New Quest - Worthy Cause

 

On several occasions in the past, I have participated in American Cancer Society's Relay for Life - a fundraising event held all across the country to raise money for cancer research and for support services for cancer patients and caregivers. My original impetus for joining a Relay team was a friend's breast cancer diagnosis which happened right when I first heard about Relay. This diagnosis was just the most recent encounter (at that time) with the ravages of cancer. Kendall's mom died of breast cancer two days after Kendall and I found out we were pregnant with our first child. The smile on her face and her reaching out to hug Kendall from her hospital bed when he told her the news was the last time we saw her conscious. Yes, cancer hits home.

Kendall and his mom (Barbara Miller) at our wedding

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Since my first Relay as a team member, I have captained and co-captained Relay teams - each one a unique and powerful experience. Typically, Relay is a grand and boisterous event held at a running track. Lots of teams, tents, food, music, activities - and throngs of people all supporting the worthy cause of fighting cancer. 

It starts with a Survivors' walk circling once around the track then team members start their laps. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For me, the most powerful moment is when the luminaria, dedicated in honor of or in memory of individuals, are lit and their names are read. So many luminaria, each snuggled right up to the next, all the way around the track...so many people affected by cancer. For one of my Relays, each member of Kendall's family (his siblings and their children and grandchildren) decorated luminaria in memory of his mom.

 

 

This year, I once again decided to participate in Relay for Life. Losing two friends to cancer in January and enduring my 16th skin cancer surgery in February got me rolling again with Relay. I officially registered with the University of Colorado Relay for Life event scheduled to be held in April. However, because of COVID, I will be "relaying" on the first day of Spring (new life! new hope!) as a socially distanced one-person team. I had originally planned to run 16 laps around Taz's YaYa loop (see my blog post from February 9th) - one lap for each surgery. However! We got a couple feet of heavy wet snow a few days ago and the conditions of that loop currently range from barely runnable to unrunnable due to packed snow, ice, ice water, and mud (very slippery mud I might add - I was just out there today - yikes!). I now have a plan B which is to do one lap around YaYa to check on current conditions and if not vastly improved, move to a nearby loop on neighborhood streets. (YaYa is a 0.9 mile loop; the neighborhood street loop is 0.85 - close enough.) It will be a different sort of Relay - but the cause remains oh-so-worthy.

If you would like to donate to Relay for Life, my fundraising page is:
http://main.acsevents.org/goto/pjvrelay

Sunrise at 2016 Relay for Life ... the challenge continues ...

 

Mystical morning

 'Tis Wednesday! Hill day! And above zero degrees - right around 20 as a matter of fact - plenty warm enough to be not-cold after enough hill repeats! It was also a low-clouds day adding to the wintry aura of the morning. An enjoyable enough aura that after having done a bunch of 90" up/30" down repeats and a run to the top, we decided to throw in a bonus 2 minute uphill just for fun. Was it really the mystical wintry aura at work or plain old pandemic cabin fever? Who's to say - but it was a dandy day to be out there.

At the top: Waldo marches on beneath the Flatirons

On the way down. Foothills amidst the clouds

 

 

The NCAR campus just peaking out ahead of the clouds atop the mesa

PJV trotting downhill happy to be out & about
on this mystical wintry day

Brisk!

We are in the midst of a bit of a chilly spell - "teens" in Fahrenheit on our hill day. "Hills" for Connie and me usually involves running up and down the number streets in a nearby neighborhood, but with the light snow and thick fog on this brisk morning, we opted for repeats on Boomerang. It turned out to be a rather beautiful morning to be cruising the hill - and punctuated with a bit of excitement toward the end!

 

Up up up we went on Boomerang, arrived at the top .... and the town of Boulder had disappeared!

 

Along the mountain top, we were awestruck by the pines glistening with their coats of icy dew.

 

 

As we descended, we discovered another critter investigating the foggy, snowy environs: a rather fine looking coyote, deserving of a photo. To our dismay, it seemed to become quite interested in us as we trotted further down the hill.  'Twas no time for photos of that shadowing activity - we skedaddled!  A very brisk pace on a very brisk day!

 

 

The Land Of CrankyHip

So I have this arthritic hip - and in the "before times" I would go to PT regularly to keep the hip happy. With COVID, my PT visits have stopped, but I have been good about strengthening and mobility exercises through my zoom exercise class. However, the hip seems to be stepping up its crankiness game - particularly if I put a lot of miles in on hard surfaces or if I do a chunk of downhill running. And downhill running I did do this past weekend towards the end of my trail run where the last 3+ miles were predominantly downhill. The hip made sure I knew it was not happy. When that happens I turn to what I now think of as my therapy loop - a .9 mile dirt loop located a mere 6-minute run from my house. We usually refer to this as the YaYa loop because that's where we take our dogs (Jester in years past, now Taz) to get their YaYa's out. Now-a-days, though, I go there with or without dog and go round and round and round for however much time I have on the days I want miles but don't want to aggravate my hip. It's not a usual mode of operation for me since I generally try to pick new and unusual or scenic or entertaining routes to run. But ya gotta do what ya gotta do if living in the Land of CrankyHip.  And the loop does have its pluses. Let's go on a tour! From today's run, 11 degrees out, light snow, light fog...

When I first arrive at the property, I typically head south, going counterclockwise on the loop. This first stretch parallels the highway so is the noisiest. But! this field to the left/east of the trail is the field where I've had the most wildlife sightings: deer (including a pair of bucks that visited frequently last summer/fall), foxes, coyotes, rabbits, hawks, and geese.

 

 

Curving around east then north typically puts you into the wind if there is any wind and into some shade thus dropping the temperature - so it's where one battens down the hatches of jackets and hats and such. This is also where Taz has had most of his rabbit sightings and chases.

