then I drove like the devil to Augusta and made it to my Intro to Modern Quilting class only 5 minutes late. After spending the day sewing this wall hanging, 

wandering around looking at quilts (including my entry), and driving home, I got up early this morning for my previous least favorite race in the Sub5 series. 

I have never done well in the Bucksport Bay Festival 5K, but today, perhaps due to my semi-relaxing day yesterday, I finished in 2nd place overall, with a time of 20:53, a 6:44/mile pace. I was all set to give it up to my friend Lisa, but then I decided that all those Wednesday evening track workouts would have then gone to waste, so I poured it on and flew that last quarter mile. The next race on my schedule is the County Half Marathon, waaaay up in northern Maine. I'm certainly going to run much slower August 10th, even if the weather cooperates and the scenery lives up to my high expectations.   

4th of July disaster

When I attempted to swing by the library prior to Thursday's race from Brewer to Bangor to drop off a tote bag full of books, we were thwarted by road barricades. "I guess they have decided to close off the roads really early for the parade,"I thought. But as the 10:45 race start loomed closer, I found out that there was a different reason for the road closure. A man in Bangor decided to shoot off 70 rounds in his apartment and after a 4 hour standoff with police, only emerged after they used tear gas to smoke him out. 

Due to this "incident," the race and parade route were changed and shortened, which we found out 2 minutes before the race began. I didn't know exactly where the race was to go or how long it would be, but ran a 5:45 first mile and only started to be passed on the bridge. I guess I could have run a bit faster, but a 9:10 time was good enough to give me 5th place overall and 1st in my age bracket. Mary, Maggie, Charlie, and I walked back along the parade route, watching the floats and slapping hands with Governor LePage. 

It wasn't until the next morning, when I went on the Bangor Daily News website to find the details about the shooter that I read with horror about the accident that occurred after we left the ending point of the race. An antique fire engine lost brake power on the sharp turn and decline where the parade was rerouted and ran into the 1940's John Deere tractor, driven by Wallace Fenlason . He was thrown off the tractor and crushed under the fire engine. I found out yesterday that our babysitter and her whole family saw the accident. 5 days later, I still get teary-eyed when I think about how this poor man, who just wanted to share his love of America, Maine, and antique tractors with the crowd, lost his life. Our prayers go out to his family and friends as well as the fireman driving the truck.

vacation bible school exhaustion

Last week was filled with getting everyone up and out the door to sing, dance, do crafts, and learn about Saints with a "kingdom rock" theme. Timmy, Charlie, and Maggie had a great time going from station to station in the heat and then the cold, and then the rain, but Julia Ellen was plumb overwhelmed. The first day she ran out to the van, with her teenage crew leaders following, locked herself in, and wouldn't come out until I arrived and ordered her out. Even after a few days of not clinging to my leg every time she spotted me in the hall, on Friday she locked herself in the bathroom stall. Luckily her sister Mary was a crew leader for another group of preschoolers and was able to help the sweet girls in charge of my youngest. But the daily schedule of games and snack with 170 other children wore my crew out so much that a few took naps in the afternoon and had to be woken up for supper.

Luckily the long days didn't affect my running and I took 3rd place in the 10 mile Tour de Lac in Bucksport on Saturday. Since it had been so hot, I bought myself a fancy shirt I saw advertised in a running magazine that reacts with your sweat to cool your skin. Perhaps it worked, but since it was misting the entire race the heat wasn't much of a factor overall. I ran a little faster than my 7:30/mile pace during the first 8 miles, but started to fade by the end. Maybe it was the training, maybe my new shirt, but somehow I beat my PR by 30 seconds. The next race in the series is Thursday, a downhill 3K that precedes the 4th of July parade from Brewer to Bangor.

cleaned up big time

On Saturday morning it was cool and raining like the dickens, but I had signed everyone up for the Garelick Milk Run in Bangor. Tim and Julia Ellen stayed at home, but the rest of the crew were still game to run a mile downhill as fast as they could. Charlie came in 3rd overall in the family run (7:05) with Will close behind, followed by Timmy, Maggie, and then Mary. I followed in the competitive run with a time of 6:04. Timmy won $25 from Hannaford, Maggie won a water bottle, and I won a cooler of dairy products, and that was just from the door prize drawing. The local outdoors store, Epic Sports, always gives gift certificates, so Charlie got $15, I got $25, and we won the family category, netting us another $45. With our winnings I bought the girls new Speedo bathing suits (the most modest suits I can find locally), and Charlie's birthday cake. 

