Coaching tips revisited

The year was 2002, I was turning 50, and I was preparing for my 5th Boston Marathon. I decided I wanted to run a good one - a really good one - and that I'd need some new tricks in my bag in order to pull it off. I hired a fellow I knew in New York who had recently decided to leave his day job to go into coaching full-time. The results were excellent!

Neil is a fan of hills (as am I) and one of the new tricks he taught me involved hill drills for form and strength. To do hill drills, one finds a hill that's about 1/4 mile long, and goes up that hill first bounding (return to the bottom), then skipping (return), then with high knees. After each drill up, run about 1/4 mile at the top, run lightly down, then go back up with the next drill. I was astounded by the jello-ish-ness of my legs at the top of each hill. And after doing the drills once or twice a week for a few weeks I was astounded at what a huge difference they made to my running - I was running stronger, taller, and with a more open stride.

Fast forward to 2007 when I'm trying to get ready for a summer of 180-mile weeks. Naturally I've been putting in a lot of miles. And my body says, naturally I'm getting lazier and lazier with my running. No zip, no pizzazz in the legs. When I noticed my body was increasingly hunching over as I ran (not entirely because of the cold, wind, and snow), I decided I'd better do something about it. Ah Hah! Hill drills! So yesterday I met up with AndyE at The Hill (there's a perfect hill drill hill in south Boulder) and we did 2 x bound, skip, and high knees. And got that good ol' jello feeling in the legs as we crested at the top.

After a 50 minute warmup, the drills and a 50 minute warmdown I stretched (obeying firm instructions from current coach Mark and massage therapist Holly), drank some chocolate soy milk (another of Neil's tricks), and got into a tub full of ice water - the highest level of water yet (over my hips). My original goal was to sit there long enough to drink the cup of coffee I'd made for myself. I drank that so fast I decided it would be way too wussy if I quit the ice bath then. The next goal was to stay in long enough for the next song on the radio to finish playing and/or when all the ice cubes had melted. The cubes disappeared first, and I lasted through the end of the song.

And afterward? Zippy, pizzazzy legs. Mission accomplished! Hill drills, stretching, and ice baths will continue to appear on the menu.

As for Boston 2002? Dream goal: 3 hours 45 minutes. Actual: 3 hours 46 minutes 33 seconds and my fastest marathon since Las Vegas 1995, my fastest Boston since 1992. Thank you Neil Cook!

Snow adventures

It snowed again in Boulder this weekend. Our Saturday gang still managed a pleasant run in the light fluffy stuff. (The picture shows some of the gang - AndyE, me, Joe - after a run on another recent wintry day...as you can see, there really is a lot of the white stuff in town these days.) The footing was pretty decent on trails and roads - and deceptively slick on concrete - so we chose our surfaces carefully and had but one tumble between all of us.

After the run, I trotted over to watch "The Best Cross-Country Race on the Planet" - a race that has been held the past few years as a tune up for xc nationals. I do believe this was the most difficult short-distance race I've ever seen. It was cold. It was snowing. The footing was extremely tricky and getting trickier as the race went on (chopped up snow and getting slick). And, for the men's race, the wind even picked up. Yet despite all that, those runners were flying! What a race to witness.

Today I tried my own little cross-country adventure. I was running to a neighboring town where I was to meet my husband and was following a little two-lane road that had a fair amount of traffic. I was approaching a trail head and decided I'd really rather be on trails than on a busy road with narrow shoulders, so off I went to the trail. The trick was, I was going to need to take a fairly new branch off the trail that in order to go in the direction I needed to go in. It was looking good for a while, there was a pretty decent track laid in the snow by a few skiers and hikers/runners as I climbed higher on the trail. Then I got to the branch - and saw exactly one ski track in the long expanse of thigh-deep snow that I'd have to traverse. So I turned around....and saw how high I had climbed and how steep it was to get back down to the trail head. Plan B (aka always have an exit strategy). I followed a different trail that I knew would take me around the mesa I was on and over to a less steep trail that I could follow down the hill to the trail head. This was a pretty good plan - except for the wind that had come up while I was climbing and that I was now running straight into. No sense in having a dull run through the snow, eh?! The run was fairly uneventful - just a couple of rolled ankles, a few slips and slides, and one plunge into a snow hole - until I got to the very last stretch. Lo and behold, there had been so much wind and drifting during the time I was running that the trail was completely obscured by snow. Ah well, I could see the trail head gate and just made a bee line for it....and was back to the road where I had started this snow adventure.

