Meghan's Blog

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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 February 27, 2006 6:21 PM

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Posted by: Audrey at February 27, 2006 7:48 PM

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