« March 2007 | Main | May 2007 »
April 26, 2007
Searching For Peace
My dad died a year ago while on vacation with my mom on the Galapagos Islands, off the coast of Ecuador.
I've listened to my mother's stories. I've studied at all the photos that were on my dad's camera. I sorted through the backpack that my dad had with him that day. I absorb every little detail that I can. While I do know the story of his death, this isn't the information that I necessarily seek. I seek to know the details of the last day of his life.
It was a Friday. The day was warm and sunny, just like every day of their vacation. In the morning, Zodiac boats brought my mom and dad ashore one of the remote Galapagos Islands. They hiked around some beautiful black cliffs, upon which a turquoise ocean crashed in energetic wave displays, on the windward side of the island. They bird-watched lots of different bird species in a huge series of nesting colonies along these sea clliffs. My dad was fascinated with the Blue-Footed Boobies, which are endemic to these islands. My mom and dad watched one particular Blue-Footed Boobie who was sitting and standing near its ground nest and its egg for a long time. A Zodiac boat brought them to a beach on the opposite side of the island, where the land met the ocean in a calm, still, aquamarine paradise. My dad snacked on trail mix brought from home; it had Craisins in it, which he absolutely loved. I can't be sure, but I think my dad cleaned his camera lens as they sat on the beach. My mom and dad chatted about this crazy adventure that they were on. My dad donned his snorkeling gear and a rash guard shirt (so he wouldn't get sunburned while snorkeling) and went out snorkeling in that quiet bay. He was out there with some other people; he and another guy saw some sort of shark, and they talked about it while floating out in the ocean.
I have no doubt that my dad was profoundly happy, peaceful, and invigorated by life that day. My dad was an adventurer to his core, and this trip perfectly satiated his adventuring desires. My dad had fished remote rivers in Alaska, took a boat trip down the Amazon River, explored temples all over Thailand, traveled to the southernmost tip of South America, safaried in Tanzania, and adventured around New Zealand's backcountry. Seeing, experiencing, and learning about new places, people, and things made his heart full. I can imagine him doting over the Blue-Footed Boobie, pointing his camera endlessly at the waves crashing against the island shore, and exclaiming with my mom about how much fun they were having.
At this moment, I long to feel the same sense of peace my dad felt on that day. Unfortunately, my soul's feathers are a bit ruffled right now. My mind wanders through thoughts about the fairness of life, why some people die young, and why good people are left to suffer. I have no answers to these questions and I surely wish my mind could calm itself from trying to solve unsolvable riddles.
There are also happy, peacful moments intermixed right now. The other night in my dream, my dad was alive again. I was at home with my family and we were given just one extra day to spend together. We knew that the day was finite, that my dad would be gone when the day ended. We weren't sad or mournful, just supremely grateful for a little extra time. I woke up feeling so happy after this dream, feeling like I had been specially gifted.
Whenever I talked on the phone with my parents, they would both get on the line, and the three of us would banter back and forth. Our good-byes always went something like this,
Mom: "Well, I love you, and be so very careful. I mean it, be careful."
Me: "Yes, Mom, I will. I love you."
Dad: "I love you. Be reckless and endanger the lives of many."
Me: "Ok, Dad, I'll do that. I love you."
My dad wasn't actually encouraging me to live a dangerous life; rather, he was comicaly counteracting my mother's over-abundance of caution and reminding me to go be the adventurer and explorer that I am. He knew that our souls were similar in our desire for adventure and exploration, and that this is what makes me most happy.
I'm going to go do exactly that, have an adventure of some sort. I hope that, in doing so, I will find the soul peace that I seek. Meanwhile, hug and kiss your loved ones; tell them how much they mean to you; take advantage of every moment you have with them. Also, do exactly what you love, what fills your heart over-full, what makes you feel like a whole person. This world is a crazy place and we can never know what might happen tomorrow, or later today.
Posted by Meghan at 2:36 PM | Comments (14)
April 24, 2007
Good Day, Sunshine
The lyrics of this Beatles song are still dancing in my head, even though the sun has set and the day is coming to its close.
In the wee hours of my night shift at work, I have the special (Or, not-so-special, depending on how you look at it. No jokes, please, I'm just the reporter.) job of creating and publicizing the weather forecast for Yellowstone each day. I consult a bunch of weather forecast sources, and compile forecasts for the various geographical areas of this 2.2 million acres of wilderness. For a few days, I have been watching the extended forecast develop. It looked like maybepossiblywemight break out of this several-week pattern of mini-storm after mini-storm seperated by single-day respites of nicer weather. I watched with hesitation, not wanting to get my hopes up too soon. When I made the weather forecast last night, there was no denying it. For the next week or so, the weather was going to be phenomenal. When I woke up from my night shift today, the warm sunshine confirmed this fact. I stood on my front stoop, sipping coffee and soaking in the sunshine, and I knew it was going to be a very good day.