So my easy week has concluded. Only 50 miles, only one run per day. My body and spirit are refreshed and ready to rock and roll.

No shortcuts

I had a pretty good run today then stopped by to see my coach this afternoon to discuss aches & pains and strategies for dealing with them while continuing to train. I'm very lucky in that my coach is an exercise physiologist in addition to being an accomplished runner and coach. He poked my right leg, he poked my left leg, and he knew just what was wrong with each and pretty much why - a whole lot of snow running, no stretching and a bunch of miles. When we were talking about stretching I told him I was having a hard time transitioning from running as merely a hobby. His response was that "this is your job - and you cannot take shortcuts".

So! Time to leave the computer, go do another round of stretching and jump (well, jump might not be quite the right word) into an ice water bath. Woohoo!

drink. eat. run. drink. stretch. eat. drink. ice. rest. drink. stretch. run. drink. stretch. eat. drink. stretch ...

A new sensation

As mentioned yesterday, my body is rebelling a bit. So, today I ran just 4 miles with Jester dog (actually walked/jogged - walking on all the slippery snowy bumpy bits) . Often times after a run, I'll hose my legs down with cold water. Today I tried something different - more drastic. I filled the bathtub up with cold water and ice cubes and got in. Holy macaroni! Prior to getting in I had made a large cup of hot coffee. I made myself sit in the water long enough to finish the coffee. I never drank a cup of coffee so fast.

But I gotta tell you, the aches and pains aren't screaming so much now.

The body speaks out

Soooo..... the mileage - or something - seems to be catching up to me. The back of my right leg hurts (there's a clicky thing going on behind my knee, my ham and calf are tight), the front of my left leg hurts (lower quad and below the knee - sort of achy), my achilles - often tight and owie - are tight and owie, my feet are just plain tired. I went to see magic fingers Beggsy (massage therapist extraordinaire) today and she discovered that I'm way out of alignment; my right hip is 3/4 lower than my left. So she worked me over and I walked out of there moving a whole lot more smoothly than when I walked in there.

What brought all this on? Pretty much, I just blew it last week. Here I was logging the most miles of my life and I:
- didn't stretch
- only iced three times
- ran a whole lot of concrete
- post-holed my way through snowdrifts torquing my body every which way
- dropped in on a rec center core class and gave it my all after 3 months of no core work
and I haven't taken a day off since December 25th (the day my dad died).

The plan: stretch, back off the mileage this week, ice, choose my surfaces carefully, stretch carefully, watch my form while running, stretch, ice - and really pay attention to the cumulative effects of everything I'm doing.

...moving foward...with care...

Easy day. Whew!

This morning I hitched myself up to my dog and headed out into a light snow not knowing exactly where I was going to be running, but determined to run the 7.5 miles needed to achieve my 100-mile week. So we trotted through the neighborhood (Jester dog definitely leading the way cuz my legs were so so tired), then through the Bureau of Standards, then up a hill to the back of a neighborhood and onto a trail at the base of the NCAR hill, then down a hill and over to my fartlek course and ran that in the reverse of my usual fartlek loop direction for a while, then out onto a plowed road to make running a bit easier, then downhill through a neighborhood, criss-crossed through a shopping center, waited a real long time for traffic to clear so we could cross a street (church must've just let out), then through a pedestrian underpass (first hint of dry concrete all day), into our neighborhood park, out onto our unplowed roads and back home again. 8 miles. Easy easy pace. In fact, you could easily call it jogging and I wouldn't be at all offended. I do believe, given how tired my legs were at the start of this run and how good I felt by the end of the run, you might see me "jogging" quite a bit this summer - and - with a smile on my face!

