Rocket's First Run!

Easter is tomorrow. I have a full day planned, a 10 mile sunrise run at Horsetooth with some of the Fort Collins Running Club runners and then afterwards, I'm meeting Paul for another 10 miles at the lakes. Dennis and I are doing an Easter brunch afterwards with some friends. And I will need a nap. Getting up at 4:30 am is not my favorite thing to do. But the coffee is ready to go.

I did a "race pace" run at the track today, trying to see how slow of a pace I could run and still maintain comfort. It's so hard to force yourself to run super slow. I was incorporating a few walking laps just to get an idea of how my walking pace feels. I haven't been doing any walking at all in my training so far this spring, so I need to remember to do a little of that. A 10:20 pace felt just about right for as slow as I could go- I was comfortable there without forcing myself to go any slower. I will need to do a lot of walking in the first half of the 24 hour to keep myself from putting too many miles in too early.

After my workout today, I pulled the "Rocket", the Batmobile, out of the box and put it together. It was so easy, even I, in my incredible mechanical ineptitude, could figure it out and get it together without Dennis's help. I was extremely proud of myself.

I tried taking the girls for a test drive, but they wouldn't stay in the seat. Isabelle did bettter than Iris. They got claustrophobic when I pulled the canopy down, even though they could see through it.

I adjusted the handle on Rocket the Batmobile to my height and that worked great. It's lightweight and comfortable, and easy to steer even with the awkward swivel wheel in front, which we will get rid of. I didn't load any weight in it to push it except for Isabelle, and she's 55 pounds. That was easy to push. She didn't stay in there long enough for me to really test it, so I'll have to put a loaded cooler in there next time.

I think the handle can adjust high enough for Ed, but he'll have to try it himself before we know. The problem we're going to have to solve is the swivel wheel set that came with the package. We need to replace the front wheel with some kind of a fork that will allow us to put a fixed-axle wheel on there (Gerry Z's). But figuring out how to do the fork will take someone with talent for these things, and that's not me. So I have my next project cut out for me.

Iris found the peeps with no problem and tipped the trailer over to get to them. She got the yellow one.

We were playing with Siri the other night on Dennis's iPhone and we got Iris into a conversation with Siri. Siri is clearly going to need some instruction in Australian Shepherd-ese.

That's all for now, and just three peeps left for Easter tomorrow.

Rocket Run

Awesome run this morning. Did 12 miles, 2 mile warmup with the girls, then 10 mile tempo run in under 8:30 pace. I felt decent. It wasn't too hard, but I had to push.

I have a new running partner, Shannon. He's from Virginia and moved here about a year ago. He does ultras and recently started Run to Work Day. I wrote about it in this coming Sunday's Coloradoan, in the Xplore section, in my monthly running column.

Shannon and I ran the other evening and it was really helpful to have someone push me, plus he is so over the top enthusiastic about running that it's contagious. Today I really felt motivated to get out and move. I guess I must be feeling better since being sick last week.

Monday I did pushups to failure and I couldn't raise my arms above my head for two days. A little bit of weight training goes a long way. I'm taking it as a good sign, since I was able to do pushups again today. The five pounds have been staying off, I'm so happy about that.

"Rocket" arrived yesterday when I was at work. I haven't broken it out of the package yet, I am still busy with work and related stuff these few days until Saturday. I am not sure so far how we will rig up Gerry Z's wheels to Rocket, but we will. Even if we have to find someone to do some welding for us.

I'm thinking we might want to rename the Double Mick "The Rocket Run" since we will have the Rocket with us. Things are looking solid for Dale to be able to join Ed and I. With those two, it will be one of those "doubled-over-laughing-so-hard-I-can't-run-because-I-can't-breathe" runs.

It's a beautiful day. Not too warm, not too sunny, not too windy. Feels like April. I'm running this evening, gotta do some easy miles plus strides. Keep the leg turnover going. I'm tired of being so slow!

Busy day of running and social stuff planned on Easter Sunday. I don't even celebrate Easter! But somehow I'm doing Easter things all day. I did make baba ganoush the other day, which keeps the vampires away. But somehow I got talked into making egg salad for Easter brunch. Egg Salad? What's that? I guess it has eggs in it. Maybe I should make the vegan version and freak everybody out. I know a great vegan egg salad recipe with garbanzo beans and tofu.

