The Mountain Wins Again

Tuesday July 27th: Road training took us up the steep one mile Summit Road to the summit of Mount Uncanoonuc in Goffstown. The total length of the run is a 5K (3.2 miles)... 5 of us started at the base of the road (that eventually turned to 6 + a dog), all not looking thrilled to be there. I had just come from the gym so i was actually pissed at being there, but the inevitable tag of "pussy" was a great motivator to get my ass to the starting line.

Dan, Meena, Doren.. along with newcomer Ann and I headed up the steep one mile incline of "south Unc".. Now for a seasoned runner, this steep may just be a pimple on the ass of the road, but to me this uphill run was like running in quicksand... The little devil & angel guys who reside on your shoulders in such moments were tortuously fucking with my head.. Angel guy " keep running"... devil guy "fuck it Neil, let's go home and start drinking".. on and on they went.. in days past Devil Guy would have gotten the nod, but this new Angel Guy is persistent and getting stronger with each run.

So, dan and I get to the top of quicksand hill about the same time (ok dan was in front of me when we got up) but the good news is we both took a full minute off our time up the hill from the last time we ran this course... That result had Angel Guy hooting and hollering, while Devil Guy was back in his lair trying to figure out a way to get me drinking and soon!...

Once up quicksand hill we are suppose to do 4 laps around the summit and tear ass back down the steep, which now miraculously has somehow turned from quick sand to ice.... Doren, who's young strong and fast (asshole!) tears by me.. i figure he just lapped me, so i decide to do another lap around the top... little did I know that the youngster stopped along the way to take a piss, so he was just catching up to me.. that meant Neil did 5 laps around the summit.. wow am I stupid! After my fifth lap dan is curiously standing at the starting point of the down hill, he says he did his 4th lap and was waiting for late starter & newcomer Miriam and her dog (I've met some cool dogs the last few weeks) so they could go down together. I didn't understand how this could be because dan too had stopped to use nature's facilities soon after we reached the summit and he did not pass me since.... oh well, whatever, so down the hill i go... now i don't profess to being anything near a great runner but put me on a down hill and I am fucking impressive!!!! I was hauling down sooo fast my feet were literally burning, even devil guy was having a pisser at this moment! If I blow out a knee or something going at this speed, my skin would resemble some sort of steak tartar dish with ketchup and that's if I survived the crash, otherwise either devil guy or angel guy would be escorting me to my new home (devil guy may win this battle)..... I hit the bottom and there stands Meena and doran wondering why I didn't get down prior to Meena who never passed me on the top.. 5 laps at the summit my friends, that's why.. i am an animal!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway, great run with fun people ... Devil guy was friggin' pissed when i broke out a bottle of coconut milk to celebrate the end of the run.. I think he feels for now anyway, he is loosing his buddy...

Here is some interesting facts about The Unc:

Uncanoonuc Mountain was a historically important Snow Train area - for two reasons! First, many skiers from Massachusetts took a Snow Train to near the mountain, and were then brought to the area. Once at the area, they took one of skiing's only incline railroads (originally built in 1905 as a summer tourist attraction) to the summit. This railroad was similar in concept to the Cog Railway which still operates on Mt. Washington.

What a long strange trip it's been

July 22nd thru July 25th brought a weird confluence of circumstances. One minute I think I have an agreement on an awesome plot of land to build the foundation for the next phase of my life, then whamm..... Karen looses her job and shit comes to a grinding halt...errrrrrr........ Ok reality check..... what to do... well first I need to run my first ever 10K road race, that will get my mind off of things.. So off I go, thru the heat, fumes and exhaust of a fairly busy airport thru road I run and run...... 6 miles 376 yards 4 and 25/32 inches and 1 hour and 4 minutes later I finish and i still have gas in my tank! So i realize my fledgling fascination with running requires I figure out how to finish a run on empty in order to obtain maximum time. Anyway, I am happy with my results.

Race ends, still wondering about life with one income.. what to do? Hike of course. So Karen and dogs Phil and Maggy and I take off for the hills and a chance to conquer the Welsh/Dickey Loop.... a relatively short hike (around 4.4 miles round trip) with a fairly steep ledge climb and interesting terrain changes..... However the prize of this trek is the extra ordinary views that are had during most of the hike.... Karen, the dogs and I sweat our way up the slippery slope.. sliding up and down wet ledge rock until we tap our feet on the 2 peaks we came to scale.. Mission accomplished.. down to the parking lot and the nirvana-like experience of removing ones hiking boots and socks and replacing them with open toe Keens.... The evening ends by watching a Jim Carey movie called the "Yes Man"... more about this later.

Hike ends, movie ends... still wondering about life with one income.. what to do? Celebrate Melissa's 20th birthday of course! Ok she is 20, so don't expect her up at 6:30 like her dad, so time to hit the gym.. legs feel like spaghetti from my run and hike so concentrate on upper body work out.. ok.. came back feeling like a cripple.. Melissa is up, give her her presents (no surprise she helped pick it out), mow the lawn.. then a nap.. imagine that a nap, haven't done that in years.. I recommend it... this idea has to have some application for work, doesn't it?? But i digress, next it's the birthday dinner.. off to Picola's we go for pasta and a cheese cake desert , complete with candle and a really bad rendition of the song "Happy Birthday to you"... My little girl is 20, that has psychological implications in it self.. but i won't bore you with that crap.

Birthday ends, still wondering about life on one income... What to do??? Ok, back to Jim Carey and "The Yes Man"..... In the movie Jim is an unhappy negative person, he goes to a seminar and learns to say " yes" to everything... By doing so he spits in the face of risk, gets a job promotion, gets punched out by a big guy, meets a cool girl and is able to blow off his ex-wife who suddenly wants to screw him again... all good shit, except the getting punched in the face thing... but the movie spoke to me saying "spit in the face of adversity".. So as stupid as this seems I decided fuck it, I am going to buy my land as previously planned... have confidence in Karen's ability to get herself a good job quick... run and hike my ass off to dull the ever-menacing thoughts of negativity and doubt ... and enjoy the rest of the summer with my family and friends.. Oh and by the way, thanks to my running guru from work who gave me an early Christmas present in the form of an enrollment... I am now signed up to run my first 1/2 marathon (21,097.5 meters, or 13 7⁄64 miles, about 13.1 miles) on November 12th, one day before I turn 52 (holy shit!)

What a long strange trip it's been... oh and don't tell anyone but Melissa's tuition is due in 2 weeks or so......

pic above: land I am purchasing

In The beginning

Ok, Not sure where to start.... this is my first post ever on a blog. The goal of this blog is to create on-line diary of the shit I do. It may not be interesting to you, may not even be interesting to me but i think I'll piece together something worth while.

Follow Me if you care..........