Another long one

Perhaps this will be one of those days I draw on if I have a tough day during this summer's run. It was a slow slow run. No "gliding down the road" here - more like, clomp clomp clomp. But, the run is in the books now: 4 hours, 47 minutes and 25.5 miles.

It was actually a rather pleasant route. For those of you familiar with Boulder, I ran from my house in south Boulder out to the Rez, then east on Monarch, south on 79th, and east on Hwy 52 to Dacono. The Hwy 52 stretch is part of the first day's route on the way to Michigan.

Hero's award to my husband, Kendall, who met me about 20 miles into the run with a refill of Gatorade. (I had expected to come across a gas station for beverage refill and bathroom facilities - but no luck). He then went ahead and called back to let me know there was a McDonald's 2 miles ahead (where I could use the bathroom). And then he gave me a lift over the Interstate 25 overpass whose shoulders were piled high with snow leaving no place to run. And then he let me know just what to keep my eyes on so I'd know how close I was getting to Dacono. And then he took me out for a most delicious meal of Mexican food.

Best sighting of the day (besides the Gatorade refill): a magnificent bald eagle sitting grandly in a tree with the Continental Divide as his backdrop.

A Good Day

Good stuff happened today!

• Feeling a bit worn down, I decided to run easy this morning - the perfect excuse for running with Jester dog. He was one happy fella running around in CU's cross-country property and a very well-behaved dog on the leash when we ran through the snow-packed neighborhood roads. A very fine outing for all.
• I've got my day-by-day schedule mapped out for Iowa and Minnesota! If you'd like to take a look, the maps can be found at: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=646975 (for Iowa) and http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=649166 (for Minnesota). It looks like I'll be in Iowa from June 28 through July 2 and in Minnesota from July 2 through July 10. If any of you are familiar with either of those states, I'd love to hear your comments regarding the route! (By the way, thanks to all who recommended various mapping tools. gmap-pedometer seems to be working out quite well.)
• I ran three miles on the Rec Center treadmill tonight and set the speed at a pace much quicker than anything I've been doing on the roads lately. Kind of fun to get the knees lifting up. Major accomplishment (for this treadmill neophyte): I was actually able to run the last 10 minutes without holding onto the bar thingys (as long as I kept my eyes riveted to the little green button in front of me).
• And the big BIG news: Brooks called and said they'd be happy to help with this summer's journey and will be sending shoes and clothes! WeeeHawww!

Animals on parade

Since the big snows started rolling through Boulder, sightings of four-legged creatures have been rare: no coyotes, no foxes, no deer. However, there have been bunny rabbits. On the coldest, windiest, snowiest days, the mighty bunny could be seen out hip hopping about - quite the hearty winter beast.

Then, yesterday, while out running a trail near town, there was a string of verrrry tiny paw prints. And bingo! Out popped a mouse! Then in popped the mouse - into a hole in the snow left by a foot print - a veritable mouse cave. Then out popped the mouse and it skittered to the next foot print mouse cave. Another hearty winter beast.

Today's run included a march of purebreds along a favorite dog walking trail. First a German Shorthaired Pointer - all systems on alert just in case there was pointing to be done whilst on the run. Next a Great Dane whose head came up to my chest. Then a magnificent German Shepherd all muscles and smiles. The shepherd was followed by a woman with a Border Collie and a Golden Retriever on leashes. I met them as we stepped on a bridge from opposite ends. She called "Single file" to her dogs and my jaw dropped as I asked incredulously "They know how to do that?!" She grinned and said "Well, no - but we try."

