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December 31, 2005
Running Towards the New Year
At this point, most of us have probably finished our last run of 2005. I am among the "us" this evening. Earlier this afternoon, I ran 6 miles in 49 minutes and pocket change around home. We're experiencing a bit of a thaw, I ran in the rain this afternoon! It's rather ugly around, brown grass patches are poking out among the snow, the snow piles are gray and grimy, and the roads are filled with half a winter's dirt, silt, slush, and water. Further, the skies have been gray for days, I can't remember the last time I saw the sun! Despite all this, I had a great run, splashing through the muck! I gave up on keeping my feet dry about 17 steps in, and from then out, it was fun to kick up the mud! Even though things are thawing, there is still no shortage of slippery spots. I feel like a comic book character slipping and sliding around, sans Yaktrax, but I managed to stay upright.
There's a storm brewing, it's already snowing up higher, and as soon as we get below freezing here, we'll switch over to snow as well. The mountains were shrouded in mist and fog today, and despite the above-freezing weather, there was a certain bite to the wind out there. And the clouds, were they ever dark! All of this created a rather ominous feeling, as if there's something out there. I'm kind of excited to see what happens!
I'm ringing in the new year by working. It's a little disappointing to have to work, but I can't complain because I had Thanksgiving and Christmas off. I can't win them all! Plus, I'm going on vacation (again) on Thursday, so my time is coming!
As I expected, I only managed to spin easy on the bike trainer, and only for 30 minutes, last night. I was unmotivated and busy at work. I plan to spin tonight, but, again, I have no plan.
Happy New Year all! I hope it brings good, long, fast runs for all of us!
Posted by Meghan at 6:12 PM | Comments (1)
December 30, 2005
Endings and Beginnings
Jen suggested that I post a “Year in Review” blog entry, and I think it’s a good idea. This has been quite a year, and it would be worthwhile (at least for me) to document its many highlights and few lowlights.
January: Suffered through marathon training with an injured and painful shin. Visited Ft. Davis, TX, a cute west Texas tourist destination nestled in the Davis Mountains, with my parents. Ran a relay segment in the Big Bend 50. Applied for a job at Yellowstone National Park.
February: Finished suffering though marathon training with an injured shin. Limped through 19 miles of the Freescale Marathon in Austin, TX with aforementioned shin injury before dropping out. Hit all-time mental low regarding my running.
March: Ran a few miles this month as I recovered. Mostly spent the month cross training and trying to get healthy. Also spent some time trying to recover mentally from a disheartening DNF experience. Explored Big Bend National Park in the springtime by hiking.
April: Ran a few more miles this month as I continued to recover. Shin still not at 100%, and it wouldn’t be until much later in the year. Interviewed and accepted a job at Yellowstone National Park. Continued to explore Big Bend in the springtime by hiking.
May: Ran a decent amount this month, and felt good doing it. At the end of the month, I moved from Big Bend to Yellowstone. Had a fun mini-vacation while moving, especially enjoyed the areas around Taos, NM, the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, and Jackson Hole, WY.
June: Began my new job and life in Yellowstone! Ran a decent amount this month, albeit somewhat slowly while becoming accustomed to the elevation and hills of Yellowstone. Began exploring Yellowstone’s backcountry hiking trails. Spent a good amount of time road biking Yellowstone’s roads, dodging the tourist cars all over the road!
July: Ran well for the first part of this month, then acquired a “stress reaction” in one of the joints of my right big toe. Ran a 5 mile trail race at high elevation, had fun, but nearly killed myself in the thin air. Vacationed in and around Great Falls, MT with a friend. Continued to explore Yellowstone’s backcountry hiking trails. Continued to road bike until I broke my bike’s fork this month.
August: Ran only a little this month while my foot continued to recover. Didn’t road bike for much of the month as I was having a new fork made for my bike. Instead, spent this month cross training on my mountain bike. Traveled to Alaska with several friends for a week’s adventure. Continued to explore Yellowstone’s backcountry via hiking trails. Began coaching Gardiner High School’s cross country team.
September: Ran decently this month, not very many miles, but all of them were run healthy. Focused mostly on the running of my cross country team instead. Traveled all over the state of Montana for cross country meets.
October: Ran well this month, still not many miles, but all of them were quality miles run healthy. Coached my tiny cross country team to an outstanding finish at state! Traveled to Texas for a long weekend to attend a friend’s wedding. Forced by snow and cold to bring my road bike indoors for spinning on an indoor trainer. Began doing some good indoor spins on the trainer. Did a few cold and snowy hikes around Yellowstone.
