2012 in Photos

Spectated at US Cross Country Nationals in Rumford, ME on my birthday weekend

Hike up Rumford Whitecap on my birthday. Thanks Jess!

The awesome wrestling belts Jess and I made for trophies for the Whitaker Woods Snowshoe Scramble

Awesome day for a run up Mt. Washington via Lion Head, mid February, courtesy Mike Pelchat, Mt. Washington State Park 

The run we almost died on, with Double J, on Pierce and Eisenhower

Flogging Molly and The Devil Makes Three for Jess's birthday in Boston

Tim Livingston and I skiing the Sherburne Trail, Mt. Washington

Great weekend in and around Quebec City for Snowshoe Worlds

Greg Hexum and I around 6k at Snowshoe Worlds, finished 7th

Double J and I running up and down Chocorua in March

Lincoln Brook "Trail" on our loop up and around Owls Head with Double J and Troy Shellhamer

Great 16 mile hike with Jess through the Pemi Wilderness on Memorial Day weekend

Run up Jefferson and Washington via Huntington Ravine with Pete Mallett and Coby Jacobus. It was steep.

Pemi Loop with Double J the NEXT DAY.

Finishing up a PR run at the Pikes Peak Ascent

Cool run with Peter Maksimow up the Manitou Incline the next day.

Great hike in RMNP up Deer Mountain w/ Jess.

Nice run up Fall River Rd. in RMNP.

Lots of elk in RMNP.

One of my favorite photos of all time. Bear Lake with Long's Peak in the background.

Full moon/sunrise run up the auto road with Double D.

Millen Mile

A few sunset shots from Mt. Jefferson after work one night.

Zealand River during foliage.

Pondicherry National Wildlife Refuge

Heron (?) at Echo Lake

Foliage at Echo Lake & Cathedral Ledge on a foggy day

Foliage from Deer Hill

Snow and foliage from Lowe's Bald Spot, near Mt. Washington

Where to Begin...

It's been a while since my last blog post. Nothing too exciting. I won a couple of races, the Bradbury Bruiser 12 miler for the 3rd time in a row, and the Kismet Cliff Run "Beast of the East", a couple of weeks later. I rounded out my fall season with an ill-advised run at the Cape Cod Marathon, which pretty much ended any momentum I had going this fall.

Since then, I've struggled to get any type of training going since the couple of weeks I took off after Cape Cod. I've been dealing with a lingering plantar fascia issue that has subsided in the last week, and my overall energy has been pretty low. I've had multiple nights of 10-11 hours of sleep, even on days where I didn't do anything physical, which is usually a sign that something is up. I've been pretty wiped from all of the field work I've been doing the last few months, trying to finish up projects before we got any significant snow. This time of year is always busy at work, and I've never been a fan of trail running in the dark, so it's usually a good time to lay low and re-cooperate, but something has been off the last few months. I finally went in for a physical last week, something I haven't done in 12 years, and had some blood work done to check my iron levels and to check for Lyme Disease. I have a follow-up appointment on the 15th, so hopefully I'll have some answers then. Until, then, I'm going to just try to take it one day at a time and try to get outside when I don't feel completely run down. We have some snow here in the north country now, so I'm looking forward to some snowshoeing,  XC skiing and some winter hiking. T'is the season.

Hopefully some terrain I will see soon.