I just have to note, I wore shorts and a t-shirt while running, and I was HOT!
In addition to the lovelyawesomecan'tgetenough weather, I felt stellar on today's run. I feel like my old self is finally dusting off the cobwebs and climbing down from the attic after a few months of hibernation. About danged time, I think!
I wanted to do a downhill workout today. My plan was to climb easy up the Old Gardiner Road to the top, then run downhill in alternating bouts of hard and easy (3 minutes hard, 1 minute easy all the way down.). This didn't happen, at all. I felt immediately wonderful upon running, so I went with it. I pushed hard the 4.5-ish miles uphill, and I was in a groove I haven't felt in months. My lungs and legs were burning (in a good way), and I felt, well, just very alive! There was a guy sitting next to the road at the very top, and he gave me a little applause when I arrived. I felt like I had my own cheering section.
Then I turned around and ran hard all the way down. That's not entirely true, I actually got into the groove of hitting the steeper downhills hard and floating a bit easier on the flatter portions. My quads we singing wildly by the time I got back to my car, exactly how I wanted them to feel.
Do you think everyday could be like today?
Posted by Meghan at 6:29 PM | Comments (9)
April 23, 2007
Week of April 23rd
Monday:
1. 5-ish (46-ish minutes) miles easy and hilly running, around the neighborhood
2. 45 minutes easy spinning
3. yoga 45 minutes
4. SUPER-core workout
Tuesday:
1. 9 miles (1:17-ish) steady uphill and hard downhill, Old Gardiner Road
2. legs lifting
This run was an out-and-back, all uphill on the way out, all downhill on the way back. Ran steadily uphill, then pushed hard on downhill. Felt awesome, except it was clear that I need new shoes.
Wednesday:
1. 5 miles (42 minutes) easy and flat, in the campground
2. 45 minutes easy spinning
3. yoga 45 minutes
4. SUPER-core workout
Eh, my right shin is achy because I ran hard yesterday in blown out shoes. Wish I wouldn't have done that, but I didn't know it until I was already mid-workout. I ran today in super-cushion-y goodness, but it's still achy. As per what's worked before, I may take a day of running rest tomorrow to get the ache to subside.
Thursday:
Full-on rest for the shin. Things are looking much better by the end of the day. Heh, bought new shoes today, though.
Friday:
7 miles hilly and easy, Eagle Creek Road
Saturday:
18+ miles hilly long run, Packsaddle Loop in the Big Hole Mountains, near Driggs, ID
This was a tough run. It featured climbing up high in the Big Hole Mountains, then climbing back down again. It featured some hard-to-travel snow up high and mud down low. I was a tired but happy girl afterwards.
Sunday:
45-ish miles (about 3 hours) cycling, Grand Teton National Park
Totals:
43 miles running, including 1 downhill workout
about 4:30 cycling
yoga x2
SUPER-core x2
legs lifting x1
I didn't meet my running mileage goal for the week. I was set back a little bit by a rest day for the shin. Also, the week's long run was a shorter long run than I anticipated. It was the requisite time-on-feet that I wanted, but hard-to-travel surfaces slowed us down a lot.
The Goal:
55-60 miles running, including 1 uphill and 1 downhill workout
4 or more hours cycling
The Schedule:
Monday- recovery running and easy spinning
Tuesday- hill workout
Wednesday- recovery running and easy spinning
Thursday- hill workout
Friday- recovery running and (maybe, time dependent) easy outdoor cycling
Saturday- long run
Sunday- long outdoor cycle
Posted by Meghan at 10:00 PM | Comments (2)
April 22, 2007
This Really Happened
This afternoon, I parked at a trailhead to run, but sat in my car for a few minutes to finish the phone conversation I was having. During these few minutes, a woman pulls in and parks next to me. She gets out of her car and sets out walking on the trail. I am a few minutes behind her beginning my run.
When I return to the trailhead, it appears that she has also just returned. I go to my car, retrieve a water bottle, and stretch a little. She approaches me closely, breaking through the personal space bubble-thingy that we all have around us. She smiles and asks if I can do her a favor. I say that I can, and she silently turns around and bends over. Now I'm staring at the behind of a strange woman, and I have no idea what I am supposed to do.