November: Continued to run low mileage but healthy for the most part. Continued to devote good amounts of time to cross training on my indoor bike trainer. Went on my first camping trip in the snow. Traveled with friends to the Black Hills in South Dakota for a week. Visited a friend's family for Thanksgiving. Vacationed in Salt Lake City and southern Utah.
December: Finished vacationing in southern Utah. Ran low mileage and healthy for the most part. Continued to do some spinning on the bike trainer indoors. Visited my family in Minnesota for Christmas. Got my first pair of cross country skis and began skiing. Did some chilly and snowy hikes in and around Yellowstone.
Whew! I’m somewhat exhausted from reading about my year! Despite being busy, it has been a most wonderful year! I do have a few regrets, though. At the end of 2004, I posted to my blog a list of resolutions for 2005. The list of resolutions was really long, so I’ll save you all from having to muddle through them. Instead, I’ll recap a few of the resolutions that I did achieve, a few that I didn’t achieve, and my resolutions for 2006.
Some resolutions that I did achieve:
“I endeavor to, above all else, continue to be happy in all I do.”
“I endeavor to help those who need it/avert tragedy/improve peoples' lives at work.”
“I endeavor to climb/hike/trek to a mountain peak I haven't yet been to in the next 365 days.”
“I endeavor to look closer at the spring wildflowers.”
Some resolutions that I didn’t achieve:
“I endeavor to run a "good" marathon in February, "good" defined as not petering out somewhere after mile 21 as I have in the past due to fatigue or injury.”
“I endeavor to do "something" with all of my writing, stop being shy of sharing it, finally attempt to be published for pete's sake, continue to write creatively when I'm inspired to do so in the next year.”
“I endeavor to get 8 hours of sleep every I can.”
“I endeavor to continue saving towards buying land, put away more money towards this than I did last year.”
My resolutions for 2006:
1) I promise to be happy in all that I do.
2) I promise to continue adventuring in whatever way I decide to be adventurous this year. Whether it is climbing a tall mountain in Hawaii next month, completing my first century ride on my road bike next summer, doing a multi-day cross country skiing trip into Yellowstone's backcountry this winter, or something entirely different, let life be adventurous!
3) I promise to continue to develop my running, including training hard when I'm healthy, racing hard when I'm in shape, resting when I need rest, and enjoying it all along the way.
4) I promise to prioritize my life appropriately, putting myself, my loved ones, my hobbies, and my sleep in front of all other things.
5) I promise to keep in good touch with all the family and friends that I have scattered around the world.
6) I promise to find joy and satisfaction in the little things of life, including a pretty sunset or a loved one's sweet action.
I think I've created a monster "Year in Review" blog entry, so I better stop before it takes on a life of its own. Happy New Year to all!
Posted by Meghan at 7:49 PM | Comments (5)
6 Glorious Miles
I'll keep this short since I'll be posting a long entry in a bit. I ran 6 miles around home today, sans Yaktrax (Even though I needed them for the snow and ice, it definitely slowed me down some!). Actually I ran 50 minutes, which I'll call 6 miles. It was one of those days where I felt like I could keep running forever. If only time weren't a limiting factor.
This evening I will spin on the bike trainer and do a core workout. I can't decide whether I want to do the time trial DVD or just spin easy. I'm guessing that since I'm not feeling motivated to do the time trial DVD, I will probably spin easy. Then again, since I'm publishing the time trail DVD option on my blog, I'm providing myself with the motivation of others reading about my workout. I'll report back tomorrow!
Posted by Meghan at 7:30 PM | Comments (0)
December 29, 2005
Home, Again
There is a certain, almost indescribable joy that I feel in returning home after a long journey. It's so great to travel and to have an adventure. It's also nice to curl up on one's own couch, drink tea out of one's own coffee mug, and to lay under one's own blanket. I'm happy to be home!
I did a dumb thing. Well, 2 dumb things! I thought it would be "fun" to drive from Yellowstone National Park, WY to Minneapolis, MN in one day. That's 1020 miles in a singular day, for the mathematically inclined. That's 4 states, for the geographically inquisitive. That's stupid, for the folks who have common sense. Oh, and I did it all again a week later when we had to come home. Kids, don't try this one at home!
