2 weeks of craziness

The first week of August was a whirlwind involving my last week working at Greenbrier Valley Brewing Co, a visit to Bristol to tour my new school and find an apartment, and lots of packing.  The second week of August was another whirlwind with packing, driving to Abingdon and unloading the Uhaul on Tuesday, returning to Lewisburg the same day to wrap up final stuff and say goodbye to people, and then I officially left Lewisburg and moved into my apartment in Abingdon on Thursday.  So, I no longer live in WV but I'm not letting go of my "WV hill runner" status quite yet.

Suprisingly, I actually managed to exercise 5 days each week!  No high mileage, but at this point I'm happy just to get out there, even if it's short!

August 1-7

M : last Pub Run 3.3 / 8:48 / 36 ft

R : run 6.2 / 7:44 / 472 ft

F : bike w./ Dan 21.6 / 17.3 mph / 1355 ft

Sa : run 4.5 / 7:58 / 328 ft

Su : bike w/Dan 19.7 / 16.4 mph / 1325 ft

run total : 14 miles

bike total : 41.4

August 8-14

W : run 4.5 / 8:43 / 453 ft (forgot inhaler)

R : bike 13.1 / 17.8 mph / 830 ft (first day in Abingdon)

F : run road/trail 4 / 8:22 / 413 ft 

Sa : bike 11.3 / 18.4 mph / 617 ft

Su : run 4.5 / 7:32 / 246 ft

run total : 13 miles

bike total : 24.4

It has been ridiculously hot here in Abingdon.  90ish degrees, "feels like 96+" doesn't make it super easy to exercise outside, which makes me even more impressed that I got even the minimal mileage that I did this week.  Between all the work I've done unpacking my apartment and the exercise, the few extra pounds I gained months ago finally just melted (sweated) off.  

I'm running at about the same elevation here in Abingdon as I was in Lewisburg (just over 2000 ft), but the neighborhood/downtown hills are definitely not nearly as long or steep as they were in Lewisburg.  If there are some bigger ones, I'm sure I will find them in time though!  

Tomorrow I start teacher week at my new school (Sullins Academy), and I hope to be able to get into a routine of daily exercise like I haven't had for a long time!  

Photos from my last days in Lewisburg. 

Wearing matching glowstick necklaces and having a blast. 

Gonna miss her!

Farewell night at the Pub.

(apparently "Thanks for all the fish" is a reference to a movie I haven't seen...)

I did make a final batch of Potato Leek soup for the Pub on my last day in town!

Saying goodbye to Pony on my way out of town.

Car is all loaded up with the last bits and pieces from my apartment.  

Whatever didn't fit at this point, got tossed!

Some photos from my first 4 days in Abingdon

Home is where the bike is?

Hardly anything is set up at this point, but my bike found it's new place.

Next order of business: hang up the awesome medal hanger I won at the South Peak Hill Challenge

and hang my medals on it!  All my medals from races ranging from 10 mile to marathon.

I came down the road on the left and snapped this photo before turning around and heading back up the hill the way I came.  I'll explore that road leading off into the hills on a future ride!  

This is just past White's Mill Mercantile.  

Found out that Wolf Hill's Brewing Co is only a 0.8 mile walk from my apartment...so I headed there on Friday night to try two of their beers.  Started with the Troopers Alley IPA and finished with this Zazzy's Downtown Ground.  I was told it's a coffee stout, but I'm doubting the "stout" part.  It was a really delicious coffee beer though!  

Running for the Hills

Oh how I adore running hills.  Each time I ran this week, I told myself I would run 4, maybe 5 miles.  But that is easily accomplished in less than 45 minutes, and I am so used to biking for an hour or two, that 45 minutes just doesn't feel remotely like an adequate amount of exercise.  I have no desire to stop after only 45 minutes.  So I just keep on going.  Wednesday was my first exercise post-crash, and my first run in about 10 days. I hadn't intended to take 10 days of, but I somehow never got around to running while I was traveling over Thanksgiving week, and then I had to take a few days off from exercising after crashing so that the hole in my knee could dry out a bit.

