The Crookers

It's hard to believe that it's the middle of November already!  Dan's cross country season ended last week which allowed us to have our first full weekend at home in months!  The wood stove is in!  Bobby is finally warm!! With the oil prices being so high we've been keeping the heat on a low setting until we got the woodstove hooked up.  Now that it is, we're all hanging out in t-shirts and shorts! Dan and a couple of his buddies also put a new metal roof on the house.  We've been wanting to do that since we moved in and finally got around to it.  The goats have grown their winter fur and are so adorable!!  They are as round as they are tall!  We have a few more busy weekends on the horizon.  Dan will be in Boston next week at the ski show.  I'll head down on the weekend too which is always fun.  I get to explore and shop all day while he's working....not a bad gig for me!  I slacked off on running for about a month...but am starting to get back into it.  I've decided that I need to pick a race to enter in the spring to keep me motivated.  I'll let you know what I finally decide.  I'm thinking that it should be out of towns and we'll turn it into our spring vacation.  Any good races in your area?  I'm thinking a half marathon for me and a marathon for Dan.  He needs to stay motivated too!

It's been a while since our last post.  Summer is over, we're putting sweaters on in the morning and the leaves are brilliant shades of orange. 

Dan has been coaching the local cross country team and enjoying every minute of it...except maybe the long bus rides!  I don't think it will come as a surprise to any of his friends that he had a little tumble a couple of weeks ago and hurt his back....this has slowed down his own running a bit but he's slowly getting back to it...probably faster than he should if you ask me!  We're excited because Marie's son Bobby is coming out to live with us for the winter.  He's gotten a job at Sunday River.  He's driving out this week with Dan's friend Keith.  Dan's been trying to get Keith out here for another visit and this was the perfect excuse.  Bobby has no idea of the plans Dan has for him though!!!  New roof...splitting wood...heehee!

I've been trying to stay motivated with my running.  I haven't been getting out there as often but now that it's getting cold in the morning it's been getting easier.  I'm trying to decide what my next event will be.  I'm wondering if I should run a marathon???? I was watching footage of the Disney Marathon and I could definitely do it!!  I don't even think I'd come in last!!  Anyway, I'm thinking about it but I would want it to be a flat race...if anyone has any ideas let me know!!

 

July has been a busy month.  I feel like summer is almost over!  We've competed in a couple of races. First was the Blackfly In Your Eye 15K, which we did as a team.  I ran the first 5k leg and Dan ran the second two legs.  We finished fairly well even with my slower pace. It was a fun carriage road and single track trail race with a river crossing at the end.  The second race was the one I've been training for since January 1st! The 4 on the 4th in Bridgton.  Lindsay and I ran together...well, she was a bit ahead of me, which was fun.  Dan ran and finished 18th, which of course wasn't good enough for him but was on par for his training (or lack thereof!!) Also some old friends of Dan's,  Paul and Andy ran.  They were in town for a couple of days for a visit with their families. (see group picture below). 

After the race we went home and celebrated with all my closest friends.....my big 4-0! I also got a call from Florida in which our Legion friends sang Happy Birthday with piano accompaniment....it was great! The day was gorgeous...especially after all the rain we'd been having.  I have such good friends!  AND a great husband who planned and orchestrated the whole thing!!!

Dan is off to Vegas this week for "Man Trip 2008".  Christopher and Dan plan to golf quite a bit....they chose a place that has won awards for their "cart girls"...hhmmm....

That's all for now.

Dan yells up to me this morning...Kate! The egg hatched!  We have a baby guinea!   28 days ago we took a solitary egg out of the coop and set up the incubator.  We never thought that it would really "work".  Otter Brook Farm is really coming to life!!!

We worked all day on Saturday after procrastinating for 8 weeks to finish the goat pen and yard so that we could bring home the boys this weekend.  They are even cuter than we thought they'd be!  They are becoming familiar with the dogs who constantly have their noses in the pen and are working through their new home jitters.  I arrrived home today to find Nugget with his front legs on the ground and his hind legs stuck up in the hay holder (for lack of a better name) He must have climbed in the side and then tried to sneak through the front but then his hips wouldn't fit....I wonder how long he was stuck before I found him?

Well spring is finally here and with spring comes yard work.  The house faired fairly well over the snow infested winter which we received over 200"'s this year.   The current projects include a little scenic clearing of some pines thanks to our friends and neighbors the Crocketts, putting on a new roof, painting the house and installing the wood stove..  We have also managed to spend some time isolating the dogs to the back 9 acres by putting in an invisible fence to protect the newly planted seed and shrubs in the front of the house.   On top of that we have expanded the garden this year which will include, lettuce, broccoli, spinach, watermelon, corn, peppers and a few others.  Kate has started the first planting after I managed to grade things off and get it ready (I was slow on getting this done).

