Down With the Crud...

The past week I have been pretty much out of it. On Sunday afternoon after my run with Josh I started to feel a scratchy throat and was hoping it was allergies, but by bedtime it was becoming undeniable. Monday I spent most of the morning making a huge pot of green chile, and that was it for me. I went to bed after that. Tuesday I was completely worthless, worse than Monday.

Wednesday I could only manage a one mile walk with Iris, which was pushing it. Thursday I did 3 miles of walking with Iris, my best day yet. Friday I had no energy but my sinuses were draining and the cough wasn't quite as annoying. And today I had to get out for some obligations, which I did, but still no exercise. I feel wiped out. I will give it until Monday and then attempt to run at least a few steps.

It's not the flu, no fever and it is really all above my neck. I have an annoying cough more like a tickle in my throat, but it's not in my chest. I hope it doesn't go there. I don't want to be hacking up lung cookies for the next 3 weeks like everyone else seems to be doing. I usually get one cold or 24 hour puking episode every year and this was it for 2014.

The sad part is that it was a beautiful week, the weather was incredible, temperatures near 60. Iris got to work on her GPA, I really think she's gunning for an Ivy League scholarship. So many good nuggets to sniff now that geese are back!

I didn't get a lot of work done this week, either. My brain didn't want to do much work. I did catch up on some reading though. I finished Clifton Leaf's The Truth in Small Doses and Atul Gawande's Being Mortal. One more health policy-related book on the agenda before the end of the year and I will be looking for more. Gawande's book was excellent. Everyone who might ever die should read it.

I have a chapter due January 15th in the upcoming book Empowered Nurses, so I need to get my head clear and working again to finish it. Then I can finally move on to my big fat writing goal for 2015.

Friday I did also get a major project done, it took 7 hours. I had piles of miscellaneous papers, class notes, unread journals, paperwork from starting up my business, and garbage from stuff I've been reading and researching about cancer-related programs for the past 6 years. The stack was taller than me and spilling over onto the floor of the woman cave. So I decided to organize it by going through every single paper and journal to see what I could get rid of and what I could use.

Isabelle slept the whole time, through all the ruckus.

I stopped by Office Max and K-Mart Friday afternoon, yes we still have one of those relics in town, about a mile from my house. I bought about a dozen binders on sale and a 3-hole punch, then at K-Mart I found a cheap set of wooden pre-cut bookshelves that just needed to be screwed together and brought them home. Now I have a 5 foot tall shelving unit in the woman cave with a much less intimidating pile of stuff, divided up into categories. It feels so much better. I can't work surrounded by clutter.

I finally got my sense of taste back and decided to have a beer this afternoon. Fort Collins Brewery came up with a beer I like, 1020 Pale Ale. I always feel bad that we have a local brewery that I have never liked their beer, but I keep trying. It's hoppy and bitter and really good.

I really have nothing to add on the running front. Today is Desert Solstice 24 hour in Phoenix. I was on the fence about it ever since last spring and would have been there today if I didn't have such a frustrating summer of training. But I'm glad I didn't. If my motivation comes back, there's a good chance I will go there next year for a good track race. But we'll see what happens. I think my body has had it for a while.

I will be happy to run 3 miles on Monday at the rate I'm going.

Stay healthy, everyone.

GPS 2015: Enjoying Normal

It's goose poop season again, and again, Iris is working on her GPA: her goose poop average. She saw the geese were back for the winter in the schoolyard today, for the first time this year, and she was sniffing for vegetables in the grass...

The past two days I was successful in getting my butt out the door to run. Isabelle has been slacking for a while but the past two days she got her motivation back and walked. Her sister must have told her about the geese. Mmm...tasty treats.

Tuesday was the group track workout with the running club at noon, I got there early and ran a few miles to warm up and then dragged the tire on some dirt bike trails for a mile or so before going over to the track to meet the group.

While I was there I ran four 400s, not fast at all, but just for some leg turnover. I could barely crack 7 minute pace. But I wasn't doing it for speed. More like long strides. It was different to make myself work hard. At the end of each quarter I was done. Not ready for anything more intense than that.

Today I got my butt out for a little over 7 miles around noon. I have had such a hard time getting out in the morning. I start doing work things and get sidetracked and then by midday I have low motivation.

I am enjoying the shorter runs, though. It feels more refreshing, it doesn't wipe me out for the rest of the day. Instead of doing 20 miles, 7 or 8 is a nice start to the day. I think I'll be sticking to this average for a while, too. I am happy to keep a low GPA this winter. Unlike some people around here:

Overachiever.

