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February 27, 2006
The Veritable Bounty that is Nature
Or something like that. Good lord, people, what the heck was going on out there today? I woke up (After a lovely 8 hours of uninterrupted sleeping bliss, what a joy!) to hear my window panes literally vibrating in the wind. I learned yesterday that they call these kinds of fierce winds Chinook Winds. I didn't know what a Chinook Wind was, so I Googled and read about it here. Now I understand: 1) why it's so danged windy, 2) why it's so danged warm, and 3) why everything is melting like crazy. I looked outside (through the shaking window panes) to see low gray clouds flying across the sky in the winds, frothing and furling as they went. What a freakish sight!
Once I got outside to run, I was greeted immediately by the wind, warm but blowing so hard, and water everywhere. Apparently, snow is melting off the mountains and this little valley I live in is catching it all. The yards are flooded, the streets are flooded, and the river is running like it's Spring Snowmelt time. It was pretty gross, and I gave up keeping my shoes dry after about 30 footsteps. So, if you can picture it, a woman and her dog, splashing through ankle deep flooded streets, either running into the wind and barely moving, or running with the wind and being pushed along like a tumbleweed in the desert. I'm positive that I was a sight to behold.
Then, then, if that wasn't enough! I was running loops through the campground when I became keenly aware that we were surrounded on all sides by howling coyotes. I noticed a small herd of elk, all females with their young (all born last spring). One particular young one was mightily injured, unable to put weight on its back legs. It was standing, walking on its front legs, dragging its back legs pathetically behind. The rest of the herd was well-agitated and surrounding the injured one. The coyotes moved in on the herd from all sides, howling aggressively. The herd bunched, moving uphill and out of the campground at the speed of the injured elk, staying close around it. One elk (perhaps the baby's mother?) was particularly aggressive back towards the coyotes. She was running back and forth, rearing up in the direction of the approaching coyotes. Slowly, surely, and very vocally, the raucous moved up the hill, across the road, and back into the wilderness. It was an exhilirating few moments, and I wondered if I was going to see the coyotes take down the baby elk. I'm sure that is the envitable outcome for that elk, but I'm relieved that I didn't have to see it. As quick as it all started, it was over, and I was back to running again.
My run itself was more interesting than most of my runs recently. After a few months of building to about 50 miles a week, 2 weeks of sitting pretty at 50 miles a week, then a small cutback week last week, I'm officially ready to start doing speedwork. It's kind of exciting, it's been a while, even though speedwork today only consisted of a hilly, fartlek run. It was really easy, despite the wind, water, and hills, alternating between 5 minutes moderate pace, 1 min about 5k pace. In the first minute at 5k pace, I felt ackward and gangly, but then I felt just fine afterwards.
I have been taking Mondays off or as cross-training days recently. But I've decided to not follow that so closely anymore. This week, while I'm working until Thursday morning, I will run everyday. This with the implication that I will want my day off running somewhere on my "weekend," which starts then, to either play outside or just do something else. Anyhow, I'm sure this is way too much detail for my faithful readers.
I'm off to nail my feet into the ground so I don't blow away.
Oh, and I almost forgot, 6+ miles running, approximately 0.8 miles driving. Hah! I beat my car again!
Posted by Meghan at 6:21 PM | Comments (1)
February 26, 2006
12 Miles Running, 10.8 Miles Driving
Whew, I barely outran my car today. The 10.8 miles came from driving home from work this morning, then driving to and from the trailhead to run this afternoon. I don't think I could actually outrun my car every day, because of the bigger driving trips, as my commenters mentioned. Say, if I drive to Bozeman and back for groceries, I've banked 140 miles worth of running miles to catch up on. Still, I say it's a fun game.
Today was a bonafied 12 mile death march. Conditions (my own and environmental) were not exactly on my side. I was way, way behind on sleep (1 night of 3 hours sleep and 1 night of 5 hours sleep in 2 "long" naps punctuated by some work in between) prior to falling asleep after work this morning. When I layed down to sleep this morning, it was actually hard to fall sleep. You know that feeling, when you're so tired that you can't fall asleep? Then, when you start to drift away, your body does this monsterous twitching thing that re-awakes you? That was me this morning. I did manage to get 7 uninterrupted hours of sleep once I went unconscious, which wasn't at all enough, but it will get me by until tomorrow morning.
