Ooofdah!

Some folks today might have been pondering on whether to add a bit of chocolate to their morning coffee, or whether to bump the thermostat up to 70, or, perhaps, whether to wear calf-high rather than ankle-high boots. The ponderings my brain occupied itself with took a slightly different twist. For example:

• I wonder if my snot will freeze before or after it hits my neck warmer.
• How long will this cliff shot blok take to thaw in my mouth?
• What will happen once my shoes fill all the way with snow?

And, of course, the usual question when I set out on an unmapped run: which way should I turn now to get the full 2.5 hours in? Today's route selection considerations also included: which way avoids roads & traffic (and, consequently, avoids running on ice in traffic) as well as, once I turn back west how to I keep from going east (and into the wind) again?

Yep, it was another snowy run in Boulder. And it happened to fall on my mid-week longish run day. Fortunately, as I was pulling out all the layers I was going to wear, I got a text from Amie who was heading out and wondering if I'd like to meet up with her. The company sure did make the first hour go faster and easier. After parting ways with Amie, I turned east and, thus, away from home and the temptation to end the run early. Since east was right into a frigid wind, I did a bit of zigzagging until I got onto the Bobolink and South Boulder Creek trails. Trail running today meant breaking trail through several inches of new snow - but it also meant no worries about cars. Well worth it. Not only were there no cars, but very few people period: no cyclists and only three other runners. Quiet, frosty ...a quintessential Rocky Mountain January run. (And perfect prep for a 60k run that might very well be on a day just like today!)

Building up an appetite

Went for a run, dropping a book off at the library then continuing on to a breakfast spot.

Joined other season ticket holders for breakfast and conversation with
CU's Women's Basketball Team coaches. Very fun!

Ran from breakfast (where I only had some blueberry cornbread and
chai tea) to a hill for a few form drills then on to my exercise class.

Exercise! Weights and cardio and friends.
Ran with a couple of friends after exercise class, including 4 x 90 second pickups.
Ran to the bank.
Ran toward home and rendezvoused with Devon and Taz.
Officially introduced Taz to a neighbor and visited a bit.
Arrived back home around 11:30 where I finally had a chance for a proper meal. Hungry!

What's with this slow revving up business?

Another day and another struggle to get running. What in the world is up with that? Maybe it had something to do with the cold dark morning and ice-covered surfaces; not a particularly inviting venue for venturing out on the morning run...but still....

My usual Monday routine is to run to my volunteer job (reading for the Audio Information Network of Colorado - a broadcast reading service for the visually impaired), work for an hour, then run home...lots of route choices going and coming. It just so happened that Kendall needed to take the car to the repair shop early this morning so I asked if he could drop me off at AINC on the way. I can't remember the last time I got a ride in; what a wimpy start to the day! Howsoever, it turns out I was probably a wise wimp. By the time I finished reading, the sun was starting to soften the ice and it was certainly light enough to spot and avoid the major icebergs along the bikepaths and trails.

It took a while to get into the flow of the run, but once on dirt trails, with temperatures rising, the sun bright, and views of the foothills dancing alongside me, my mood and feet lightened considerably. To help ensure I got all of my scheduled miles in, I called a friend about an hour into my run and arranged a rendezvous which further spiced up the morning. A couple of chatty miles with Amie finished up the run - then mister Taz dog and I went out for a walk in the neighborhood. A delightful conclusion to the morning's perambulations!

Of course, no blog entry is complete without a picture. This is what caught my eye this morning - a morning when the town was still buzzing after yesterday's Broncos-Steelers wild WILD wildcard game.

Temptations

This morning's temptations: warm bed, good book, puppy and a steaming cup of coffee - vs. 15 degrees and ice-glazed streets.
The temptations won out until 10 a.m. when I finally got myself layered up, trail shoes laced, and booted my butt out the door.