I moved on past that trail and through a couple of neighborhoods, wound through a park and entered another neighborhood just in time to see a car coming down a road, followed by a gorgeous Akita, followed by a fellow with a leash calling for the Akita. The car turned, the Akita followed, the fellow continued to call (well, now it was more like yelling). I turned in the same direction as the car and saw it turn again up ahead, with the Akita still chasing after it. I looked behind me to see where the yelling fellow was; he was turning around and I figured he was going for his car to go chase after the Akita chasing after the first car. By the time I got to the last corner where I'd seen the car and the dog, the dog was running back. So I called it and turned to retrace our steps. He cocked his head, cogitated a moment and decided to follow. I kept playfully calling and it kept happily running alongside. When we got to the corner where I had first seen the chase transpire, the Akita hesitated, I said let's go, and it bounded towards a driveway - where the yeller greeted it, still yelling. I turned back around and discovered that a car that had paused at an intersection while the dog and I ran by had its front wheels jammed into a huge snow crevasse that crossed the intersection. I stopped to push, someone else came along to help push, and eventually the wheels broke free of the "Grand Canyon" as the other pusher referred to it.

Fun times running in Boulder these days!

A couple of running-particular side notes:

1. I finished my first run at 12:30 today (2.5 hours of running), finished eating lunch about 1:30 or so then went for my second run around 3:30. My legs were ready for the second run but my stomach was not. I'm going to have to work on that since the Big Run will involve a whole lot of run time with fairly short gaps for eating inbetween.
2. I'm tired. Probably the most bone tired I've been since starting this adventure. Perhaps it has to do with running 95 last week, no days off, and attempting to run 100 this week. Or perhaps it has to do with so much running in the snow and cold. Or..... In any case, paint me pooped.
   

Remarkable day

First: it was in the teens when I left for my run. Practically balmy! In less than two miles I was starting to shed layers. Glorious!

Second: 'Twas a quintessential Colorado blue sky sunshine day - with the result that I was actually running directly on pavement glowing amongst the snow along my route. Cruisin'!

Third: My first run of the day was from home to a restaurant rendezvous for lunch with my husband and brother (via a 9 mile 'scenic' route). My second run of the day was from the restaurant to home (a 3 mile rather more direct route). I figure that is a sampling of what my summer will be like: run-eat-run. I'd best get used to it!

Week's wrap up - January 14, 2007

First the numbers:

• 95.5 miles for the week (the goal was 95) - my second ever 95 mile week.
  
• 9 miles were indoors (indoor track and treadmill); the rest were out in the elements that ranged from snowpack to snowdrifts to powder to gusting wind to single-digit cold. I doubt I'll encounter similar weather conditions on my run to Michigan; I will, however, undoubtedly encounter similar challenges to my desire to continue with a run!
• Two days were fairly low mileage (one 8.5 mile day due to a busy schedule; one windy icey day with a 4 mile outdoor run and a 6 mile treadmill run); the longest run was 22 miles; all the other days were in the 12-15 mile range. Most of the miles were very slow so the amount of time on my feet per run was quite high (2.5-4.75 hours).

All in all, I feel ready for next week's planned 100 mile week; a triple-digit week...new territory for me.

Now, on to the running support summary for the week:

• My buddy Deb and I finished mapping my route (noting, of course, that adjustments will undoubtedly be made). I'm quite excited about Minnesota and Wisconsin as it looks like I'll have alot of trail mileage in those two states. My next step is to lay out the route in 15-mile increments, thus determining my day-by-day schedule.
  
• Husband Kendall and I went to an RV show in Denver to scope out the RV landscape. We've found quite a few promising models as well as dealers where we can explore further.
• Everybody is spoiling me. Friends are offering hours of planning support as well as on-call support for my long solo training runs; running buddies are adjusting schedules and fixing post-run breakfasts for me (see yesterday's post); I trotted into my house at the end of my run today - snow encrusted and totally whupped from running 12 miles in cold, soft snow (rather sand-like) conditions - and was welcomed with a breakfast of homemade quiche and fresh brewed coffee.
  

This is all becoming more and more real by the day - and, with the support I'm receiving from so many people - it seems more and more possible!

Brrrrrr

This morning's run started at 7 a.m. with all of 1 degree accompanying me. For some reason, this degree didn't do a whole lot to warm me up! Both yesterday and today I experienced a rather odd phenomenon. Have you ever jumped into a pool or lake that was really too cold for sensible swimming? It knocks the breath right out of you and seizes up your entire torso. Do it once and you'll probably never again jump into a body of water without first checking the temperature. In any case, a few minutes into each of my last two runs my chest got a hint of that seized up feeling. Quite interesting. Fortunately, it disappears as my body begins to generate its own warmth while running.

