Sunday Thoughts

I ended my running drought yesterday and participated in a 5 mile road race up in Concord.  It was a perfect day here in Central New Hampshire, but the only drawback was there were absolutely NO bathrooms at the start or the finish.  So I had to run all five miles on a very full bladder that had something the size of a lemon pressing against it.  Every time I thought I had found a good place to jump off the road and pop a squat...there would be piles of poison ivy that I would have to wade through.  So I kept going. I am not going to lie, my pace was very slow at 11:55 and I had to walk the giantly long hill up Clinton Street at the beginning.  But the bigger thing was I was out there doing it!  I feel pretty good today despite the sore back and sore knees.  I have one race left in the Capital Area Race Series and that will finish up next weekend in Canterbury.  At least I know what to expect with the Canterbury Woodchuck 5k....hills, lots of hills!

The race was a beautiful course in parts of Concord most people do not see on a regular basis.  I mean we were so close to downtown, but we were running through corn fields and the campus of St. Paul's School which seemed very far removed from the Capital building.

It's been very nice the last few days to leave the windows open and allow the breeze to flow through the house after almost a week of hot and humid weather.  I guess it's going to start to creep back in for the early part of next week.  Ahh the joys of summer in New England.  The weather definitely has it's ups and downs this time of year.  Tuesday we had a nasty storm roll through town and our backyard still has branches littered all over it.  For a few hours it seemed every fire department (ours included) in the Lakes Region was out with wires and trees down.  We were just lucky we didn't lose any large trees that could've damaged the house, shed or our cars.  But that nasty storm knocked out the high temps and the oppressive humidity.

All aboard!

So I have been relatively quiet the last two months and if you follow Facebook you now know why.  I have had so much going on with my body over the last 14 weeks that I was afraid of giving it away before we were ready to tell people.  We wanted to make sure things were "cooking" all right and we wanted to make sure our family knew.  John and I are beyond excited to add to our little home.  In fact we are getting ready to make major changes at the house prior to the arrival of our little one.  We are in the process of finishing the basement so we can make a new family room/guest room.  We have been getting estimates over the last week and let's just say...holy crap!!  Our first quote was over $35,000.00.  Now those of you who have been to our house you all know it's not big.  Nope not at all.  So spending over $10,000.00/100 square feet seems a bit steep to me. Ok more than just a bit!

That being said, I have also done very little running.  My boobs just were not about it and then there was the nausea.  It was pretty persistent those first few weeks and thanks to Zofran for making that period a little more tolerable.  But I have managed several days a week on the exercise bike because it's just been too hot to do it outside.  And the pond has been a lifesaver for those after work swims with the little dog.

I have also not started baby knitting.  I want to wait until we decide whether we are going to find out if it's a boy or a girl.  But I have downloaded a ton of quick patterns for hats, booties, blankets, and mittens for my cold weather baby.  Because we have hockey games to hit!

I have to thank my close pals and running buddies for keeping my pregnancy a secret from the rest of the world.  And to my fire family...for constantly giving me crap about "light duty."  The next few months are going to be an interesting ride and I hope you will join me for it!

A good book and a chair in the shade...

I have been reading up a storm the last month or so.  I enjoy sitting out in my yard in a chair with my feet up, a cold drink at my side, and good book in my lap.  I am so thankful for my kindle and it's easy operation.  I have already read a dozen or so books since the beginning of June.  I have been using New Hampshire Downloadable Books for the past six months or so.  Way cheaper than buying everything off of Amazon.  And the way I plow through books this definitely saves the wallet.  So easy to use, you just log into your library with your library card number plus a unique prefix and away you go.  You can search for books that are currently available or find ones that may have a waiting list.  The problem with the waiting list is that I have sometimes waited for months for a book.

So far my top picks for summer are:
Up: A mother and daughter's peakbagging adventure by Patricia Ellis Herr.  It was a quick read about a mom who takes her 5 year old up all the 4000 footers in New Hampshire.  Having done quite a few 4000 footers, I can't imagine doing it as a little kid.

The Fifty Shades Triology by E.L James is also another not to miss read.  Would make a great poolside or beach read!  I think I read all three over the course of a week.

Chasing Fire by Nora Roberts was the first fire book I had read in a long time.  Wonderful book about the Missoula smoke jumpers with a mystery thrown in.  Made me want to pack my bags and head out west for fire season.

Last on my list is Nightwoods by Charles Frazier.  The author of Cold Mountain is back with a murder mystery/love story set deep in Appalachia during the late 50s or early 60s.

Those are it for now, but given that I am finishing a book every three to four days there will be an update or two later this summer.

Busy...

I have been rather quiet as of late.  Only have done one 5k in the last month and having been working my way through a pair of socks for my OT student.  It's been rather busy and chaotic in our lives as well.  We had an impromptu trip to CT to say farewell to John's grandmother and we got to see a lot of family for too short of a time.  I have been hard at work on my 5k that is starting to come together as our sponsors have started to send us check.  We've been busy lavishing attention on our little dog in the form of almost daily swims.  We started softball with the same team we played with last season.  A lot of new faces, but also really great to have the old ones too.