My foot seems to be better! Thanks for everyone's well wishes and suggestions for what was wrong with me. I don't know exactly what happened, but the pain seems to be gone, replaced at the moment by just stiffness. I'm able to run on it as it continues to improve, so I'm very happy about that! I'm beginning to think that my Yaktrax are the source of the pain. My Yaktrax seem to pull my toes into a slightly unnatural flexed position. Additionally, the orthotic insert for the foot that got sore has more correction in it, lifting my heel up. So, I'm going to stay away from the Yaktrax right now and hope that it doesn't snow! I'm a little dissappointed if this is, indeed, the cause of the foot pain, because the Yaktrax were doing a great job of giving me traction in ice and snow.
Here's a quasi brief recap of the last week or so, both my running and non-running adventures:
Thursday, December 22: No running. Rest foot one more day. Drive 16.5 hours across Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, and Minnesota.
Friday, December 23: Run about 4.5 miles in glorious weather. It was a beautiful day in Minnesota, I wore shorts! I taped my foot and it merely felt kind of stiff. I ran a loop that I used to run as a kid, and smoked the course by all accounts. I credit this to the fact that I hadn't run in days and that I had just descended from 6300 feet to 800 feet in one day. We spent the day just hanging out at my parents' house, enjoying being on vacation.
Saturday, December 24: Ran 3.5 pain-free miles around my parents' neighborhood at 9 pm in light sleet and snow. My foot felt stiff, but it didn't hurt. The day was busy with touring around Minneapolis, seeing some sights. I ran on a full stomach from dinner, which was moderately uncomfortable. Running on a semi-measured loop showed me that I was running well below 7:00 pace. I love that elevation loss!
Sunday, December 25: No running, by choice. Figured I'd blown the week resting my foot, what's one more day? Instead I immersed myself in spending time with family and friends. Slept in late, had brunch, opened gifts, went to a movie (The Producers, crazy movie!), and fixed and ate Christmas dinner.
Monday, December 26: Ran at least 5.5 miles. I don't know the distance, but the time was 40 minutes and pocket change. I knew I was cruising along, though, at a good pace with little effort. Visited the infamous Mall of America, a true sight to behold in the Twin Cities. Walked several miles around the mall and did a bit of shopping (mostly just ogled at the huge scale of everthing). My feet were tired from all the walking!
Tuesday, December 27: Ran perhaps 4.5 miles on another loop I used to run when I was younger. I remember when this 4.5 miles seemed like a lot. It was fun and I flew along again easily. Today was a really busy day! We visited the Minnesota Science Museum to explore the exhibits and see the IMax movie. Then we hung out in downtown St. Paul, being tourists. Then went out to dinner in Minneapolis. Then went to a concert by the famed Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Am I an idiot that I've never heard of them before? While they aren't my typical music preference, they put on a helluva show! Afterwards we stayed out too late at a most fun bar in Minneapolis called "The Local." It was an Irish pub with a great atmosphere and cool people around.
Wednesday, December 28: Ran 40 minutes on another old running loop from kidhood. I don't know the distance, but I'm again logging it as 5.5 miles. We spent the evening hanging out with 2 friends I went to high school with. I still keep in touch with these girls after all these years, and it was fun to see them!
Thursday, December 29: No running, planned day off. I woke up really early to make the long trip back to Yellowstone. It was a hard trip, not only for the distance but for the bad roads. There was a winter storm in North Dakota today that really slowed me down! So glad to be back home now, though!
That's it for now!
Posted by Meghan at 11:22 PM | Comments (2)
December 22, 2005
More Travels
I've been home for just shy of 2 weeks (though it seems to have gone much faster than that), and now I'm about to travel again. Tomorrow I'm headed for Minnesota, where I come from and where my family is, for Christmas. I'm not excited about driving across much of the United States, but I'm excited to visit my family and friends.
I'm packed and ready to go tomorrow morning, after I get off the midnight shift. It seems like I'll be trying to outrun a nasty storm that's slated to hit Yellowstone right about now. Predictions of over 12 inches for the high country! I'm hoping to get an early start and that we drive out of the storm before too long.
In terms of exercise, I didn't run again today. When I was packing my bags for 7 days this afternoon, I packed running clothes with the hope that my foot will be mo' betta' soon. In fact, it is better today. I taped it for a while when I was walking around, and that seemed to support it. I don't think I'll be able to run tomorrow, either, because of the foot. So, in light of not running, I did pull off my 2 hours (actually 1 hr 50 minutes) of spinning on the trainer last night. I did the time trial DVD and then 50 minutes of easy spinning afterwards, as promised. I can't complain, I get some work time to work out if there are no emergencies, and I can fit all my breaks together to work out even longer if it's quiet, as well. That is one of the perks of my job. Tonight I plan to spin on the bike trainer, again, but just for an hour or so easy. I'm debating whether or not to take my bike and trainer to Minnesota with me. Will I be able to run there? Do I need another form of cardio for a week? We'll see. I'm thinking my parents might kill me if I show up with my bike and trainer. Oh well.