Also along this stretch are several old apple trees. This photo is of my most favorite apple tree in Boulder. It produces rather small but exquisitely crisp and tart apples. An excellent snack stop if I'm passing by on my way home from a long autumn run.

The north-bound stretch is actually in two sections. This second section goes by an obstacle/training course the university built. When it's in use, it makes for an entertaining diversion for passers-by. But the most entertainment it's ever offered when I was running past was when a fox had the obstacle course all to itself and was frolicking around in amongst the obstacles. Those foxes sure know how to keep themselves amused.

Turning west takes one past a community garden. It lies fallow now, but is a feast for the eyes through the spring, summer, and fall months. Everything from greens to cauliflower to corn to flowers and so much more is grown there.

 

 

Another westerly turn and another field where I have spotted foxes, including a fox family with very rambunctious kits.

 

 

And that leads us to the woods and water portion of the run - and often times mud but what's a little mud when you've got woods and water, eh?!

Now frozen, but this is the spot where Linda's dog Farley
 taught Taz pup to actually get into a creek

 

 

 

 I have managed a total of 10 consecutive circuits around this lovely therapy loop before tiring of the routine and I imagine there will be many more multi-circuit therapy runs in my future. Old YaYa has certainly proven to be a bodacious tool to have in my Cranky Hip tool kit!

Exercise Zoom

We have been very lucky to have an exercise teacher who became quite antsy after all indoor classes were cancelled last spring and, to subdue her antsy-ness, started offering her exercise class 5 days per week via zoom. Being a decades-long runner who has done very little else for fitness, every non-leg part of my body has been extremely grateful for this exercise class. And it turns out Mister Taz is also quite interested in the class!

 

Some days he is a bit slow to get enthused, but keeps a sharp eye out to make sure I'm setting everything up properly.

On many an occasion, he wants to show me just how to perform the exercise. For example:

 

A side plank demo:

 

 

Or carefully studying my form to make sure I'm really squeezing when we're working with a "squeezy thing":

Or dropping to a proper sit when he hears J announce a four-minute wall sit:

 

Then again, sometimes he wants to help with that wall sit:

And there are those Very Exciting exercises - like when I'm doing jumping jacks and he is begging to join in.

 

 

On extra special days he decides I must have a bath now when I jump into the exercise class straight from a run.

 

Then there are days like today. He was fresh off an hour-long leash-free romp with Paul's much younger pup, Barley, and I was fresh off a 10-mile hill and trail run. He picked his form of exercise and I had to work hard to convince myself to stick with the class rather than join him in his style of High Intensity Interval Training.  He's such a smart dog.

 

Ah Technology

Many years ago, I was phased out of a job I enjoyed because of computerization. A few years after that, I returned to school for a Master's degree and walked out of there with a job: computerizing administrative systems for the University of Colorado Boulder - a job I held for close to 30 years. Oh the irony. But being much more of a people person than a "techie", I always tried to keep the human factor top of mind and, personally, stayed rather arms length from the latest and greatest of technology's tricks and glitz. Why use a machine when you can do math in your head? Why ask Alexa to turn out the lights when the light switch is right in front of you? Why convert from a flip phone to a smart phone when you just want a phone? (I actually finally switched this past spring when all of our work went remote and folks needed me to be able to check email and get out on the web from wherever and whenever.) All that said, this past week offers up glowing examples of the benefits of technology and how it has been a savior through this pandemic.

All week: the ability to work. The joy of face-to-face interaction with our co-workers is certainly missing, but at least the work is getting done.

Pre-COVID: Some of the gang -
ready to tackle anything & everything!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Post COVID: empty office

Post COVID: our lonely sloth

Wednesday: When our kids were young, Patti and I would run together every Saturday. (On the occasion of her 50th birthday, I wrote a little story about the power of a running friendship - "You Can't Fax a Friendship" - that included the factoid that, at that point in time, we had run 4959.2 miles together. That's a lot of miles, conversation, laughter, and life!) In recent years, our runs together have dwindled due to various reasons but we've gotten together for tea a few times a year. Until this past year. To remedy this, on Wednesday we had a zoom tea. Not quite the same but, as Kendall commented afterward, there sure was a lot of laughing coming out of the computer room!

Patti and I - finishing the 1985 Honolulu marathon.
Her youngest & my eldest were not quite one year old.
We were definitely running for fun.

Thursday: Sasha's birthday! And as I was running and Kendall was doing laundry and Paul was doing whatever people who teach math do, we got pinged from Portland and we all hopped onto a birthday Google meetup with Sasha. Again, not quite the same - no birthday hugs to pass around - but oh so fun to laugh and chat and join in on Sasha's birthday celebration!

Surprising me in Petoskey
as I finished my run from Boulder

Two days old and already we were captivated by each other.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Friday: Every Friday for the past several months, my cousin John and his wife and Kendall and I have had a cocktail hour (Michigan time) zoom call. And for a year when we can't be going out and about partying and visiting and adventuring, we sure do find a lot to talk about. John and I have been great friends our whole lives; a pandemic is not going to stop us now!

Up North, playing in the sand in 1954

John knocked on my front door early in the morning of my 60th birthday.
He had flown in from D.C. to surprise me for my 60k birthday run adventure.
The best present ever!

Up North, still playing in the sand - 2019

 

 

So, ja, technology can be way overdone but it has its place and I am oh so thankful we have a way to connect with friends and family and bring a bit of sunshine into our days.

BrrrrrUtiful!

 'Twas all of 11 degrees when I set out this morning - but I was oh so glad I was out there. It was a magical foggy frosty feast for the eyes. The beauty of it all warmed me right up from the inside out.

Frost and fog to start the run

Snow peaks through the fog

And the fog clears...

A stellar start to the day...