Trails
I'll start..lol. The last two mornings it's been in the 20's here with highs in the 40's which is much too cold for me. I wanted to go out and sit in my car and "practice" driving as I think I can do so soon. I love my husband but it kind of sucks to depend on him to take me everywhere. I don't mind if it's the long drive to some of my specialists but just the 20 min drive to my doctor or the 30 min drive to the dialysis center. Of course I don't see well in the dark so no more 6 am treatments.
AZ it's nice your DH makes dinner for you after you have traveled.
Altair I read just sci fiction...mostly the free ones I get from Kindle. Witches, dragons, and werewolves interest me. Compared to my DH's reading it's basically just junk books but it keeps my mind occupied.
Art how's the veggies doing? Since you live in AZ does it get really cold there?
Led, how are you?
Thanks for posting first Di
You’ll be zooming around your area soon enough, ha! Assuming you have automatic so that makes it easier to get back into driving yourself. It’s a privilege and as we get older, it’s what we still want to do for a sense of freedom. My mom still talks like she still drives but just can’t find the car keys. LOL!! We keep reminding her that she can’t see well and react anymore.
Today (Tuesday): 6.5 miles w Bones on a nice hilly trail with some cinder that feels like sand. Always a good way to train because it’s common to have Sandy areas on trails in this region. Nice cool breeze, about 55 degrees. Then, made it in time for the step class at wellness center. My RB from MN is flying in tomorrow. After picking her up and stopping for some food items for her, we’ll be heading to The Needles district of southern Canyonlands NP, Utah. Camping all weekend. Hiking Friday. On Saturday, driving to Moab. Camping there. Running the Moab HM trail race on Sunday. Driving back home afterwards. And, she’s flying back on Monday. Another fun weekend!!
I’ll check back in after returning home. We have limited reception anyway but I prefer to be offline. Have a great weekend everyone.
Well yesterday I had an echocardiogram that the transplant team wanted and I passed that with flying colors. I still have to get a mammogram but until I get rid of the chest catheter I can't. I'll continue to work on my weight in the meantime.
Today at dialysis the EMT's came for a patient. Tues the lady in the chair next to me left early to go to the hospital. Makes me kind of concerned as I've seen the EMT's three times now. I understand hemodialysis takes a toll on your body (heart) and if fluid isn't restricted it can cause issues with your lungs and heart. Plus there are quite a few elderly patients. Another reason to start working out and to get that transplant as soon as possible.
Have fun AZ hiking and camping. I'm ready to hibernate.
not bad for mile 25
Well, here I am, having completely missed October! Feeling guilty too, since some of you reached out to me during the month's posts. Anyway, I sort of binge-read October - not necessarily recommended, better to take them a day at a time . I won't be able to respond adequately, but I enjoyed all your updates.
As Altair noticed, I got some solid weeks of running in, mainly to prepare for the half I'm running Sunday. This week has been taper, and I've been running a pitiful less than two miles per day. Enjoying the extra time it leaves me in the mornings, though. We had a few days of pretty hard freeze - in the 20F range, so the house plants have been brought in and all outdoor gardening has come to an end. Last few days have been warmer - today got into the 60s! Race day should start around 40 and go up to a max of 60, perfect weather.
Di - You've had a rough go. We all certainly hope things improve for you soon. Thanks for keeping us informed. Love your motto, "Relentless Forward Progress"!
Altair - Great fall pictures! I especially love the cemetery picture! We have some black walnuts around here, as well as Osage oranges. Hazards indeed. Looks like Mr. McArthur was a skilled sign painter. Also like the plaque for Mr. Barnes and his "White Stockings" team! Hope you can get yourself a good reliable and efficient hatchback. I know they're out there! I'm kinda borderline in terms of needing statins. Resisting as long as my risk factor doesn't get significantly higher. Keep us posted on whether you notice any long-term side effects.
Art - Maybe you should take up rucking groceries as a sport! Rucking has been a real thing for quite a few participants in the Lincoln marathon. I'm still trying to establish some regularity in my pullups and pushups. I would love to get up to 10 and 25, respectively. Can you enlighten me on what air boxes are? Pardon my ignorance. I had one thought regarding the coffee grounds discussion - don't worm growers keep their worms in practically pure coffee grounds? That would make for pretty lively worms, I guess. I replaced our water heater quite a few years ago, but now I feel I'm getting too old for such stuff - will probably hire a plumber the next time that comes up. I'm hoping to get at least a couple more years out of it. When it's time to replace, I'm going to look into getting a heat pump type. Expensive, but it's said they pay off pretty quickly. What do you think?
