A quick trip home

I've returned from my trip to Petoskey to visit my folks. I often travel there towards the end of November to help celebrate my dad's birthday (he'll be 95 on November 27). This year, both of my sons start their college winter break Thanksgiving week - then each of them head out again on new adventures: Devon to Japan a couple of days after Thanksgiving and Paul to New Orleans for volunteer work a week after Thanksgiving. With all the hustle and bustle, I decided an early solo trip to Petoskey was in order.

All in all, it was a good trip - both for visiting and for running. My running plan was to get out early before my parents were up and about and feeling lucky if I got a second run in each day. Many of my runs were variations on an old standard loop that goes from my parents' house in the southeast part of town (uphill from the bay), along Bear River down towards the bay, along the waterfront, then back through town and up the hill to their house. A longer variation included touring through the seasonal community of Bay View where music rings out many a summer's night but now lays quiet for the winter.
After a day of snow followed by a day of fog then a day of clouds, the sun peeked out and I looked at my folks and told them I was going to the beach....in tights, jacket, and running shoes. 50 minutes of running later I was cruising through sand, up and down dunes, dancing with the waves of Lake Michigan - and hooked up with a high school buddy who was walking/running her dog. Deeelightful. (The picture shows the beginning of the sunset we were treated to.) Going back to my folks' I wound my way through the Bay View Woods which were so leaf-packed I could barely make out the trails. 'Twas the longest - and zingiest - run of my visit.
Hill repeats were also on the menu - easy to find in a glacier-carved town. Hills, hills, everywhere hills.
And a couple of afternoons, when I just had to get outside, I put on a show for the folks, doing running drills back and forth on the street outside their living room window: high knees, butt kicks, skipping, bounding, criss-crosses, strides....further fueling the speculation about the sanity (or lack thereof) of their daughter.

Miles logged while in Michigan: 79....many along the lakeshore. Ahhhh......

Pre-travel trail run

I've had a habit of trying to get in a trail run whenever I'm about to go out of town. Today was no exception. I headed out early for one of my most favorite loops: an uphill climb west on South Boulder Creek Trail, cutting over on the Mesa Trail to the Bluestem Trail for a long downhill run back towards home. Deeeeelightful. Of course, today it was uphill and into the wind - but, what the heck, all of this running is to make me stronger anyways. And besides, in addition to a gorgeous sunrise, this morning's run was also graced by a lovely moon set. Just perfect for a getting-ready-to-leave-town run.

Successful Experiment

Because of my recent travels to Knox and upcoming travels to Petoskey, I thought I should squeeze in some high mileage days while I had the chance. To accomplish this, I decided to try 3 consecutive days of 3-hour runs. And I did it!
- Friday: 3 hours 20 minutes comprised of 3 large loops.
- Saturday: 3 hours 13 minutes accompanied by running buddies the last hour
- Sunday: 3 hours 17 minutes with some cyclocross spectating half-way through the run (now that's a tough, skilled, athletic endeavor - cyclocross, not spectating)

Continuing on for the final 90 minutes of my last 3-hour run (after the cyclocross spectating) was a challenge. I was just 20 minutes run-time from home so had to do some serious internal discussing to get myself to turn away from home to get the time in. I'm glad I did, tho' - it had turned into a gorgeous day and I ran on a few trails I hadn't been on lately. (The photo shows one of the detours I took away from home - definitely worth the effort.)

Today and tomorrow - before my next trip - I'm going to the other end of the spectrum. Instead of single long runs each day, my running will be consist of multiple shorter runs as I get all my errands and chores done before heading out of town. So far today, two runs down, two runs to go!

T-shirt, shorts, and change

One nice thing about living in Boulder is the number of warm days we have throughout the year.
And one nice thing about being retired is the flexibility about when to head out for a run.
Today, I awoke to 20-something degrees and a forecast for low 60s - so I dawdled about the house until the thermometer read 50 and I could head out in shorts and t-shirt. In November. Weehaww!

The plan was for 17 miles and, being the warm day it was, I decided to run in circles with a bottle of gatorade stashed in a spot I'd be passing by three times. It worked out quite nicely. Three circles of the CU cross-country course + the South Boulder Creek trail, 1 porta-potty stop, 40 ounces of gatorade, 1 gu, 3 gumdrops, 6 hawks, 4 horses, a whole buncho' cows, a town full of prairie dogs, a swarm of grasshoppers, one fly in my cap, and 83 cents (found in 3 different places - a major score since money found while running or walking is my most consistent funding source for this adventure) later, I had my 17 miles. Morning had turned into afternoon, toasted legs were ready for a cold hosing down, muscles were aching for a stretch, tummy was rumbling for a real meal. Mission accomplished! Done, done and done!

Running Home

This morning, my husband, Kendall, and I were talking about how long my brother had lived in Colorado (20 years) when I queried "When did I move here?" (It was 5 a.m., my mind had temporarily fogged.) We figured out that it was July, 1973...33 years ago. And then the witty man who was my cause for moving to Boulder in the first place for reasons of head-over-heels love, followed up with "and it's so bad now you're running home."

Ahhh...not so bad a't'all....rather so good! My two most favorite places - both part of my heart and soul. Boulder with Kendall's family nearby, decades' worth of friends, the town where my children were born, all the happenings of a college town, the mountains, the plains, sunshine and Colorado blue sky so many days of the year. A truly glorious place to live and play. And Petoskey, my little home town on the shore of Lake Michigan, where the Vaughan's ran their Basket Shop and raised their children, where most everyone knows most everyone,where summer brings lake time and fun in the dunes, berry picking, hikes in the woods and long hours of daylight, where winter brings crystal white snow, cross-country skiing through all those places we play in the summer, board games and hot toddies with friends, and where through every season, a nightly show of incredible sunsets over the bay and wonderful people to share them with. Again, a truly glorious place to live and play.