Watching Winter Fly

This morning when I woke up it was 50 degrees. By the time I took Iris out for her walk it was 54 degrees and when I came home with her, it was 51.

Lucky girl, she got a taste of her favorite delicacy for the first time this year, fresh seasonal goose poop. It's goose poop season again. They're back...

Then I went out for my own run, and when I left home the wind was just starting to pick up. I took a fleece jacket with me, good idea. By the time I circled Warren Lake and headed home, it was 38 degrees and dropping.

One I got inside the house, it started snowing, and I watched winter move in over a period of an hour and a half. Typical Colorado weather.

Tomorrow the running club group meets at the high school track and I am going, even if I have to wear six layers. I will not let cold weather defeat me.

Sort of looking forward to the coming week's temperatures in the single digits, that means the mud will freeze. Better footing at the lake.

What else is good about winter? Getting to wear some of my favorite articles of clothing, all piled on top of one another in layers.

No more yard work, except for occasional snow shoveling, and keeping up with the dog poop in between storms.

Night running. More of it. Night running is even better in the winter. I better enjoy it, because there are only 52 days until spring...

Pogo Into the New Year!

Final run of 2013. Ten miles, super easy. My legs are tired. I took yesterday off and they're still tired.

Looking back at this year, it had it's moments. Good ones and not so good ones, but the sum of it all was really good. I can definitely say I am happier today than I was most of the year.

I started the year puking and ended it pogoing. Literally started it out at Across the Years in the medical tent puking into a trash can. And then some stuff happened in the middle, until I got on my pogo stick today, after my 10 mile run. And that about sums up my year.

You can see me pogo sticking with the Buffaloes here. I did this selfie video of pogosticking because another runner I know from the east coast, Christian, posted a video of himself today on Facebook, on his new pogo stick. It inspired me.

This morning I took Iris out for a couple of miles and then brought her home. Iris was enjoying the goose poop...Isabelle usually waits until later in the day to get going, so I went out to finish up on my own. About a mile into my own run, I ran into a friend out walking her dog, and we talked for a while.

It ended up being about health care politics and generally awful things but it was good to see her and hear some good news, which is that her husband, who has cancer, is feeling better right now.

After I got going again I ran into another longtime running friend and I ran fast with him for about a half mile while we talked, that is, he talked and I gasped, and then we parted ways. He runs the pace I should be able to run, but cannot sustain, due to the big truck tire between my waist and hips.

Plus I need to save something for tomorrow's 5K. I already can tell it will hurt. The strategy there will be to hang on for dear life until I can collapse at the finish line. Please don't do CPR. I can't think of anything I'd rather be doing when I die than running.

I usually scoff at New Years resolutions. This year, I am in serious need of following through with my own, especially the first one. I am sick of hearing myself whine about how slow I am with all this extra weight. I have great leg speed underneath all this lead.

Resolutions:

1. Lose at least 10 of the 9 pounds I packed on in the past 8 months. Preferably 15 pounds. I'd like to lose most of it by my birthday in March. That means I need to get serious and I might not be so fun to be around for the next few weeks.

2. Regain adequate ultra speed in my legs without injuring myself.

3. PR at the 24 hour timed event.

4. Figure out what I'm going to do for my birthday theme run. I only have 10 more weeks!

Happy New Year!

The Most Interesting Dog in the World...

This week has been a most interesting one.

I'm looking forward to the trip to Arizona, even if it is a short trip.

My wicked work hangover didn't stop me from having two good workouts this week so far. I got 15 on hills Monday and then about 17 today, including a 6 mile tempo run with Wheaties Boy. He loves his new job at Pearl Izumi. The past few weeks it's been hard to find a time to run together with his job transition, but things are finally working out. We didn't push too hard tonight, and we shortened the distance, ran about 8:15 pace, trying to save some for Saturday's race.

Wheaties Boy wanted to know how fast I'd run the 50K, and I have no idea. I'm nowhere near as fast as I was 10 years ago when I was running 3:15-3:20 marathons and ran Pemberton in 4:23, my best time on the course. But whatever I do this year at Pemberton, I intend to run it hard. I want a good hard training run before Delano Park.

Thursday I'll hit the track, and I get two days off from running this week because I work all day tomorrow, and then Friday I'll be traveling and won't have time.