AZ - I am so impressed with all your trail running. No way I could keep up; that kind of thing requires leg strength that a flatland runner like me lacks. I think that it's great you took a long drive to run only a 5K. Obvs it was mainly for social reasons. Great that you crewed the Javalina Jundred and met those amazing athletes!! I only now am picking up from your posts that you are a Native woman, am I right? Not that it makes any difference in terms of running or our group, other than your participation in certain Native events. Sorry you scraped your knees again. I know I would love Bones if I met him. We can't blame our doggies for getting in our way occasionally. It's not malicious - there's only unconditional love for us in a dog's heart. A new bathroom vanity is on our list, too. Too bad I can't watch your process of replacing it, to get the skills and confidence I'd need to embark on that project! Congrats on winning the laptop!
Runs in the rain
Di - Thanks for starting November, I like the title! Glad you are making progress and are thinking of resuming fitness exercises. I hope you can gain some weight and be ready for a transplant. Witches, dragons and werewolves are more fantasy than science fiction, but I like fantasy too! Quality varies, but some fantasy books are excellently written and deserve more respect than to be called junk.
Az - So are you a Native American like Led thinks? I did not pick up on that, just because you crewed for Native American Women Running does not necessarily mean that you are Native American too. I wonder about my own heritage, my ancestors have been here for over 300 years and there is a very, very slim possibility that I have some Cherokee blood. I would like to get the DNA test to find out. The Javelin Jundred seems like a major race for Western distance runners. The ultrarunners who can do 100 miles or even 100k are just amazing. Great you saw some notable runners. So some of the runners ran in costumes? Did you see "bare bottoms" like the link mentions? Loud music can be annoying, but I guess some of the punk and free form jazz I like are even more aggressively loud. We got only one Trick or Treater and had no candy for caller this year. Usually I like to get bags of Three Musketeers and Snickers and gorge myself on the leftover candy! Weather here can get quite variable, but we have now gone from mostly hot to freezing nights. I don't have space cleared right now to set up my treadmill, but will work on emptying areas of my porch. I'm thinking of using the treadmills at the nearby fitness center. Good six milers with Bones! I hope you are enjoying camping with your RB and wish you good luck with the Moab trail race Sunday!
Led - I thought we lost you! Good to have you post again after over a month's absence! But I have to go now to pick up some items in Rochester, so I'll comment more later.
Long distance runner, what you standin' there for?Get up, get out, get out of the door!
Led - Hope you are doing well today in your half! Good you have ideal temperatures for the race. Your training seems good and I hope you do a race report. Tapering does feel like a setback after doing weeks of long distance. Current thought is you should focus on speedwork just prior to a race. The transition to freezing weather does seem abrupt, it leads to a scramble to get things ready for winter. Glad you liked my photos. I wonder about the edibility of the walnuts and chestnuts I see on the ground. I tried one of the chestnuts and it seemed bitter, but maybe you need to roast them. My cholesterol was not too high, but an ultra sound showed some arterial plaque. Hopefully the now low numbers will cause some of that to disappear. I had to look up what "rucking" is, seem like a good cross-training exercise. I don't think I can do more than a few pullups or pushups, really should do more for my upper body strength. The yardwork I've been doing does give the arms a workout. I knew someone who grew worms, they were different than regular earthworms and he would add table scraps to the soil mix to feed them. Not sure what effect caffeine has on the worms.
Well, not a good week for running my workouts. Monday was overcast and chilly. Just did stuff indoors. I did enjoy a tomato sandwich with one of the last Brandywines from the garden.
Overnight temperatures fell below freezing, so Tuesday morning there were frozen ice crystals on my car and the grass. It warmed up during the day. I raked up wet leaves from the front yard. , then checked my garden and the tomatoes and peppers were not frozen. I harvested them, as well as some snow peas. The snow pea vine seems resistant against the cold, maybe it will produce a little more. I cooked down the tomatoes into a sauce and made some chili with the peppers, sauce and a can of kidney beans.
Not as many cayenne peppers this year, the summer was not as hot. I'll be dicing these and drying them out for seasoning.
