The sights we're seeing

With the Stay-At-Home, social distancing, and protective mask wear rules in place, there is a new look to our usual haunts.

Empty streets - this is Broadway, one of Boulder's main north/south streets, at 8 a.m. rush hour. (Taz and I stood right in the middle of the street to take the picture!):

And on hill repeat Wednesday, we creatures of habit showed up on our hill, all starting at different times, and all masked up (except Taz who was delighted to see his 2-legged running buddies again but so confused because he couldn't go over to say Hi).

Today's run was through son, Paul's, neighborhood - and his Barley-walking route happened to cross paths with me and Taz. We accompanied him back to his house (he on the sidewalk, me in the middle of the road). This time Taz did get to say hi, but I followed the rules and stayed too far away for hugs. Sigh.

Meanwhile, Kendall and I are getting a whole lot of quality time together. Who can resist this masked man?!

Every moment

 

 Sunshine. Warmth. Taz. Trail.

Every moment of every day of this horrific pandemic 

I am grateful that I am still healthy enough to go outside in this astounding world of ours. 

Today's surprise: with the extreme quiet we are currently experiencing, I could hear a chorus of frogs - a chorus that I've never before heard along the stretch of this creek that I've run beside so many times in the past.

Paw-cooling break

A pretty darned good day

Norlin Library, University of Colorado

 This day of living within COVID-19 rules turned out to be pretty A-OK.  I started the day at a leisurely pace, finishing yesterday's paper over a hot cup of coffee. Next up - I actually got to talk to my brother on the phone (a rarity since he is hard of hearing).  Switching from leisurely to energized, I "Zoomed" in to an exercise class hosted by our favorite exercise teacher. That got me good and warmed up so I then leashed up Taz and headed off (in shorts!) for an exploratory run of the CU campus - an extraordinarily quiet campus on this April 6th which should have been the exciting brim-full-of-people first day of the Conference on World Affairs. Instead of running into a mass of humanity, Taz and I crossed paths with maybe 20 people during our half-hour or so of touring campus. I've always considered Christmas week to be the quiet time on campus - that's not even close to what it's like these days. 

Norlin Quad. Population: 1 cattle dog

The walkway to Macky Auditorium which should have been lined with flags and filled with folks
on this first day of the Conference on World Affairs

A statue, blooming spring flowers, and no people at the UMC fountain

Then! Bonus time! This afternoon, Kendall casually mentioned he had pumped up the basketball. WEEEEHAWWWWW!!!!! Sure cure for any creeping doldrums. Out to the driveway I ran, soon joined by Mister Kendall. Shootin' hoops. No better way to spend a sunny afternoon during a "stay at home" order!

 

Trail pick ups

Having the urge to do a bit of "speed" work today, I decided to venture out to the South Boulder Creek trail, the scene of many of our speed sessions in the past. During my run from home to the gate and along the first bit of the trail, creative juices started flowing and I decided my first order of business was not going to be the 1/2/3/4/4/3/2/1 ladder of pick-ups. Instead, my first few pick ups were found along the trail - materials for creating a friendly greeting to any of my running buddies who happen to venture out on the South Boulder Creek trail in the near future.  Hi y'all!

Brrrrrr diddy diddy

I absolutely love running in snowstorms - perhaps a reflection of my youthful days in northern lower Michigan. And I rather enjoy running in rain - perhaps because we don't get rain all that often here in Colorado and a good rain is quite a treat in this high desert prairie land. But today's 30-degree frozen mist certainly does not make it onto my hit parade of weather favorites. No thank you. Bone-chilling cold and wet, with just enough of a breeze to make it even bone-chillinger/colder/wetter, and ice forming over everything: grass, branches, jackets, leashes and puppy dogs.

Mister Taz was at the ready when he saw me getting my running gear on, and he trotted purposefully alongside me through the run. But he most definitely did not protest when I turned toward home just a few miles into the run. Nope, not my most favorite running weather. No siree.

Pause

Today's solitary run was along the South Boulder Creek trail which was extraordinarily quiet this morning. So much so, that I found myself pausing to revel in the quiet.

One stretch of the trail goes between marshy grasses and some ponds - a stretch where I am always looking for wildlife as we have seen water birds, deer, coyotes, rabbits, prairie dogs, and even a weasel in the past. Today was a bird day - the air was filled with bird chatter.

A pause to listen.

Further along the trail is grassland - now standing grass from last year's growth, no green yet to be seen. But with the sun shining on it, it glowed golden brown.
A pause to gaze.
