There are a lot of local races in the next two weeks, everyone keeps asking me to join them, but I'm taking a little rest and doing my prep work for the Tour de Lac 10 miler at the end of June. The prizes there aren't monetary, but Margaret's homemade raspberry jam prizes are worth the effort. 

hot race results

Last weekend I had my first night away from the children, other than hospital visits to produce for them another sibling, in 9 years. Friday night I ate dinner at a fancy-shmancy restaurant in Ellsworth all by myself. I ordered shrimp jambalaya and had the prettiest plate of chocolate mousse I have ever seen with 3 scoops lined up with whipped cream and a different berry on top of each, raspberry sauce swirling about the edges. I wish I had taken a picture, but I left my camera at home. I further regretted leaving it behind when I drove past town and saw the raw beauty of Hancock and Washington Counties on my way to the motel in Machias.

Route 1 swooped through tiny picturesque towns and continuously skirted postcard-worthy views of water, islands, and conifers. The next morning I woke to a super hot day, for Maine that is, of 85F and I drove on another 45 minutes east to Pembroke, where the Cobscook 10K would take place. Since I was so early, I drove the course and took in the view at the end of a side road, which literally ended on the gravel beach. If I hadn't been driving the Jeep, I would likely still be there trying to extricate my vehicle, but it was the loveliest place I had been in a long time, fog hovering over the water with islands of stiff hemlocks and fir trees rising out of the mist.

Until the director called us to the starting line all the runners were standing on the west side of nearby buildings, knowing that we would be overheated well before we hit the only bit of shade on the course. Of course that was when the hills began and the road changed to gravel, adding to our misery. This was an endurance race rather than one to be enjoyed, my time (49:55) was 5 minutes slower than my last 10K, run only a month before. Afterwards, I staggered to the shade of the tent, where someone kept passing me slices of watermelon and bottles of water until I was able to sit upright. After the big picnic, complete with salmon, hamburgers, and dozens of desserts/salads, I drove on to Eastport, the easternmost city in the US, and to Quoddy Head Lighthouse, the easternmost point in the US, before returning to my motel and hitting the shower and bed by 7pm. 

This weekend's race is not only shorter, a 1 mile downhill sprint, but cooler by 10+ degrees. As Saturday is predicted to rain heavily, I am being flexible as to who I end up taking with me. Also, my goal of breaking 6 minutes might have to be postponed for a year, I would rather not take any chances on slipping and falling just for vanity's sake.
 

relaxing prep means fast race?

On Friday I got the big kids up and to school while Tim took the day off to watch the little ones and work around the farm. After a visit to our parish's new adoration chapel ( I figured it would be better to spend that half hour praying than spending it at McDonalds), I headed over to participate in an all day quilt class with Bonnie Hunter, a scrap quilting teacher from North Carolina. We worked on piecing string blocks and half square triangles that in a very long time will be put together to form this quilt, Jamestown Landing.  

The reason it will take so long? 168 string pieced blocks, and 840 half square triangles, and that doesn't even include the string pieced border made of 16 sheets of copy paper string pieced, then cut down the center. In the 6 hours we were there, I made 25 cream blocks and about 50 triangles. But I also socialized with old friends and learned some new tricks for making triangles.  Here is Bonnie demonstrating how to cover the 4.5" newsprint with diagonal strips of neutral scraps for the background blocks. 

Tonight at quilt guild, I'll bring my tote bag full of scraps and keep plugging away. I've mentally designated this quilt as a Christmas gift for my sister-in-law so there is a self imposed deadline.

But all that time away from the children must have relaxed me enough run really fast on Saturday morning. Charlie, Timmy, and I headed out early to Orrington for a 1 mile fun run and 10K. Charlie ran 7:08, Timmy 8:27, and while they were gorging on post-race granola bars and fruit, I ran my best 10K ever with a 44:58 (7:15/mile pace). So three good races in a row have taught me to slow down that first mile and stay on a consistent pace rather than bolt out ahead and wear myself out far before the finish. My next quilting class is in July at the state quilt show in Augusta,the day before the Bucksport Bay festival 5K. I've never done very well in it for some reason, maybe another relaxing day quilting will change that statistic.  

a little bump in the road

Yesterday I woke at 5:30 to shower and take Will to Merit Badge College, but with a cold and intestinal issues, I let him go back to bed for a few hours. He spent the rest of the day helping Tim move and stack wood, getting some much appreciate tractor driving lessons. My muscles were a bit sore from farm chores such as painting the chicken coop floor and moving wheelbarrow loads of compost to the fruit trees, but I got up early again to head out for a 5 mile trail race in town. 

There were only about 30 of us, but we headed down the wooded paths at a pretty brisk clip. I was ahead of all the other women and feeling pretty confident when at mile three I fell and got scraped up quite a bit. My foot twisted and I got up running and limping along, knowing that my nearest competitor was only about 20 yards behind me. She didn't get any closer until the end, where there was a huge incline for the last 200 meters. Luckily I've been doing a bit of hill work and charged up like a crazed person to finish in 36:47. My hard work paid off, after a bit of cleaning up and an ace bandage wrapped around my knee, I took home a $100 gift certificate to Epic Sports. 2nd place got $50, so my mad rush was certainly well worth the little extra bit of pain. The next race is Saturday, a 10K, hopefully my now purple foot will be well enough to repeat a good performance.

spring break for the kids means...