I may post here and there in the next week, but I suspect that my parents will keep me busy to the point of fun exhaustion. So, in case I don't post again for a bit, Happy Holidays to all of you! And, thanks for the foot advice, I spent some time Googling your suggestions.
Posted by Meghan at 12:29 AM | Comments (0)
December 20, 2005
Rut Row, Batman.
My foot hurts. There, I've said it. I don't know how it can hurt because it's not like I've actually been running or anything. It all happened very quickly the other day while running 11 miles. The only thing I did different for this run was staying up in the hills and the higher elevation. For longer runs, I've historically (well, since I've moved to Yellowstone) gone down to about 5000 feet elevation and where the hills aren't quite as big and bad.
Argh. That sucks.
Here's the deal (Anyone able to interpret this one?): It's a pain in my right foot, the third toe, roughly where the toe dissappears into the rest of the foot. I can make it hurt when I curl my toes under or when I press on the fleshy bottom area of the foot just past where the toe comes in. It doesn't hurt to flex my toes. It almost feels like that sore feeling you get when you've walked too much in high heels. Or even if you've stepped hard on a rock while barefoot.
Oh well, so I'm 2 days this week with no running so far and marked improvement at the moment is minimal. Yesterday I biked on the indoor trainer for an hour. Today I cross country skiied for a few hours. In both efforts, I could feel my foot, but it didn't necessarily hurt. Much better than trying to run.
On the happy side of things, it was a balmy 25 degrees while we were skiing today. We took a route up a snow covered road several miles and then took another smaller road back downhill a couple miles. I don't quite know how long the loop was but it took about 2 hours. The uphill was a decent workout, however, I'm surprised at how hard you have to push to encounter an equitable effort to running. I always thought that cross country skiing was going to be more challenging than running. The downhill was pretty interesting! I stayed upright the whole time, which is more than I can say for my cohort in crime! It's been a bit of a challenge trying to learn how to turn on cross country skiis. A whole different skiing animal. Plus, this road was skinny enough that turning was nearly impossible. Thus, I spent much of the downhill mastering the cross country snowplow, which is reminiscent though pretty different from downhill skiing snowplowing. It was fun nonetheless.
We spooked a heard of elk when we came into a clearing at one point this afternoon. Though I felt bad when we shocked them into full trots, they looked absolutely beautiful and graceful, kicking up glittery snow as they ran. My dog liked that one, and she really wished she could chase them!
I also plan to spin on the bike trainer tonight. I want to do the time trial DVD (1 hour), and another hour of easy spinning afterwards. This not running by mandate business (as opposed to the not running my choice stuff) has got me feeling a bit cooped up. Hopefully another good workout will leave me feeling mo' betta'. Argh.
Posted by Meghan at 7:35 PM | Comments (6)
December 18, 2005
3 Degrees
This was today's high temperature today here at Mammoth, the so-called banana belt of Yellowstone National Park. Elsewhere in the park, the highs didn't even approach 10 below zero. In fact, the low temperature for last night was a shocking 37 below zero in the park's interior. And this is all before you factor in the wind chill. All I can say is that it's cold. Real cold.
Yesterday I didn't run, instead I spent the afternoon cross country skiing. What fun! It was another cold day yesterday, but we bundled up and had a great time. We did several trips around a 1.5 mile loop trail called Upper Terraces, and the snow conditions were perfect. While we were out there, we saw a coyote carrying around a dead rabbit in its mouth. Life really does go on even when it's desperately cold. This was my first foray into cross country skiing since I lived in Minnesota, but I got the hang of it again right away. It's easier than I remember, you can keep up a good pace for an extended period of time. Definitely an endurance sport, which I (naturally) like. I hope to cruise all over the place this winter on skis. Look out Yellowstone, here I come.
When I came back in from running this afternoon, my face, hat, gloves, and hair were covered with a thick layer of frost. I felt and looked like a snow monster of sorts. Even my dog had a frosty face! Despite the cold and the obscene amount of clothes I had on, I had a great run. My face did start to hurt from the cold and frost, though, after about an hour.