Runs this week:

Wednesday

Saturday

Sunday

week totals

2100 feet of climbing this week, that's no joke.  A normal 20-25 mile week for me tends to be between 1100 and 1200 feet.  For the most part, this week's runs felt really good.  Wednesday's run felt great for the first 8 miles, but shortly into the last mile my left hip decided it was done, and it hurt quite a bit for the remainder of the run.  I was definitely limping when I stopped running.  It is the hip I landed on when I fell last Saturday, so I'm guessing it still had some healing to do.  Thankfully, the pain didn't last long and I haven't had any trouble with it since.  Of course, I also haven't tried to run 9 miles again.  My upper legs have been pretty sore all week.  Running a bunch of hills after a bunch of time off is apparently hard on my muscles...go figure.  My last downhill today was killer, my legs were not happy with me.  I felt really strong on the uphills though! Plus, I just ran 2 days in a row for the first time, and so far so good!  Tomorrow's Pub Run will make it 3 days in a row, but at least it will be shorter (maybe) and flatter (definitely).

Post-crash update : 

This photo was taken on 11/30, 2 days after the crash.  Still some marks on my face. 

This photo was taken 12/5, one week after the crash.  The marks on my face are now very faint, because I picked off the scabs.  My teeth are not as loose as they were, and they still look and feel pretty good.  No sensitivity to cold, which I hear is a good sign.  I tend to think that if my teeth were dying, I would be able to tell by now.  But I'm guessing I'm not quite out of the woods yet. I certainly am not anywhere near ready to start biting into apples again.  Or even my lunch sandwiches, for that matter. I am getting pretty used to cutting my sandwiches into bite-sized pieces and eating them with a fork though...

The hole in my knee is taking forever to heal.  I can't help but think that if it were summer it would be so much further healed by now.  Given that it's cold out and I have to wear long pants every day, I've had to keep it covered with band-aids so my clothes don't irritate it.  The result is that it doesn't get enough exposure to air to allow it to heal quickly.  Thankfully I've been able to wear shorts around my apartment this weekend and leave it exposed to air.  It is now looking so much better.  Oh and I guess it's not really a "hole"... just a quarter-sized patch of skin missing.

Bike Week + going out with a bang

Lots of bike miles this week!  I got 100 miles for the first time since early August.  Having a week off from school made it much easier to get the miles in, and the weather was cooperative as well.  As of yesterday morning, I had about 93 miles.  I thought about going for a run since I hadn't done that at all this week, but I was so close to 100 miles, I had to bike again.  Plus it was warm enough to bike in shorts!  I made plans with a friend to go for a 40-ish mile ride right after lunch.  The ride started out well enough.  We were cruising along at a good pace after racing down a long hill.  We were talking, and I was looking at him instead of at the road.  It was a freshly paved road, which means the edge of the pavement drops sharply several inches into the weeds.  My front tire slipped off the road.  Instead of doing the smart thing and laying over into the weeds, I tried to save it and swerve back onto the pavement.  It did not work out well for me.  Thankfully there were no broken bones and nothing needed stitches.  I do have a good bit of road rash though.  And the worst part is that one of my front teeth seems to have taken the hardest hit.  It got bent back a little bit.  I was able to push it back into place, but it was not a pleasant feeling, and it is now a bit loose.  I can't bite at all, and sometimes when I am talking my bottom teeth hit it, which is very unpleasant.  Small town life means I have already been put in touch with a dentist who is ready to help me out if I need it.  Only time will tell if my tooth will recover on its own or if I will need a root canal, or a new tooth.  For now all I can do is wait and hope for the best.  

As far as crashes go, I could not have been any luckier.  I wasn't alone and I wasn't seriously injured.  And, even better, minutes after I crashed, Merrick drove by in the bike shop van with his family, so they were able to take me and my bike back to their house and help me clean up the wound on my knee and some of the road rash.  It was nice not to have to bike up the three mile hill to home after that crash!   

 

Bike Rides This Week

T : 22.3 miles / 16.9 mph / 1148 ft (Portsmouth, RI)

W : 27 miles / 17.6 mph / 843 ft (Newport, RI w/Cecilia & Scott)

R : 43.6 miles / 15.3 mph / 33327 ft (Aquidneck Island, RI, TSS Thanksgiving Hill Fest)

Sa : 7 miles / 20.1 mph / 423 ft (Lewisburg, WV w/Dan)

total bike miles : 100.1

Thursday's ride with Ten Speed Spokes was my longest ride since late July, and my first ride over 30 miles on the Super Six.  It was a tough hill ride, and I forgot my inhaler, which didn't make the hills any easier, but I had a great ride.  It was fun to ride with a group for once.  