It was another spring-esque day, as evidenced by the Olympic-sized pool of melted snow gathered in my side yard. Instead of muscular men and women swimming laps, I had 3 mangy, skinny elk standing in the water, apparently enjoying the 33 degree ankle deep wet stuff. I was amused. It wasn't easy to get my arse out the door, despite the temptation of warm temperatures and sun on my face. I just wanted to sleep more! At my house, I noticed a breeze, and then I remembered that the weather forecast was calling for some big breezes today. I drove out to the trailhead from which I was going to run. When I got there and shut off my car's engine, I could hear the wind howling around my vehicle. It was pretty tempting just to sit in the car a little while, but the whining dog in back pushed me to put one foot in front of the other.
Once I started running, I didn't feel that bad. It wasn't as if my legs were tired, it was just a feeling of general lethargy and malaise, which I could pretend to ignore for a while. The first 3.5 or so miles was with the wind at my back, and we just moved along. At this point, I was running on land split between private property and forest service property. From somewhere, I heard about 4 gunshots. They were a ways away, but it was a little unsettling. That wigged my dog out (she hates loud noises) and her anxiousness to move on prodded me to giddyup. Then, we had to run into the wind for about 7 miles. This was a true slog. Again, I didn't have dead legs or anything, but it was just so hard to make forward progress with the wind and in feeling just a bit tired. It took 62:30 to run 7 miles, and that required decent effort. The final 2.5 miles with a tailwind back to my car was a well-earned reward of smooth sailing after slogging for an hour. I had wanted to speed up for the final few miles of this run, but decided not to until I turned my back to the wind. When I did, the wind easily pushed me to 7:10-7:20 pace with little effort of my own. That was really nice. Even with this pleasant ending, I was just happy to have completed the 12 miles.
I have to end with a clothing mention. I wore even less clothes again today, and I was still hot! I wore tights, a long sleeve polypro shirt, a windbreak vest, and gloves. At various points in the run, I took off the gloves, pulled my sleeves above my elbows, wished I could ditch the vest but didn't, and pulled my tights up to capri length. And, I WAS STILL HOT. And I wore no hat again! I almost feel naked leaving the house without a hat, after months of donning it. It was remarkable.
Posted by Meghan at 7:04 PM | Comments (3)
February 25, 2006
Anyone Up for an Experiment?
Whilst pondering The Meaning of Life and Other Important Things this afternoon while running, it occurred to me that, in many weeks, I run more miles than I drive my car. Say today, I ran 8 miles, but I only drove my car less than 1 mile (That was driving my lazy arse home from work. I should walk, but it's one of the last things I'd like to do at 6 am when I'm just getting off a 12-hour shift and all I want to do is go unconscious. Anyways, I digress.). I wonder how many other runners out there put more miles on their bodies than their vehicles. Certainly among those of you who pound out 80, 90, 100+ mile running weeks, there are many of you who drive less than that. I'm vaguely curious about this, so I think I may keep track of how many miles I drive in reference to how many I run for a bit. A semi-official, non-scientific experiement. Anyone else curious about themselves?
It's positively springtime-like today. Ridiculously warm, in comparison to the painful cold of last week. The sun was out, and melting huge splashable puddles everywhere. There was even a robin hopping around the yard. Though wonderful, it was much too surreal, because I know more foul weather will come. My dog and I were so completely covered in mud and water by the end of our run. Part of that was caused by a tour bus who drove by awfully close for comfort and splashed us heartily with muddy water. I flipped the bus off, something I almost never do for fear of being hit or shot, but I was compelled to after having to wipe a dallop of mud off of my lip. It didn't dampen my spirits, though, because I was running around in less layers and NO HAT. I even had to take off my gloves for a while. Almost a heat wave.
8 easy miles today, 12 tomorrow, making 45 miles total for the week, barring any minor disaster.