The first two miles were on roads and concrete bike paths that offered up plenty of slickness and not much fun. From 1/4 miles to two miles my head and training plan were battling it out: "too cold, too icey" "gotta get the miles in" "stiff and slipping" "time on the feet" "grumble" "suck it up." Then I arrived at the South Boulder Creek trailhead and fell in love with running again. Grippy snow-covered trail, glistening fields, blue sky, quiet. A few minutes into it and I felt like I could run all day. Bonus: a running buddy came along the trail offering good company for a few miles. Double bonus: I finished the run in the CU cross-country property where husband Kendall, son Devon and pup Taz were out for a morning walk. The last four minutes of the run were with a dog at my side. As so often happens, a blech run turns good.

Oh dark 30

15 miles starting at 5:20 a.m. (10 minutes late;"lively" is difficult at that time of day).
Met the gang at 7:30 a.m.. It helped to have company, but my legs never did loosen up during the run. Nor did I get warm...at least not until after breakfast when I was able to sink into a warm bath, complete with bath bubbles. Thank you thank you thank you to whosoever invented bath tubs! Ahhhh...

Trivia of the day INVENTOR OF THE BATH TUB (according to wiki answers):
"John Michael Kohler invented the first enameled bathtub when he enameled a cast iron horse trough in 1883." This masterpiece was apparently advertised as "horse trough/hog scalder, when furnished with four legs will serve as a bathtub. "
And according to Wikipedia, the process for enameling cast iron bathtubs was invented by Scottish-born American David Dunbar Buick (founder of the Buick Motor Company).

In any case, this scalded hog is grateful for the luxurious invention!

Image from Kohler "Out of the Barn and Into the Bath
www.us.kohler.com

Aloha 2011 2012

It's been a long time since I've added a post - a very long time.

I'd best sum up 2011 (mostly from a running perspective, since that was the genesis of this blog, eh):

• I ran every day of 2011
• Total 2011 miles run: 2,649
• Stayed injury free. Woohoo!
  
• I ran more races than is usual for me in one year:
  two 5k's,
  one 10k (my annual Bolder Boulder, 6th 59-year-old female out of 224),
  one 15k (1st 50-59 female),
  one half-marathon
  2 marathons (Deadwood Mickelson Trail which I've wanted to do since the inaugural 10 years ago, placing 1st for 55-59 females - and Grandma's which I've wanted to run since I started running marathons 30+ years ago, placing 20th in my age, running it 13 minutes faster than Mickelson two weeks prior - both fantastic events!)
• Reconnected with a training buddy from pre-kid days which led to greatly improved training quality through the spring and summer

Sadly, in September, my ace running partner, Jester dog, died from a fast-moving cancer. Such a fine dog he was. We were lucky to have him as a member of our family for almost 14 years.

The morose months that followed brightened considerably on December 17th when we adopted a four-month old pup from the Boulder Humane Society (rescued from a shelter in Tulsa). Now named Taz, and believed by our vet to be a purebred Australian Cattle dog, he has been a delightful addition to our family. So far, runs have been no longer than 1/4 mile but he loves his walks and gets extraordinarily excited when he does spot a runner. I'm looking forward to many a mile with Razzamatazz VaughanMiller!

Looking forward to 2012. I've got a plan. A big plan - not a monumentally big plan like 2007's, yet a big enough plan I felt a need to resume blogging. On March 20th, 2012 (the first day of spring and, coincidentally, my 60th birthday) I am planning to run 60 kilometers somewhere around Boulder. I'll be developing several potential routes so I have options to handle whatever weather is thrown my way. I've experienced everything from blizzards to clear trails on my birthday runs; who knows what Mother Nature has in store for the first day of spring this year. I just want to be ready...fit, healthy, happy, and with a route laid out for any possibility!

For those of you interested in training plans, my plan, in general includes Tuesday hills (drills or repeats), Wednesday mid-long run (10-to-15 miles), Thursday rolling hills, Saturday long run (16-to-30 miles), and Sunday mid-long run (8-to- 15 miles). The Saturday/Sunday mileage combo will grow over the next 9 weeks from 24 to 45 miles. Any and all suggestions for training plan improvements would be appreciated!

Good Times in South Dakota!

Good times, YES! Fast times, not so much. It was
a) a leisurely (delightful) trip, and
b) my slowest marathon ever. But slow and steady was the way to go on the Deadwood Mickelson Trail Marathon.