I've been wanting to make this video of the dogs and finally got around to it. I hope you enjoy it, I had fun making it.

Hissy Fit!

Today was one of those loosey-goosey mornings.

I took the girls out for their morning run, and Isabelle wanted to come home after 2 miles, so we went home and then I went back out with Iris. Iris has a way of finding the geese, with her built-in GPS app, which means goose poop sniffing if you're new to the blog.

After four straight weeks of high mileage, it's my easy week, and all I wanted to do was get some quick speedwork in at the track this morning. I decided to do 16 x 200 meters, just for the turnover. Last week I did a few, just to get a feel for the pace, in 44-45 seconds.

The geese had taken over the track again, and there were just a few people on the track when I started my workout. There was this one VERY ANNOYING older woman, I've seen her before at the track, a few years ago. She loves to run and walk in the opposite direction of everyone, in lanes 1 and 2!

She doesn't seem to understand basic track etiquette, and the safety aspect seems to be lost on her. All she needs is to run into someone, she's a hip fracture waiting to happen. She'll run in lane 2, but she veers into lane 1 on the curves, even when someone is coming in the opposite direction! I watched her do that to another runner who was out there while I was warming up.

I need to have my elbows sharpened. She almost collided with me on the curve once. I wanted to say something to her, because she doesn't get it. I debated whether to talk to her. I wonder if someone already has. I am sure there are runners a lot less tolerant than I am.

I think it's great that she's out there doing it, she does a long consistent workout, but how stupid can you be, when there are people half your age and BIGGER than you running FAST in the counterclockwise direction, and you decide to wobble in the same lane going clockwise!!

It's one thing to run clockwise in the outer lanes when you warm up as long as you avoid anyone working out in those lanes going the counterclockwise direction. She left, fortunately, before I got too far into my workout, and I didn't bother to say anything. I'd hate to discourage her from doing her workouts. I wonder what she'd do if a whole track team showed up.

I ran about a 3 mile warmup, changed into my Adrenalines, and did some strides. The geese were pissed off. As I did my warmup in the outer lanes, after a few laps this one long-necked goose kept hissing at me. Once I was settled into my workout, he got a few of his friends in on the hissing, and soon I had two or three geese who opened their pink mouths and hissed at me every time I went by. They wouldn't approach me in the track lane, but they stayed on the grass in the infield as they ate. They stopped eating to hiss each lap.

I took it as a compliment, they were cheering for me.

This morning, cheered on by the hissing geese the whole time, I started out at 44 seconds and worked my way down to 41 seconds by the end.

Afterwards I drove home and felt like I'd done enough for the day. I got 11 miles in. When I got home, I looked at the bottoms of my shoes.

I wonder how much faster I would have been without all that goose poop!

After today's 11 miles, and 10 yesterday, preceded by 3 days off, I think I've rested well! I worked Wednesday, but Monday and Tuesday it was snowy and cold and I was tired, so I took advantage of the not-so-nice weather and took some much needed days off.

It's Superbowl weekend, and it's my work weekend. I'm anticipating the weekend with a bit of dread, because we tend to be busy and understaffed. But what I'm really dreading is the work hangover on Monday. Next week I don't have time for a work hangover, too much going on.

The other running news is that (1) today the Badwater race application period begins. No, I'm not applying this year. I'm hoping to make it out there this July to volunteer on medical again, if I can get away because of our work mandate of no vacation in July. This isn't a vacation, it's a professional activity, that will be my excuse. Let's hope it works.

(2) I have signed up again this year for the Team Gab Virtual Race to benefit Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation in honor of Gabby Gonzalez, daughter of Heather at 365 Days of Awesome. Last year I ran a 5K with a retro 80's theme. This year, I'll be doing the Pemberton 50K. Not sure if I'll have a costume or not, but we'll see. I have a week to figure it out.

Anyone can join, so if you're so inclined and care about this cause, I encourage you to visit her blog and check it out.

Happy Superbowl Running Weekend!

No Batteries Required

Goose Poop, Hula Hoop...sounds like a Jimmy Buffett song.

The past few days have been awesome. Really great. Ever since the pressure of having to pass the OCN exam is lifted off me, I feel so much better. I feel like this pedestrian dude in the sign with no neck and no feet, with his hula hoop. My head is floating somewhere on top of my body, which is suspended in air, off the ground.

I'm enjoying my runs, especially in the mornings with the girls, despite the constant search for goose poop that challenges my hamstrings as they pull me and I try to put the brakes on...