A long, awkward pause occurs as she remains in position and I stand there feeling ridiculous. In an effort to end the painful silence, I guessed the favor I was supposed to be doing. "They're clean?" I say, thinking she perhaps wants me to see if her pants are dirty. She remains unmoving and I hear her say, "Are there any ticks back there?" I make a set of cursory glances around the back of this strange woman's pants. There aren't any ticks visible, so I answer in the negative.
She finally rights herself and relays that she'd been sitting in grass and hoped that she hadn't acquired any ticks while sitting. Then she thanked me, told me she hoped I had a good run, returned to her car, and drove away.
I cannot make this stuff up.
Posted by Meghan at 10:02 PM | Comments (7)
April 20, 2007
Everyone And Their Mother
Or should I say, everyone and their dog was out on the Eagle Creek forest service road today. In addition to my dog and I, there were 4 more people and 3 more dogs. This collection of creatures far exceeds any amount of foot traffic I've previously encountered on this road. And, I can see why. It was a warmer (perhaps 45 degrees), partly sunny day, and yesterday's snow had officially melted. The Eagle Creek Road is still closed to vehicle travel (Though there is very little traffic on this remote, dirt, forest service road in the first place.). It was a Friday afternoon.
I was dragging behind to get out there today. Such a tired, tired girl! I suffer a bit when I get less than 8 hours of sleep per night, and I never get even close to that much when I'm working a string of 12-hour shifts. Plus, I did a couple new leg strengthening exercises yesterday, and different muscles were beginning to get sore. However, once I was running and my muscles were warmed up, I was good-to-go.
Today was my first "workout" of this training block. Please don't chuckle too much when you read the "workout;" that's why it's in quotations. The "workout" was 10 x 1 minute hill climbs on a moderate grade, with a downhill recovery the same distance that I climbed. We all have to start small, don't we? I'm soft and unnaccustomed to workouts, currently. So, this seemed to be a good place to start. Normally, such a short hill climb interval would be a nearly all-out effort, but I'm not ready for that right now (I'm not fit for it, and it's unnecessary in this portion of my training.). I climbed with a hard, even effort each time. By the end of 10 intervals, I was beginning to feel fatigue, but I could have sustained the effort for a while longer. Another day, when I'm not so soft.
I was pretty excited to run a "workout" of sorts, as it represents the beginning of the next running chapter in my life. It's clear that I haven't been running much in the last 2+ months (My weekly logs attest to a decent running hiatus.). However, as miraculous as it sounds, I still feel like a I have a good aerobic base resulting from a combination of some running and a fair bit of cross training. I do know I've lost a bit of endurance, a lot of leg strength, and any and all leg speed.
First, I'm going to focus on increasing my endurance just a bit. I'm planning to run mostly shorter ultras this summer, so I only need to raise and maintain the endurance bar a bit. Simultaneously, I'm going to work on developing leg strength through hill (mostly uphill but some downhill) workouts and other leg strengthening exercises. I've chosen to focus on races with a lot of elevation change this year, so I need a lot of leg strength! Later on, in a few months, we'll get to the leg speed part.
How does that sound?
Posted by Meghan at 8:38 PM | Comments (6)
April 19, 2007
Fantastic Body, Nasty-tastic Weather
When I went home from my night shift at 6 a.m. this morning, there was about 3 inches of new snow on the ground. I felt confident that, by the time I woke up from sleeping, the snow would be melted. After all, that's what happens with these freak shoulder-season snowstorms in the Rocky Mountains, right? When I did wake up at about 1 p.m. and looked outside, I was shocked to see that, not only hadn't the snow melted, but more had fallen, and it was still snowing. The weather was positively nasty-tastic.
I nearly took personal offense at the powers-that-be for providing such awful weather on April 19th. I certainly waited as long as possible to wander out for a run in the snow. Seriously, AS LONG AS POSSIBLE. I have a To Do List on my fridge that's currently 17 items long and filled with little projects for "rainy days." I guess this snowy day counted, and I managed to cross 2 tasks off the list before I went out for a run. Perhaps that speaks for itself my motivation level for running in the snow.
In any case, I finally wandered out there in winter clothing, hat, gloves, the whole works. I was prepared for the worst. From my house, it is immediately uphill and this initial uphill is always a good gauge for how the rest of the run is going to feel physically. It was smooth sailing up the hill and for the duration of the run. I felt great! I would even wager to say that I felt fantastic. I danced along my neighborhood trails, softly padding through a few inches of wet white stuff. Big heavy snowflakes alternated with little heavy snowflakes falling from the sky for the 90 minutes I was out there. However, I could have cared less because my body was a happy, happy runner.