Speaking of Easter, I'm down to 6 peeps. Gotta use them wisely. Three more days.

Gerry Z and the Snow Peeps

After a whole month of warmer than usual temperatures and no measurable precipitation in what is usually our wettest month, it's now snowing. Or I should say, it was snowing when I went out to run. Now it's just damp and breezy with nothing falling from the sky.

The Peeps have taken to hiding under an umbrella, the cover over the seat of Gerry Z, short for Gerry Zoomer, the discontinued model of baby stroller who will sacrifice his parts for us when we build the Batmobile.

I'm almost recovered from the virus I had, I think. I feel okay, just tired, and my legs feel slow. I don't know if it's because I am slow or if I'm still recovering. Last week was supposed to be my rest week but it turned into a sick week instead, so maybe I haven't had the rest I need yet. Yesterday I did a little over 10 miles and felt okay. I ran 6 1/2 of it with Cat, and we went easy and talked the whole way. My legs don't want to do anything, they feel flat.

Then this morning I did a little warmup with the girls in the snow, took them home and went out to get a total of 9 1/2 miles. Flat again. That was enough since I'm running again this evening. I entertained myself on my run this morning by taking lots of pictures of the spring scenery in Fort Collins. Even on a day like today there's so much color everywhere! And earthworms, too.

My stomach feels like it's not all the way there yet, either. I'm not queasy but it just feels like it's not ready for most foods yet. I got super hungry on Sunday after working all day, but then yesterday and today food is not all that exciting.

As much as I like to complain about the cold weather, I am really glad we're getting this moisture. If we don't get some rain or snow in April and May, we're going to have one hell of a fire season, everywhere. The worst thing for runners is when they have to close the forests because the fire danger is so high, there's no trail access and you get stuck in town, which is hard because we know what we're missing around here.

I'm hoping I feel better toward the end of the week so I can get some decent workouts in, but if my body says no, I'll listen. I was just starting to feel like I was making some progress. Hoping I can get the rest I need and get back to it soon.

Moving Forward

I'm recovering slowly from this GI virus. My gut is making sounds I never knew it was capable of making...

I thought I'd be able to go back to work tomorrow, and was planning to. But after eating some soup late this morning, I changed my plans, because even though it did go in the right direction...I'll spare you the details. I haven't been doing enough speedwork to sprint to the bathroom fast enough if that happened at work. I think it's going to take at least another day.

Plus I still feel lightheaded and my headache hasn't gone away. And I'm getting all kinds of muscle cramps, in my feet, back, ribs, calves...

I hope Dennis doesn't catch this.

But the good news is things are going in the right direction and no more nausea. I'm hoping I can get back to work Sunday.

Last night I missed out on a chance to bid on a stroller/bike trailer combination on e-Bay because I was "occupied" at the time...but today things seemed to take a positive turn on the Batmobile building front.

First, Dennis found this blue baby jogger at work someone was selling for $25! I was looking for something that we could use for parts in case we decide to retrofit the trailer/stroller we really want.

Then I got an e-mail about something from amazon.com and decided to check out their site for the same model of trailer/stroller I have been trying to find. They had a new one for much less than the used ones I was looking at on e-Bay, and less than the used ones I've been seeing around town. Plus with shipping it still came out to be less. So I decided to go for it.

I should have the trailer by late next week. And if we decide we hate it, which I doubt will happen, I can always re-sell it. I think we can use the wheels from the used baby jogger to create a fixed wheel for the front of the trailer instead of the front swivel wheels it comes with.

As soon as it gets here, Ed and I will take it for a test drive. We also got word that our friend Dale is interested in joining us, to crew, so we might have some help in the Black Hills, which would make our run so much easier and more fun. We're not 100% sure Dale can be there the whole time, but it's a possibility at this point. If Dale does the trip with us, it will be the giants and the pygmy amazon. As you can see in the picture, Dale(right) and Ed (left) are both vertically gifted, while I am vertically challenged. (Our friend Nattu in the back of the picture is vertically average.)

So at least in these days of being home sick, I did accomplish something, I've been somewhat productive.

The girls are getting very impatient with me. Mom has not had the energy to go for a walk. I probably did get sick because I was running too much- I was so tired, and didn't get the rest I needed. So I can probably blame myself for this.

I can forgive myself, until I look at these faces...


photo credit: Nathan Nitzky (top photo)