So...I'm merely going to try to tie them together with a trail of sweat and miles of smiles. ...running from hearth to home...

Trains, Knox, and Home Again

Life is settling back down after my train trip to visit my sons at Knox.

• Highlight of the trip: seeing my boys!
• Most interesting run: back and forth on the train platform in Otumwa, Iowa - home of Radar O'Riley of MASH.
  
• Prettiest (and longest) run: from the B&B where I was staying out to Lake Storey Park, around the lake on a leaf-covered bike path, through the Carl Sandburg College campus, and back to the B&B (which is in a neighborhood of beautiful 1800's homes).
• Niftiest run: a tempo run on the new purple Knox track (Knox's colors are purple and gold).
  

Back home again I was feeling a bit run down from the train and travel and headed out for today's run rather uncertain of distance or terrain. But then it turned into one of those runs where I just kept on going... first through the CU cross-country course, then into the southwestern-most neighborhood of Boulder where I hopped over a stream and onto a trail that runs along the base of NCAR where there were glorious views of frost-tipped trees above the flatirons, then onto another little feeder trail that took me to the Skunk Creek trail (where, many years ago, my old dog Loki was, indeed, skunked), then up to the Mesa trail where there were ice-covered puddles and bits of snow banks, then onto the Enchanted Mesa trail which brought me back down into civilization via the western boundary of the NIST property - which continued to offer up trails until I got to Broadway, one of Boulder's main north/south streets and the western boundary of my neighborhood. Altogether, out of 2.5 hours of running, I maybe spent 30 minutes on streets....no wonder I could just keep on going!

Winter run

I mentioned yesterday that I'd be running today regardless of how high the snow came over my tootsies. Well, there was plenty of snow - and plenty of ice water. It snowed during the night, then was raining when I awoke at 5 a.m., and was snow mixed with rain when I started my run at 6 a.m., then quickly turned to heavy snow while I was running. I still managed 2 hrs 19 minutes (thanks in large part to running buddy AndyE who gallantly joined me for an hour of this wintry fun). I doubt I'll be running in weather like this during my summer run to Michigan - but it was great training for hanging tough despite what the weather gods throw at you.

Next up (like in the next few minutes): I'm off to the train station to start my weekend adventure with my sons at Knox College. Shall be checking in again next week.

Takin' it easy, watching the weather

Being a cut-back week, I set out on an easy run this morning. My legs were squawking so much, I turned it into an even easier run than originally planned. A fair amount of walking transpired throughout the rest of the day, but running miles stayed in the very low single digits. In the meantime, weather prognosticators are making noise about double digit snow tonight. We shall see. My long run for the week will take place early tomorrow morning no matter how high the snow goes over my tootsies as I am hopping the train for Galesburg, Illinois and a visit with my Knox College boys tomorrow evening; running the remainder of the week will take a back seat to hanging out with Misters Devon and Paul. Yayyy!

Cross-training

This is supposed to be a cut-back week (50-60 miles vs. the 81, 81, 83 of the last 3 weeks). Cut-back weeks are sort of like pre-marathon tapers: cut down on miles, rest, sleep, eat. I've never been good at tapers. I must admit my legs are delighted at the lower miles; they're whupped. And with fewer miles, I have more time for stretching - a good thing. I also have more time for other, shall we say "cross-training" activities. Yesterday and today that cross-training consisted of finishing the conversion of my eldest son's bedroom into our study (aka PJ's Run workroom):
The two-day wrap up meant I: finished cleaning out my younger son's room moving his furniture around to make room for older son's bed; hauled all the 'temporary' piles of my old office stuff out of older son's room so I could get to his stuff; moved older son's bed to younger son's room, boxed up all of older son's books and detritus; hauled boxes; rearranged remaining furniture in older son's room; brought my stuff back in; dusted and vaccuumed out the wazoo throughout the process ...and...

• set the bookshelf up with maps, atlas, trail info, GPS unit etc. on the top shelf; sponsor and nutrition stuff on the second shelf.
• put a map of the US up on the wall.
• picked the spot for my satellite photo of the Great Lakes.
• have the designated wall of Mackinac Island calendars (I have several years' worth...love those pics; love Mackinac Island).
  
• picked the spot for the painting my good friend Deb gave me of a runner with the Shakespeare quote "Bid me run, and I will strive with things impossible." (This will go directly over the US map.)
• hung the ceramic plaque boss/co-worker/friend Linda gave me that says "play in the warmth of the sun; dance in the light of the moon; dream of the glow of the stars."
  ...and that's just what I'm doing!
  

Psyched and ready to roll in Boulder, Colorado!

New high mileage benchmark

My third consecutive 80+ mile week is in the books. Today's run brought this week's total to 83.5 miles. I did find my energy and excitement lacking by the end of the week and I had to give myself a big shove to get out the door this morning. But once out: ahhhh..... First, I decided to cobble together several loops into a new loop to add a bit of variety to my running life. And second, it was one gorgeous day out there - so gorgeous, I just kept going and going so that the 90 minutes I was trying so hard to talk myself into doing turned into just over 2 hours.

A sampling of today's run: smiling faces, sweating brows, runners in shorts, runners in rustly pants, runners in t-shirts, runners in sweatshirts, walkers, toddlers, old folks resting on benches, old folks saying yum yum yum as they gave their dog a treat, big dogs, little dogs, prairie dogs, coyotes, cows, horses, harrier hawks, red-tail hawks, bird houses made out of everything from teapots to hiking boots, golden leaves, amber grasses, cactus, snow-capped peaks, mud, a flying tomato. All this and I was never more than 4 miles from home. Running in Boulder is mighty fine.