Posted by Meghan at 6:16 PM | Comments (5)
February 23, 2006
I Don't Mean to Disappear
Sometimes it just happens. I get a little bogged down, you know, all snow drift-like, and can't climb out. Then, I feel as if I've missed so much that it would be so hard to play catch up on it all. So, I'm just not going to try. Only a few recapping moments from the last week or so:
1) Skiing in the coldest weather EVER. Well, I'm sure there's colder weather out there in the Antarctic or Arctic, or something. But it was friggin' cold. The high for the day was -11 degrees. That's Fahrenheit, folks. The low was -38 degrees, also Fahrenheit. And that was just at my elevation. I feel bad for the poor shmucks up there at 8000 feet or so where they couldn't even go outside long enough to get more wood for the stove. Good God, people, it's cold out! So we did the smartest thing one could do and went and skiied in that stuff. I never knew what cold was like until I felt that cold. Granted, I have been a little cold lately. A few 50 mile weeks are, finally, taking the little edge of baby fat off that you accumulate when you don't run more than 30 miles a week for 6 months. Maybe I should have waited to the spring thaw to do that, but, oh well. Anyhow, it was cold. I'm glad I did it, just to say I did it. The skiing was beautiful, in some new powder. 'Nuff said.
2) Skiing in KNEE DEEP powder. This was this afternoon. Some freak snowstorm hit just up at the higher elevations, and we willingly jumped into it. The powder up there was so deep, seriously, KNEE DEEP! What up with that? It was amazing, and super difficult to move in. Even the fattest, floatiest backcountry skis can't keep a person on top of that stuff. Without skis on, I fear how deep I would have sunk, just into new powder. I think we skiied about 5 miles. It took most of the day, slogging through the pretty powder.
3) Sickness! I don't know what happened, but we all got so sick from some soup I made. I know, I take full responsibility for our illnesses, but I just don't know what happened! I made Many Bean Soup. It's got some veggies, mostly beans, hence the name. It's vegan. I've made the exact same soup before, without repercussion. I made it and then the next day we reheated it and put it in a thermos to take skiing. Boy, was it warm and tasty when the weather was cold out there, we savored every bite out of that thermos. Luckily, we made it out of the backcountry and into the vicinity of a toilet before the duress began. I tell you, it was awful, fighting over the single toilet in a one-bathroom house. Eww, eww, eww! I think my stomach is back to normal now, but it's taken several days.
4) Running with a pained stomach. I had to take one day off from running because of the Many Bean Soup Incident, I couldn't get 30 feet from a toilet that day. The next 2 days afterwords, I ran with a pained stomach. I knew I was safe, as there was nothing in my stomach that I would have to urgently evacuate, but boy did it hurt to run. Think of some awful greasy food that incites painful gut rot, that's how it felt. But I made it through 2 days of running that way, and my mileage didn't suffer as a result.
5) Running in general. I take this last week as a testament of my committment to running. I ran when the temperature, according to a very official government thermometer, was -22 degrees. I ran when I thought my stomach might knot its empty self into a tangled mess. I ran after a full day of skiing. Well, okay, I know there a lot more hard core people out there who run through all kinds of messes, but, hey, we all gotta have bridges to cross and mountains to summit, right? Those were mine for the week.
6) Movie Marathon. Have you ever bought a ticket to a movie theater, watched a movie, and then stayed to watch a few more? This is what I call a Movie Marathon. Now I know this is not for the moral ones at heart. But, hey, we supported the movie industry by eating and drinking our weights in popcorn and soda during the marathon. Thank goodness for stadium seating, otherwise I'd be tired from sitting all day! Note: This is another way to entertain oneself when the temperature can't even creep close to 0 outside.
Posted by Meghan at 11:37 PM | Comments (3)
February 15, 2006
Moving On to the Bigger and Better
You know when you're feeling bad about something, and you feel that you are justified in feeling bad about this certain something, in reference to the trials and tribulations of your own life? As in, compared to the smooth, Cadillac ride of the rest of life, this choppy, safari Land Rover bumping feels a little off? But then, when you compare your own problems to the rest of the world and its problems, you feel as if your complaining is trivial and silly and you should just shut up?
Well, that's sort of how I felt about the whole mini-drama that is my life. Then, about 7 hours after I posted my blog entry about it, I worked an awful, horrible accident at work that provided me with the perspective I needed to buck up and move on. We are but vague, mortal creatures, living and breathing only temporarily, and the courses of our lives can change instantly. Perhaps things such as this current blip upon my horizon are briefly mourn-able, but not worth much more than that. There are Bigger and Better Things in life.