I'm pleased to report that my quad seems to be back to normal. The 2 days of cross training (hiking and skiing) as well as reduced mileage this week seem to have done the trick in healing it. Now I have a sore spot on the bottom of my right foot, boo. I've been rotating back and forth between the regular footbed and an orthotic footbed in my running shoes. I've left the orthotic footbed in there for over a week now, so this is the likely suspect of the sore foot. I switched them out after I got home today, so the real test will be tomorrow.
I did my "long run" for the week, about 11 miles, today. When can I officially call these runs long runs without the quotations? I'm thinking once I run for 1:30 I can call them long runs again. Well, I almost made it today, 1:29 and pocket change for about 11 miles. I ran on the road out of Mammoth that's currently closed. They are preparing for snowmobile season, which will open in about 5 days, and this road will open again then for snowmobiles. For now, it's a snow-packed deserted road that climbs and climbs and climbs out of Mammoth. I don't think I'll be able to run on it once snowmobile season starts, since they are supposedly wild and crazy on the roads, so I enjoyed this spot while I could. It was wonderful to climb up high and to see one snow-covered mountain peak after another fill my horizon. Animals spotted included elk and a huge herd of bison that was using the road to walk. They officially turned me around, but I was only 1 minute from my scheduled turn-around time anyhow. I ran 46:15 on the way up, turned around and came down, and finished at about 1:29. The Yaktrax continue to be wonderful pieces of machinery for my feet. I feel as stable as ever out there and I can keep up the pace that I want for the most part. My dog, however, sans Yaktrax, is a funny sight, slipping and sliding all over the road. It makes me laugh and she's good-natured about it.
Well, I ended up with a measely 27 miles for this week in 5 days of running. That's sad. I did cross train 4 days (2 days hiking, 1 day skiing, and 1 day on the indoor bike trainer), though. In the last month or so, it seems that I've been alternating between a good running week and a bad running week. Say, 35-40 miles alternating with about 25 miles a week. From here out I want to try to keep all my weeks over 40 miles. Even if there's other fun stuff like skiing and hiking and biking and other cross training to do, I want to stick with the running. I'm lucky that I'm going to be spending some time in some phenomenal places to run during January (northern California and Hawaii), so I'd like to be in shape to enjoy those places. I'm counting on this blog and its readers to help keep me honest (that's you)!
Posted by Meghan at 6:16 PM | Comments (1)
December 16, 2005
Catching Up
Life has been quite busy lately! A large portion of life's busy-ness up until today was created by school. However, I turned in my last assignment this morning, thus, marking the end of another semester. I happily report that I've completed my third semester of grad school. With this, I feel as if I've crested the hump. That is, I have two more classes to take next semester, a summer of part time thesis research, and a fall of part time thesis writing. And that's it. That's enough to keep me busy, though!
So, I have over a month off from school, and I'm just elated. However, I don't expect to become any less busy during this time, as I think that life will fill in the gaps. I'm here in Yellowstone this week, working my normal week of night shifts. It's my first time in the office for three weeks, and it feels like I've been gone a while. True, I was away from home for (most of) two weeks. It's nice to be in my own house and sleep in my own bed. It's not going to last for long, though, since I'll be going home on Thursday for Christmas. It'll be my first Christmas home in 6 years, I think, and I'm excited. And, and, some friends and I have just planned a 3-week adventure for the month of January that's so exciting I just can't stand it. We're going to northern California (San Francisco and wine country) and Hawaii (Maui and Molokai). Hah! I've never been to any of these places and I can't wait! So, suffice it to say that life is going to continue to be exciting! That is, in between these weeks of work!
Being here in Yellowstone this week has been splendid. It's just gorgeous! I spent my days off doing several hikes. The hiking, even at the lowest elevations, is pretty snowy. I desperately need snowshoes and skis! However, without such equipment, we just slogged through lots of snow. On one of the hikes, we went out on forest service land where dogs are allowed, so my dog got to hike with us. I'm happy to report that she's getting back to her normal self. She's still got a big stitched gash on her side and she's about 5 pounds underweight, but she's healthy and happy again.
Anyhow, we hiked about 8 miles on forest service land on Monday. On Tuesday there was a huge snowstorm, so we played outside, but we didn't get out hiking (I also spent much of the day immersed in schoolwork.). On Wednesday we spent the day in Bozeman to celebrate a friend's birthday, going to the movies and out to dinner (This is what kids from the country do to entertain themselves!) On Thursday we hiked about 6 miles in the park, but it was 6 very difficult miles hiking through deep powder.
