Carolyn
Especially marathons...ain't no cheating the marathon. It knows whether you've been training...
Yeah, tell me about it. I've been slacking since my last marathon, 3 weeks ago - I haven't run anything over 10 miles since then. I looked at the calendar, and my next marathon is in 4 weeks! So I went out and ran 20 miles today. Felt pretty good! It was only 18 ⁰ when I got up, so I waited for it to get above freezing, which was almost noon, and headed out to a local trail. It was 36 ⁰ at the start and up to 42 ⁰ at the end, and beautiful blue sky and sunshine. Much better than sideways rain. Patchy snow on the north-facing slopes, but not icy.
Good job, Enke! And you already signed up for another race? Cool!
I hammered down the trail, passing rocks and trees like they were standing still.
MM #7877
WIth my 7 mile jog tonight, I hit 1400 miles for the year. WHile this is 100 miles off last years pace, my last 4 months have been better then any 4 months the last couple years. I wont hit 2000 this year, but I will finish strong.
Philippians 4:13.
Marathon Maniac #957
Enke - nice job!
I slept in too late (7am) and got caught up in household chores and laundry and left too late to feel very sproinky. I've decided that I am better off getting up early, having a cup of coffee, and leaving immediately for my run. If I dawdle, I seem to lose energy and motivation. All mental, I know.
Still, I persevered and put in 20 miles, even though I had a 10 minute break at 10 miles to help DH with a computer problem, then ran 1 mile with DD at 15 miles, then finished the last 5 on the TM.
DD wants to run/walk the local Turkey Trot 5 miler. I had not intended to sign up for this, since I'm running the Flying Monkey 5 days prior, but I'm game if she is! I suspect we will be walking more than running, but who knows? At short distances she is much faster than I am, even at 10 years old. I suspect she could be a great runner if allowed to.
Life is a headlong rush into the unknown. We can hunker down and hope nothing hits us or we can stand tall, lean into the wind and say, "Bring it on, darlin', and don't be stingy with the jalapenos."
i'm lovin' it... MM#1949
That's so true about not fooling the marathon. It even knows if you've been doing your tempo runs!
A really beautiful vivid fall color Michigan day today. No wind like yesterday and temps in the 40's joined some club members for a brisk 6 miles (after I ran a mile with the dogs near home) for a toal of 7 today. Saw three turkeys while driving into the park. They must have fled from Canada.
Perch's Profile "I don't know if running adds years to your life, but it definitely adds life to your years." - Jim Fixx "The secret is to make in your mind possible what was not possible before. The secret is to make easy what was difficult, instead to make difficult what really is easy." - Coach Renato Canova
I've missed you all so much!! Started a return to running program today ..... 6 min walking/4 min running x 3 sets, cool down, PT excercises!!
Will TRY to catch up and be more faithful to the forum!!
but for now GOODNIGHT!!
denise
(((((Tammy & Family)))))
"Enjoy the freedom" Amen Enke.
stoopid geese.
Bout time you got back Stumpy.
I'm posting yesterday's run late. I sat on the tablet before posting the run...It did not fair well.
Two hours on the North Country Trail. It raind and we loved it.
This section of trail is packed dirt. No hairpin switchbacks. Never once did I have to grab a tree to make the turn.
This is the best stuff in the worl to run on.
DW was at the campground with her former in laws and the dogs and I did not have any limits. The three of us never ran out of gas. We ran through a golden rainbow of falls splendor.
This is what was back at the campground
SteveP
Oh Steve, such lovely photos,
You reminded me I never posted my rainbow pic from awhile ago.
It was much more awesome than this picture at one point with pink clouds behind it and it was a double rainbow too.
"During a marathon, I run about two-thirds of the time. That's plenty." - Margaret Davis, 85 Ed Whitlock regarding his 2:54:48 marathon at age 73, "That was a good day. It was never a struggle."
MM #5615
Hello everybody! I only managed 25.4 miles this week, so I'm calling it a "rest week". Just too much stuff going on and not a whole lot of motivation. I'll get back at it next week.
That's it. See ya!
"I didn’t run a race until I was 41 and that was a marathon! Let that sink in for a minute." -me
hi everybody! I'm plum tuckered out, and won't even start to itemize... but have read the weekend threads.
congratulations & way to go's all over the place...
Tammy you made the right decision of course but it's really tough. I can't read about it w/out crying, so I can just imagine how you must feel. though, it's a little peaceful knowing that she's no longer hurting & that you did all you could, I think. you know you have an ongoing hug from everybody here...
have to say hi Denise!! I've wondered about you... didn't know you haven't been around, because I haven't been either. makes me so happy to see people popping back in.
ok all about me. sorry! but finally finally 10.11 miles this afternoon, the longest in a little over a year. a really hilly route. I don't think it bothered my back, but my knee didn't end up happy (my old Twin Cities knee thing...) It was pretty good till the last 2 mile uphill (have to get home, no choice there...),... I was too stupid stubborn to walk. it will be ok, I know what to do. I've been ramping up just a little too quickly, I think, but overall it's working pretty well. it's kind of a Danielsesque increase, which I've never tried before. It's not intentionally that way, just seems to be what I'm doing.
finished painting the bedroom walls, movable plants are inside because of the frost warning, & I am done! 'nite all.