And so, life goes on. I've finally returned to running decently. It always feels so good to run, and I miss it when I don't do it, or much of it. Yesterday I ran 7.5 miles, perhaps half of it easy, half of it steady. I had planned to loosely run a few steady miles somewhere in the run. Total time out was 56:xx. Today 10 miles, all easy, but all hilly. The conditions were questionable. The temperature was hovreing around 4 degrees F. The roads were icy covered, with only a few bare patches. There was the minutest layer of new snow, a dry dusting that did nothing but make things even more slippery. And the wind, oh what a fierce wind!. I had a long mental list of which body parts were too cold by the time I got home. I went straight to the shower, but it hurt to put hot water on my body. Cleary, my usual winter entourage of clothing (I call it an entourage because it's close to a whole 'nother person worth of crap that I put on my body.) wasn't enough for today. It was uncomfortable, and my blue lips that just wouldn't return to their rightful color were a lasting sign. Total time out was 1:22:xx worth of dancing across the slippery stuff.
Posted by Meghan at 8:10 PM | Comments (3)
February 13, 2006
Sun and Melting Snow
It has been a long time since I have seen H2O in its liquid form outside. For many months, all I have seen is water in its various states of quasi-frozen to hard-rock frozen forms: sleet, black ice, fist-size snowflakes, blowing sharp ice crystals, wet snow, dry snow, tiny snowflakes that never actually hit the ground, gray ice, white ice, clear ice, snow dustings, 10-inch deep snow. I could go on.
Today, I woke up in the middle of the afternoon (after sleeping off a night shift) and saw sun shining through the window shades. When I slipped outside to check the weather, the sun shone warm on my face. My yard and driveway were melting, watery, muddy messes! My dog came back inside looking like she'd trekked through a swamp. It was eerily warm and sunny, especially since the radio was telling me all about the amazing out-east storm. So eery that I took a chair outside and sipped coffee in the sun. I'm sure it was only about 40 degrees, but it felt wonderful.
I almost ran in shorts. Almost. However, by the time I got out there, the sun had dipped behind the mountains and a chill was setting in. I'm glad I wore pants, but, all-in-all, I was still wearing 2 layers less than normal, and no hat. It was remarkable! What else was remarkable was that I observed continuous patches of blacktop peeking out among the snowpack, providing for great traction underfoot.
It was this feeling of unfailing friction underfoot that led me to spontaneously put in about 20 minutes of hard effort while out running today. That, and because this week's mileage was a dismal 31, I figured I had wiggle room for a little effort. I have no idea how much distance I covered in that time, I just ran at what felt steady and sustainable, and I felt great. The best pavement I found was a small loop through the nearby campground. When I'm out running easy, each loop takes 4:40. Today, I ran each loop in 4:00. Perhaps I'll measure that loop's length one of these days and figure out my pace. I'm not at all concerned with pace at the moment, as I'm just trying to build mileage.
Speaking of mileage, I suppose I'll give another go at 50 miles for this week, what I had planned and never got around to last week, lazy bum!
I empathize with all the runners in the east, barreling out the door into a blizzard for a run. Every one of you who got out on a day like today is truly tough. I feel moderately guilty that I thought about wearing shorts today, though I'm sure the tables will be turned back to "normal" shortly.
Posted by Meghan at 2:26 AM | Comments (0)
February 10, 2006
The Unraveling of a Running Week and the Raveling of Other Fun
I won't make it to 50 miles this week. I won't even make it to 40 miles. Probably I will run 30 miles. Some of why I'm not running very much is out of my control (I had a work emergency one day.), but much of it is completely in my control. I'm not sitting on my arse being lazy, rather I've mostly been enjoying the winter sports of Yellowstone. I've clearly said before that I don't want these other, though enjoyable, diversions to impede upon my running. Well, I'm letting them impede upon my running this week! I feel a little guilty, but I'll smother that guilt by indulging myself in healthy doses of Yellowstone wilderness.
I'm bound and determined to learn how to turn on cross-country skis. Today we skiied out a tracked dirt road to a cabin. Beyond the cabin, the land opens up into wide, sweeping, lolly-gagging hillsides. Nothing dangerous or steep, the perfect place to learn how to turn. I spent much of my afternoon traversing my way up a hillside, then making awkward, huge, and gaping S-turns all the way down. When I would reach the bottom of a hill, I would look back up at my tracks. Instead of beautiful, symmetrical S's, I instead would see a mess! By the end of the afternoon, I was starting to get the hang of it, I actually felt my knee touch down on its ski in a single, well-executed turn. Once, just once! But seconds later, I was on my rear end, wondering where I went wrong. Oh well, I'll get it, someday. Thus, I nixed today's run in lieu of climbing and descending untracked wilderness hillsides.