I'd be hard pressed to say that I'd run in snow every day to feel that good while running. However, I'd be happy to run in snow again at least tomorrow if I felt as good as I did today. Bring on the white stuff!
Posted by Meghan at 10:18 PM | Comments (7)
April 18, 2007
Week of April 16th
Monday- 1:27 hilly road biking, Mammoth to Indian Creek and return
Tuesday- 1. 4+ miles (34 minutes) flat and steady running, Gardiner Railroad Bed Trail; 2. 1:45 hilly road biking, Mammoth to Blacktail Drive and return
Wednesday- 1. 7.5 (57 minutes) miles hilly and easy running, around my neighborhood; 2. 40 minutes easy spinning on the bike trainer; 3. yoga 45 minutes; 4. SUPER-core workout
Thursday- 1. 10 miles (1:29) hilly and easy running, in my neighborhood; 2. yoga 45 minutes; 3. legs lifting
Friday- 1. 7 miles (about 1 hour), including 10 x 1 min hills, recovering the same distance downhill, Eagle Creek Road; 2. 35 minutes easy spinning on the bike trainer; 3. SUPER-core workout
Saturday- 1. 6.5 (56-ish minutes) miles hilly and easy, Old Gardiner Road; 2. yoga 30 minutes
Sunday; 1. 8 miles (1:11) hilly and easy, Yellowstone River Trail; 2. 45 minutes easy spinning on the bike trainer; 3. arms lifting; 4. SUPER-core workout
I almost forgot to start this week's log! Here it is. Don't even ask what my goals for this week are. I just want to run and bike.
GASP! I did a mini-workout on Friday! The first one of this training block. It was TOO easy.
Totals: 43 miles (just over 5 hours) running
5:15-ish cycling
yoga x3
lifting arms x1
lifting legs x1
core x3
Posted by Meghan at 6:48 PM | Comments (2)
Point Of Clarification
In my last blog entry, I wrote a bit about a grizzly bear/human interaction incident that occurred near Tetonia, ID. When I wrote the entry, I linked to two AP news stories about the incident. Since then, the article in the first link was replaced by another unrelated grizzly bear/human interaction incident that happened in Alaska. I have now re-linked to the correct AP story in my last blog entry.
Posted by Meghan at 6:42 PM | Comments (1)
April 16, 2007
How To Be A Slacker, And Other Details
1) Thank you to all of you who left words of encouragement regarding my job interviewing process. You are all very kind! It's a bit strange to say, but the first emotion I felt when I heard that I hadn't gotten the job was relief. If it had been offered to me, it would have been a difficult decision to make. The job itself was a wonderful opportunity at advancement. However, it would have required leaving my current employer, leaving my current home, moving to a moderate-sized town, etc., etc. You know the drill, having to ponder whether one positive change is worth all the other accessory changes it induces in one's life. There were sneaking suspicions here and there that, despite the tremendous professional opportunity that it was, it wasn't quite the right fit. Right now, I still feel glad that the decision was made for me.
2) If you've arrived here looking for words of wisdom on good training, you should probably move on rather quickly. If you're looking to build your bank of excuses to skip training, then read on! My high hopes for last week simply dissolved into a week of near-nothing, training-wise. See last week's training entry for details on the unraveling of a good training week. Good grief, Meghan, get a grip and train if you want to race well this summer. I have excuses galore for last week: On Wednesday, I used my 2 hours of training time to sleep because I was so-danged exhausted from working 12-hour shifts plus overtime. On Thursday, I spent about 13 hours (and all available training time) preparing for Friday's job interviewing extravaganza. On Friday, I spent the whole day traveling to the interview, interviewing, and traveling home from interviewing. Blah, blah, blah, blah...
3) My poor week of training was arguably salvaged by a great weekend. My sweetie was here and the weather was great and we played outside. What more can you ask for? We spent the afternoon on Saturday riding on the still-closed interior road of Yellowstone. The road will open to cars this Friday, so this past weekend was the last hurrah for many bikers. We rode from my house in Mammoth to the Norris developed area and back, and probably saw about 100 bikers over 45 or so miles. Amazing! The headwind on the way out was ridiculous, a steady 25 miles per hour. Pushing into the wind, my sweetie and I talked about how fun the tailwind ride back would be. Wouldn't you know, but the wind had dissipated to almost nothing by the time we turned around! Oh well, it made for a harder-than-usual ride, and I felt it in my legs by the end. I'm slowly, steadily building my cycling endurance, with this being my longest ride of the season so far.