I took several days off from running, after two 90 mile weeks followed by a few days off, I did another 100 miles in 7 days. So then last week I had 5 days off in a row, which is an unusually long break for not having just run a race, but I didn't want to be tired or brain fogged for the test, and then I worked all weekend.

It was a nice weekend at work, for some reason, we were miraculously staffed adequately. Not sure what happened there, but it was so nice for a change. I actually got my charting done each time before the next patient rolled in. Sunday I got off a little early so I could go to my friend Troy's birthday party.

After going to a bowling alley we went over to Coopersmiths and the guys shot pool and the girls mostly hung out at a table and talked. It was a group of my former coworkers from ICU, the people I really liked, and it was great to catch up under happier circumstances than earlier this year. I drank more beer than I realized I was capable of drinking, but it didn't seem to affect me.

I stayed out extra late for me, didn't get home until 10:30, and was amazed that I was able to stay awake that long after two days of work. I made up for it Monday by taking a 3 hour nap.

Monday I ran 11 miles and change in the morning and did some strides. I felt good after all that time off. This morning I did 12 easy miles and tonight is tempo night with Wheaties Boy. I'm shooting for 100 miles this week, or at least 90. I don't want to taper much for Across the Years, I will take an easy week during the week before the race, but I want to keep my training mileage up.

I've been taking the girls running each morning and it's been cold, but I got some new Pearl Izumi tights and a jacket that are windproof, warm and lightweight, so I've been able to only wear one or two layers instead of 5 or 6. The girls love the cold weather. Iris is putting in a lot more miles, Isabelle sticks to one or 2 miles and she's done.

The Buffaloes demonstrate the use of their GPS (goose poop sniffing). The leashes are perfectly lined up with the most direct route to the goose poop. All you have to do is let them pull you to it and you'll never get lost. No batteries required.

Work Hangover Wednesday: Twinkies, Pie, and Tempo

I am now the proud owner of a pair of....

Twinkies!

Thanks to Felix, and his cats Oreo and Tiger, who left a little holiday-wrapped present on my doorstep the other day, which I found when I got home from work.

I survived the last two days of work plus a third morning today with a 7 am staff meeting. I couldn't just sit there and zone out, either, I had to give a presentation along with a coworker, plus I had another agenda item at the meeting that was mine, so I had to be fully awake. Always a challenge for me at 7 am.

It was super slow at work on Monday, probably due to an extension of the holiday weekend. But Tuesday everyone came charging back, and we had all the fun plus some...

I did bring my gigantic pumpkin pie to work on Monday, along with a can of whipped cream, and my coworkers helped me eat it. It was gone by 3 pm. Nurses are amazing eating machines.

I was pretty worthless today after the staff meeting, I came home, and despite Iris's efforts to convince me to get her outside, I couldn't do it. I needed food, and a nap. That was all I could handle. I got a long nap during the afternoon, and then I met Wheaties Boy at the usual time and place for our tempo run.

I did about 12.2 miles tonight, and I thought I was running pretty well, according to his Garmin we were hitting 8:07 pace for a lot of the run, but according to my calculations I only averaged 8:33 pace. Must have slowed down a bit somewhere. We did have a few hills this time, too, and Hail Mary hill was one of them.

Hail Mary hill is on south Lemay, north of Fossil Creek park, across from a big Catholic church, hence the name...

I felt pretty good on the run, but Hail Mary was a reminder that I haven't been doing hills. I will start again after the new year, when I'll be doing once or twice weekly runs up at Horsetooth. I might need to get my butt down and do some Hail Marys before then, though, I can tell I am pathetic on my hill strength.

Not much on the agenda this week. Just personal business I need to take care of, in between running. I should be getting a good upper body workout when I take the girls running, because I noticed tonight the sidewalks are now covered with Iris's favorite delicacy. The geese are back for the winter.

Snack time!

Duck Duck Goose

Finally, a decent day of running!

Got 10+ easy this morning, including a couple of GPS goose poop sniffing miles with the girls, and then 10+ tempo with Wheaties Boy tonight. I felt good on the tempo run, even though it's been 2 weeks since I attempted anything hard. I'm down to 123 pounds again, which is where I was before the Cornbelt 24 Hour back in May.

I only have 4 days available to run this week, because I have three 12 hour shifts in my running week. I didn't get home from work until 10:30 Monday night, and it took me forever to wind down, it was a crazy nght. I slept poorly, woke up pissed at the world and wasn't nice to Dennis before he left for work.