After about 30 minutes of running I headed east which meant turning into a very slight breeze that probably negated any spare degrees that might have been floating around in the air. 45 minutes into my run I discovered that the water bottle on my right side was frozen shut - and slowing down and fiddling with it chilled my hands for a good long time. I kept telling myself if I'd just run faster I'd get warmer - but speed was absolutely positively not to be found today. I do believe my body is a bit cold-weary as my quads were becoming leaden, my stomach was getting queasy, and my brain was bailing on the entire exercise. But then, weehawwww, the sun began to rise higher in the sky and shine upon me!

I've no idea if the sun had any effect on the temperature, but it certainly had an effect on how I felt. Just the light upon my face made all the difference in the world and I was good to go for another hour which took me to my running buddy's house where AndyE and Joe joined up with me. Thus commenced the best run I've had in ages. What a difference it makes to be running with friends, bantering, egging each other on, slip sliding together through the streets on a completely ludicrous (but beautiful) day to be running. An hour of fun with friends: fantastic! Followed by breakfast at AndyE's with spouses and great food: even more fantastic. This is a good day.

Where'd all the degrees go?

It's mighty cold here in the Rockies. We've got all of 1 degree at the moment and never had much more than 7 at the highest today. Despite the cold, the conditions were actually quite nice for running this morning - there were a couple of inches of new snow on the ground which, because it was so dry and crisp, offered an excellent grip while running over previously snowpacked/icey surfaces. Due to a busy schedule, I only managed about 90 minutes of running today but have 3 hours planned for tomorrow. The forecast is for another dusting of snow (1-4 inches) and something between -2 and 0 degrees while I'm running. It's rather entertaining to see just where icicles form on one's body whilst out in this arctic air!

Variety!

So this week we had the indoor track 1/8 mile repeats, we had the treadmill runs, we had the back and forth 12 times on the Martin mile run - many of the venues chosen due to the snow, ice, and wind that we experienced through the week. Today we still had snow on the ground but no wind! So I decided to take advantage of the calm day and add a looonnng sloooow tour of east Boulder County towns to my repertoire. I left my house (in south Boulder), ran east to the town of Lafayette, ran down Lafayette's main street with the intention of picking up another road that would take me west back to Boulder but saw how much traffic was on it and went a bit further south to a trailhead that took me west into the town of Louisville, meandered through Louisville then picked up that road to bring me west back into Boulder and home - four hours and forty-nine minutes later. The roads were for the most part well-plowed with good shoulders. The trail was snow packed and drifted - but what a treat after so much road and treadmill running. All in all, a darned fine run.

I've now got 60 miles logged for the week - only 35 more to go and three days to do it in for my planned 95....and, guess what, it's snowing again!

Catching a workout wherever I can

Yesterday I had three very different workouts:

1. Early morning indoor track session with long-time running buddy Patti. It was just like old times - our speed was even a bit reminiscent of our olden (younger) days. We did 20 laps on a 1/8 mile track alternating fast and easy and started with 65 second splits and ended with 55. I do believe it's the fastest I've run since the 2006 Bolder Boulder. Where did the speed come from? Good question since I've been estimating my pace recently at 11-12 mpm. I think it had a lot to do with running on a completely dry surface where you could really stretch out and not have to worry about foot placement and ice and snow with every step. Very fun. The track session plus the run there and longer run home gave me 11 miles for the morning workout.
2. The afternoon workout was an easy 4.5 miles to the post office and a bit beyond. The temps were almost warm so surfaces were fairly ice free as long as you stuck with plowed roads. A good easy run.
3. The evening workout was a trip to the rec center with my husband so he could check out the facilities and get a bit of exercise in. (He typically walks very early in the morning which is darned near impossible these days with the unplowed surfaces surrounding our house.) I tried out an elliptical trainer for the first time and put in a couple of miles on that followed by a short weight workout. A good way to cap off the day!