We went out to a great Italian restuarant for dinner on Saturday night. Is it sad that one has to drive 1 hour each way to eat at a good restaurant? This is perhaps the -only- downfall to living in the wilderness, that culture is a ways away. However, I had a gift certificate left over from a race last year, so we treated ourselves to several courses of food. Mmmmmmmmn, yum.
Sunday's run was kind of crazy, I've got to say. We went out on the La Duke Trail, in the Gallatin National Forest. We went out with the intent of doing a several-hour run. I've been on this trail before alone, but I always turn around at the same point. Where I turn around, things just get a little creepy because the terrain screams bear terrain. My sweetie, my dog, and I bravely forged past this point yesterday, knowing that group travel in bear territory is much safer than solo travel.
I cannot tell you how creepy it got beyond the turnaround point! I just have to wonder about this "creepy sense" that I have for certain people, places, and incidents. Sometimes, I chastize myself when the "creepy sense" gets going for being wimpy or judgemental. Almost always, though, I heed the warnings of the "creepy sense." For about 30 minutes beyond my previous turnaround point, we encountered at least 15 dead animal carcasses. Some carcasses appeared to be the remains of deer and elk that hunters had killed and gutted last fall/winter, and that had been fed upon afterwards by predators. Other carcasses were just plain killed and fed upon by predators. It was literally a wildlife killing field up there, though. After a time, we were just plain creeped out, so we turned around. I couldn't have been happier to get out of there, and I don't intend to go there again. Aside from the dead animal weirdness, it was a good run. We climbed close to 2000 feet on the way out, and dropped back down on the return. From high on the La Duke Trail, the Yellowstone River Valley opens up in all of its beauty, and you feel like you can see forever.
4) Bears, bears, and more bears. Last week, a grizzly bear mauled a man near my sweetie's home. The article describes all sides of the debate, whether the attacking grizzly should be left alone, whether it should be trapped and relocated, or whether it should be killed. The results are in, and the "suspect" bear was trapped and killed by local officials.
The situation is described in these two articles: A family lives in a cabin located at the edge of the wilderness, adjacent to national forest land, not far from Grand Teton National Park, and well within the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, one of the only remaining large, healthy habitats of the grizzly bear in the world. A grizzly enters the family's property and feeds on a moose carcass. The family's dog encounters and barks at the grizzly; a man investigates the barking and encounters the grizzly; the grizzly attacks the man. The man surives the attack and is released from the hospital 3 days later. The "suspect" grizzly is trapped and killed.
Why was this "suspect" bear killed when it was exhibiting normal bear behavior in normal bear habitat? Why does humanity fail to understand that we must carefully and respectfully share a world with other living creatures? Why is a member of the federal Endangered Species List, the grizzly bear, treated like it is infinitely disposable? Why do humans have the perspective that they as a species must be at the top of the food chain? I cannot understand these phenomena.
People, if you live in or otherwise enter into the habitats of predators that may well hurt, maim, eat, injure, mangle, kill, or feed upon you, travel at your own damn risk. You and your 6.5 billion other little compadres in crime have already settled, developed, and destroyed a fair bit of this little limited resource called the Earth. For one single second of your lives, think about living a selfless, shared existence, rather than the selfish existence you currently dwell within, with the rest of this earth's living creatures. You are not at the top of the gawd-danged world and you never will be, so give the grizzly bears in North America, and the tigers in Asia, and the jaguars in Central America just a bit of wilderness space to roam free and hash out some sort of limited life in the little that's left of their natural territories. If you simply cannot stand the idea of sharing the wilderness, of being below something on the food chain, of the idea that there are places that aren't perfectly safe, then just stay the hell out. Ride your bike on your urban jungle multi-use paved pathways. Live freely in your condo on the thirty-second floor of your cookie-cutter urban residential development. Walk safely on the manicured, overly fertilized, and pesticide-laced green grass at the park down the street.
Shortly after the attack, the victim said, "I really didn't feel it was the bear's fault. I stumbled into his area." 'Nuff said.
Posted by Meghan at 1:35 PM | Comments (7)
April 13, 2007
Too Much Of A Reach
No-go on the job for me. I'm actually not too sad about it. Perhaps I might be relieved. I'm not too sure why, but that's how I feel that the moment. Shite-man (Pardon me.), I gotta tell you, these people make you jump through reeeeediculous hoops to not get a job. I'm not even going to go there in explaining what happened today. Maybe that's what I'm mostly bothered about, spending an inordinate amount of time working towards nada.