Photos from Tuesday's ride

My face post-crash.

I do not understand how I hit hard enough to knock a tooth out of place, 

but my face doesn't look any worse than this.  

My chin is bruised, but doesn't even have a mark on it!

Lake Sherwood Recreation Area

I had a fun night with a group of friends last night so today I was ready to recharge with some solitude and my cameras.  I slept in, then decided to drive up to Lake Sherwood for the morning.  It's a little less than an hour away, and I hadn't been there yet.

As I was driving along a winding road through the forest, I could see little waterfalls in the stream that paralleled the road.  I eventually found a spot to pull over right next to a neat area in the stream, and so I spent a good bit of time there before continuing on to the lake.

I love the sun streaming down in this one.

I eventually headed on to the lake, where signs informed me that all cars were charged a day fee from May through September.  Glad I came in November.  I didn't see a single other person the entire time I was in the area, which was perfect.  I like solitude on my adventures.  

I could hear the geese long before I could see them, and they were clearly not happy about my presence.  They took off for an even more solitary spot shortly after they caught sight of me.  I didn't even have time to adjust settings on my camera to get the exposure right.  And it was hard to focus because the sun was so bright. 

I kind of like the blurred effect in this photo.

This guy was also very unhappy with my presence and quite vocal about it.  It took me awhile to find him, but he was so loud I found him eventually, way up in a tree.  Thank goodness for zoom lenses...

It gets harder to find colorful photos every weekend.  

Now that it's halfway through November, there are hardly any leaves left anywhere.  

It has occurred to me that I'm pretty lucky it hasn't snowed at all yet.

I prefer colorful photos, but at this time of year it seems the only way to 

really get them is through heavy editing...

 Having fun.

Enjoying the peace and solitude.

I really wish I had thought to bring a book along.

Sunday Funday 11/8/2015

I want to go on as many photo adventures as I can while the weather is still decent out, I'm not sure how often I'll manage to drag myself out to take pictures once it's too cold to keep feeling in my fingers while using a camera!  Yesterday was rainy and dreary for most of the day, and by the time it was almost nice out, I was enjoying my couch so much I didn't feel like going out and doing anything.  So I enjoyed a day on the couch going through photos and doing a bit of this and a bit of that.  It was good to have a quiet and relaxing day after a very stressful week at school.  

Today I wanted to bike in the morning, and I had told Sue I would trail ride at 1:30, so that didn't leave much time for a photo-adventure, but I was determined to get some camera time in.  So I went down to the Fort Spring boat launch, only about 15 minutes away.  I had some fun taking photos of the water and being silly jumping around, then went straight to the barn and brought my camera along on the trail ride.

Fort Spring

The trees are bare but the sky is brilliant!

a bit of editing fun

Trail Ride

Pony heard the crinkling sound of the water bottle and tried to bite it, so Sue stuck it in her mouth for her to drink out of.  It was hilarious.

 Check out the cloud of dust she just shook off...

Photo Adventure 11/1/2015

My weekend didn't feel complete without a photo adventure.  I was doing laundry this morning and decided that I really needed to go somewhere to play with my camera.  I got a Lensbaby Spark this week, and I wanted to experiment with it.  I also wanted to play with my macro lens.  I decided to head out to Anthony.  It's only 30-45 minutes away, and there are some good views on the way there for capturing what's left of the fall foliage.

The last few weeks have been really busy and hectic for me at school, and last night I went downtown with some friends, which turned into a very long and loud night.  Sensory overload.  I don't do well with crowds or loud noises, and it was very draining for me.  But a friend was in from out of town who I don't see often anymore, so I tried to be social.  After all of the noise and chaos, it was incredibly nice to be alone in the woods by the water today, taking my time, playing with my camera, and enjoying the peaceful quiet and solitude.

The lensbaby creates one spot of focus with everything else blurred.  

Plus it's bendy so you can move the focus around.

It's fun to play with.

Bubbles!

Coleman Cliffs

The view is really awesome from the edge of the cliff, but there were a lot of 

no trespassing and tow zone signs posted so sadly I did not go out to the edge for photos.

The Greenbrier River at the boat launch in Anthony.

the adventure-mobile

Macro-Fun

and of course, no adventure is complete without some jumping shots

it's a new rule