The more we do this skiing thing, the smarter we're getting. The other day, while skiing in a snowstorm, we noticed other skiers taking a break, sipping a steaming beverage from a thermos, looking happy and warm. Us, we didn't want to stop moving because we were afraid we'd get too cold! Today we took curried noodle soup in 1 thermos, and a mixture of coffee and hot chocolate in the other. I really can't decide what's more fun, the athletic act of skiing or the side benefit of drinking and eating hot stuff out of a thermos whilst plopped down among a field of white, watching a bull elk graze.
I will run tomorrow and I will run on Sunday. At the end of the week perhaps I will have run 30 or just a few more miles, but I will have been active every day. I'm inclined to wonder, a mile on cross-country skis equates to how much running? But, I don't even want to go there.
Posted by Meghan at 7:52 PM | Comments (3)
The Problem of Bison
I cannot count the number of times that my extracurricular activities have been modified by the presence/movement/mere existence of bison in my still short career at Yellowstone. I've occasionally attempted to look at the hairy, stinky, foul smelling creatures with a semblance of affection. I mean, they are a little bit cute, in that glazed-empty-gaze kind of way. Then, instincts are gratefully roused as I consider the injuries that these creatures can and do inflict on humans. They have short tempers, they are not smart, they are big, and they are fast. If you don't believe me (or if you do), you've got to watch this, it'll knock your socks off. In any case, mindful awareness of bison is critical here at Yellowstone.
Back to the main topic (ME, duh!), bsion have so far affected my life many times. Here are a few entertaining examples:
1) Day 1 at Yellowstone. My movers are carrying my mattress into my new house, and the mattress incites a rioutous reaction from a bison who seemed to be at a safe distance. The bison charges in what seems like just a moment, but the movers are in my house before damage can be done.
2) Ever heard of a bison jam? This is where a narrow 2-lane national park road is blocked by what seems equitable quantities of bison and tourists. The bison don't want to move off the road, in fact, they use roads as thoroughfares. The tourists are elated at their upclose bison encounter. Typically, you'll find me at the back of the traffic jam with the engine shut off because no one's moving anywhere soon. Talk about an interesting commute to work.
3) I interacted closely with a bison during an after-dark run. I came close to running smack dab into the sucker. That would be bad, very bad. In any case, such attempts at darkness runs have been curtailed since then.
Is the picture becoming vividly clear? Additionally, my last post indicated that we met closely with a bison on a recent cross-country ski trip. Avoiding the bison meant traversing through a heavily wooded forest in waist deep snow. Well, basically that means rolling, pulling, pushing, and squeezing one's body parts in manic movements to make forward progess. It was rather comical, but all for a mangy bison.
And then, finally, there's today. All day I looked forward to running in Gardiner, MT. There are many reasons to run there: it's 1000 feet lower elevation, it's warmer, it's flatter, and there are dirt roads and trails. When I got to my normal starting point, I was greeted by hundreds of bison. I kid you not, they were everywhere. I picked down a trail for a short distance until I came too close for comfort to a group of the big guys. Then I tried a dirt road, same problem. My run in Gardiner was reduced to 2 miles. Instead, I had to return home to finish running. It's humorous in one sense, and ridiculous in others.
While I'm keenly aware of the quality of this rant, I'm also keenly aware of how lucky I am to work and play here. Who gets to have the life I do? Very few people. In fact, most people pay good money to get to Yellowstone. Me, I get paid to be here. I like the sound of that! So, yes, I'm entirely greatful for my life. Could they just tie up those bison?
Posted by Meghan at 1:16 AM | Comments (2)
February 8, 2006
A Brief Update
I wrote a nice entry the other day, but my Internet browser crashed amidst posting it and I didn't have the energy to rewrite it. So, this will be my attempt to catch up on my running (and a few other things, too), in as brief a manner as possible.
