Running Chick

House update! We are in our new place.  It’s a weird combination of awesome (so much space!) and ugh (so many projects). I sure am sick of having half-unpacked boxes hanging around and I’m still looking for items that I know I packed, yet cannot find and I swear, I keep on looking in the same boxes over & over again.

Living out in the country has it’s perks.  We have white-tailed deer visiting us regularly.  This guy (gal?) was just a little ways from our living room window.

And birds!  I put up four seed feeders and one hummingbird feeder and got lots of customers.

American goldfinch (female)

American goldfinch (male)

Rose-breasted Grosbeak (male)

Rose-breasted Grosbeak (female)

Indigo bunting (male)

Ruby-throated hummingbird (male)

Ruby-throated hummingbird (male)

Black-capped chickadee (male? female? not sure)

Then, we went outside one morning and all the feeders were knocked down and empty, including the hummingbird feeder.  We figured raccoons.

Then we found this:

And then a bit farther away, this:

And finally, telltale footprints in the volleyball court:

Bears!  We measured the prints and the biggest set is 6” across.  Apparently the bear paw width:length/size ratio is 1”:1’ so it’s possible the largest bear was 6’ long. Yikes.

They haven’t made a second visit, so maybe they were just passing through on their way to their summer cottage deep in the woods.  Far away from our house. Preferably in the next county over!

Hello, I’m still alive!  This last month has been a whirlwind of packing, moving, crappy weather and trying to maintain the last of my training schedule along with my sanity.  I’m happy to report that I survived.

I ran Journeys half marathon two weekends ago.  I ended up finishing in 2:08:27 which is about a 9 and a half minute PR over last year.  I honestly have no idea how I pulled that out.  The weather, Josh’s injury and moving really made it next to impossible to stay consistent and unfortunately, running had to take a backseat. My mileage wasn’t even close to where it should have been, but I did focus on lots of hills and I was able to get in six 10+ mile long runs so maybe that helped? Or, maybe it was the tailwind.  I really have no idea.

The weather on race morning was unpleasant to say the least.  34 degrees with about a 15 mph wind, plus intermittent rain/snow.

I dressed in full February running gear and I was still cold but there were some ladies up in the front of the line (read: fast) who dressed like it was 75 degrees outside. Runners are nuts.

This was my fourth time running Journeys and this damn course never gets any easier, no matter how many hills I run during training.  But, looking at my stats, I did manage run a pretty textbook successful race.  My second half was faster than my first, and I ran negative splits for the last six miles.  I took gels at 4.5 and 9 and had a bunch of Swedish Fish in-between.  I had water at every aid station, except the first, and I ran through all but two.    Running that distance at under 10:00 minute miles is really fast for me.  In hindsight, I probably should have taken one more gel had I anticipated maintaining that pace, but I figured I’d end up gradually slow down in the second half and noodling my way across the finish line somewhere around 2:20.  But, my legs kept working and I didn’t feel like I was going to have a heart attack or anything, so I just kept going.  When I crossed the finish line, I was spent.  After a hot shower and a two hour nap (oops, bad move), we headed out for our traditional post-Journeys boozing.

Anyway, next year I’m contemplating skipping Journeys in favor for the Green Bay Cellcom HM.  I know a couple of people who do it every year, and it sounds like a lot of fun.  Lots of time to think about that, though.