Wednesday was mostly sunny, but still cold. I pulled up the squash. tomato and basil plants to clean up the garden. There were some brief ice crystal showers, GF wanted me to come inside so I would not get hypothermia, but the sun soon came out again. Although dried out the basil still smelled good! I did something different this year covering the garden with a fresh layer of the mowed leaves. Perhaps this will mean less weeding next spring. I was then going to do a short run, but GF had me run an errand into Rochester.
Thursday, more yard leaf cleanup. The side trees are bare now, but front maples are still shedding leaves. I cleaned out the gutters. Never got around to doing a run.
Friday, still some areas to clean in the yard. It was sunny and warmed up to near 60 degrees, but was very windy. I got in a 5 mile run.
A few weeks ago there was a white fence here, now it is gone! Maybe because the property is now up for sale nd the horses are gone.
Some contrails in the clear sky. Most of the trees have lost all their leaves by now.
Saturday's shopping with GF used up most of my day. She wants to get like one or two items at several different stores and spends time in each looking at stuff. It was late by the time we got back, but managed to do about 2 1/2 miles before it got dark.
Sunday, had to set alarm to wake up and turn back clocks at 2 am (just kidding!) Sun is just coming our now (10:30 am) and it will warm up more. I'll get ready for a run in just a bit, but may do some more garden clean up first. I think I need to do at least three runs a week to avoid regressing too much.
After I made my post this morning I went outside to work on the garden. I had hoped the pepper plants would survive the cold, but they were all wilted and I pulled them out. I chopped up the string bean vines and turned them into the soil for the nitrogen. I covered up those areas with some leaf mulch. Finally, I planted 33 garlic bulbs, 8 more than last year. I plant those in fall for an early summer harvest. The garden with a layer of leaf mulch, The sticks indicate where I planted garlic. The bright green plants on the middle left are parsley with some kale just in back of that. On the lower right is sage and further back climbing the fence are the snow peas. These plants all tolerate a slight freeze, but when it gets to the teens in winter the leaves will not do so good.
After the garden work I did a 4 1/4 mile run. It was sunny and about 55 degrees. I wore shorts and a long sleeve shirt.Passed where it looks like they were excavating a field to put in drainage pipes.
Orange leaves scattered on the grass and sidewalk. Late afternoon sun warms the tree trunks.
Upon return I sat on my deck. I thought it was 5 pm, but really it was 4, still had an hour before sunset. Birds were congragating on trees in the back of my yard making a lot of noise and then flying off.
Altair I really like the pic with the "Orange Leaves on the Sidewalk" I like all the trees in that picture. I really miss my garden some times. I was a lot of work but theopoetic. When I had it I was driving down to Tulsa for my job which is a 2 hour commute. I'd stay with a friend during the week and then come home on the weekend. That job ended and I was at loose ends until I found an school auditor with a CPA firm. Was there 6 years and now in March next year it'll be 8 years with the tribe. Doubt I'll go anywhere else. They treat me well.
Well started to drive again. Sat drove to the dialysis center with DH as copilot. He drove home from there. Then I drove into town for us to get our Covid shots at Walmart. He drove home. I found right now driving in traffic is exhausting. I'll have to keep practicing until I can drive on my own.
Led nice to see you post. Hope the HM went well.
Add: I've been reading the news and wondering what makes people hate other people. It's just sickening what's going on in the world any more. Think I'll stop reading the news again.
Watches...I have not been wearing any and the one I had died while I was dealing with health issues. I want to start walking today but unless I record what the TM shows I have no way currently to track mileage...lol as if that's a problem right now. I'm not sure on the days I use the rower how that tracks. I don't walk to buy a fitness tracker at this point....at least now til I can get so I'm consistent.
EDIT: Ok I did 5 min on the TM at a pace of 2 mph...not exactly speedy or long but it's a start.
Di - It's great that you have resumed walking. At this stage rough estimates of time, pace and distance are good enough. I'm sure your pace and distance shall improve, "The longest journey starts with a single step!" Also great that you're driving again. So I was under the impression you lived on a farm, but no vegetable garden? Wars, hate and conflicts are disturbing. I think humans have to evolve beyond fighting for power, possessions and territory, maybe in a thousand years from now.
Rest day Monday, did not do much. It was nice outside so I started taking down the bee balm stems which now are dry, so I could just snap them off at the base.