Off the trail and back into the neighborhoods - very very quiet neighborhoods. But not without their sense of humor.
A pause to laugh.

Paul's Day

I am certain that my running - daily, races, quests - would not have been as fun or even possible without the fellowship and support of family and friends. Today marks the birthday of one of those family members who has brought boundless joy and incomparable support to many of my runs and, in particular, running adventures. Happy birthday Paul VaughanMiller!

Through the younger ages:

3-year-old Paul running the kids' Kick-Off Classic

High school Paul and mom after Boulder Canyon run

On the big quest - the run from Boulder, Colorado to Petoskey, Michigan:

The starting line! (Our driveway in Boulder)

Nebraska Sandhills

Cannon Valley Trail in Minnesota

The moment we first saw the Michigan State Line

Or when I ran 60k for my 60th birthday:

Bicycle chaperones at the start of the run (bro-in-law Andy and son Paul)

Or celebrating the final state in my quest to run a trail in every state!

Pre-run frivolity

Starting off on the Fraser River Trail

Or just this past year, when we laughed/walked/ran our way through the Bolder Bolder

At the start

Paul found cupcakes along the course!

It was a very good day when you came into our lives, Mister Paul!

Sunrise Run

A seemingly lifetime ago (well, February-ish) running buddies and I thought we'd be celebrating my birthday by running a virtual Hot Chocolate 15k. First, Mother Nature intervened with 8 inches or so of very wet heavy spring snow on my birthday day making the thought of 15 snow-clogged trail kilometers rather unappealing. Then COVID-19 intervened outlawing group runs. Ah well. As an old friend used to say when things were looking grim: "The sun still comes up in the east" - and I decided to take full advantage of that today with a sunrise run on the trail we had planned for the birthday 15k. It was glorious - a beautiful sunrise, peaceful run, brilliantly clear sky - so clear the Continental Divide sparkled and Pikes Peak, 100+ miles away, was even visible!

Ready to run! Taz ran 2 of the 3.1-mile loops with me.

Sunrise during loop 1

Sun is up for loop 2

No 2-legged running buddies today but my 4-legged running buddy was good company!

Taz spots Kendall. Sprint time!

Turns out Connie also came out to run!  And get a donut treat (waiting for her on the bench - thanks Kendall!)

Ups and Downs

My mood today is, well, shall we say, not reflective of my usual upbeat self. The persistent quiet, absence of friendly gatherings, taxes and work bearing down on me, concerns about my brother's isolation, worries about my sister-in-law's health all conspired to consume my mental state this morning.

I have always found solace in running so run I did - a rather uninspired run, I must confess. Taz and I wandered through nearby neighborhoods, at one point trotting along a street that running buddies and I often use for speed work when training for the Bolder Boulder. Sigh.

Bolder Boulder training gang 2016

 We then set off toward Paul's house where I knew Paul was on a Zoom call for the Boulder County Democrats' Assembly. A bit of a smile emerged as we entered Paul's neighborhood and I told Taz to "find Paul's house" at which point he immediately perked up his ears and upped the pace pulling me the rest of the way straight to his boy's home.  We hopped up onto the porch and stood in front of Paul's front window waving and blowing kisses then went on our way again.

The blues soon returned so I headed for St Andrews' memorial garden for a quiet few moments. Finding some litter there did not improve my mood but it did give me something productive to do.






After our contemplative respite, Taz and I continued along a creekside trail which offered more moments of peacefulness and brought us to the Chancellor's property (also known as Taz's yaya loop since that's where Taz can run off-leash and get his yaya's out). I kept Taz on leash, though, to have better control over social-distancing in case we crossed paths with other walkers or runners. No walkers or runners appeared but we spotted a fox! My patronus!

The dark bump in the middle of the photo is a very watchful fox. A quick snapshot and we walked briskly on.

Peaceful moments can vanquish the doldrums!

Briarwood antics

Looking for something new and entertaining for today's run, Taz and I decided to make a surprise visit to our Briarwood running buddies. I must say, having two running buddies living just a few houses apart makes safe-distancing a breeze!  Upon arriving within shouting distance of both of their homes, I sent a text saying "Look out front!". Two doors opened and big smiles lit up the block. I do believe Taz's smile may have been the biggest - apparently he is getting a bit bored with the same-old-same-old people. When I told him he could go say Hi first to Connie then to Anita, tail-wagging and even more smiles abounded. These let's-break-the-boredom runs are pretty darned fun!