I texted him later and apologized. He's as stressed as I am, work is busy for him, he has a lot going on wth a new facility opening and all kinds of other small, medium, and large issues. I don't know how he does it, I could never be in management. The crap people do would drive me crazy. I'd be like, grow the #$@% up!

Adults are no different than children. Actually children are better, their brains are not completely developed and they would have more creative ideas and be more flexible. Shannon and I were talking about blockheads on our run, people who can't handle anything that pushes them outside of their safe, comfortable little worlds. No creativity whatsoever, they need to feel like they are in control of everything that happens.

All I did today was laundry and my workouts, I didn't try to get a bunch of stuff done. I took a nap between my morning and evening runs. I didn't study. I played duck and snake with the girls.

We went out for Mexican food tonight at Tortilla Marissa's after I got back from my run and I ate everything in sight. Soup and a HUGE burrito, all of it. How is it that I can eat more than Dennis? And how did we ever manage to feed ourselves when we were both in our 20s and 30s and running? Food wasn't so expensive back then, I guess.

I'd like to drop a few more pounds and get below 120 before Across the Years, it won't be easy but I might be able to get there with continued hard training. My body has a death grip on fat. At this point, it doesn't seem to matter what I eat, either, because I've been pigging out on all kinds of bad stuff, pizza, chocolate, ice cream, beer the past week or so, and I still managed to drop the weight.

I feel relieved to have had a good training day, because I was starting to get worried. I need to get one more long run in, and then I'll feel like I'm where I need to be with my training. The left side issues seemed to be a little better today. I'm not tapering at all for the 12 hour race, I will take it easy during race week but I plan to train all the way through October and rest up after the race as needed.

After talking with Shannon tonight on our run, I feel good about my strategy for the 12 hour. I'm planning on going out at a comfortable 50 mile pace and if I hit that split as planned, I'll have plenty of time left over to more miles. And mentally, that should get me charged up for the challenge.

I know myself well enough that if I run a smart early pace and get to my first goal, I will be very excited and be able to pick it up and run well the last few hours. And if I blow up, I blow up. No big deal, it's a training run for 48 hours, not my goal race for the year.

It's been a long time since I ran a 50 mile or 100K race, and I don't know what to expect for those distances with my current level of fitness. All I can do is go out at a relaxed but steady pace, and kick it in with everything I have left once I hit 50. Burn some rubber off the bottom of my shoes and blow out all the carbon! Only 2 1/2 more weeks.

I can't wait!

Shrinkage

Yeah, yeah, I know what you're thinking...no, not in the George Costanza context. I'm referring to the loss of product, the accounting version of shrinkage, that is, loss of mileage and quality training over this past week while I've hit a mental bad patch.

I have basically written this week off as one of those flukes, I am hoping that I will wake up tomorrow to a brand new week with a whole new level of motivation, energy, and attitude. If this were a business, I'd have a tax write off, in shrinkage. Just like running a grocery store.

Total of 22 miles this week. Ugh. Pathetic. I did 2 this morning with Iris. She was demonstrating the use of her GPS device. And that was all I could make myself do.

Such a beautiful fall day, and all morning I felt like crawling in a hole and hiding out from the world. Finally I got a little motivation to do some errands, I went to the store to buy dog food, I planned to make refried beans and turkey, spinach & zucchini enchiladas tonight so we'll have some food to eat for a few days- no work lunch crisis this week, I hate to resort to cafeteria glop.

And I finally scrubbed out the hot tub and cleaned the inside of the cover, and refilled it. I turned it on and all the jets worked and the heater was working, it looked like maybe the thing was going to work perfectly, until...

I noticed there was a leak on one of the dials on top that turns off the jets and makes the water bubble up from the center of the tub. I am compeltely mechanically inept, so I don't even try to figure these things out on my own. All I know is that I saw the leak, and I lifted up the plastic part of the dial to see if I could screw it on tighter, and it felt like it was stripped. So I pulled the outer piece of plastic off, and up came another piece of plastic, followed by a volcano of water shooting 4 feet into the air, soaking me, and the tub was quickly losing all it's water! I looked for an OFF switch somewhere but couldn't find one, so I turned off the breaker in a hurry.

The girls were watching this whole event and they thought it was hilarious. Australian Shepherds definitely have a sense of humor. They both looked at me, their little butts wiggling, and Iris walked toward me, twisting her body into a U, and smiling. She thought it was funny. Isabelle did too, but she just stared at me.

