I just spent an hour composing a post for the whole of January, was just about ready to hit the Post button, and it suddenly vanished! Egad! I'm pretty sure it was worthy of a Pulitzer, too, but now we'll never know, 'cause this post isn't going to be nearly as good!

We've all been dealing with weather to one degree or another, but weather has been the story of January for me. We are coming off of a cold snap where the daily HIGHS were in the -3 to +6 range!  I think I already posted about the first, wet snowstorm. We got another storm during the cold weather, so the snow was a lot more fluffy and drifty. It averaged maybe 10 inches. Here's how our street looked after that:

After that, we got several squalls, one of which was heavy enough and windy enough to trigger the civil defense phone warning. All in all, maybe 14" of snow. My story of January has been shoveling, mostly the driveway, which I had to do every time the snowplow passed. Almost covered the mailbox. All this to say that my running has been pretty minimal, several days under 2 miles, just running on the streets and sidewalks I could find that were relatively clear. Now we've had a week where it let up on us, with temps in the 30s to 40s, and snow is starting to melt. Yesterday it was 32F and the trails looked clear, but they had a coating of black ice, so Sage and I decided to quit after 1.5 miles. Today, however, everything was clear, and Sage got 2 miles, and I followed that by 5 on my own, for a total of 7.

Di - Nice that you can start looking forward to moving into your new home and starting a garden there.

Art - Good that the Jensen-Healey will be getting new seats. Funny (in the sense of "weird") that they can charge whatever their whim strikes them at any given moment. Glad you ended up getting a good deal...now the work is on for you. I don't know if I mentioned that I've had the cataract surgery - the lens implants. It's pretty wonderful not needing glasses anymore, after having worn them since 4th grade. Hope your wife has the same sort of success.

Altair -  Your mileage chart looks really strong, once you retired. January is looking good for you as well, as you're keeping up with the pace bunny for your ambitious goal. Pretty often, what's good for the body in one sense is bad for it in another, e.g. calcium. You need it for strong bones, but evidently your kidneys don't need it. Are you getting symptoms/pains from the stones?

AZ - Good luck in your trail HM! I'm sure you'll do great! Sorry that taking care of your mom is so draining, physically and emotionally. Alzheimer's is so awful.

DW used to make a delicious blueberry-banana bread. I can see if she still has the recipe.

I'll quit now, before I lose another post. Told ya it wouldn't be Pulitzer-worthy!

What the heck?!? Lost my post too!!  Was even better than Led 

So…. 
Wed: ran 4 miles and step class. 
Thurs: woke up to SNOW! Took rest day. 
Fri: left around 10 am. Stopped in Phx to visit a friend for an hour, she left for Chicago the next day. The traffic on the interstate towards Tucson was snail pace for about 20 miles, didn’t see an accident or anything so who knows? Anyway, arrived at my niece’s new place about 4 pm. I cooked and froze 4 types of soup dishes for them. We ate one with pasta. We took their dog for a walk around the neighborhood. Since I had to get up at 4 am, I read in bed before I fell asleep. 
Sat: up at 4, left at 4:45. Even at that time, it’s busy traffic on the interstate till I turned west off the freeway. It took about an hour, very quiet except for border patrol vehicles. I ate a banana and PBJ on the way.
I didn’t know where the race location is but it’s a small community. When I was a prevention consultant, I worked with every tribal nation in AZ so I was still familiar with the area. Anyway, I followed a couple of cars that turned towards a building and saw a couple of runners.

I went in thinking that’s where I pick up my race bib. Ran into S and J.  Then a gentleman informed us that the last shuttle is leaving in 15 minutes. WHAT?!?   They saw the surprised look on my face, and assured me that they will wait for me. I ran back to my car, grabbed my hydration vest w bottles and sunglasses. Thank goodness I ate something, and had my vest ready and was dressed. 
It was about 10 miles to race start location. Picked up bib. Nice bag too. Race hoodie will be mailed to some of us as they ran out of Small and medium. Found out there’s an aid station at every mile. WHAT?!? That’s amazing for a trail race. But it’s wonderful that the people in the community are so supportive by volunteering, wow!!
After a prayer song, we took off. Small event, less than 100. It’s 45 degrees but it’s breezy making it more chilly. 
Single track for about a mile; left my hydration vest except for one collapsible water bottle with the volunteers at mile one aid station. Made a turn onto dirt road for quads, some short rocky dirt hills. At 8 miles, it’s a very sandy wash with river rocks; mile 9, we turned onto old broken paved air strip and the HEADWIND, holy cow!! It almost knocked me over. As much as I wanted to walk, I pushed forward till the turn towards the community. Across the highway and onto sidewalk, and headwind, ugh!! Mile 11.5, short dirt road and who put those 2 hills there?!?  Last half mile, it’s paved to the finish. Whew!! 2:18. 1st in AG. This was not your typical race w timing chip, etc. But it was free. Met up with my other Native Women Runners: the main reason for driving ALL that way. But at least it was in the same state and warm weather. From snow in northern AZ to the 70s in southern AZ. Fun race overall. It’s just a race so I don’t get all bent out of shape when surprises happen. 
My niece and her friend weren’t getting off work till 2:30 pm. So I decided to drive up to Kitt Peak. “Founded in 1958, Kitt Peak National Observatory is home to one of the largest arrays of optical and radio telescopes in the world.”

It’s been years since I visited. Due to the pandemic and the June 2022 Contreras fire, it has been closed for 3 years but it has reopened but many areas to explore are still closed off to visitors. One can see for miles from any spot. Was windy!! 
Sun: left early. Stopped in Phx at IKEA for storage ideas but didn’t find what I needed. Then, stopped at Trader Joe’s. Before I got home, I ran 3 miles on trail. Needed to loosen up and stretch. DH had grilled salmon and veggies ready. Yummy!