This week can be whatever I want it to be, full of activities and errands, or peaceful and relaxed. Likely it will be a combination of both, judging from the length of my "to do" list. But I've already enjoyed sleeping in until 6:30, finishing a novel in bed, making blueberry coffee cake, and finishing the above-mentioned list.  

Yet, Timmy and Charlie are going to do school this week, I will still have to prod 4 kids daily to practice the piano, and I need to get in some serious running time. So, while spending each day reading in bed for hours might seem nice, I still need to fit everything in like a giant jigsaw puzzle, but without the huge school and extracurricular activity pieces that usually take up a chunk of my week. I also need to keep plugging away at the quilt I will submit to my first quilt show this summer. After 3 weeks of piecing and pressing every single seam open, I finally finished the top on Saturday. 

My first treat of the week was waking up super early yesterday to meet a small group of fellow runners on Mount Desert Island and run up the 4+ miles to the top of Mt. Cadillac. It was very foggy and almost unworldly with ghostly tortured-looking conifers appearing out of the mist. Luckily we did catch one lovely glimpse of the view of the water and islands when we were coming back down, but the bone-chilling cold stayed with me for much of the day. 

So, now after a little blogging and browsing time while sipping an iced coffee, it is time to go blast the lazy slug-a-bed kids out of their warm beds and get the first day of vacation started.     

time keeps on ticking

One of the things that I recall every time I feel a little guilty about not blogging often is that since the big kids have started going away to school, 2 hours of every day is now spent in the car. That is 2 hours I previously spent quilting, reading, blogging, cleaning, and playing with the kids. Every day now is as regimented as a new Army recruit: wake up, get ready, get kids ready, drive to school, come home, homeschool the boys, run, shower, get big kids from school, ferry some kid to piano, make dinner, bathe little kids, read aloud, say prayers, and finally put the kids to bed. 

So, what has our family been doing for the past few weeks? Well, Timmy, Charlie, and I did the Flattop race. The boys did great in the mile (Charlie 7 min, Timmy 8 min) and I did terrible in the 5K. The weightlifting I had been doing to improve my strength left my muscles so worn out, despite a 4 day break, that I could only barely manage to stay on my feet. Yesterday I did run the Bridge the Gap 10 mile race and did quite well: 1hr 20 min. I ran the first 8 miles with my friend Lisa at a 8:30 pace and felt as fresh ending it as I did starting. I've been going out way too fast and crashing at mile 2, so this was a good learning experience. It was much more fun to pass people, especially on the hills, than to get passed while gasping for breath. 

I've been quilting up a storm since I finished all my obligation projects: a tshirt quilt for an online friend and a brown bag exchange in our guild. I applied to submit this quilt in the state quilt show for judging and have until the middle of June to get it finished. After several weeks, I've now finished all the colored strips and have to connect it all with white sashing next. I'm not really looking forward to working with 34 floppy strips, all 2" wide, but now I have to get it done, and do it well, since I don't want to look foolish next to all the really talented quilters in our state. 

Will was accepted to the fancy high school so I can release the breath I was holding for several weeks. Our other option was to bring Will home for 9th grade and send Charlie to Catholic school a year earlier than anticipated. Now it is unlikely that I will be spending the next year in prison for killing my child because Will and I are at odds so often these days and the little boys will have each other to be best friends with for another year. I didn't think I could go back to more than 3 kids at home during the day, Timmy has made such progress this year without the drama of trying to get the older ones to do their work. I've actually had, despite the loss of 2 hours a day, more time this year to work with him on his studies. 

Julia Ellen is now officially potty trained, or housebroken as my Grandmother calls it. I am happily doling out m&ms as reward for not having to daily wipe a yucky bottom for the first time in 15 years. 

What is next? More quilting, more races, the arrival of our first batch of Buff Orpington chicks in a few weeks, and planting my garden. Spring is late in arriving to northern Maine, the ground is still frozen 4 inches down and there are still patches of snow here and there, but today there is a warmth in the air that hasn't been there before and the snowdrops in front of the library were blooming this morning. Happy Spring!          

unexpected race

I debated for a few weeks over whether to participate in the Chamberlain March 1/2 marathon or the 5K. I sent in my registration for the shorter race a few weeks back, knowing that I hadn't really done the distance runs necessary, only one 10 miler last weekend. But when I got to the Brewer Armory my running bud Dave only had to twist my arm a little to get me to switch races. He promised 8-8:30/min miles and I thought I could handle that. We started off running together for 2 miles or so, but then I slowly pulled away on the downhills and just kept clicking up 8 minutes at every mile marker. I beat my previous PR by 5 minutes and won not only a box of whoopie pies, but a Road ID gift certificate as a door prize. The compitition in my age bracket is fierce this year, I only came in 3rd, but with my new weekly program including lifting weights and speed workouts, I think I'll do okay.