Today's runs weren't quite so satisfying.

1. The morning run was early enough to still be dealing with icey roads and the wind was gusting with stop-you-in-your-tracks speed. That combination did not make for a pleasant (or safe) outing. I packed it in at 4 miles.
   
2. Later in the afternoon the wind was still blowing. So - another trip to the rec center for 6 miles on the treadmill - the most I've ever done on a treadmill. As much as I don't like running indoors or in place, there were some benefits: I could set the speed to be a very honest pace (10 mpm - quicker than what I expect to be running this summer); the treadmills overlook the rec center swimming pool which provides enough distraction to help the time pass; the entire experience helps train my mind to handle relative boredom which, conceivably, could come in handy this summer.
   

So...just 10 miles for the day (I was hoping to average 14 per day this week) - but it's better than nothing which would be an easy total to go with given the outdoor conditions these days.

Martin Miles - again

Today's weather challenge was the wind. Gusts were reported at 70-90 mph depending on what part of Boulder you were in. All I know is that all the bits and pieces of our house that rattle when the wind is really really strong were rattling. However, the creaking and banging subsided to the sub-20 mph rattles around 1 p.m. so out I went for my run. I didn't exactly trust the wind to stay calm so I decided I'd slip slide my way to the one plowed road in our neighborhood and run back and forth on that. It would allow for a quick trip home if the wind started howling again.

That one plowed road happens to be Martin Drive - the site of my wheel-measured mile and many a mile repeat workout over the past 20+ years. Today there would be no speed, just a whole lot of going back and forth. About two miles into it, when it became apparent that I might be able to get quite a long run out of this, I realized I was going to need to be able to do some drinking along the way so I slip slid the block and one-half back home and grabbed my water belt and bottle. About five miles into the run I was overly toasty so again I ran the moguls back home and switched from tights to shorts, stripped to one long-sleeve layer on top, dropped the gloves and switched from winter hat to cap. That was the last detour on my out/back over and over again session.

As the miles mounted up I kept reminding myself that many a person has said that my run this summer could be mind-numbingly boring. I tend to believe that the variation in scenery, towns, weather, etc. will keep me entertained - but on the off chance those folks are right, today was good practice for the mind. Twelve complete trips up and down Martin, plus a couple of detours. I'm logging 12.5 and calling it good.

The bright side of snow

Seeing as how we've had 4 feet of snow out of 3 snowstorms in the last 15 days, I decided (while on my long run today) that I should look at the positives of our winter wonderland. What prompted this attitude adjustment was the number one positive: the scenery is simply exquisite - a pristine white blanket covers the ground as far as the eye can see, the flatirons are glistening, trees are garlanded in white. One must simply remember to look up occasionally from the tricky footing to behold the beauty.

Once I woke up to this positive side of our snow, I started thinking of other positives of our wintry running:

• gatorade stays deliciously cold
• gu tastes much more like frosting
  
• little traffic (foot or otherwise) to contend with
• the world is quieter under its snowy blanket
• entertainment bonus watching geese trying to land on ice-covered ponds
• easier to track foxes
• and last, but far from least, after completing a 20-mile run over snow-covered paths - and remaining vertical throughout - you really feel like you've accomplished something!
  

More snow?!

I gotta tell ya' - this is one heckuva winter for distance training. I woke up today to 8 inches of new snow on the ground and by the time I finished running, we had a foot of fresh powder. Surprisingly, the running was pretty good. I stuck to bike paths and most of those had been plowed at some point during the wee hours so I was running on just a couple inches of snow which made for decent footing - enough snow to safely cover the slick spots but not too much snow to hinder forward motion. On the other hand, whenever I encountered an unplowed stretch, I was bounding through almost knee-high snow. But, I was in no particular hurry so it was a rather fun outing.

I'm now trying to plan a route for a long run (3-3.5 hours) tomorrow. If this winter's pattern holds true, only the major roads will have been plowed by tomorrow, slick surfaces will dominate, and more traffic will be venturing out. Bike paths will have been plowed then frozen over. It should be quite the adventure.

