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March 9, 2006
There Goes Another Week!
I find myself once again at the beginning of the 7-Day Death March-O-Survival that I call my work week. My reprieve is that the end of this week (As soon as I finish: 1] a paper that’s now grown to epic proportions, and 2] do a time-consuming but doable take-home midterm test.) brings the beginning of Spring Break from grad school. I can honestly say that I will not miss school one little bit. 7 lovely, lovely days of freedom from studying. Anyhow, I digress.
I found myself arriving by snowstorm into Salt Lake City late on Friday night. The weather was horrendous. At 30 mph down the freeway, I could only drive by putting my right tires on the fog line. I couldn’t see 50 feet in front of me. I made it safely, but very slow and very late. I can't imagine that this was a safe driving practice.
Saturday I managed a short run in the booming metropolis of SLC. Sidewalks, busy streets, and pavement are unfamiliar running territories for me! I pulled my right quad ever so slightly while pounding downhill steeply on pavement. Watching my dog watch traffic was rather entertaining, though. Perhaps this country pooch has never seen traffic like this before? The rest of Saturday was spent with friends on a beautiful, almost-spring afternoon. I'm pretty sure I spent several hours not wearing a jacket! That evening, we went out to a microbrewery and drank some good-tasting beer. Does anyone else think that microbreweries on Utah are funny? I mean, come on, the brews taste awesome but it's all 3.2% beer! Mormon Utah, you know!
On Sunday, I planned a rest day from running, as we were going to downhill ski (me) and snowboard (everyone else). We were promised a pre-ski trip to Ruth’s, a famous breakfast diner in one of the canyons above SLC. I could eat breakfast for every meal if that’s what it would be like! My favorite was the biscuits (I’m a sucker for biscuits!). For one reason or another (including waiting in a long line at breakfast, the extreme tardiness of one member of the group, and a few other uncontrollable circumstances), it was suddenly too late to go up into the mountains to ski. I was disappointed, but instead we spent the afternoon in SLC, and I got to play tourist. We visited Temple Square, which is the headquarters of the Mormon Church. It was akin to visiting the Vatican in Rome, which is the Catholic Church’s headquarters. We wandered around the university. We sat outside (Because it was warm and sunny!), sipped coffee, and ate the most beautiful piece of chocolate cake at a coffee shop. We ended the afternoon by driving up to the big “U” placed on the side of the mountain above SLC to see the view. It was a clear day, and an outstanding view. I guess if we were unable to ski, then this was a great alternative. I still kept Sunday as a rest day even though we didn’t ski, with the excuse that my quad was still a bit pulled from my last run.
I spent much of Monday and Tuesday hanging around SLC, getting my computer repaired. Something went suddenly and strangely amiss with the hard drive. After madly copying gigabytes of important files, I raced around the city looking for someone who could work on Macintosh computers. Alas, $60 and 36 hours later, my computer was repaired, and I don’t have to fear hard drive failure (Knock on wood.).
Monday was also the infamous dog encounter day. I was running on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail. For non-SLC-ites, this trail is awesome! It traces the edge of an ancient lakeshore, and extends north and south along the Wasatch Mountains just to the east of SLC. The trail basically contours the mountains anywhere from 300-600 feet above the city. Once you climb up to it from one of it’s many access trails, the elevation rolls gently along, no horrible uphill grinds. This trail extends for 90 miles or something like that! I went on an 80 minute trail run, though I had intended to run about 1:40. I cut things short and ran back to the trailhead after the dog and I got munched on by the strange dog. That meant that I missed opportunity number one to do my long run for the week, and on a great trail at that.
Tuesday I just did a short run. My hand was sore, and it ached to bounce. I just tried to run slowly and smoothly. 4 miles, oh-so-slowly, and a bit painfully.
Wednesday was another gorgeous day in SLC, shorts running weather! I went out on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail again, in a different location this time. Today, I apparently went out to a popular trail running spot, by coincidence. I didn’t see any other women, but I saw 2 beautiful men out there. Not only is the scenery of the mountains and the SLC valley outstanding, but the on-trail scenery was equally so. Anyhow, I digress yet again. I did a 45 minute fartlek run. I didn’t stick to any time requirements, rather I ran hard when the terrain rolled uphill or when the trail was smooth enough to run hard. I think I did 7 untimed hard intervals during this run. It felt great!
Today, I woke up in SLC to a wild snowstorm. I packed up and started driving home as soon as I could because I knew it would take a long time. What is usually a 7 hour or less drive took 9 hours today due to the roads. I didn't much care about that. It was more meaningful to me that I wasn't one of the suckers involved in the dozen or so accidents I saw. Poor people! I got home with just enough daylight left to go for a run. I was so glad to have time, as I was antsy from being in the car, and I know the dog was too. I ran 5 miles briskly, about 38:00.
Now, I have the unexciting duties of unpacking, cooking for the week, and going back to work to get on with. I guess I've procrastinated long enough!
Posted by Meghan at March 9, 2006 6:37 PM
Comments
Glad you made it back safely! The roads were terrible here in Idaho yesterday, lots of accidents.
Great to hear about your Salt Lake trip, and now can't wait to hear how things look up there in Yellowstone!
Hope your hand continues to improve. Nice to hear of another person who declines antibiotics when possible!
Happy running!
Posted by: anne at March 10, 2006 8:54 AM
i had no idea that you got munched in slc. that's really odd. i was out there for a conference last year, i think, and got attacked by three, off-leash, taggless dogs. maybe it's an issue in slc?
glad you're home safe.
Posted by: jeff at March 10, 2006 2:44 PM