Gratitude

There are so many things to be thankful for.

Last weekend we went up to Trout Creek Pass to check on things. Our neighbors up there have been trying to get in touch with us about this, which happened earlier this year while we were gone. Call it a miracle, call it what you will, but we were so lucky.

This dead pine tree has been standing by the shed for a few years since the big mountain pine beetle invasion 5 years ago. We only lost two trees and we are lucky to have so many Douglas Fir which didn't get affected by the pine beetles. When it fell, it missed our shed, the fenced-in area for the dogs, and the nearby Douglas Fir tree. Missed all of it. Fell neatly, perfectly in between.





The lot next door was sold, but the old owners left the Silver Stream that's been there forever. That thing was already delapidated when we first looked at our lot in 1997. Maybe the new owners will restore it.



This past week there have been many other things to be thankful for. I sprained my ankle a week ago Saturday and I stayed off of it and iced it, and I am now running again. I was able to run after just 5 days off. Last Thursday, my first run after my ankle sprain, I got to run with my old running buddies Tom and Allison. I finally had a Thursday night off when I didn't have to work the next morning so I got to run with the Thursday night group, and it was so good to run with them again.

The other thing I am thankful for is that I ran the Mountain Avenue Mile on August 13th and even though my time was slow and I felt like a thundering herd of elephants running down the street carrying my 12 pounds of extra flesh I've acquired over the past year or so. I ran 6:42 which for me is very slow but I had fun and watched Dennis and Felix both run great races, both finished in about 5:10.

And then running-wise I am thankful that I was able to run 20 miles today, on my own, no walking whatsoever (not a step!) and did it without having to force myself out the door, without anyone else along to motivate me, and even though I was slow I kept a steady pace, didn't listen to music, and didn't ever once deteriorate into a death march or bad attitude.

I didn't realize but it's been well over a year since I had the motivation to do a long training run on my own. I am actually looking forward to that 50K run in a few weeks on the Hopi reservation.

Today, I am thankful for not feeling burned out on running.