Today was 55 degrees when I got up, but it was overcast and temperatures slowly dropped throughout the day. I finished cleaning up the bee balm bed, then went for a 3.6 mile run. My course first took me down to the level of the river valley, almost a 300 foot decline. I then was behind the college campus. Then I ran uphill on a road that passes by the athletic fields back to my house.Halfway up the hill I paused and walked to the gazebo that has a nice view. These two pictures essentially show the same scene, one shows the cloudy sky, but the foreground is too dark, the other picture clearly shows the plaza in front of the student union, but now the sky is overexposed and washed out. I think my new camera has a better contrast range, but I'm not taking that one on my runs.
I took a shower after the run, the did a walk to my polling site to vote in the local elections. One of my friends is running for office! Total distance walked was 1.5 miles.
Hi - My rambling race report is posted here. It was a busy day. As I described in a Facebook post:
6:00 am, got up, got dressed, and took the dog for a run. 7:15 am, drove to Seacrest field. 8:30 am the start of the Good Life Halfsy. Two hours and thirteen miles later, the finish. 11:00 am, awards. 12:15 pm, sandwiches for lunch, showers, put on concert blacks. 2:00 pm, warm-up rehearsal. 4:00 pm, concert. 5:30 pm, wonderful dinner prepared by DD, with SIL and our three amazing grandchildren. Relaxing day.
If you feel like clicking through a lot of photos of the race, here's their recap on Facebook. None of them include me, as far as I know.
Here's the only one I have of me, so far:
And then, the orchestra concert. Again, you can't see me here:
Here I am in the back. The bell of my horn is in front of the piano:
Wow Led you did have a busy day. Congrats on the half.
Today I'm going down to Tulsa with my coworkers. I get to meet the new guy today so that should be fun. It's a 2 hour drive down so plenty of time to "grill" no talk to him. He took my spot in the office I shared with my other coworker so I'll be moving into the one across from my boss. Our building isn't large and there's not a lot of space so my working from home has been welcomed. Course I miss out on the stuff they do but nothing I can't live without.
Altair, yes we live on 40 acres so I guess it's a farm but we no longer have horses. I gave up the garden as it was hard to upkeep and work in the office. Plus no one but me ate most of what I grew so I ended up giving a lot to the retirement home my friend managed. I know they tell transplant people to watch out with gardening as there are the bad microbes in the soil and immunosuppressed people should be careful gardening. Perhaps I'll do some container gardening when I get stronger.
Led - Congratulations on the 3rd in AG! You were only slightly over your sub-2 goal and I'm impressed by your overall fast pace. I see that the course had only a few small hills with the biggest being like a 60 foot climb at the half mile point and overall there was a gradual 200 foot drop, although I guess that barely noticable when spread out over 12 miles! Going by Holmes Lake in mile five must have given some nice views! Your pace seemed consistent for the first ten miles, then I guess you began to tire. I looked at the photos, weather must have been nice since most runners are in shorts and tee-shirts. So is the Pink Gorilla the race's mascot? So you played a band concert afterwards instead of napping on the couch! A busy day!
Di - Have fun with the coworkers on the trip to Tulsa! Don't be too hard on the new guy! With lots of mulch and companion planting (look up "the Three Sisters") maintaining a garden is not much work once planted, but I guess container gardening is the easiest. I never knew that immunosuppressed people need to be careful of soil microbes. Guess I get plenty of exposure since I'm always working with dirt and mud in my yard! I've read that the Indians would pack wounds with swamp mud as the soil bacteria would compete against those that cause infection.
I lost the two games in my club match against the stronger opponent. I thought I was holding my own and even gaining a positional advantage in one of the games, but my opponent was quick to capitalize on some bad moves I made. Computer analysis afterwards showed I was slowly losing ground in both games. I was just outclassed by the higher rated player.
In the mid- 30's right now. It will warm to 41 degrees, but will remain cloudy and rain is expected by dinnertime.
Di - Hope you and your new coworker had an enjoyable trip to Tulsa.
Altair - Kudos on taking on some tough chess competition! That's how you get better - not that different from running races! The half ("Good Life Halfsy") was put on by a company called "Pink Gorilla Events". They do a bang-up job of handling the complex logistics of these races, as well as the promotional side of it in social media, etc. Here's their recap video of the race: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=877005043627374
The race photos came out as well. I'll share just this one of me at the finish: