Memorial Day Weekend 2020

This was a rather unusual Memorial Day weekend for Boulder. Typically ~50,000 people would be running and walking the BolderBoulder on Memorial Day, with the course lined with cheering spectators, bands, belly dancers - you name it - all culminating in the CU stadium where Memorial Day ceremonies take place. These ceremonies include skydivers - each carrying a flag of one of the branches of the Armed Services, testimonials from veterans, a 21-gun salute and taps. With the stands filled with runners and families, it is a very moving event. This year, the year of the coronavirus, was much much quieter.

So, no 50,000 people descending on Boulder - BUT! - we did break my brother out of the senior apartment complex he lives in and brought him over to the back porch of our house to celebrate his 70th birthday on Sunday. A momentous occasion - both for the birthday and for the first trip out of his apartment complex since Colorado's Stay At Home Order went into effect. The big surprise for Dave was a zoom call with a gang of cousins, friends, Millers and VaughanMillers. This photo was taken when everybody sang happy birthday to him when I brought out the brownie/cake:

The next day, Monday, would have been the BolderBoulder. Since the real deal couldn't be held, the BB folks offered a free "VirtuALL" BolderBoulder. A whole lot of folks - from 20 countries and all 50 states according to the BolderBoulder website - participated in the virtual race, including several of my running buddies and I. We each ran our own 10k course and, according to texts and emails, we all had a grand time of it. My course consisted of 3+ times around a loop that just happened to take me past Paul's house each of those 3 times. I started my "race" at 6 a.m. and lo-and-behold as I came past Paul's approaching mile 2, there he was outside and at the ready to cheer me on. Kendall soon joined him and I had myself quite the cheering section for loops 2 and 3! Great fun!

Later that day, after going home and freshening up a bit, I walked back to Paul's house to help him weed his yard (it was the least I could do after his cheering efforts in the very early morn). On the way, I saw a fox! We had seen foxes in late winter in this patch of land but hadn't spotted any for a couple of months.  An exciting turn of events!

Of course, Memorial Day is about remembering. All of the men in the prior generation of my family were involved in WWII. We do remember.

My uncles: Porter Vaughan & Bill Murphey

Brothers: Porter and Paul Vaughan

My dad, Paul Vaughan, RCAF pilot, and Spitfire

My dad while temporarily stationed in Egypt

Two-day catch up

It's been an enjoyably active couple of days.

Yesterday, Taz and I took another meandering run through campus, this time to check out the Kittredge ponds in hopes of seeing some goose families. We were in luck! Three families were just waking up, one after the other, much to our delight. (We stayed well back from the pond so as not to frighten them with my wild and woolly cattle dog.)

The first family - with the oldest goslings - ventures into the pond

The 2nd family, with younger goslings, makes an entrance. Both families staying well clear of each other.

Young goslings of the 3rd family wobble down the slope toward the pond while mama stands on shore

Next up comes Fitness Class via Zoom. Taz decided to hang out and keep an eye on me.

Taz's initial impression: booooooring

Then came wall sits and Taz decided he could help.

And with class over: I did good, eh mom?

Then it was back outside to do some weeding and such - such as take pictures of our irises which seem to be having a banner year.

Today: biathlon day - 

First an 8-mile hill run (running up and down a bunch of hilly streets on the west side of town).  Temperatures were in the 60s even at 5 a.m. so Taz was more than ready to take a quick dip in a creek on our way back home from the hilly bit of our run.

And as soon as I got home, it was time to swap out running shoes for retired running shoes - aka gardening shoes - pop back outside and plant our tomatoes in our new garden plot for tomatoes. Our old garden plot for tomatoes had become too shady as nearby trees grew ever taller and branchier.  This year we actually did something about it and cleared out what used to be a south-facing flower garden sacrificing a bit of fanciful color for, hopefully, delectable fresh and flavorful tomatoes.

 I suppose I could refer to this as a triathlon day since, after the tomato planting extravaganza, I tuned in to the zoom fitness class.  But I did give myself a 45 minute smoothie break between the tomatoes and the training so that hardly counts as a three-sport effort, eh?

Springtime in the Foothills

In recent weeks, I really have been attempting to "train" rather than just run. This week I was well on track: good mileage every day, hill repeats on Wednesday, speed work yesterday and a steady-effort long run planned for today. I left the house at 5 a.m. (having discovered that Very Early runs are great for avoiding crowds) with a route laid out along roads to the east and south and a Kendall pickup on tap for 7 a.m. at a neighboring town.  I made it about 2 blocks into the run and decided, nope, I am headed west to the hills. Thus I turned toward the trails and, oh boy, am I glad I did. The hills are bursting forth with spring blooms - lower fields dotted with wild iris and upper trails coming alive with alpine flowers.  Another outing that reminded me just why it is I love to run - and run very happily as a tourist rather than a speedster-in-training.

Early in my run, a discovery of a new, most exquisite, Little Free Library on my way to the trailhead:


















Then along the lower portion of the trail, wild irises:
 

 

 On the higher portion of the trail, alpine wild flower peeked out:

 

 ...and after a delightful couple of hours, headed back down toward "civilization":  

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.