Running Chick

Thanks to the bunch of snow we got early last week, I was only able to complete two out of my four runs.  I had a not-so-great run on Thursday where I felt like the upper & lower halves of my body just couldn’t get in sync and then a 10-miler on Saturday that was pretty okay, aside from having to climb into a snow bank for a potty break. Incidentally, the snow is up to my knees on the side of this road.

It’s not looking good for making my runs this week, either, seeing as we’re right in the middle of Snowpocalypse IV.  I did have a really good on Monday just before the snow started, so that felt good.

Weekly recap: Thursday, 5.14 @ 10:23; Saturday 10.14 @ 11:05 for a total of 15.28 miles.  This week I’m supposed to do 23.50, but it’s unlikely I’ll make that.

Happy Snowy Saturday, Happy Valentine’s Day, Happy March and Happy every other day I missed since my last post.  Let’s jump right in with the updates, shall we?

Training officially started at the beginning of February, and I’ve been using the same schedule that I did last summer, running four times/week.  I had an okay fitness base built up from December & January, but it still felt like a bit of a struggle to hit my paces.  Combined with lots of snow and some cold patches which forced me to have several dates with the treadmill, and that equates to February turning out to be not that pleasant of a month.  Still, I only missed one run and ended the month with 61.50 miles.

I’m feeling a lot stronger and peppier now, and so far this month I’ve logged 27 miles, with a little over 20 miles this week.  The roads are mostly bare now, which is such a welcome state after spending the last couple of months slogging away in the squishy snow.  There are still some spots which are super icy and I had three close calls this morning on my long run where I slipped and ended up skidding on the ice, arms & legs flailing around.  I had to remind myself to proceed with extreme caution because I’m currently helping Josh as he recovers from this:

You can hop on over to his blog to get full story, but the short version is that he crashed his bike and broke his collarbone.  He had surgery last Thursday where they inserted a plate to repair the bone.  He’s bionic now, but laid up for the next few weeks.  Sounds like it’ll be about three months before he’s back to full strength, so I’ll be running on my own until probably May or June.

Random photos from my phone.

Pippen is now 1.5 years old.  Here he is at three months, when we first got home.  See how cute and teeny?

Here he is now.  Godzilla!  He barely fits in my lap anymore, and when he stretches out, he’s as long as my legs hereby proving that everyone’s taller than me.

Found a great new brewery in Marquette, Ore Dock Brewing Company. The place is pretty small, but the beer is really good.

We had a pretty good blizzard at the end of February that closed MTU for 1.5 days.  That was pretty significant because MTU does not close down frequently.  The last time was in 2007 and that one was on Josh’s birthday!  I forget how much snow that storm brought us, but it seemed like we were shoveling a couple of times a day for a week straight before we got a break.

I found the most enormous bottle of Sriracha I’ve ever seen in the hospital cafeteria.  That was about the only interesting thing I found there.  I might add that it also did not look like the cafeteria in Gray’s Anatomy, nor did any of the doctors look like McDreamy. Such a disappointment.

I’ll be back to my regularly scheduled weekly posts starting next week. Until then, think Spring! And don’t forget to turn your clocks back an hour tonight.

All signed up, t-minus 13 days.  I believe there was snow on the ground back in 2009, hopefully that won’t repeat for 2012.

Running has been a struggle this week. I’ve been flipping between wanting to rest the entire week, and needing to keep on running because of Whistlestop.  My legs were feeling a bit sore & tired, so I didn’t end up running until Wednesday evening. I ran again on Friday, and then did a 10 mile long run this afternoon on the Chassell trail.  I don’t know if it was the slight incline of the trail or the loose gravel surface, but my quads are really feeling sore and achy.

Josh added another bike to his collection (it’s a sickness, I’m convinced) so he rode along with me while I ran.  Anyway, here’s a shot of the trail. Still a lot of greens and yellow leaves on the trees.

And the bridge at the end, which I find rather scary to cross.  It’s a long way down!

Thank goodness Josh has a helmet cam and could capture how much of an idiot I looked like when I crossed.  In my defense, every time I looked down through the rails at the water, I was all "Woo scary!" so I was focusing on looking at the rails and my feet.

I got more brave on the way back, here’s a shot from the middle of the bridge. Scary! 

Here’s Mr. Show Off carrying his bike across like it ain’t no thang.

Weekly recap: Wednesday, 4 @ 10:25, Friday 4 @ 10:19, Sunday 10 @ 11:02.  Tapering starts next week and I’ll top out with 12 miles which will include the 2012 runningchunk.com 5k.  There’s still time to register, you slackers.

Finally, I shall leave you with one of the many reasons Fall is my favorite season.