November

After missing 8 weeks with a stress fractured sacrum, I eased back into running this month.

I had weeks of 32, 44, 51, and 61 for a total of 197 miles for November which is an average 6.6 miles per day.

The literal high point of the month was the summit of Mullen Mountain which was my first summit since that fateful day in August when I raced up Mt Mansfield. Eric and I saw the Patriots beat Buffalo 20-10. We’ve gone to a December game for at least 5 years, this was the first time we got to go in November and we also got seats that were just 15 rows from the field. Usually we are as high up in the stands as you can possibly go. Petey and I took his kids for a couple of hikes during the month including some scary moments ascending the fire tower on Federal Hill. I started back town-bagging again this month, picking up a couple of towns on the Cape and taking a very fast cruise to Nantucket and back. I also completed the Massachusetts county high points with a rugged ascent of Sankaty light on Nantucket (actually I biked up to the high point). I took a step toward finishing the New Hampshire fire tower list with a successful climb of Milan hill, which leaves one tower to go! I also did my first Orienteering meet since April, running the club championships at Beaver brook. I’m still waiting for the results to be posted to see how I did. After 4 weeks of running I decided to test my fitness with a race. I ran 18:11 for 5km on a pretty windy day. I was hoping for sub-18 but ran as hard as I could on that day. The final week of the month had me “racing” twice. I went to the Chelmsford, Billerica, etc. alumni XC race which I’ve been going to for a few years now. I’ve yet to get a full Billerica contingent to show up, but there were three of us there this year representing. The final day of the month had me back at the Andover Country Club for my third time on the greens and cart paths. Every year there seems to be less and less grass to run on. I was hoping to break 21 and was pleased with nearly breaking 20. All in all it was a fun month.