Kitrin? Hello?

Sorry for the long absence. I am off the treadmill at the moment. I did not run once in the last two weeks. I was seriously drained and suffering from Spring Fever (clean up the yard, make new beds, plan gardens) so I took a break. I think I am ready to get going again. I am sore from shoveling dirt (two truck loads so far), bagging leaves, moving rocks (I am building a patio), and projects like those. Our backyard is mostly unhealthy grass and gravel so there is ALOT of work to do. Not a single shrub or flower bed. The previous owners wanted to keep it riding lawn mower friendly, I guess. In the midst of all this, DH and I had a couple of unusually busy weekends where time seemed to evaporate. I still need to do our taxes too. That is on the schedule for today. This weekend is the beginning of Spring Break and we are heading to Vicksburg, MS with our exchange student to give her a dose of Civil War history and the mighty Mississippi. Greg, I SO feel your pain about being ahead of trends. It spoils the joy a little bit when others take something up on a whim. I went through that in the mid-1990s with Pooh mania. I have always loved Winnie the Pooh and all his friends and they started showing up EVERYWHERE. It made me feel like they were not my special friends anymore. That is not the only instance, but I like the example because the trend faded (as they all eventually do) and I can enjoy them once again as I did before. The same will happen for trail running, maybe even running in general. Oh, and CONGRATS on the new job. My sister plans to work with hospice in the future. She is going to school to get some nursing education and is doing elder care right now. Leslie, good to hear you are running again! This is just in time for your trip to OZ, where you will find fine weather and new vistas to explore on your legs. You will have plenty of time to work yourself up and come back stronger than ever. Chris, great picture as always! How is life in CO? I wonder if you are cold from the front that is moving across the country. Our high temperature was near 80 yesterday and is supposed to be 43 today and rainy. That is BRRR weather for us. Any snow in Boulder? Again, sorry to abandon you guys. You deserve more than that. Kitrin

Hi Guys! Popping in for a quick hello! Glad to see everyone is doing well. Fabulous picture Chris! I'm so envious. I can't complain though-it was a beautiful sunny day here, almost 50 here at home and in the 30's at the mountain. Skiing was nice this morning. I didn't get any lessons so I came home early and got my long run done late this afternoon so I can ski tomorrow with wild abandon and celebrate my birthday! The boys are with their Dad and Jack went to MA to a half marathon. I thought I was going to go but the more I thought about it and I didn't get on the stick and register I realized I really didn't want to go-I wanted to ski on birthday instead of get my arse whipped at a USAT&F, fast paced crowd road half mary. Jack assumed I was going to go and suggested I even go to just watch-nope! Since he was already signed up I told him to go anyway. There's a whole bunch of people from our club who went who were looking forward to celebrating my birthday with me like last year-sorry! I'm going skiing! This is the new Kelly who is on some crazy life journey looking for more and not settling for less-of what? I have no idea-anyone else been through this before? Must be something about being almost 41. New job is going well. I've got some personal training clients already-more than I've ever had but not quite enough to make an almost decent living-another part of the journey. Kids are being kids-13 and 11-tough ages to deal with but they are well too. Anatomy is going well too and I'm contemplating a 50k in May. Sorry to be so self-centered here. Buddo glad to see you're running again and that you have a new job too! Leslie you're on the road of recovery and moving as best you can-take it easy. Chris, I practically live for your pictures and Kitrin glad to see you're back from your break. Take care everyone! Kelly

Kelly, All of us go searching at one time or another in our lifetimes (sometimes more). In fact, I have begun to reflect recently about that mystical 40 year birthday and the effects it produces. I am beginning to think that it is the end of idealism and the beginning of pragmatism. We live long enough to learn that sometimes people die young, hard times will come to everyone eventually, and life is better lived in the present than planned for the future. This changes the way we make decisions and weather storms and can make us appear more self-centered and less self-consumed at the same time. We are learning what is important to us and refusing to compromise those things. Of course, you could be much less philosophical than I am and think I am full of it, LOL! Greg, when do you start the new job again? I will pray for an easy transition, emotionally, financially, etc. Leslie, HAVE FUN IN AUSTRALIA! You leave very soon if I remember correctly, right? Chris, I am assuming that no news is good news. I am glad to know that someone is stable around here. Back to running. Spring is always a time of crazy busy-ness for me because I am a dirt addict. I start digging holes and planning gardens and starting HUGE projects that fill the "planting time" days. In addition to this, I took a mini-vacation (long weekend) to Vicksburg, MS and returned home yesterday. I am a serious Civil War enthusiast and DH loves militaria, so it was a great time. I ran on Monday evening around the battlefield road - well some of it - because it is a 16 mile series of loops. Vicksburg has HILLS, steep long ones, and I rather liked them. My quads were sore the next day, but I still ran a decent (for me) 12 min/mile average on a 3.6 mile loop. Going downhill is FUN! I actually reached 7:45 pace at one point and that was COOL. This was my second battlefield run (I ran at Gettysburg a few years back) and I think I should make it a quest to run as many Civil War battlefields as possible. Maybe that will be my "near 40" revelation. It can't hurt to combine two of my joys together that way. Look at me, back to writing books. Happy running everyone. Kitrin

Hi everybody. Y'all sound real good. I have been going through orientation this whole week in the new office. In my old job I had a lot of time to myself and could check in here a lot. That will not be the case anymore. I will be in the field, visiting dying people in their homes, assisted living facilities, and hospitals, helping them get resources and prepare for death. I will not have a lot of time to check in. In the evenings I have my family to attend to. So, I will be less active here, unfortunately, but I will definitely be checking in with you guys. I was struck with wicked tendonitis in my left ankle and had to take a week off. I'm trying to ease back into running but it's not healed yet. I'm beginning to think I may have some tears in it. I don't know. I'll keep an eye on it and try to take it easy. Keep on keepin on everyone. Take care. Thanks for the prayers Kitrin. Everything's going real well so far.

Hey all, Still alive. Was just in the midwest for a week and a half, visiting family and running a 50 miler in Kentucky. It rains a lot in the midwest. Rain + Dirt = Mud. Mud isn't fun to run in. :-) Glad to see everyone is doing well. Congrats on starting the new job Greg. Sounds like tough, but rewarding work. A friend of mine did a hospice rotation recently. She loved it, but said it was tough. - Chris

Slowing down around here. I hope Leslie's having fun in Australia. New job is good so far. Still feeling it out as far as responsibilities go. The woman who hired me has great faith in me, which feels real nice. My achilles has really been bothering me. Took 6 days off running, then hit 12 yesterday, which was fun. It was 70 degrees and humid, and it felt like the middle of summer! Resting today then maybe starting my mid week running again tomorrow with a short easy 3 on the local trails around my house. We'll see. Keep on keeping on everyone. It's time to start upping the miles for upcoming races, focusing in.