Eh, back to your regularly scheduled program!
Posted by Meghan at 5:48 PM | Comments (12)
April 12, 2007
Inquiring Minds Want To Know
Eric asked the question of the day: What's up with your dream job?"
This Friday morning, I return for Round 2 of interviews. This includes a 30-minute presentation that I give to the search committee about some aspects of the job. Approximately 24 hours before Round 2 begins, I will be given the materials from which I will base this presentation. That means, from Thursday morning on, I will be working diligently to create and practice this presentation.
To be perfectly honest (and as I said before), I'm r-r-r-r-e-e-e-e-a-a-a-a-c-c-c-c-h-h-h-h-i-i-i-i-n-n-n-n-g-g-g-g quite far for this one. I do need lots of luck, again. :)
Posted by Meghan at 3:39 AM | Comments (11)
April 9, 2007
Week of April 9th
Monday- 1. 4 miles (34-ish minutes), flat and easy, Beaver Ponds Trail; 2. 1 hour easy spinning on the bike trainer; 3. lifting legs; 4. yoga 45 minutes
Tuesday- 1. 6 miles (56+ minutes), hilly and easy, Eagle Creek Road; 2. 45 minutes easy spinning on the bike trainer; 3. yoga 30 minutes; 3. SUPER-core workout
Wednesday- rest
Thursday- rest
Friday- rest
Saturday- 3-ish hours (45-ish miles) hilly road biking, Mammoth to Norris and return
Sunday- 12 miles (1:50) hilly and easy, La Duke Trail
I'm taking a similar training tactic this week as last, only with an increased running volume (I guess it's easy to increase from only 28 miles run in one week!). I'm aiming for 50 miles of running, and a similar volume on the bike as last week (at least 5 hours). It's another simulation exercise to see how my body reacts to a normal amout of training, time-wise. Additionally, I've rekindled my love affair with my road bike, now that the weather is good for being outside on the roads mostly (However, I write this in the midst of an evening of April snow; hence, the bike trainer workout.). I desire time in the saddle!
I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY want to feel like a normal runner again. I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY want to get back into my regular training routine. I have lots of racing dreams for this summer and I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY want to get back to that effort. At this point, I feel strong. I hope that my 2 weeks of "resting" has me ready to go again.
This week is going to be very busy job and life-wise, so I've had to plan my workouts to a "T." I hope it all fits!
End-of-week rating: PATHETIC.
Totals: 22 miles (3:20-ish) running
4:45 cycling
yoga x2
lifting legs x1
SUPER-core x1
Posted by Meghan at 8:56 PM | Comments (11)
April 8, 2007
Week of April 2nd
Monday- 1. 8-ish miles (1:20), hilly and easy, Horseshoe Canyon, near Driggs, ID; 2. SUPER-core workout
Tuesday- 1. 7-ish miles (1:05) hilly and easy, Mud Lake Road, near Victor, ID
Wednesday- rest
Thursday- 1. 1:30 road biking, hilly, Mammoth to Indian Creek and return; 2. yoga 30 minutes; 3. lifting arms
Friday- 1. 5 miles (48 minutes), flat and easy, Gardiner Railroad Bed Trail; 2. 40 minutes easy spinning on the bike trainer; 3. yoga 30 minutes
Saturday- 1. 1:25 road riking, hilly, Mammoth to Indian Creek and return; 2. 30 minutes easy spinning on the bike trainer; 3. yoga 30 minutes
Sunday- 1. 8 miles (1:10) hilly and easy, Beattie Gulch Road; 2. 1 hour easy spinning on the bike trainer; 3. lifting arms; 4. yoga 45 minutes; 5. SUPER core workout
This is a no-plan, no-expectation week. I'm going to run and workout by how I feel only.
I felt tired in the first mile on Tuesday, but then I warmed right into it, and felt good. Systems seem good this week, so far. I will keep my fingers crossed that the week continues like this!
Though I ran only 28 miles this week, I intended to simulate a normal week's exercise volume with a lot of road biking/spinning to see how my body would react. Happily, it's Sunday evening and I feel great. It seems as if the fatigue factor is abating itself, and I am so pleased! Despite a good load of exercise this week, I still feel "behind" from a running perspective. I was really hoping to begin incorporating hill workouts into the regime right about now. However, I think hill workouts are going to have to wait a few more weeks. I'm trying not to beat myself up over this too much. I climbed a mountain pass twice on my bike this week; I wonder how closely that simulates a running hill workout... Well, onto bigger and better things.