Snow wins this round

A few days before Christmas, two feet of snow fell upon Boulder. A few days after Christmas, another foot piled on. The roads resemble two-track backcountry jeep roads more than neighborhood thoroughfares. After nighttime temperatures drop, the top layer turns to ice...very very slippery ice just waiting to slip up the unsuspecting early morning runner.

Today I ran from my house to meet running buddy, AndyE, to do hill repeats. Normally a 13 minute run to our rendezvous point, this morning was an exercise of 20+ minutes navigating over ice patches, snow mounds, dodging cars on snowbank-lined roads. AndyE and I ran about an hour of hill repeats trying first our usual hill (one repeat...hmm...does that make a "repeat"?) which involved fairly heavy traffic and a snow-narrowed road, then a steeper hill with less traffic but it was even more narrow and had icier patches and still a fair amount of traffic (two repeats), then a third hill that had the most traffic but was the most clear with even a bike path well-plowed (three repeats, three minutes each).

We ran back to the South Boulder Recreation Center where AndyE had parked his car. As soon as we arrived I announced I was fed up with this snow/ice running and marched in and signed up for a year's membership. I happened onto a pretty good deal too: by signing up both me and my husband, one of the memberships was half-price, and because my husband teaches in the Boulder school district we got an additional 15% off his membership, and they were running a special deal for an additional free month with the purchase of an annual pass. Cool! Better yet, immediately upon completing the paperwork, I jumped on a treadmill and ran the fastest three miles I've run in Boulder since the snow started to fly. This, I believe, is only the second time in my life that I, devoted outdoor runner that I am, have run more than a couple of minutes on a treadmill. The snow won.

A chapter closed

A new year typically signifies a new chapter in life. This year, 2007, it is difficult to focus on the new chapter without thinking about the last chapter. This is the first time my book will not include laughter, debate, and hugs with my dad. However, as I discovered during my runs this past week, this new chapter does not mean I will no longer converse with my dad - it'll just be a bit more one-sided than usual.

We returned from Michigan yesterday. My dad's passing provided the opportunity to bring a lot of family together which was fantastic. My family is fairly small and many of them had planned to be together for the holidays anyways - which meant they simply (well, sort of simply) moved their gatherings from original rendezvous locations to Petoskey. Relatives from my mom's side and my dad's side got to meet each other for the first time, many tales were told, and smiling dominated over tears. It was good.

Of course, my upcoming run was the source of much conversation. Some saying "do you know how much your dad didn't like that idea?!" On the other hand, by the end of the gathering my dad's little sister (92 I think she is, she's in the middle on the couch in the center/back of the picture) had decided to hop on a bike and ride along with me...much to my cousins' chagrin.

I must confess, however, that running has been a challenge over the past week. My heart just hasn't been in it. Add to that the whirlwind of activities, fitting in the miles has been tough. My runs ended up being:

• Monday: no run...no desire ('twas the day dad died)
• Tuesday: many many many loops in Denver International Airport's Concourse C for 3 miles (it was better than sitting)
  
• Wednesday before sunrise: to/from my folks' house and along the waterfront in Petoskey for 6 miles
• Wednesday night: looking at Christmas lights in neighborhoods near my folks' house for 3 miles
• Thursday before sunrise: from my folks' and through a little cottage community and along the waterfront for 9 miles - followed by coffee with one of my best friends from high school...very good.
• Friday - the day of dad's service: up at 3:30 a.m. and out the door for 8 trips around a two mile loop near my folks' house, talking with my dad. The most peaceful run of the trip. Total 16.5 miles.
• Saturday: the only daytime run of the trip so I went on almost every trail I knew in/near Petoskey plus found a new trail. Always a good day when you find a new trail. Total 9 miles.
• Sunday: a quick waterfront tour before leaving town. 5 miles.

Total miles for the week: 51.5
Total miles for the year: 3001.5 (my highest annual mileage ever)

Now to continue on this quest - without my dad challenging me all along the way. It'll be tough.