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June 23, 2008

Weekend Update

My brother was visiting me over the weekend. It was a special treat because I have not seen him in at least two years. I was able to show him many of my favorite places in VT, including Burlington Vermont, Green River Reservoir, Shelburne Farms, Stowe, and Smugglers Notch to name a few. I also took my brother to American Flatbread - my favorite restaurant in VT. We went to the restaurant in Waitsfield. The pizza is organic and local and the wait is worth it.

I had some great runs the last few days. I ran 2 hours on Thursday with a group of people on some trails in town. On Friday I ran for a little over an hour with two different people. Since my brother was in town on the weekend I did not run as much as I planned but I still had two great 1 hour runs. I ran around the school on Saturday morning and ran for an hour on trails on Sunday.

We spent most of today packing up our house and we're able to do a morning run and hopefully will do an afternoon run should and when this rain subsides.

Posted by mary at 4:03 PM | Comments (2)

June 19, 2008

Packing, Organizing, and Base Training

After a few very good days of running and being outside I am comfortable with the fact that I did not finish the 54 mile race. I had not truly trained properly and I wanted to have fun which I did.

The past three days I have had some great runs on trails, some great bike rides, and been able to do a track workout. This afternoon I have a two hour run planned with a combination of several people jumping in for various segments of the run. I am not sure I'd be motivated to do that had I finished the entire race.

Over the next ten days Mark and I will be moving out of our house and deciding what to sell, what to store, and what very small amount we should take with us to CA. We have decided to take only one vehicle out and one trailer. When July arrives we will be living at Mark's family camp on Lake Elmore. A picture of the lake and camp are below.

I have decided to work on my base training from now until August and focus on getting about 2 hours of running in a day or a combination of an hour of running and an hour or two of cycling. This is the luxary of being on summer vacation as a teacher. I feel like this will make me ready for some serious training once I arrive in CA.

I have bumped my Long Trail trip up to July 5th so I could have more time to sort out what we should and should not take with us to CA.

I have also been able to make a blog for my biology curriculum in the last few days. This will help me transfer work over from my current school to my new school. I am happy that I was able to figure out and looking forward to using it next year. The website is http://marysbiologypage.blogspot.com

We have graduation tonight and Project Graduation this evening. I will be up all night long playing black light volley ball with the students, tennis, and other games. Hopefully after my run I will be able to take a quick nap to prepare for tonight.

Posted by mary at 1:32 PM | Comments (3)

June 16, 2008

Weekend Update

The Pittsfield Peaks race was this past Sunday. I ran 37 miles and then called it quits. My legs were quite stiff from insufficient training and I was ready to call it a day. I enjoyed the scenary and felt much better than last year. I thought I would be ok dropping out but now I wish I finished. This will be a good lesson to remember.

On Sunday I hiked with a friend on the Long Trail for 15 miles. It was a remarkable day. We spent 7 hours on the trail. One high light was carrying the dogs up a ladder that was along the trail. There was no other way for the dogs to go so I put the dog under my arm and climbed up the ladder. It was quite the adventure.

Posted by mary at 3:22 PM | Comments (1)

June 12, 2008

Pittsfield Peaks Race This Saturday!

This weekend I will do the Pittsfield Peaks Ultra (53 miles) for the 2nd year in a row. I hope to do better than last year when I walked for a long time when I was lost literally and figuratively. Nikki Kimball will be at the race who is the best ultra runner in the country and possibly the world. I hope to have fun and be able to finish the race and feel good. I am ready for this adventure. School has been extremely busy!

http://www.peakraces.com/

Posted by mary at 1:02 PM | Comments (0)

June 3, 2008

My friend Jen - the artist, teacher, athlete, and more

My best friend here in Vermont has been hard at work on an amazing art project. She has been designing a trout for Monroe County PA.

http://www.trouttrails.org/

I have no artistic talent what so ever so I really appreciate and am in awe of those who have this talent.

For the past few months I have been helping her cut glass and mostly admiring her work. I named her fish - George. He has left VT and is now in a gallery in PA. I am really proud of her work. Here it is below:

Posted by mary at 12:59 PM | Comments (7)