However, Santa is granting at least part of my wish and the final part of the backcountry ski equipment that I ordered arrived today. So, I took my skis and bindings down to the local ski shop today to have the bindings put on. And I predict that I'll be skiing the backcountry tomorrow! I bght skis for touring in the backcountry, on ungroomed trails, roads, or basically anywhere. These skis are wider, beefier, and tougher than most cross-country skis. You can go anywhere in these things, and I can't wait to start doing this!
Let's see, as for my running, that slowed down just a little bit because I pulled my left quad. I think it happened when I took my little running spill last weekend. I didn't realize it at the time, but the next day it was pretty sore. Then, when I was running in some deep snow on Tuesday in the snowstorm, I landed a little weird on that leg and felt a little tweak. The tweak became a little sore later. It's fine and it's getting better, but it's taking its sweet time. It doesn't hurt that much, the worst is on the uphills. But there are so many hills here that going uphill happens every few minutes.
I ran 3 miles on Monday (quad a little sore), 7 miles on Tuesday (tweaked quad again), 3 miles on Wednesday (quad sore), took Thursday off from running (in hiking, though, I could feel my quad on the uphills), and ran 3 miles today (quad still sore on uphills). This week is fast becoming a wash, I don't think I'll make it above 30 miles for the week. Oops! That's sad! My running has been rather pathetic lately, but I've replaced it with lots of other athletic pursuits. That's fine with me, though there is a little inkling inside of me that reminds me that perhaps I should continue to build my base, instead of sitting in the 30-40 miles/week range for the rest of my life! That is, if I want to work towards any real running goal.
Posted by Meghan at 6:40 PM | Comments (0)
December 10, 2005
The Assorted Thoughts Post
Listed in no particular order:
1) I avoided participating in a large car crash last night. Outside of Billings, MT, there was a multiple car crash that began with the 2 cars in front of me and ended up involving several more cars. I guess there was some black ice, and combined with wind and blowing snow, the conditions were ripe for disaster. One car lost control and sent itself spinning, the next car slammed on its brakes and fishtailed right into the spinning one. Me, I narrowly avoided them both by squeaking past their now collectively spinning selves. It was close and I was releived.
2) My dog is quite sick. For a while last night, bad things were happening. This week she had surgery to remove the lump on her side, and now she's shaved to her skin on one side with a big sewn up gash marking the surgery. She was all doped up on doggie pain meds to make her more comfortable. As it turns out, she had a reaction to the pain meds that resulted in blood pouring forth from multiple orifices. She's recovering, though I've never seen my energizer bunny-like border collie as lethargic as she is today. I guess that's what happens when you lose a lot of blood in a short period of time. But she's going to make it. Things didn't look very good at about 3 am last night.
3) I'm less sick than I was a few days ago.
4) As for running, I did a short 3 miler in Billings, MT in the dark last night. I didn't know if I was going to run or not yesterday, but the freakish interstate incident sealed the deal, I needed to take a break from driving. I didn't know where to go, so I drove into downtown Billings (which is tiny!) and ran up and down some city blocks for a while. It made me feel better. This morning I ran a 10 mile "long run." It felt great. My friend called me last night saying she was too drunk to drive home from the bar and would I come pick her up. I did, and so I volunteered to run to pick up her car today as well. It was so nice to do a one-way run. So, first I ran from my house to her house (1 mile, all uphill) to pick up her keys. Then I ran from her house to the park boundary (5 miles, 1000 feet downhill). Then I ran about 15 minutes uphill and 13 minutes back downhill (I think 3 miles total) a dirt road whilst breaking new tracks through shin deep snow. Then I ran from the park boundary to the bar where her car was (1 mile, all flat). In total, it was 1:20 and pocket change. This evening, I plan to run a bit more (3-ish miles, to make up for an unintended rest day earlier this week) on the treadmill, and then lift.
5) I'm loving the Yaktrax. I hope whoever invented these things is a millionaire, because they are brilliant. Despite the traction of Yaktrax, I still managed to fall today. I don't know how I do such uncoordinated things, but I do. I slipped and fell right onto my hands and knees. My ego was bruised, and my right knee is kinda scuffed. I think it's a cute war wound, though!
Posted by Meghan at 4:10 PM | Comments (4)
December 8, 2005
Brrrrr!
Hello from Douglas, Wyoming! This town is a tiny little 5,000 person blip on the map, hunkered down among the vast, rolling, unpopulated hills of eastern Wyoming. It's beautiful here, from what I can see. But the blowing snow precludes much of the view. I'm holding out for better weather and greener pastures in a few days, but for now the weatherman tells me that it's going to be very cold and very windy. What does that mean? Negative 26 degrees Fahrenheit the other night, before the wind chill. A high today of negative 2 degrees, before the wind chill. This is a cold that I haven't felt since my days growing up in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Sometimes I wonder what I got myself into, moving to Wyoming.