I made it to 45 miles for last week, as I wanted to to. Just barely, though, not a mile more! Here is how the week turned out:
Thursday: 10 miles, 1:21 and change. In a sleeting, icy snowstorm! My cheeks stung from hard ice crystals blowing into them so hard! It was a great, easy run, aside from the awful weather.
Friday: 5 miles, 40:xx. I spent so much time relaxing today that I just barely got out running before dark. I mean to run a little more, but ran out of daylight.
Saturday: 5 miles, 41:xx. We spent this day skiing, and I just went for a quick run afterwards. We were skiing in a snowstorm all day! It was beautiful, though, calm with little wind and big snowflakes falling. We cross-country skiied 8.5 miles.
Sunday, 15 miles, 2:01:xx. I meant to run 14 miles on an out-and-back route. I accidentally ran 7.5 miles out and didn't realize it. So, I spent the 7.5 miles running back wondering why it took so long to run 7 miles. It wasn't until I was out of the cold and snow could I properly do the math in my head and realize I had run 15 miles instead of 14. I ran negative splits, which I was happy about, 1:03 on the way out and 59 minutes on the way back. I was tired after 2 hours though, my longest run in a year or so! I can tell I'm out of running shape!
This week I'm aiming for 50 miles.
Monday: Rest. Cross country skiied 10+ miles. This was through some rough backcountry terrain and deep, deep snow. Super-hard work breaking trail through the snow and navigating some steep ups and downs. I was more tired at the end of this than I was doing a long run on Sunday! It was beautiful, though! We ran smack dab into a bison in a tiny open clearing in the trees. He was WAY up there in the mountains and it was obvious that he was wintering the whole winter in this small field. I couldn't believe it! He didn't particularly want to share his clearing with us, so we had to take off our skiis and pick through the forest in waist-deep snow to get around him! Aside from that, the landscape was stark, white, windswept, and covered with feet and feet of snow. So gorgeous!
Tuesday: 6 miles, 48:xx. Felt pretty tired during this run from a few days of hard work. As the run went on, I felt better.
Wednesday: I haven't run yet! I'm planning 10-11 miles, though, in just a little bit!
Posted by Meghan at 2:28 PM | Comments (1)
February 1, 2006
Okay, It's Funny Now.
As promised, I finally came around to laugh at myself and my recent bike trainer crash. I mean, come on, who does that? As I said before, you can't take me out into public! The good news is that I do feel recovered, though. After 2 days of light running and 1 day of rest, I don't feel like I've been through the meat grinder anymore.
I'm not doing too great so far in my attempt to run 45 miles this week. It's day 3 and I'm only on 10 miles for the week. Eeks. Of course, who could predict such an unfortuitous encounter with a bike trainer? I'll get there, I'm just a little behind. 5 miles on Monday, Tuesday rest, 5 miles today. I could have/should have run more than 5 miles today, but, well, it just didn't happen.
There's great news abound, though. It's my Friday and there's an abundance of new snow! These 3 things combined will make for a great week off of work. I predict lots of cross-country skiing, running, cooking good food, and starting in on all the wine we bought in Napa Valley. Oh yeah, and I also predict some school work, too. Yeah, probably a bit more than "some." A fair amount of school work is likely a better prediction. I'm okay with that, because it'll be wedged in among much more exciting endeavors. I'm very happy about being home for a my week off. I figure that it's been since the beginning of December since I've been in Yellowstone for my days off of work. Sure, I've been here while I'm working, but that doesn't allow for much playtime when workshifts are 12 hours long. I'm very much looking forward to being home and recreating in my own world this week!
Finally, finally, finally, I think I got my act together to figure out a spring plan. I feel as I'm a bit behind with this, but I was on vacation for a while. Additionally, I wanted to just sit in the 35 mile/week and then the 40 mile/week zones for a while to see how it felt, since I've been so danged injury prone lately. Looking at racing calendars, it looks as if the last of the "spring" marathons happen around here on the weekend of June 3 and 4 before things break out into summer shorter races, duathlons, and triathlons. There are 3 to choose from, the gargantuan Salt Lake City Marathon, the smaller Casper (WY) Marathon, and the even smaller Governor's Cup in Helena, MT. These races are 18 weeks out, so I guess it's go time. Does it mean I'm committed if I've written it in my blog? I'm afraid of committments...
Posted by Meghan at 9:01 PM | Comments (5)