Week of 9/15-9/21
Monday: Agony Hill Repeats, bees, stairs.
Tuesday: Campus Course Pursuit
Wednesday: 30 Minute Tempo Run
Thursday: 30 minutes easy
Friday: Race @ Pineland
Saturday: Day off/ Mt. Washington Hike
Sunday: 90 minute long run.
This was kind of an eventful week for the team, as well as myself. It all started Monday which was supposed to be a good hill workout at Agony Hill in the dangerous woods of Poland, Maine. Shortly after I was done my second repeat and at the recovering to the bottom of the hill, I heard a some screams coming from below me. It turns out half of our girls team was getting ambushed by hornets. One girl ended up getting stung a good four or five times. By the time I had got to the bottom of the hill a few girls were done, and it had turned out I had ran right past the group of girls who were still getting stung. At this point there was a brigade of bees at the base as well who had done some damage to Coach Gatchell and some of the other runners at the bottom.
More teammates were at the top, and didn't know what was going on. Our very bright number two runner, decided it would be a good idea to run back up through to let the other kids know. Our number two runner is also the only member of the team to be allergic to bee stings. When I saw him run back up the hill it took me a minute to put two and two together, but I soon realized this couldn't possibly end well. I chased after him to make sure that he didn't get stung, and we are lucky he didn't. You could still see the bees swarming, and we made it through the first time fine. On our way back though I managed to get nicked by one on the calf, but I would much rather have gotten stung then having to treat someone for a bee sting reaction. In the end I think he was the only kid to not get stung.
Things calmed down for a bit the rest of the week. Tuesday we did a pursuit on our weather destroyed home course on campus. I felt very good, and managed to catch all of my teammates ahead of me. Wednesday was my fun day. We did a 30 minute tempo run, (the only thing better is my long run days) and I felt great all the way through. In reality I felt my strongest of the season all through the week and my meet, which I think is a good sign.
Friday it was meet time. We were running against Wells, NYA, and Lisbon. I was a little dissapointed because I wanted a little more competition. (I'm not bashing the other athletes) I ended up running a better race tacitacly then the week before on the same course, and I ran an 18:11 for the win. This was a big improvement over my 18:34 there the week before, when Alex Moser smoked me by a good 50 seconds. I felt stronger, and more in charge. I didn't feel obligated to go at an early, fast pace. I decided to try surging a little bit in areas after the mile mark, and took hills conservitivley like I was supposed to do last week. This made a lot of difference in the way I felt out there.
Saturday was the funnest day of the week by far. A freind had called me up Friday night wanting to go for a hike up Mt. Washington. I was a little weary at first because that is supposed to be my rest day, and I didn't know how I would feel on my long run the next day. In the end it was a trip well worth it though.
We left to Mt. Washington at 5:30, and were there by 7. It being this early we beet most of the other hikers to the base of Pinkham's Notch, and it was pretty quiet on the way up the trail. We both expected it to be a lot cooler, but it ended up being a beutiful day. After Pinkham's Notch we took Tuckerman's Revine up the rest of the way. It is the shortest way up, but one of the more challenging trails. I am hoping I get the chance to ski down it this winter.
We were at the top in just over two and a half hours, killing the estimated time up by an hour. We had a good lunch before we started back down. We had thoughts of hitch hiking on the auto road, but decided that if we had made it up, we could make it back down alright. The really cool thing though is that it was blue sky out, and perfect weather so when we were at the top we could see as far as possible. It was an amaing view.
When we got back down we decided no trip through North Conway was complete without going to Flatbread Pizza Co. I have only been there a few times, but they make my favorite pizza, and if you ever stop in you should try their lemonade, with maple syrup. After our brief stop there we decided that theres nothing better then bombing through North Conway, Fryeburg, and Naples in his little blue BMW with the techno blaring. He had a nasty pair of aviators on, and with my pink bandanna we were able to get some interesting looks from pedestrians. It was like a scene straight out of Night at the Roxbury. All in all it was quite a fun day.
Then Sunday it was time for my favorite run every week. The long run. I held back a little bit, because I knew I was coming down with a bug, and my legs were still a bit sore from the day before. I didn't feel as strong in my long run as usual, but I knew I had a long week so i didn't get mad. I got maybe 13 miles done in that 90 minutes, so it was a decent amount of mileage.
Well I guess before I leave you guys for the week I should tell you about the rare condition I have. I had my bi-annual sports physical on Tuesday morning and towards the end of the appointment my doctor found something odd on my upper chest. It turns out it was the start of a thrid nipple. I am told that it will never get bigger or anything, and I am going to try and live a normal life with it. I always thought it was just a freckle, a possible birth mark, but it turns out it was something far more sinister. I am told it is not all that uncommon, and that many other people have the same thing. After it spread around the school, I knew there would be no more hiding my condition, and it has turned into a giant show and tell session. Even my coach dubbed me the nickname ThreeNip. Wonderful. Now I am being ridiculed for it.