Kendall and I took in many of the sights before, during and after the marathon:



Mount Rushmore, the streets, bars, museums and people of Deadwood (which miraculously has preserved its wild west locally-owned historical heritage),
Hill City with its museums, art, and fine food, then drove home through Custer State Park with a night of camping in Chadron State Park before the final push to Boulder.





As for the marathon. Whoooeeee! A screaming downhill first mile followed by 12.5 miles of steady railroad grade uphill, then downhill and rolling to just short of 19 miles where the steepest uphill kicked our butts for a mile before the steepest downhill which smoothed out to a railroad grade downhill to the finish. All in all, a lovely setting - very quiet since the trail was away from towns and roads and the uphill (and heat - 80 degrees!) kicked the chatter right out of all the runners. Just the way I like it! Prairie, farm land, forest, peace and quiet.

As I said before, slow and steady was just the ticket. Being my first marathon in five years, I was verrrrry cautious going into this so started slow, but kept running the whole way, picking up speed as the downhills started making their appearance (7 minute negative split!). The hills and altitude training of Boulder really paid off big time as I was one of the few still running from 19 miles on. This was definitely my kind of marathon.

Final accounting for this ol' lady: 1st out of 10 in my age, 44/187 women, and 134/396 overall. Speaking of ol' lady, about 5 miles into the 'thon, a fella passed me and said "I hope I'm running as well as you when I'm your age." Say wha? I'm pretty sure I wasn't wearing my "I'm almost 60" sign on my butt. Ah well, I just run as young as I feel and I was feeling pretty darned young and happy as I cruised to the finish! btw - coolest age group award yet: a railroad spike!





Next up: Grandma's Marathon in Duluth. Bigger, on streets, fairly flat, sea level. Not really hitting any of my strong suits, but a marathon that has been on my list since I started running marathons 30 years ago. Definitely looking forward to it! We leave tomorrow; the marathon is Saturday. Woohoo!


Pictures, in order from top to bottom, right to left:
Buffalo in Custer State Park, South Dakota.
Mount Rushmore, 'Sheriff' in Deadwood gun fight enactment, Kendall and dinosaur at Hill City Black Hills Institute
Chadron State Park, Nebraska
Running to the finish of Deadwood Mickelson Trail Marathon and post-marathon awards (railroad spike, shoe charm, and medal!)

Deadwood Marathon Eve

Kendall and I had a leisurely trip from Boulder to Deadwood, spending the first night at Fort Robinson State Park in northwest Nebraska where we were treated to this lovely rainbow over the hills south of our campsite. The next day we wound our way through the Black Hills of South Dakota, marveling at the size of the wild buffalo, gawking at the mind boggling carvings of Mount Rushmore, and catching repeated glimpses of the Mickelson Trail where I'll be running my first marathon in five years tomorrow.

Deadwood is a funny little town: lots of buildings from the 1800s, lots of pride in the history of the town (gold, gambling, brothels, and the final resting place for Wild Bill Hickok), and this weekend, lots of runners mingling amongst it all. And everyone enjoying themselves and eachother!

Spring blooms

Wild irises, South Boulder Creek trail, May, 2001

After a somewhat lethargic winter, it was time to pick myself up, shake myself off, and frolic with gusto in the springtime sunshine. Some of this involved the intellectual (Conference of World Affairs - one of Boulder's all-time best events), some modicum of workplace effort (writing for CU), a bit of manual labor whenever I craved dirt under my fingernails (built a wood chip path to our new front porch and put in two vegetable gardens), and, of course, a revived running effort.