The MX track is coming along great and is so much nicer than last year.  The jumps are bigger, berms are smoother and now I just need to work on line and rhythem sections.   Since I made the jumps larger some of the spacing isn't right so that needs to be fixed.

Kate and I are both playing in golf leagues at the "Club"....yep, we are official Country Club members at the Bethel Inn.  It is veryy convienent and not a bad course to play, plus it forces us to get out and swing the clubs. 

The running is going well for both of us and are looking forward to testing out our new found and refound fitness levels.  The goal is a 4 mile race on Kates birthday (July 4th) in Bridgeton which is about 30 minutes from us.  It is a competitive 4 mile race with prize money which Kate is going to try to lock up.  She is training very consistantly at about a minute faster per mile since the beginning of the year.  My training is coming along with most of my runs occurring with the track team at the local high school which I am coaching this season.  It is a small group of about 12 distance runners, but have managed to develop pretty good.  The last meet resulted in 2 school records being broken.   

The goats are getting closer and I still need to build the coral and pen for them.  We are going to go see them soon and will post some updated pictures.  Well, that's all for now and if anyone wants to come visit the most relaxing place on earth (at least that's my opinion) then you are always welcome.

Nope, I'm not pregnant...we're getting goats!  Check out their pictures below.  We are still deciding upon names so if you have any ideas.....send them along....BTW..Salt and Pepper is out!


 

Last week flew by so fast!  The work week was busy for me and Dan had to go to Boston for a conference.  He also got to go to a Red Sox game....he didn't have much to say about it and they lost AND it was a bit chilly...  We both did well with our runs during the week.  I love feeling stronger and stronger!  Remind me of how good it feels when I start slacking off.  I don't ever want to start my training over again.....the first month stinks!  I ran with the track team again on Saturday.  We did hill repeats.  They were tough but I made it through....Dan was running strong and I think he impressed the kids.   It's good that he is a better runner than the "best" runners on the team.  When I was in high school the coaches were decent coaches but they weren't as skilled as some of the better kids.  I know that I've heard that you don't have to be the best at what you coach as long as you know the fundamentals and can express those to the athletes but I think it's a powerful message to them when they see what they can accomplish with a little hard work.

Last Friday I went to an Open House for a home that was built a few years ago using a barn that used to be in our back yard!  The family that owned our house when it was a dairy farm sold it (the barn and the house in a separate transaction) a year before we bought the house.  On a side note..they also sold off a 10 acre field behind our current 10 acres....we want that back too!!! 

Back to the barn....It was what they call an English style barn which has the huge sliding door on the long side.   Anyhoo...the home is GORGEOUS!!! I really can't believe how big the  barn was!! (is!!).  I try to envision it in our back yard.  I'm told that it was falling down and an eyesore. 

We had a great weekend.  (The run with the track team was great, by the way!)  Marion and I chatted the entire time and were very compatible runners.  The old lady (that's me) got a little tired toward the end because most of the run was along snow-covered railroad tracks or on a snowmobile trail so it was a good workout!  We went up to the mountain right afterwards to meet up with a couple of Dan's friend's and previous co-workers at Sylvania...Karen Lee and Kevin Sheedy.  We skied for a few runs then went to the Parrot Head festivities at White Cap.  The margarita's were tasty!  We ended the day with dinner at Gringo Harry's and then checked out the band at the Matterhorn.  Sunday we skied some more, watched a little of the bumps contest and pond skimming then spent the evening on the couch!!! 

I'm probably the last person with an i-Pod to discover podcasts....am I right?  What a great training tool!  My run this morning FLEW by while listening to one that is done by a couple in MA who are runners.  They chit-chat while they are running about all sorts of topics.  It's almost like I have a running partner but I don't have to contribute to the conversation!  It's cool...check it out if you haven't already.  They have podcasts for every subject that you could think of!

It feels as though winter is never going to end!  Especially since we've had a taste of the sun after our trip to Florida.

Thanks for all of your emails about the site! It was fun to read them all...Paul, I'd try to talk about emerging trends but I wouldn't even come close to faking it!!!

Dan has started coaching high school track.  He's pretty excited about it.  He has a fairly small group of distance runners and thinks it should be easy enough to coach a couple of them to break some of the school's records.  I guess that isn't as impressive as it may sound though.  Dan claims to have broken those records himself when he was a sophomore.  The kids are excited to have a focused and experienced coach.  I'm going to run with them tomorrow morning....do you think I'll have to talk the whole time? I hope not...I'm sure I'm going to feel like I have to though.  What is really great about this track gig is that Dan is becoming excited about running again.