Seventy-six in Four

I've put in 76 miles over the past 4 days. 17, 23, 6 and 30. This weekend I will get another 24 or so and call it a double the age in miles week. My birthday run is Saturday. The weather has been so weird. The forecasts have been completely off and changing drastically from day to day. From hour to hour. I hope it's a halfway decent day, looks like it should be but who knows.

I was dragging ass by the end of today's run. It took forever, almost 6 hours to do 30 miles. My legs were tired, and I had to remind myself that fatigue is the first hurdle and then later on it gets easier. I haven't done this kind of mileage in over a year so it's a wake up call for my legs. I stopped at home at mid-run for a sandwich, but on the run I ate almonds and salted caramel gu. I have never been much of a fan of gels but this stuff is decadent. And with the nuts, it's like dessert.

It was cold this morning. The forecast called for 67 degrees and sunny. But I was in thick tights, gloves, a hat, two long sleeved shirts and my vest. I think it might have been 50 at the warmest part of the day.

The snow is finally gone. Not that we couldn't get more for the next two months, but I'm planning to clean out the front flower garden this weekend. Plus it's almost peep season, and I'll be coming up with some creative peep ideas soon. And we need to get dirt for the garden boxes that Dennis built last fall. This year I will have energy to grow things again and deal with the work of a garden. Unless of course my business gets super busy right away...

When I got home my Pearl Izumi road H3s arrived. They got the Buffalo Seal of Approval. I was so happy, because I have beaten the crap out of the pair I've been wearing. The colors are better this time, instead of the pink. I'm not a fan of pink.

I haven't done much for hills this week, I might end up skipping them this week and hit it next week. The weather should be better and maybe the trails will dry out more by then.

Last night I gave a talk to the Aspen Club, to a good sized group of people at the hospital where I used to work. The Aspen Club is a community health-related club for people over 50. I told them on Monday I will be eligible for Aspen Club membership. It went well, and I think they enjoyed it. I know I did. It was strange to go back in the hospital building though.

I haven't been back there since I left my job in November, and it was such a strange experience- the feeling of walking through the dingy hallways and stairwells, the smells, the cafeteria smell, and the smell of the carpet. The place where I spoke is a big room off the main cafeteria dining area.

It felt sad in the hospital. I didn't feel sad, I am overjoyed that I left. But the atmosphere felt sad, the place felt neglected. Emotionally neglected. People looked tired, dull, worn. Just like the stairwells and walls. Not dirty, but just worn out. Same old artwork on the walls. Dreary.

Same signs everywhere. The one that always cracked me up was on the landing area near the staff elevators, there's a laminated sign posted that says, "This is an area of refuge". I always wondered about that sign when I worked there. What did that mean? If you felt stressed out, were you supposed to congregate by the elevators to get some relief?

Same old propaganda on the bulletin boards, too. Nothing seems to have changed. I saw a few people I recognized but it was a quiet time of day, evening in the hallways, and there weren't a lot of staff around. I said hi to the linen guy when I saw him in the cafeteria. He didn't know I left. I also saw some former patients at my talk and in the cafeteria.

I miss the patients a lot. But I feel like there are all kinds of opportunities now to interact with them through my new business. And I had a strange experience the other night. I had been out running that day in my neighborhood, and one of my former patients lives nearby. I started thinking about her, wondering how she's doing. I thought about her several times recently, since I go through the neighborhood on many of my runs.

That night we went out to a restaurant and there she was, eating with her husband. I went over and said hi. She had a hat on and had recently been through chemo and surgery again, and she actually needed help, so I gave her my business card.

I have a pile of email to answer and tons of details to work through for my business but I feel relieved to be ready to move forward. And next week my brother and sister-in-law and my multitalented brainiac niece Jenny will be visiting, on her 17th birthday, to check out CSU and CU. Will she be a Ram or a Buffalo? Or something else?

It would be nice to have her close by. So far her favorite school has been Oregon State, but then she would be a Beaver. We're partial to Buffaloes here, even though this is Ram country. Either way, it would be great to have Jenny around. I hope she'll find something irresistible here. Iris can give her best smile and Isabelle can sing and dance for Jenny. We'll have her Buffalo cousins turn on the charm!