So, when I got back from Disney I brought the flu with me and was out of commission for a few days. I literally spent 3 days on my couch in a semiconscious state with a fever over 100 degrees and no energy to even eat. I started to feel better towards the end of the week. Which was good because I had planned another mini-vacation with friends to the White Mountains of New Hampshire for some snowy adventures.
Friday night I drove up to the bustling town of Campdon, NH with my friend Kim and we met the rest of the crew up at the ski condo we rented for the long weekend. It was actually snowing when we got there and neither one of us had eaten dinner yet so I used the handy 'Around Me' app on my phone to find a pizza delivery place and ordered a pizza. It took forever and when the kid finally showed up the pizza was a little soggy and not exactly hot, but I didn't care I was starving. Lucky for us, not only did he provide food, he also provided entertainment. He got stuck in the driveway of the condo and couldn't get out. There was a steep hill out to the main road and it was all ice and covered with fresh white fluffy snow so it was super slippery and his front wheel drive sedan circa 1998 could not get any traction. We stood in the doorway laughing and trying to guide him, but he just kept getting more and more frustrated. I actually felt bad for him. He would get 90% of the way up the driveway and then gun it spinning the tires and sliding back down to the bottom. We tried to tell him to go slow and put the car in low gear and ease his way up the hill, but he was a frustrated teenager with no patience and obviously very little experience driving in snow and ice. We eventually got him to drive up the hill towards the edge in a wide turn and he made it, not so sure if his car's transmission survived the night.
Saturday morning we all got up and ate breakfast. It was time to check off another item on my 'to-do' list, I was going to try snowboarding. I grew up in Maine and skied from middle school up through high school and some of college, but hadn't been since then. So, we're talking over 10yrs since I had even been to a mountain in the winter time, nevermind trying to get on a chairlift and then going down the mountain. I borrowed snowpants and a jacket and rented a snowboard. Kim's husband Bill had recently learned to snowboard (from watching youtube videos) and agreed to show me the basics. We made our way to the bunny slopes and I strapped the board onto my foot and hobbled up to the chairlift. Bill road up with me and showed me how to get on and off. I wiped out almost immediately and couldn't stand back up. It was pretty comical.
I think the first run took about an hour or maybe more and I spent more time on my butt than on my feet. Bill and the others did one more run with me and then I told them to go ahead and have fun on the rest of the mountain. I didn't want to hold anyone back and I knew I'd be on the bunny slopes all day just trying to stay up and make it down the hill without falling. I got better as the day went on. I could get on and off the lift without wiping out and taking other people down with me.
I stayed on two green trails the whole time 'Stemtation' and 'Leroy's loop':
By the end of the day I did 8 or 9 runs and managed to make it down the hill without falling on the last run of the day. I made it the last run because I wanted to finish on a high note and I was pretty psyched I didn't break anything and felt like I only bruised a few areas.
I met up with everyone in the base lodge and we packed up and went back to the condo. It was still early evening and we had a pass to the local fitness club/spa so we decided to utilize the hot tub and pool. Only one problem, in my rush to through everything in my bag before leaving Friday night I forgot my bathing suit. I ended up just going in the hot tub with my sports bra and underwear on. It was a little weird to be in a hot tub outside with snow on the ground and temperatures quickly approaching zero degrees.
Sunday, Kim and Bill had lift tickets to another mountain and Moe and I had planned on snowshoeing. Mother Nature had other ideas, it was -6 degrees without the windchill and the winds were 20-40mph gusts making it roughly -25 degrees. Kim and Bill went to the mountain and turned around and came back to the condo. Moe went baack to the fitness center/spa for a workout and I explored the area a little. By the time we all reconnected at the condo it was late lunch/early dinner time. We went to the Common Man for some food.
If you've never tried it I highly recommend it. There are several locations around New Hampshire and the food is amazing.
When we got back to the condo, I decided to drive home instead of staying another night. I was really sore from snowboarding and the thought of another night in a twin bed with a plastic matress was not appealing. I was surprised how sore my upper body was from boarding. My legs were fine, but my chest, shoulders, and arms hurt so much it was difficult to shampoo my hair and to get dressed. Putting my jacket on and taking it off was a pretty painful process. I got home around 7:00pm and ate a little dinner before crashing on my super comfy bed.
Monday I had taken the day off from work expecting to still be in NH, but it was nice to have a day at home to catch up on chores and do some laundry and just chill. I felt like I hadn't really been home since before Disney even though I was home sick for much of the previous week, I wasn't awake for most of it so it didn't really count. I could have gone for a short easy run, but I was still really sore and didn't have any motivation to even get up and get dressed. I stayed in my PJs all day. Tuesday I brought my running stuff to work with the intention of running after work in and around Boston, but by the end of the day I had no energy and just didn't want to run. I went home instead and fell asleep on my couch at 5:30 and didn't wake up until 10:30, then I just went to bed.
Thankfully Wednesday I made plans to run in Ayer with Kim and get my butt back in gear. We did 4.5 miles and felt like we were running wicked fast, but upon reviewing the GPS when we finished we realized we only managed 10:00 miles. To be fair, it was very windy out and neither one of us had run in about a week. Plus, I still have some lingering congestion in my chest from the cold/flu I had the week before.
I'm hoping today to go for a run after work and get my motivation back. I looked at my training logs for the past few years and last week was the first week in over 3 years that I logged zero miles!!!! No wonder why it felt weird and it's really hard to get started again. I still haven't signed up for any 2012 races. I just have the stair climb coming up and that's it. I can't decide which spring marathon to run and that will help me decide which tune up races to register for. There's so much I want to do and limited number of weekends. Some races that I'm interested in overlap and part of me wants to leave some weekends open this year for trying NEW things. I can't decide what to do. I need to just pick something.
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