Northeast

Nutmeg State Marathon

Published May 17, 2019

M. Michaela, May and…marathon.

Black Friday sale on Southwest last November – my score? Quick in-n-out airfare to celebrate Michaela’s Happy 26^thin Connecticut. Kiddo’s got her own digs now, whole lotta happenings since holiday season last. SUPER excited to see M’s Coventry home. Country treed & seasonal GREEN.

Post-work flight to Hartford, hotel arrival midnite+, Friday a.m. alarm. Crazy quick turnaround. Shower, change of clothes, bib pick-up in Goodwin Park. the New England Challenge: 6 days, 6 marathons, all 6 NE states. For me, dropped in just for Connecticut Day, the Nutmeg State. 6am start, 5-hour finish goal. Over-n-done, re-showered, Michaela’s by noon. M’s also for Multi-tasking 😊

Two-marathon weekend: CT on Friday, Denver’s Colfax Marathon Sunday morn. Good practice. Registered for my first QUADZILLA over Independence Day break. 4 marathons in 4 days. Sauvie Island, Tigard, Vancouver & Beaverton — coastal communities ’round Portland (Oregon). July summer marathoning, gonna be a challenge. Today however…weather, runner perfect. Forecast’d rain would hold off ‘til 1. Pizza & wing-feasting early afternoon (pie from UConn’s Husky Pizza).

Lap course. Half-mile trail. Handsome city lake, perfect time of year. Leafy tree cover, water birds, wetlands. Path butts up against a golf course. Sunrise, last-minute race instructions.

One hill. Not horrible, I ran UP while others walked (Day FIVE of their challenge). But one hill, TWELVE times. Downhill trail, leafy green stretch, wetlands, golf course, HILL. And repeat 12x.

Birthday party motivated, I kept at it. Finished with a smile. Think I dig running laps. Enjoy the camaraderie of other runners. Feel less isolated, less ‘in my head’, better manages the crazies.

Check, done. 12 laps plus a short loop, that’s 26.2 in the Nutmeg State.

Shower, pizza & Bloody Marys – let the games begin. May is Michaela month. Whoop, whoop! Celebration!

New England Challenge: Nutmeg State Marathon
Goodwin Park & Golf Course in Hartford, Connecticut United States
Friday, May 17, 2019 6:04:27 AM

Place Bib# Name
13 126 K R Haga M 04:52:50.36

: New England Challenge

: CT Day

: City Park wetland

: LEAFY green

: 12 lap REPEAT

: downhill TRAIL

: Nutmeg State 26.2

: May is Michaela Month

Nutmeg State Marathon

Posted in Marathons/Ultras, Northeast | Tagged kyrkan | Leave a comment

Retirement?

Published April 14, 2019

Marriage. Babies. First home.

Family vacations. Family funerals. Kid graduations. Father of the Bride. Retirement.

Stages we share with friends – BESTIES whom we closely confide, share laughter, life events, our ups & downs.

First to RETIRE. Stephen. Thirty years of bosses, budgets, job titles, office changes, annual reviews, Thursday pints-after-work – then blink, it’s all over. Luckily, I’m at the tail-end of my peer group. August birthday, last to turn 18. Trend’s continued whole life.

When am I old enough to buy a house? When should I be getting married? Decisions seemed so ‘grown-up’ – then somehow, one day – YOU’RE the grown-up, YOU’RE the uncle, YOU’RE the one sending cash on birthdays & graduations. Time warp.

Stephen’s party started my own wheels turning. Retirement. What will MY next chapter look like? What’s after retirement? And when? 10 years, 15 years?

Luckily, notta question for Stephen. Guy’s been FILLING his dance card. Candlepin bowling. Community chorus. Crafty to-do project I’ve been vowed to secrecy – AND a role in this year’s Palm Sunday celebration: ‘Jesus the Dreamer’ at South Church in Concord. Name printed in the program & everything. Completely legit.

Retirement reflection. Step ONE. Pay off the house. FIVE years.

Think it, dream it, say it out loud (and hopefully, win the lottery – HA!)

: Welcome to New Hampshire

: South Church, Concord

: Jesus the Dreamer ♫

: love as HE did †

: Sanctus Deus

: candlepin BOWLING 🎳

: no spare, no strike – tough, unforgiving new sport

: first CONE of 2019

Retirement Lunch

: Concord’s Common Man

: CONGRATS! 🎉

: Ashley & Dan

: cousin Patricia

: Cobb salad 🍴

: first to RETIRE

: SIBLINGS 👪

: Joanna & Harding

: Schofield Clan ❤️

‘Jesus the Dreamer’

Posted in Family, Northeast | Tagged kyrkan, sport | Leave a comment

Christmas in Connecticut

Published December 23, 2018

9 years in Connecticut, never been to Coventry. Certainly never seen divine Miss M’s new digs.

*BIG NEWS* Michaela & Eli closed on their FIRST HOME post-Thanksgiving. Busy time o’ year. Move, unpack, design, decorate. Housewarming party TWELVE days later. Whaaaat? Only Michaela could pull off that kinda impossibility. Living room rug arrived morning of their party. Timing!

Wood floors throughout. Downstairs Master, two bedrooms upstairs, full basement, comfortable kitchen & a laundry room. Outdoors? Acre+ of TREES & a BRAND NEW PORCH. Homing together. Eli’s gas grill, Michaela’s patio furniture (umbrella/table/chairs). Summer invite please 😊

Close 5-minute drive up Riley Mountain Road, holiday’d at Jill & David’s country home. Their second year in Coventry – lovely bi-level, ROCK fireplace, outdoor pergola, whole lotta natural wood.

M designed the PERFECT room for Dave – a Disney World EXPLOSION. All his favs accessible & on display. Permanent SMILE, surrounded/walled with LOVE. So happy lil’ man. Heart soar.

Downstairs, holiday dinner/all the fixin’s. Spiraled ham, deviled eggs, Grandma Paralee’s dressing recipe, M’s sweet potato casserole. Folks, THIS is why I marathon. Much food in my belly. LOL>

Post-meal X-Mas exchange. Disney collectibles/new computer for Dave, clothes/purses/shoes for Michaela. Jill & I also gifted this holiday: filtration-strawed Brita bottle (him), sea turtle lamp (her).

FULL MOON on the Mass Pike, nite-finished with generational activities. M took Sis’ T-rex purse for drinks while Papa black-n-white nestled to ‘The Bishop’s Wife’. 2 States down, one Christmas to go 🎄

M’s new digs