Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Getting back to “real life” after Italy.

Rhododendron near our driveway popping out while we were away!

Wonderful Ashe County friends and "helped- make -it- happen- folks" behind the scenes celebrating with good food and homemade beer and wine!

Tracey (one of the talented designers at Mtn Hardwear and I at Trail Days in Damascus. She would have joined me on my trail run, yet she is dealing with a stress fracture. We will take a raincheck with one another!)


It has been 17 days since the end of the World 24-Hour and 13 since George and I returned from Italy. What a grand adventure all that was and what a Grand Adventure the Rest of life is!

This blog entry mentions some neat life highlights since Italy and a few thoughts about upcoming responsibilities and adventures.

5/8: Returned home to Jefferson, NC. Happy kitty Mama Grey welcomed us in the driveway. The grass was 10” high it was raining for the 9th day in a row. Great to be home. Thank you to Fran for “camping out” and keeping crazy kitty company.

5/9: Ran for the 1st time since Worlds. Slow. 4.5 miles. Good to be home!

5/10: Ran again 7.6 . Spirit high, legs leaden. Good to be home! Formally pulled myself off the World 100km team. Just couldn’t figure out how to fund it!

5/11: Back to work. A huge Congratulations poster on my door with downloaded blog photos. Students and staff very curious and supportive. I committed to working summer school for the month of June. I can still train and this will help fund future cool running trips!

5/15: Finally finished a music/photo DVD of Italy. Showed up to meet friends for dinner and was surprised with a mini “Congrats” Party attended by close friends and some of the fine souls who helped lead the 5k back in March. Showed new slideshow.

5/16: My first trail run in over 2 weeks. Riot! 11ish miles out of Damascus on the Creeper Trail and Iron Mtn Trails. This was trail days so I finally got to meet some of the fine folks from Montrail and Mountain Hardwear.

5/17: Mountain run: Up and down Mt. Jefferson 13ish miles. Started a batch of dandelion wine.
Finally created a Facebook profile and clicked a wrong button, inviting my entire Gmail inbox to be my friends! (This has been fine and good so far –though I would have NEVER mass emailed so many people on purpose.

5/19: Finally spent sometime working out an “event” training plan until Vermont 100. This is what I am thinking for organized events/travel:
5/30: Black Mountain, NC: 12-Hour trail Run, “Rockmount Relays”
6/6: A Cool 5 (5 mile run up Beech Mountain)
6/20: Highlands Sky 40mile, Cannan Valley, WV
7/1: Register for JFK 50!
7/9: The Bear Uphill 5 miler. Leave to drive to NY
7/11: 25th class reunion on Long Island. Spend a few days with Mom
7/15ish: Drive to Vermont. Get used to humidity. Hike/jog/drive nighttime parts of VT 100 as permissible
7/18-19: Vermont 100!

After this? I am not sure!
Right now, I am kinda stressed with work and the end of the school year. Motivating myself to run well has been hit or miss-though today I had a great out and back 10 miler along the New River. Dennis, a favorite running companion and I have plans for a 23miler Sat am with some homebrew on ice for afterwards. Next week, I hope my marathon friend Carrie will be able to join me for some track stuff…

Mostly I love running alone-yet right now I am very appreciative of my running friends and their willingness to train alongside me!

6 comments:

Michael said...

Welcome home Annette! You'll need to share your little music/slide show with us of Italy. Good luck with your training - see you in the lovely State of Vermont real soon.

Cheers

Sophie Speidel said...

Welcome home and thanks for sharing all the cool news here and on FB! I *may* be at HS---depends on the kids sports stuff. Looking forward to seeing you if I am up there. :-)

S

Rick Gray said...

As usual, your enthusiasm is at the top. Keep the energy, but continue to make time for the small things. We will miss you this Monday in Damascus, but we will all run together soon. Have a great weekend. Rick

Runner Mom said...

Hey, Annette! I was googling the Rockmount Relays, and your blog popped up! Amazing race that y'all did in Italy!! Congratulations!! What an experience! Loved the pictures and the writing you did.

Hope to see you on Saturday. I may ride up and run! Haven't decided yet. You and George enjoy Memorial Day!
Hugs!
Susan

JJ Jessee said...

Good to see you back in real life.
Wondering how that dandelion wine is doing.
Run Strong,
jjj

annette bednosky said...

Dandelion wine is fermenting like crazy! 2 batches going now! Can't wait for blackberries! Running mood is inconsistent-I do look forward to tomorrow's 12 hour in Black Mountain!

I can't wait to see you friends at some point soon!