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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 December 16, 2005 6:40 PM