AZ wow on all the craziness of the HM.  I don't like not knowing where to go especially having driven that far.  And then to find out you are "late". Nice DH cooks a good meal when you get home.  I don't really know anyone beside a few at the center and people at work so no housewarming...lol.

If everything goes as planned this will be my first week of working MWF in the office and TTHS doing dialysis and then work from home TTH.  I'm already tired....Monday seemed long in the office.

EDIT: Yes AZ we looked at TMs at Academy...was DH's idea I wasn't going to bring it up until we were well moved in. The one we looked at is on the smaller side which is fine since I won't be training for ultras. Just need to get my fitness back.

AZ - Dang, your Nobel-worthy post is lost to all mankind!   Great account of your HM.  I knew you'd crush it, and it obviously wasn't an easy one! No standing around bored, pre-race, was there?  I would have liked to see the race, and also Kitt Peak (in nicer weather)! 

Led: HAHA!! Exactly!! No stressing on my part. It worked out as the race actually started 15 minutes later anyway so I had time for dynamic stretching inside, not in the chilly wind. It was pretty laid back …..probably bc most of the runners were local, meaning from the community and nearby Tucson. Even with all that I described, it wasn’t a ‘technical’ route that I’m use to. 
However, it was all for Native Women Running (NWR). 
So….. when is your next race??

I keep waiting for us to run a race together. Would be fun, I think. LOL! 

Di: it wasn’t all that difficult or stressful. Small races in a small community is not difficult to maneuver around in. Just from experience. I was kidding about the housewarming party ……. If I was closer, definitely would have one.. haha!

I think that when replying to a post on RA you can time out if writing long missive or doing a detailed race report. Once again I'll point out the advantage of composing the message offline. I use Notepad, which is simpler to use than Word.

Led - Minimal runs are still impressive for braving the cold! With a -3 high you must already be in "The More Miles Than Degrees" club for this year! Nice snow picture of your street! Heavy snow can make it difficult to find a clear and safe running route. I shoveled snow for years, but GF made me get a snow blower, it's a cordless electric, so no dealing with gas. I still have to shovel the dense snow the plow pushes up on the bottom of the driveway. Ice is an issue when the snow melts and then refreezes. I'm a little behind the pace bunny, but should start to catch up with the rascal next month! I've never felt pain from passing a stone, but heard it can be intense. A lot of supplements I thought were good, like calcium, salt (to maintain electrolytes) and protein (have to ask the doctor if vegetable protein is alright) are not recommended for those with kidney stones.

Di - It's tough on the body when the weather alternates between warm and cold spells. Good you still have time to prepare for your move. If you go to Training Log > New Course, you can map out routes around the new neighborhood and routes to your work and the center. Good luck finding a suitable treadmill! I've locked myself out of the car in the past! I now tape an extra key to the back of the license plate and that's saved me several times! l 'm sure you'll get used to the bigger new house.

AZ - Nice while traveling to the race you met with a friend and got to make soup for your niece! Kind of crazy almost missing the shuttle and not knowing where to pick up the race bib. An aid station every mile is kind of an overkill, but nice to know they are always near if you need one. Doing a prayer song, I suppose a native traditional one, is a neat idea! Maybe I should recite a poem or something before my next race to make it more a spiritual experience. Nice to have decent weather for the race, except for the strong wind! You did not mention if you know Verna NezBegay Volker who founded Native Women Running. I've seen pictures taken by the telescopes at Kitt's peak. Prostate cancer can be slow growing and I'm not too worried. I don't have problems with the cold, but snow or mud can make trails poor choices for winter runs. No, did not tell GF about locking myself out, I already know I'm a goofball, don't need her to remind me!

Sunday, I rested as planned. Some rain and snow flurries Monday. There was a flood watch and I decided another rest day would be a good idea. I worked for a while entering early records from a notebook into my RA log, starting from March 1995 and I got up to entering in the log my very first marathon, run early May of 1997! Maybe you will find this interesting how I first was training, I seem to run greater weekly distances nowadays! I was already running before the dates recorded in the notebook and had done half marathons in '93 and '94, but don't seem to have kept a log for those years. This was when I still lived on the south shore of Long Island. Typically I would do a run down to the bay before breakfast and work. I have that route as 3 miles, although my crude measurements were all estimated on a paper map! I think the runs actually were like a half mile longer, but since the route varied I can't be sure. Weekend I usually would travel to Long Beach and run back and forth on the boardwalk, which I knew to be 2.3 mile long. Interesting how little millage I would get during the workweek and then most of the distance would be that one boardwalk run! Also interesting is RA now lists my total mileage as 11,713 miles, with more miles still to be recorded in the log. I expect I've run, in distance, over half of the 24,901 miles of Earth's circumference! Led has more than circled the world in distance with a running total of 29,155 miles!
Here is a graph of weekly runs from early March of '95 to my first full marathon in May of '97, races are marked in red. You can see I did adequate training for the May '95 half and got a decent finishing time. I did hardly any training for the '96 half and was more than half an hour slower. I did work hard to train for the full in '97!

This graph shows my daily runs from March '97 up to the early May full marathon. Looks like I was mostly doing like a few three mile runs during the week, some six milers and just prior to the race a few 9 milers. The weekend long runs were impressive with three 18 mile runs in March and three 23 mile runs in April. I think my race time would have been faster if I had not injured the arch of my right foot. When I finished I took off my shoe and was bruised in that area, must have strained a tendon.

I'll catch up with yesterday's and today's runs later on.