I tackled the running portion of springtime life from two directions:

1. I signed up for two marathons: Mickelson Trail in South Dakota - a rails-to-trails trail through the Black Hills that I've wanted to run ever since I first heard about it; and Grandma's Marathon in Duluth, Minnesota which has been on my marathons-to-do list since I first started compiling a marathons-to-do list. The first of these, Mickelson, is a mere 11 days away now and Grandma's follows two weeks later! After South Dakota and before Minnesota we're coming back home to celebrate Kendall's birthday here in Boulder...it's possible I'll do a last-minute sign-up for the Estes Park marathon for that in-between weekend. First I have to see how Mickelson goes...being my first marathon since training for my run to Michigan... In the meantime, I've got my mileage back up in the 50s and 60s (miles per week) with a fair amount of hill work and tempo runs under my belt. Best of all, I've been able to head out and run wherever my legs want to explore for however long it takes to get there and back. Lovely lovely runs this spring. And, to top it all off, this past Saturday I ran my 60,000th life-time logged mile! The cherry on top? I still want to go out for more!
   
2. I started training with a couple of women who are serious about their Bolder Boulder prep. I've been friends with one of the women since the early 1980s and we did a lot of training together back before we had kids. We're quite compatible - strong but not extra speedy runners, and, (very important) we don't treat our runs together as mini competitions. We've had some excellent speed workouts over the past several weeks, with our final one today. 5x1k at 10k pace, and pulled each repeat off right at pace or a few seconds under. It will be interesting to see how everything comes together for the Bolder Boulder (which is Monday). My #1 goal is to beat my age (59), even better would be to beat last year's time (57:04), and more amazing would be to run in the 55 minute range which I haven't done for several years but training indicates is within the realm of feasibility (a stretch but...).

As an extra bonus, I volunteered to head up a Bolder Boulder training group of staff/teachers from our neighborhood school (where Kendall teaches). I got an idea of their goals and fitness levels, then handed out individual training plans for them to follow and logs for them to keep. We walked/ran, ran easy loops, graduated to hill drills and hill repeats (making each one sing one line from do-re-mi after running back down to make sure they had their breath back before heading up again) - and they were always ready for more. It was great! Today was our last session and I couldn't believe what all they were saying to me: "Having that log really helped. As soon as I saw two empty days, I got myself out the door." "I never would have tried those hills on my own; I never thought I could do something like that!" "Now when I run hills I just think about 'high knees' and I'm running right up it!" "I didn't believe you when you said when you're feeling yourself getting tired and running slowly, speed up. But it works - it gets me going again!" "What you said about consistency is the key. It makes all the difference." "I ran 1 hour without stopping to walk once. I'm ready!" I always thought the getting outside bit was the best thing about running - but listening to all of them talking today, that really really made my 30+ years of running worth it!

Winter running

This has been the kind of winter where, when wintry weather strikes, it seems to hang on for a longer-than-desired number of days of, shall we say, "challenging" running. Then, just when you're ready to thrown in your running shoes, out bursts the sun, glistening off the snow-covered mountain tops and brightening the Colorado-blue sky.

Those bursting-with-sunshine days also offer up plenty of incentive to run in new venues or revisit old favorites long buried in snow. Some of the highlights of this winter's sunshine days running:


A new version of an old favorite affectionately known as the Cirelli loop after the fella who designed the route for our satboys running gang back 15 years or so ago when we were all training for marathons. At the time, only a few of the miles were on trail, the remainder on roads ranging from dirt to highway. Slowly over the years new trails have been developed replacing all of our road segments, with the final segment just now opening to the public. And, as an extra bonus, much of the trail mileage is up high offering incredible views of the Continental Divide. A new trail loop is just about the best gift a runner can receive during the height of winter!


A variation of a favorite trail loop. Since my usual 'up' segment, a rather rocky bit, was still covered with snow I went up my usual 'down' segment but rather than up and back, I went up then zigged over, up, and into the woods on a different trail. A run on an old favorite with a bit of variety thrown in - an excellent interlude to the winter's challenges. Extra bonus here: this particular trailhead boasts Boulder's "outhouse with the best view" winner.
[The view from inside the Big Bluestem/South Boulder Creek trailhead outhouse]





A cabin fever buster of a run - off to Longmont, just east of Boulder, for a run along the full length of the St. Vrain Greenway Trail. A lovely trail through the town of Longmont, but tucked peacefully back along the St. Vrain River. Refreshing and relaxing all rolled up into a delightful morning's run.

[Just finishing theSt. Vrain Greenway Trail

Looking west from the east-most trailhead ]