It's late, but gotta say LOVE SteveP's pics!! How's poor Tag??
Got in 5 miles after church and then helped The Hub with the house painting by putting some coats of primer on window and door frames. He's working so hard at this, and I'm very proud of the job he's doing. Once it's all done, I'll post before and after pics. I LOVE the color!!
Okay - Off to type ~
Leslie Living and Running Behind the Redwood Curtain -------------
Trail Runner Nation
Sally McCrae-Choose Strong
Bare Performance
Bushrat Runner
Finally did it...got out and kept Choco company, or maybe he kept me company, for 8.5 miles. First two miles were a bit soggy feeling, wasn't sure how it was going to go. But I had hit my stride by mile 3, and it was feeling pretty good. Except I had this irritating blister-in-formation on my left heel. I often have issues with blisters, usually heels, occasionally between toes. One of the pairs of shoes I use has been a blister problem for me. I have creative ways to deal with it, but I haven't bothered yet. Time to break out the shoe modification tool (it's a knife) and cut a notch in the plastic heel counter...
Before I went running, we had a container van delivered to our driveway. Last time this happened it was delivering a huge load of freight. This time, the van was the freight. So now our driveway will have a huge blue container decorating it. Maybe that means we will finally get the junk (like the tires...) off the gravel...
I wrote up yesterday's flight for a pilot forum. For those interested...here it is. Photos and all.
I work for the National Park Service in my day job, and have been to
Aniakchak every year for 14 years...until this year.
It looked like I was going to be out of luck, as the season was pretty
much over for fieldwork. So I started looking for weather
and time to get myself down there in the milkstool...Today was looking pretty good based on forecasts throughout the week,
and the forecast seemed to hold as the day approached.
Finally, last night I got myself organized, and had my son out helping
me get ready for one of today's other commitments. The
first of those is the delivery of a freight container. We have finally
become full-blooded Alaskans, we bought a freight container to
use for storage so we can clean up our garage and get the mess in
the yard under control. Of course the guy wanted to deliver it
on Aniakchak day. "What time?""Oh, say about 1 pm."Muttering to myself..."1 pm...that gives me like 4 hours from
sunup...I can make that work...be a bit rushed if we don't get out
promptly though..."To him..."Okay."So last night my son and a pal of his were helping me get the
supports leveled for the container. We had previously done it, but
were checking after a few days and adding a little height to the
supports to make sure we had good door clearance on the uphill
side. Of course we were doing that in the dark because I was working
until after dark yesterday...but we got it done. Then Cedric's
pal left to go home. Usually, he has arranged some sleepover or
other, but here it was, a weekend where my son had not gotten
himself any plans!"You want to fly to Aniakchak with me?""Sure, well, I guess, I mean I don't have anything else lined up,
so yeah, I could do that..."The immortal words of a 12-year-old explaining how thrilled they
are to spend a morning with their dad. Oh well, whatever works.This morning I got him up and off we went. Stopped for gas and
snacks, he got to buy snacks while I got the gas, then off to
the plane. Preflight, fueled up, got the all-important snacks in place,
Cedric untied the plane, then put on his winter gear. He was
cold, wanted to wear enough clothes to warm up. Finally, we bundled
in and were taking off just a few minutes after sunup. The sun
was low over the mountains with Big Creek in the foreground as we
headed south.
Cedric started looking sleepy within five minutes of departure, so I
asked him if he wanted to fly. He did, so for the next 20 minutes
he kept us headed in a pretty straight course southward toward Aniakchak
while I looked around and acted like I wasn't helping him.
Love those rudder pedals. Finally, he asked me to take the yoke again, and leaned his head on
my shoulder and zonked. I was pretty sure he'd be asleep for
most of the trip down, that is just the reality of his rhythm. But if we
landed, that would wake him up, and I have a spot I've been
wanting to land in the caldera, so we were headed there. As he slept,
we passed Pilot Point out his window.
At that point, I started climbing. The caldera has two passes that go
into it, one about 1,000 feet, the other about 2,000, but unless I
wanted to fly around to enter one of those, I would need at least 3,000
feet to peek in. Although we were in clear sky, there were clouds
shrouding part of the top of the caldera, so I didn't know exactly what
we'd find when we got there. The mountain makes a pretty good
helping of weird weather all its own. Sometimes it will be cloudy
everywhere else but the caldera will be blue sky. Sometimes it will be
blue sky everywhere and the caldera is like a snow cone spilling
clouds over. What would we get today?As we got near, I could see that we were going to have at least part
of the caldera open, and it looked like under the clouds the Gates
might be open as well. So we could fly in, descend and land, then
take off and fly out the Gates. I was hoping to fly down the river,
then back up to King Salmon by Mount Chiginigak. But around 20
miles out I was starting to doubt whether it was going to work quite
like that. Starting around 30 miles out we were getting a little bit of
burbly air. Finally, as we approached, it got just burbly enough that
it was unsettling. But we were definitely going to be seeing in. I woke up sleeping beauty and started telling him what we were seeing,
starting with the cinder plains outside the caldera. Then we
broke over the rim and saw Surprise Lake greeting us.