Totals: 28 miles running (4:20-ish)
5:05 road biking/spinning
yoga x4
lifting arms x2
core x2
Posted by Meghan at 11:13 AM | Comments (6)
April 6, 2007
Anotha' Day
Today has been much brighter than yesterday. It's amazing what a little time and sleep will do for one's psyche. I'm half-tempted to pull my last blog entry off this place because, sheesh, it's just so-danged depressing. Part of me feels guilty that I unintentionally imposed upon my unsuspecting blog audience that came here for their daily dose of Yellowstone adventuring, or something equally uplifting, at the very least. Then again, I'll probably leave it there because it's raw, real, and representative of exactly what I was feeling. And, who knows, perhaps someone who identifies with my sentiments might cruise by and feel comforted in knowing that they aren't alone. Thank you to all of you for your support; I appreciate the outpouring of thoughts.
It was a gorgeously sunny day today, but so very windy. A sharp, cold, piercing, north wind howled down the Yellowstone River Valley this afternoon. I ran directly into the wind, then I turned around and ran with the wind. It took me 27 minutes to run 2.5 miles into the wind on a ridiculously flat and easy trail (where 8 minute miles are typically a cinch) before I gave up trying. At times, I was literally not moving forward, even though my legs were rotating underneath me and my arms were swinging. It was amusing, to say the very least. There is not a thing you can do about this kind of stuff, though, so I just laughed and kept "running."
The marmots have emerged from their winter hibernation. A single yellow-bellied marmot stood stolidly on a rock uphill from the trail today. It made a series of warning chirps as I passed by, never moving its position. These creatures produce incessant chirping noises that will try anyone's patience. In this passing interaction, I was sufficiently entertained.
Last year, a friend relayed to me a story about a marmot which lived in a hole outside of his home. My friend could hear the marmot's boisterous and perpetual chirping each morning, much like that of a rooster, beginning somewhere around the crack of dawn. After frequent attempts at sleeping in were foiled by this marmot, my friend had had enough. In a bout of frustration, he went outside and threw a rock at the marmot, trying to scare it into silence. Instead of frightening the marmot, he accidentally hit it square upside the head. Resultingly, the marmot toppled over, unmoving on the ground. Alarmed, he approached the marmot and watched its body writhe through a series of convulsions. The marmot seemed to be dying, and, though he felt quite guilty, there was nothing he could do. A few hours later, he looked out the window and the marmot had disappeared from its previous location. A few days later, in the early morning hours, a familiar chirping woke him up once again. Apparently, the marmot had survived, and was healthy enough to chirp.
Eh, I could go on and make some ridiculous, quirky allusion associating human strength and persistence with that of the marmot. But I'll stop here to prevent further digression.
Posted by Meghan at 9:35 PM | Comments (2)
Nightmare-ish
There has been a gawd-awful, aching-unsettled, butterfly-dancing, sunken-gut feeling in the pit of my stomach since the arrival of April. The end of this month will mark the one-year anniversary of my dad's death. On one hand, I can't wait to get it over with. It seems like a stepping stone of progress, Well, we've made it a year. We are strong and tough. On the other hand, I want time to slow down, or stop even, so we don't pass that landmark. It will make him too far gone, He's been gone now for a year.That's just a long time.
Well, whether I like it or not, April 28th is going to come and go. In the meantime, I've been thinking about my dad, about that awful time last year, and about the rest of my family a lot more than usual. Right after my dad died, two things happened all the time:
1) I would re-remember, both in the waking and dreaming worlds, that my dad had died. There would be these sublime moments or series of thoughts wherein my dad was still alive; these moments were quickly pierced by a return to the present, and my dad was gone. I had a love/hate relationship with these moments; they felt briefly wonderful, then absolutely horrible.
2) I had nightmares that would replay my mom's frightened phone call about my dad. In these dreams, I could again hear her tiny voice across a crackly international phone connection and I instantly knew what had happened before she could bring herself to say it out loud. I would wake up from these nightmares already crying; who knew that you could cry while you slept?
The other night, I woke up crying, in the same manner as last year. I was instantly confused; then my dream began to shape itself into my conscious mind, and I realized that, in my dream, my dad was still alive. In my dream, I had called to chat him up about all the interesting goings-on in my life. When I awoke, I realized that he was still dead. It doesn't really matter how many times this happens, it feels like a gawd-darn gut shot every freaking time. It hurt so badly, so I just let myself cry, freeflowing until all the tears were gone.
After that night, it was very clear to me that I've got to dig out the emotional-strength reserves for this month. I'm going to need them for myself, and I suspect they will be useful in helping out my family as well.
Posted by Meghan at 1:16 AM | Comments (11)
April 4, 2007
Wahoo!
The gods of running must have heard my prayers and forgave me for drinking a beer, falling asleep, and nearly missing registration for the Bridger Ridge Run. Since my registration confirmation gave me no indication as to whether I made it into the race or whether I was wait listed, I emailed one of the race officials. Happily, he replied and said I got in! I kind of feel like I won the lottery, or something.
These types of races are becoming so-danged popular that you almost have to plan and practice for the moment when registration opens, so that you can click the computer mouse fast enough. It's akin to trying to get tickets for a famous band or a college basketball game. And let's not even start talking about race lottery systems. I find it somewhat surprising because we're talking about trail running, not Justin Timberlake or the LA Lakers.
Anyways, back to this race. The race route follows much of the length of the highest ridge of the Bridger Mountains from north to south. It really is just a route, kind of game trail-like at best. I fell in love with this mountain range last year when I did 3 or 4 runs and a camping trip up there. This summer, I'll get to spend even more time up there, training and racing in the Bridgers. Olga has a great race report from her Bridger Ridge Run experience that'll really give you an adrenaline rush. If that's not enough, you can read some more race stories on the race website (Follow the link to the race website at the top of this blog entry, then scroll down.).
Now, if you'll kindly excuse me while I start training for a crazy off-trail, mountain-climbing race...
Posted by Meghan at 5:20 PM | Comments (6)
April 2, 2007
Weekend Wanderings
I'm exhausted; time to recover from the weekend. Actually, this weekend ended up being fairly low key, which I'm happy with.
My sweetie and I spent Saturday afternoon road biking in Grand Teton National Park. While the inner park road is still closed to vehicle traffic (like Yellowstone's roads), it's open to bike traffic. This is a much more popular road biking route than Yellowstone. When we arrived at the parking area about 10 miles north of Jackson, WY, there were several dozen cars there.
It's so awesome biking on closed roads! You can pedal right down the center yellow line and not have to worry about a thing! We did a 40 mile ride, and we were out for just shy of 3 hours. That included a 5 mile climb to the top of Signal Mountain, which has a great view of just about the whole national park. I decided to stay out of my saddle and climb hard for as long as I could survive, and I made it more than 4 miles up before I sat down, geared down, and recovered. Of course, though, my best efforts were far surpassed by my sweetie's climbing skills, as he disappeared above me before we even reached halfway! About 15 miles from the car, we had to stop so I could warm up my feet. They were frozen! I will be the first to admit that I'm a fair weather biker in the first place. Secondly, I don't really have cold weather biking gear. My shoes and feet were wet from road spray, and it was only about 40 degrees outside, and there was a friendly head wind. It took about 10 minutes of rubbing them before I could feel them again! Aside from chilled feet, it was a great ride in full view of the Teton Mountains in the middle of a deserted national park.
That evening, we went out to dinner and I had my first beer in a long time. I just don't drink that stuff anymore! It made me so sleepy that I forgot to stay awake until midnight to register for this race. Argh! I'm so mad at myself! This will be the second year in a row that I spaced registration! I remembered on Sunday morning, got online, and the registration website actually accepted my money. About 10 minutes later when my sweetie went to register, the website wouldn't take his money, calling the race full. The registration website automatically accepts 250 entrants plus a so-far undisclosed amount of wait listers. I'm sure that my registration is at the very bottom of the waiting list, if the whole race was full 10 minutes later. So sad! That's what I get for drinking a beer! One single, lousy beer!
I was wholly unmotivated to run on Sunday, since my running has been going so poorly and I'm taking a running hiatus. However, the prospects of spending the afternoon on some new routes/trails with my sweetie was enough reason to get out there! We intended to do a 17 mile or so run through the Big Hole Mountains outside of Driggs, ID. We ran on forest service dirt roads and snowmobile trails. It was a nice run, and I just tried to take it as easy as I could. We turned around just before we make it to the halfway point of the loop because the trail/road intersections had become unmarked and confusing, and because a snowstorm was rolling in. We made it back to the car literally moments before sleet and huge snowflakes began to fall. There was a lot of snow still in the Big Hole Mountains, but we were running on hard packed snow, which was fine for running. I think our run was about 14 miles and 2 1/2 hours, including about 2000 feet elevation gain and subsequent loss.
That's all folks! Thanks again for all your support about my potential new job. I'll keep you posted as things develop!
Posted by Meghan at 8:52 AM | Comments (9)