The Catch-Up

It's been way too long since I've been on this blog. Sorry, readers. I have been so busy since the book came out, I can hardly keep up with myself. I'll write a quick post and then I want to post two long overdue running posts- one from this year's Human Powered Brewery Tour in February, and another from my Urban Adventure Birthday Run this year in March.

Today is Saturday and other than those two events I just mentioned, it is my first real day off from working since January. I am hoping to have more space for living life as of this month, because I overbooked myself the past three. A lot going on in my life and sometimes it's just like that when you're self-employed. I wish I could clone myself, hire a person to do my social media and other stuff for me, but I can't.

I'm not going into a lot of detail but I'll do the bad news first, the local running community lost another runner to cancer this past week. Kirsten was only 45 and is the mother of young twin girls. She ran her first ultra a few years back, and then about two years ago she was diagnosed with Stage Four cancer, and now she's gone. She was a great runner, fun to be around, and had a lot of energy and a great sense of humor. Her service is on Monday and I'm going. It's rocked the running community hard. I hope her family gets a ton of support, it seems like they are.

April has been such a tough month for deaths. Seems like I go to a lot of funerals in April. Just an observation. Personally, if I were able to choose when to die, I think I'd choose November. That's when it's getting cold and dark and gray, and there's a long winter ahead. But not too many of us get to choose. I hate that I'll be visiting Kirsten at the cemetery, that's where I visit a lot of people I've known.

The good news is that I have had a lot of projects going as a result of my book and my programs. We're doing a pilot group, actually two of them, of my Cancer Harbors program with a local nonprofit. We got a grant from the State Department of Health to do it. And I'm doing some continuing education course development with another company. And I've been contacted by other people as far away as Australia to collaborate of various cancer-related projects. And I've had half a dozen podcast interviews. I'm waiting for all of them to be put up online, they should all be up this spring.

The book sales are going fairly well, though I wish I had more time to focus on marketing it. I do what I can.

I've been running more consistently. I have been building up my miles, though not all of it has been running. I'm trying to build up the running time now. It's getting there. I am running a 24 hour fun run near Palmer Lake in two weeks. I don't expect any great performance, it would be nice if I could exceed what I did at Across the Years. If the weather cooperates, that will help, because running in the foothills at 8000 feet elevation in the spring is like playing Russian Roulette.

The girls are growing up into big grown up girls. They are 18 months old now, and running 5-8 miles most days. They still have their puppy quirks, but are growing out of most of the real troublemaking. We still have some chewing issues, Velcro likes to chew on anything that isn't a flat surface. She steals things off the counters too. And Gypsy is a little sassy thing. They make our lives so much fun.

I am excited because I was invited to speak on the U.S. Capitol steps at the Nurses Take DC rally for safe staffing. I'll be going to DC later this month for that. There should be around 1000 nurses or more. There is a chance I might get to meet Bernie Sanders and/or Elizabeth Warren personally. If I do, I'm getting a selfie and posting it here!

Next week I am taking a couple of days off to do my own personal retreat in the mountains, a mid-week spa weekend. I hope to get caught up on some personal writing and relaxation time. It's been a long time since I've been able to do that.

Tomorrow I'm hoping to get a good 20 mile run in, and that should be the last long run before Palmer Lake. And then I have no plans except for Across the Years, I'll have to find something to fill in the gaps between now and then.

That's about all I have for you now. I really, seriously, do want to get back to writing more frequently. With more running, I'll have more adventures to share. Happy spring, and thanks for sticking with me!