The upper end of Surprise Lake has some cinder cones around it, and
Vent Mountain rises up right in the middle of the caldera floor,
and is taller than the wall we flew in over, though not taller than the
wall on the other side...
The east side of the caldera was pretty unappetizing air as we flew
around to check things out. Looking down at the lake surface, I
could tell that the wind was light on the caldera floor, but if we descended
we were going to need to either climb back up corkscrewing
to gain altitude, or fly out the Gates. The wind in the Gates is never
calm, and flying over near the Gates told me I wasn't going to do
that today. So we elected to save the landing for another day. Instead,
we caught a massive updraft behind Vent Mountain and took
another turn around the place. I snapped a photo of the western
section, where the eruption pit from 1931 is in the distance, and half
cone, an eruption from around 500 years ago, is visible closer in.
Since we had brought cokes, and since Cedric always does better if
we stop and stretch, and we wanted to empty our bladders to make
room for the coke, we agreed we'd find someplace to land on the way
home. In the caldera, I've walked most of the floor, so I know
exactly where I can operate. But outside the caldera, there are the
established airstrips, and there are lots of cinder blows that have
airplane activity on them. A friend of mine that is familiar with the Pumice Creek cinder blow had
told me that it was sufficiently firm for my little non-bush
wheels, and it was the first option we were going to come to. So I flew
over to it, found a stiff wind coming down off the mountains,
flew a couple practice approaches, and then landed. The strip we used,
of the options on the blow, was about 1000'. Landing in 1000'
in a PA-22 is no big deal. Taking off in that span is no big deal now
that the engine has been overhauled and the prop is new, but I
wouldn't have done it two years ago. The cabin in the background
is used by the Alaska State Troopers.
From there, it was a launch home and look for critters all the way.
On the way out of King Salmon I had spotted a moose while Cedric
was snoozing. So we were looking for a moose all the way back. But
no luck on that. What we did see a few miles before we got to the
Egegik River was a beautiful bull caribou. A totally lovely flight. Had a great morning. Got back in time...but the
guy canceled on us. So we could have played around a
little more. Oh well. There will hopefully be more opportunities.
Troy Hamon
14 Days to Alaska
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I meant to add my hugs and condolences to Tammy and family. That's so hard, but it's the right thing to do when the time comes. The hard part is knowing when that time is. Sounds like you handled it well. She's at peace now and no more pain.
Love the pictures, Steve. How long does Tag have to wear the cone?
Nice job on the 5k, Enke, and yay for signing up for another race! I think those prediction races would be hard to do...
Well done, Holly, however you had to do it! I think if you can piece together all the miles somehow, it's just fine. Sometimes life just doesn't allow for doing it all the way we want.
Well, I puttered around the house a lot today, too. I've been on this "downsizing" kick for awhile now, and am trying to gradually de-clutter and get rid of things I don't need. So today, I went through my closet and found some things that I think I can take to the consignment shop and make a little something on them. I have some beautiful shoes and clothes from my years working at Nordstrom, most of which I'll never fit into (I used to have a 26" waist... post kids there's just no way). Many of the shoes are still in their boxes, and I've taken good care of them over the years. So... hopefully the consignment gals will like them and take them into their shop.
I headed out for a run, thinking 8-10 miles, and made it .15 mile before stopping and turning around for home. My shin just isn't right, and it's affecting my gait. And I wasn't "into" the run anyway. So I headed to the garden and pulled all the carrots, and cleaned up a lot of the other stuff. Raked leaves and hauled to the powerline, cleaned up the rhubarb so it's ready for spring, and picked all the little broccoli shoots before pulling all the plants for the compost heap. Lots of work, but felt good. That's what I really needed to be doing today anyway. I can run later.
ETA: Troy you have beautiful pictures as usual, but your text gets truncated on the right side, at least on my computer. Looks like a beautiful day for a flight. But really, you're gonna have that big blue box in your yard now? Seriously? Our neighbor has two of those in his yard, orange ones, with a "roof" of plywood over them. Looks awful...
Yeah blue and beautiful, welcome to the bush.
Sometimes people try to put siding on them so they don't look like containers. But the container, delivered, is less than $4,000. A stick-built storage building of the same size, in this location, finished, is over $16,000...and probably doesn't last as long. So pretty much all of bush Alaska looks pretty post-industrial. Except for government housing, where the normal approach to suburban development is in play. But there's a reason why HUD units in rural Alaska cost $1M each or more...not affordable...
Got to see if I can fix that text...
Weird, that text must have some bizarre format. I had to do hard returns, couldn't talk it into thinking it was something else.
I know what you mean about unsightly Erika. But we needed to get control of the mess. And we aren't in a position to afford anything more appetizing at present. And it will not be out of the ordinary here.