I'm here in Douglas not by choice, but by mandate. It's a required class for my job. I drove here Tuesday; I'll have class through Friday; then I'll drive back to Yellowstone. That is, if I don't freeze my arse off beforehand. Hah.
It's been a while since I've posted, and life has been unendingly entertaining in that time. So fun! I've been to Idaho, Utah, and now eastern Wyoming. The next few entries will cover my vacation time, but I don't think I'll be able to write and post them for a few days still.
For now, though, on Tuesday I drove the 500 mile drive from Yellowstone to here, in what felt like an unending day. The roads were horrendously dangerous, covered with blowing snow and ice that you can't see but only know is there when your tires slide across it. It took nearly 11 hours to cover the distance and numerous times I almost threw in the towel and pulled over. But, alas, I made it at about 7 pm, arriving to see a bank thermometer read negative 8 degrees and watching the leafless trees in town blow in the wind. You couldn't pay me to run in that garbage!
So, I drove around town until I found a gym, got a temporary membership, and went to town on the treadmill. Well, it was all very easy. I did 5.5 miles at 8:00 pace. Just set the treadmill and tuned out my brain. It had been a while since I had ran (see the next posts), and it felt really good! Afterwards, I did 15 easy minutes on the elliptical because I wanted to complete an hour of cardio.
Wednesday brought the beginning of class. I wish I could say positive things about it, but it's a mandatory class that I have to take to operate a certain computer for my job. And, it's taking place at a moderately (ok, certainly) stuffy law enforcement academy. Eating (bad) cafeteria food at scheduled times, being (5 minutes) early for everything, and seeing cops run around (rather amusingly) trying to learn how to be cops. Oh, what a day can bring!
In terms of working out on Wednesday, I headed over to the gym in the evening, skipping out on the scheduled dinner hour (Oh, how could I?!). I ran 5.5 miles on the treadmill again, and varied it a bit to make things more interesting. I did the first 3 miles at 8:00 pace, 1 mile at 7:30 pace, 1 mile at 7:00 pace, and a 1/2 mile at 8:00 pace again. Then, I did another 15 minutes easy on the elliptical, followed by lifting (just arms, though).
I was beat after all of this (Did I mention I have a cold? I have a cold, and it's just in those developing stages where you feel all fatigued and achy.). I stopped by a Chinese restaurant and got take-out on my way home. It wasn't great food and I suspect that eating at the academy's cafeteria may have been better. Hmmmn.
Anyhow, I have today and a half-day of class tomorrow, then I'll drive back to Yellowstone on Friday night. Wherein I will proceed to have 6 more days off before I have to go back to the office. My schedule is horrendous when I'm working, but wonderful when I'm not!
Posted by Meghan at 10:50 AM | Comments (0)
The Land of 3.2 Beer
(This was also written a while ago, but dated as such so it appears in the right order.)
(Disclaimer: For those of you interested in running, there will pitifully little running described in this post. However, if you'd like to hear all about my adventure in Utah, keep reading.)
Now, I don't have anything against the primary religion of Utah, I say to each their own. However, I do say that it's a travesty that their religion precludes the state from having high-quality, normal-alcohol-content beer readily available to the rest of us non-religiously inclined folk. Let the good people drink for goodness sake! Well, I survived a week in Utah despite the regulations on alcohol, and it was great fun! Good thing my primary purpose for visiting the state was not to imbibe!
To continue from the last post, we stayed one more night with my friend's family on Monday. Then, on Tuesday we headed south from Idaho to Salt Lake City, and stayed overnight in SLC. I didn't run at all on Tuesday. We spent Tuesday night at a really good restaurant with some friends eating good food and drinking great wine.
Wednesday morning, I woke up and headed out to run amongst the commuter traffic bustling around the city. Overnight, it had rained, sleeted, and snowed. Everything was coated with a crazy layer of ice. I didn't bring my Yaktrax because I thought I was going to sunny southern Utah for a week! I tiptoed around aimlessly on the ice for 20 minutes or so before I gave up my attempt at running. I'm not even sure if I raised my heart rate at all, aside from the anxiety of trying not to fall in front of thousands of cars! That was to be my last running endeavor for many days. My running break was not at all intentional. In fact I'm not quite sure why I didn't run for so long, but oh well. No, I do know why, I was having too much fun doing other stuff!
