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November 18, 2005
A Perversely Long Update
Hello, I'm back! It's been a bit, hasn't it? I'm sure you've all missed me. Hah! You've all probably done just fine without me... Here-to-follow will be what I fear may become a behemoth novella. Proceed with caution, and my apologies from the get-go.
Saturday: At my last blog entry, I was debating which run I should do, a shorter 5 miler, or my 8 mile "long run" for the week. I ended up with the shorter 5 miler around the neighborhood at an estimated 8:00 pace. I spent 3/4 mile on the dirt track nearby until I was chased off by a bison. Not literally chased off, but I left because the bugger got too close to the track for my comfort. Anyways, I was on 7:45-ish pace for that 3/4 mile on the track.
Sunday: I did my 8 mile "long run" for the week today. The weather was rather gross. I went down about 1000 feet elevation to Gardiner for the distinct purpose of getting out of the volume of snow that was falling at Mammoth, and it was sleeting and muddy and sorta disgusting overall! I was covered in mud by the end, as was the dog that accompanies me. I ran 8 miles, again, on the Gardiner railroad bed, the same place I've done my "long run" for the last few weeks. My total time running was right around 62 minutes. I was slower on the return while battling a sleet-filled headwind by almost a minute. I also lifted and did a brief interlude on the elliptical trainer, nice and easy.
Monday: Today I took intentional rest from all athletic endeavors. It was snowy and cold outside, and so I spent it relaxing and enjoying the day from inside. There's nothing like cozying up inside on a day like this! The most exciting running-like activity of the day was attending the local high school's fall sports awards banquet. It was the last time to see my cross country kids and their families in my official coaching capacity. It was really exciting to hand out all their hardware, and even more exciting to honor them in front of their community.
Tuesday: Today we left for our roadtrip (I did get to go as I successfully negotiated my work schedule with my coworker.). Things started off a little slow, though, and we were late leaving. The morning began with an easy 5 miler around home. It was zero degrees (ZERO DEGREES! SO COLD!) while I was running, and everything was icy-slippery (My Yaktrax still aren't here, I think they are lost in the mail!). My dog was the funniest of the both of us, slipping and sliding everywhere! We meant to leave for our roadtrip by about 10 am, but everything was slowed by the fact maintenance folks shut off the water at my house until about noon. So, I couldn't shower and we didn't depart until almost 1 pm. My friends and I headed east, bound for Custer, SD. We arrived there at about 11 pm, and crashed in a hotel.
Wednesday: This morning I ran 4 easy miles around Custer, SD. It was really cold and windy and for some reason it didn't occur to me to wear a hat. My ears were so cold! There's a decent hill climbing out of Custer in one direction, and so I assaulted it on my way out, and then bounded down it on the way back to the hotel. This day was the highlight of our roadtrip. The three of us met up with another friend who works at Mt. Rushmore National Memorial. Since we all are National Park Service employees, we had the opportunity to "climb the heads." That is, we climbed a trail up to the top of the heads, and got to stand on top of George Washington. I kid you not! Only a few special people get to do this, VIPs, dignitaries, the President, and, well, us. It was awesome! George Washington has a big, bald forehead. In all seriousness, it was an exciting opportunity and a great honor to be able to do. After our exciting head climb, we headed back into Custer, met up with another friend, had dinner, and had a relaxing evening chatting and drinking a little beer.
Thursday: One of the friends we visited is a runner, and so we went out running this morning. He and I got dropped off 7 miles from his house, and we ran home via a rails-to-trails trail called the Mickelson Trail. I rarely get to run with people, especially since I'm not coaching cross country anymore, and the time out there with him flew by while we chatted. We ran 7 miles in 52:30. After our run, we all went out to lunch, went wine tasting (and purchasing), and went on a cave tour at Jewel Cave National Monument. It all was so exciting! Afterwards, we all went out to dinner, again. We settled in for another quiet evening of sitting next to the wood stove, drinking a few beers, and chatting the night away. I do think this is almost the perfect way to spend and evening!
Friday: This morning began with another run with my friend. We did 5.5 miles in 42:10. This run was a loop through the town of Custer, highlighted by a run up to the "Custer Hollywood sign," which is a white, light-up sign perched on top of a big hill overlooking town. The view of Custer from the sign is this. It was an arduous but short climb up there, 500 feet almost exactly. I worked a lot harder running up the hill with company than I would have on my own. Though the climb was realtively short, I worked hard enough that I was a little wobbly-legged afterwards. It was good for me, though, and having company to run with was heaven (Plus, I think I'd be a much better runner if I had company that challenged me.). And the weather was outstanding, I wore shorts running! The rest of this day was spent driving back home to Yellowstone. Arriving back, it's obvious that we missed a big snowstorm. That's okay by me, though, I think there's more where this came from this winter! It's good to be home but that means I have to go back to work! Eek!
Posted by Meghan at November 18, 2005 11:20 PM
Comments
I know I missed you, which may sound insincere coming three days after your original post, but my RSS aggregator was a little slow on notifying me that you had updated, plus I'm behind on my blog reading.
Only on your blog would there be a line about being chased off a track by a bison, or standing on top of George Washington's head for that matter.
I hope your Yaktrax come soon, and that you find them as useful as some of us have led you believe they are...
Posted by: Alison at November 21, 2005 5:26 AM
Your roadtrip sounds like it was a great time. I've never been to South Dakota, and now you've piqued my interest.
And it's super cool that you run into wild animals on your runs.
Posted by: Leilani at November 21, 2005 6:23 PM