Then I told Dennis about it, and of course being the man, he thinks he can fix everything, so he tried to figure out what was wrong. He held the plastic thing down without getting the volcano effect, but then the jets no longer worked.

I was so bummed out. I was sooooo looking forward to soaking in there later this evening.

So now, I will have to call the repairman, Shane, over at Spa World. He knows our hot tub. We know his first name. We are his job security. Crap. I was hoping we'd be able to just get in it, it was a surprise when I fired it up the first time and it worked!

Last night Dennis tried to help my mood by taking me out to the Nike Outlet store and buying me two new running bras that I wanted. And I didn't feel like cooking, so we ate pizza. And beer.

I can't believe it's so beautiful outside and I am so unmotivated. I hate losing beautiful days. Maybe it's a touch of seasonal affective disorder too on top of everything else? I don't know. I just know I'm in a funk, and I don't like it. I wish I could snap out of it overnight. Tomorrow is back to work, this coming weekend is my work weekend, which means I work a lot of days this week and it cuts into my running time.

The problem is, I don't know what I need. Hugs? Girl time? A pillow to scream into? A vacation? I don't know. If I knew, I'd be doing it. At this point, I need to get some energy back because if I don't, this trip to OKC in a few weeks will be a waste of effort. I don't want to go into a race feeling listless, unprepared, and apathetic.

Maybe I need to plan a trip somewhere, another trip that doesn't involve serious running. I need to stop indulging in running bras, new clothes, chiropractors, and beer, like I have been doing all this week, if I want to make that happen. Or else I'll have to load up on extra shifts at work again. And I know for sure I don't need that.

I did have another moment of humor today though. I got an e-mail from Woofie's ultra list today that someone posted, with the subject line "Alene Nitzky in the news". They must have somehow seen my running column in the Coloradoan today and posted to the ultra list about it. When I saw the e-mail, for a second I thought, "Did I die?" Because there hasn't been much posting activity on the list lately, it seems like we only hear anything lately when somebody dies.

Maybe shrinkage is the problem, my brain is shrinking. If that's the case I wish my butt, thighs, and belly fat would shrink, too...

First Snow, Elusive Riparians, and GPS

It snowed this morning! I slept in too late to run the 5K, which is fine, I'm still struggling with being stiff on my left side. Once I woke up, Iris convinced me to get my butt out the door and take her for a run. Isabelle didn't want to go today.

Iris is my personal GPS system. She has her own built-in Goose Poop Sensor. The geese are back for the winter. Iris found them. Soon I'll get plenty of upper body stretching when the girls dive for those delicious gray-green nuggets that will cover every surface on our usual running route.

I did about 3 miles with Iris, and I could tell that 20 miles was not going to happen today. I don't have the motivation to do it. I opted for 10 on the Spring Creek Trail. And those were easy miles, with lots of photo ops.

The colors are bright everywhere, and with this weather, it won't last long. There were a few times when it was like a blizzard, I couldn't see in front of me with the horizontal snow.

Running along Spring Creek there are always hidden, peaceful places along the water. Most of the time I run right past them, but if I'm in the mood, I will look for them. Today was one of those days.

I decided I was going to look for the riparians. They are clever little creatures that hide out along the water's edge. You can never find them, but there is evidence of them, like benches, bridges, and logs, where they hang out.

You know they are there, but they can disappear without leaving any footprints. These bridges were built for the riparians, but they never leave any clue that they were there.

You have to be very quiet when you approach the riparians. As you can see, I scared them away from the bench.

No riparians here, just fresh snow sticking to one side of the tree. Riparians are shy, this tree is too far from the water's edge, maybe a bit too much exposure for the riparians.

No riparians here, either...guess it wasn't a good day to catch them. Maybe Iris could help me with her GPS.

You know the riparians were just sitting on this log, watching the ducks on the pond. They must have heard me coming and disappeared.

No luck finding riparians today, I know you think I've completely lost my mind, but I have to find some way entertain myself! But the run was therapeutic in other ways.

When I got home and took a shower, my back and hips started popping. I'm starting to have some movement and the stiffness is going away. I need to keep moving, not sit on my ass like that dork of a chiropractor thinks I should. Heat and motion are what will get me back to normal. Anyone who freaks out thinking 10 miles is a long run is not going to get along very well with me.

I'm off to meet Judy at Island Grill for some liquid refreshment and some girl talk. I need it!