A look back

Many have asked "what's next?" - and I don't have an answer to that. There are a lot of little things on the drawing board - but nothing big (yet)...certainly not as big as the summer's run. That run encompassed so much: a journey through new country and to new places in mind, body and spirit; an incomparable family road trip; the accomplishment of a decades-long goal; an entirely new perspective on day-to-day life...leading to a new perspective on life in general; the successful completion of the biggest project I have ever tackled.

And, as with a butterfly's wings, the run had a ripple effect. So often since I started the run, I've heard folks say things like "I'll feel tired then think about you and finish [name it]" or "Now I want to [insert goal here]" or "If you can do that, I know I can do this." I hope the ripples continue forever. If you have a dream, hold onto it, let it germinate, and continue to nurture it.
With patience, planning, a heavy dose of optimism, and, yes fortitude ...mayhap stubborness... your dream can - and will - blossom.



Pictures:
top - Lake Michigan beach, Upper Peninsula;
bottom - flowers along the Cannon Valley trail, Minnesota

Holiday running

One of the things I like about running this time of year - besides the beauty of running through a winter wonderland - is the holiday decor spicing up various lawns and homes. Someone with a magnificent imagination maintains a garden along one of my routes. Just recently the aliens that appeared during Halloween season were replaced with a variety of Santas - santa in a canoe on top of a caboose, santa pushing a reindeer sitting in a sleigh, santa tumbling into a well. Fun enough to make one forget the tricky footing of the season!

Magical mornings

Gentle snow run...dawn

Owls hoot - back and forth - east, west
A crystalline world

Feeling funky but looking up

Last Tuesday, I came down with my first sickness since retiring July 28, 2006. Despite all the mileage and stresses I put on my body over the last 18 months, I successfully avoided colds, flu, grunge... Perhaps it wasn't "in spite of" but "because of" all the mileage that I was so darned healthy. In any case, this fall my mileage has been declining, and now I'm sick.

Last week I had a fever, no voice, no energy. In fact, I logged my lowest total weekly mileage since breaking my arm in September, 2005. But this week, I have turned the corner and am running (and speaking) again. Yay! And today's run home from my radio reading service volunteer job was a wonderful reminder of many of the delights I experienced during the summer's run.

• A train (infrequent in Boulder) chugged alongside giving me the opportunity for one more race-with-a-train (the train always wins).
• A flicker landed in a tree next to me, tweeting and pecking.
• Geese flew overhead.
• A stick threaded its way up into my shoelaces as I trotted down the trail.
• A giant pile of tumbleweeds filled up the entrance to an underpass, bringing to mind this summer's famous "Take Heed! It's a Tumbleweed" song.

• And Paul and Jester met me along the trail, running me home once again...