On Wednesday, we headed south to St. George, Utah, where we had planned to camp for 4 nights. Upon our arrival, we headed into Dixie National Forest, found a campsite up high in the mountains, and set up the tent. When we got out our sleeping bags, my friend realized that he had forgotten his! Already by this time, the temperature was close to freezing in the mountains. So, we had to pack up the tent and head to a hotel. We were kind of bummed to not be camping, but in the end it seemed a good decision.
On Thursday, we spent the day at Zion National Park. By all descriptions, this place is phenomenal. I had spent a few days here in college, but I had forgotten the gorgeous red and white sandstone cliffs, the deep Virgin River Canyon, and the narrow slot canyons. During our day in the park, we drove the roads and did 2 hikes. On the first hike, we climbed up to a viewpoint overlooking Zion Canyon. It was stunningly beautiful, I loved it! Plus, it was about 65 degrees and sunny, and I was wearing a tank top and shorts. That made it even better! We hung out at the viewpoint a little while, soaking up the view and the sun. On the second hike, we hiked a few miles up into a little slot canyon. We got to play on a few interesting up- and down-climb challenges. We turned our clothes all red sliding around on the red sandstone, but it was awesome. Dusk arrived while we were still in the canyon, so we had to hurry a bit to make it back to the car before dark. I was surprised by how cold it got as soon as dusk arrived!
Friday brought another hiking adventure on BLM land outside of St. George. We decided to hike on BLM land so I could bring my dog, who is forbidden on trails in National Park Service areas like Zion. As we were wandering around St. George drinking coffee, we stumbled upon the BLM office and went in for some hiking suggestions. As it turns out, we did a great hike from a trailhead just a few minutes from town. Another great hike, I have no idea how far we walked, because we got a little lost (Well, temporarily misplaced!). We intended to do a loop wherein we traveled on 3 different trails. At some point between the second and third trail, we lost the right trail and headed off in the wrong direction. It was never scary or dangerous, though, because open desert areas afford you will stellar views to landmarks that help you keep your way. We never did find the third trail, so after a while we gave up and started walking cross-country towards a road we knew was out there somewhere. When we got to the road, there was a paved path that followed the road, so we walked that for a while. We came upon an area that's a popular bouldering spot, so we went in and checked things out. We played around in there for a little while checking out the routes. From this spot, we could see the trail that we were supposed to be hiking on down in a valley. However, we couldn't find a route down from the cliff to the trail, so we were resigned to walk the paved trail back into town. Oh well, it was fun anyhow!
On Saturday, we went hiking in Snow Canyon State Park, where dogs are allowed in some areas. We hiked the West Canyon area, I think it was called. It was a gravel road in and out of a gorgeous red rock canyon (Ok, I admit, it's all red rock around there, but it was still beautiful!). This hike was moderately painful because it was bitterly cold and windy. We were all bundled up down to hats and gloves. Though it was sunny, it was cold and the wind was strong. I think we were nearly frozen solid after an afternoon of hiking.
Once we returned to St. George, we were revived enough by some warm coffee to make a short drive to Mesquite, Nevada, which is a casino town. We met up with another friend there, had dinner, and spent a little time wandering around in the casino. This was my first casino experience, so I just put $1 into the quarter slot machines. I won a total of $26 dollars originating from that $1, but squandered it all away. Still, I think my return on $1 was pretty good. I should take up gambling as a hobby! Mostly, though, we did some drinking. Nevada has no alcohol limitations, and after hanging out in Utah, we felt like going a little crazy. I was a much more controlled drinker than my companions, however!
Sunday we had to return to Salt Lake City, but not before my still hungover and dehydrated friends could get hangover recovery breakfast food. We took most of the day to get back to SLC, and we were exhausted by the time we got there. We made just a little bit of dinner and crashed!
On Monday, I had to return to Yellowstone to get ready to go back to work (Or, to get ready to come to work training in Douglas.) I left SLC at a decent time, but it took me all day and night to get home. What should have been a 7 hour drive took so much longer! There was a crazy snowstorm going on! It was an adventure in 4-wheel driving, going over some steep, snowy mountain passes! But I made it safely just in time to pack for Douglas and crash to sleep!
Thus describes my Utah adventure! Yeah, I'm embarrassed somewhat to say that I didn't run for a whole week. I definitely could have run, but just chose not to. I'll call it a rest week of the finest kind. After that, I should be rearing to go running again!
Posted by Meghan at 8:12 AM | Comments (0)