Buffalo Weather

It's January in Fort Collins. In the past week or so we got four inches of snow, enough to melt and refreeze to form a thick sheet of ice over most of our street, including the end of our driveway and the sidewalks in our neighborhood.

Then the wind blew in the other day and the temperatures reached 50 degrees, most of the ice melted along with the snow, then the wind blew again and brought a mini-blizzard that lasted all of 45 minutes this afternoon. Now the street is covered with about an inch of snow and a thin sheet of ice. Welcome to Fort Collins. The weather will do this off and on for the next 4 months.

I consider myself lucky now because I am inside riding the bike on the trainer two hours a day and I don't have to go outside and deal with the ice all that much. Except for my trip to the local pet supply store to get treats for the Buffaloes.

I tried running last weekend, I went out for an hour and did 6 miles, and felt fine. I could tell my legs are still tired, and afterwards I took the girls for a walk/run and we did another 4 miles. That felt okay too. I made plans to try running with a group of other runners on Sunday morning at Bacon Strip.

At Bacon Strip I started out easy but within a mile everything was hurting, so I went back to my car and called it a week. I think I need to be on the bike and stretching daily for at least another week or two. I've been walking the Buffaloes and that doesn't seem to bother me. My feet are fine and I have only a couple of sore places, the same ones that were sore after the race. Mostly my left side.

In general things are good. I am starting my chemotherapy class for work next week, which will be a lot of new information and concepts to think about, and I am looking forward to learning more about this dimension of oncology nursing. There is so much to learn about cancer and it's ramifications, and it is all changing so fast that it's not even a matter of keeping up with things, because you can't learn things fast enough sequentially. It's more like a feeling of being carried along on this wave, and you just roll with it.

I am very excited about a new development in my artwork, which I'll discuss more in the near future. I went back to work two weeks ago and it's nice to be back. It's even better to be able to experience the feeling of enjoying your job. I am so lucky.

I have been tired and needing long naps in the afternoons. And I have gained a few pounds since I left for Arizona. How do you run 151 miles and gain weight? But I did. I am going to get my thyroid checked like I should have two months ago, but of course I misplaced the lab order and was so focused on getting ready for Across the Years that I forgot to do it. Actually I need to have a lot of labs drawn so I need to find a day when I can fast into the morning, which is pretty much impossible for me to do when I'm training hard, without turning into a raging bitch. I need to do it soon.

Saving the best and baddest for last, we've started planning for Badwater and we have 80% of the crew confirmed and I send in my application in early February! The Baddest of All Gone Bad, Steph Willingham, will be my crew boss again, and my brother Nathan, Ed Green, and Dan McGlothlin are all on board to rock Death Valley in July!