The Fourth of July has come and gone.  I enjoyed a night out with the BFR crew at the fireworks.  John traded in his car for a new one.  Oh the joys of lots of miles traveling between home and work.  John went for a long walk in the woods and I snuck down to Portsmouth to see Jen and Josh.   We have had some wonderful evenings at home by our campfire enjoying our backyard in those rare moments of downtime.

I always feel busier in the summer with the longer hours of daylight that keep me from wanting to stay home and hibernate.  And in the weeks to come, the days will get shorter and then we will be back to the bright colors of fall.  But in the meantime it's time to go to softball and enjoy a beautiful evening out in the lakes region.

Monday Musings

Monday morning always seems to come so early.  John's alarm goes off at 530am (he's adjusted his schedule to take a class on Wednesdays) and well I have been listening to the birds since the wee hours of daylight.  I almost look forward to the hot days of July when my air conditioner can drown out those "fowl" critters!  I haven't exactly been waking up on the right side of the bed as of late and this morning was no exception.

I stumbled downstairs to let Scout outside and make my lunch.  I popped a bagel in the toaster as I got my fruit and yogurt out of the fridge.  I managed to catch a few minutes of the local news while scarfing my breakfast.  Then I trudge back upstairs to get washed up and dressed.  I didn't turn the lights on in the closet while I pulled out my scrubs and my underwear.  I know where everything is kept and don't need the aid of a light to help me pick out my clothes.

Well on any other day that would've been fine.  It was about 10am this morning that I strolled off to the bathroom at work.  Much to my chagrin, I was wearing crotchless panties courtesy of the small dog.  Awesome, excellent I thought as I examined the gaping hole in my underwear.  So moral of the story, take the extra second to turn the light on and inspect your clothes before you put them on.

How do you spell perfect?

It's the end of a beautiful weekend here in the Lakes Region.  I got to spend a lot of time sitting out in my yard enjoying the wonderful weather.  After a round of rain and thunderstorms that last all of last week, Saturday dawned bright and blue.  I took in Market Square Day with Megan and Max as we cheered on Karen during her first 10k.  I am just thankful I didn't sign up to run as well.  Saturday afternoon had me taking in another wonderful New England tradition of a good old fashioned pig roast.  It was tasty to say the least!

I managed to drag myself out of my peaceful reverie on Sunday morning to take Scout on a four mile run.  It was only one of two runs I got in last week due to weather and a very busy week at work.  Scout enjoyed getting out with me, but halfway through the run I wish we had gotten up just a big earlier.  The sun is quite warm this time of year and it heats the earth up pretty fast.

Our afternoon was spent out in our yard reading our books in our lawn chairs.  We had to keep moving our chairs to keep out of the sun's rays.  No sunburn for us thank you very much.  We still haven't put our air conditioners in the windows, but me thinks that day is coming soon as the weather starts to get warmer.  After all the summer solstice is only a few days away.  I also did a bit of wading in the pond and the water is just about warm enough to swim in.  The dog has managed two swims already this week.  She sure does love the water.

It's also bike week here in New Hampshire.  So be careful out on the roads this week!

Over the river and through the flooded plains

like a drowned rat

Saturday morning was a gray, cold, and rainy one here in New Hampshire.  As I padded through the bay of the fire station towards my muffin I scowled at the wet parking lot.  We had another road race in a few hours and the weather was not going to be in our favor.  Actually it was in my favor because it sure beats 85 and humid.  We did this race with Megan and Phoebe.  I have to thank Karen for her picture taking skills while holding an umbrella!  It was a surprisingly refreshing course that took as the name of the race stated over the river and through the woods.  I got to see a neat little part of Concord that I never knew was there.  One part of the course made me stop just to take in the sight of the lush green carpet and the tall pines looming overhead as far as the eye could see.  It was breathtaking.

Meg, me, and John trying to stay dry

I have seem to have lost my mojo for most things this past week as I have been plowing through the 50 Shades of Grey trilogy.  I have maybe knit three rows on my sweater and forget running.  I did manage one day on the treadmill this week.  I definitely wasn't feeling the best this morning after a shortened night at the fire station.  The cops had us out at 1am putting out an illegal campfire.  I did my race pacing Megan and even got her a PR.    It felt good to be out there with her.  We talked the whole time and I am not normally someone who likes to run and talk.  Guess that means we should hang out together more often.

apres race

Woke up on Sunday to another cloudy gray day.  After John got home from the station we headed up to Franklin to have breakfast at Ralph and Jo's Cafe.  Excellent place run by Rebecca and Brandy Underwood.  We'll be back for lunch!  We did our grocery shopping on the way home and then it became the lazy Sunday on the couch day.  Perfect weather for finishing my book and then enjoying a nap.  I did manage to get the top of my sweater completed as well.  All in all, despite the rain, it was the perfect weekend surrounded by good friends and great books.