Squirrel Sprints for Slackers

I have been the biggest slacker as far as hard workouts go. I'm not having any problem getting out to run easy, but as far as doing any formal speed training, forget it. I have had no motivation over the past week. This morning I took the girls out early and we did about 3 1/2 miles. We ended up doing some squirrel sprints, but not too many. Not enough to make me any faster.

I finished up 11 miles by running the bike path, and ran into Eddie, who is an expatriate in Boulder. He moved there from Fort Collins last year, but still works here. I haven't seen him since last summer, and we ran for about a mile together on the Spring Creek Trail before he had to go back to work.

I worked Wednesday and it was a long busy day but at least we were staffed for it. I have four days off now and I am going to enjoy every one of them.

Tuesday it was 27 degrees, much warmer. I got out early. Isabelle refused to go so I took Iris running, and then did my run for a total of 8 miles in the morning. I felt like I could barely move my legs. I studied for a couple of hours and then was brain dead, so I took a long nap. Then it was time to go for my evening run with Wheaties Boy, but that was supposed to be a tempo run and I was in no condition to run hard. We ended up just doing 8 miles at a 9 minute pace, which felt like a good effort to me.

Crashed on my bike on Friday, I was riding with Troy, and we turned at an intersection that sucks, especially on a Friday afternoon. I was trying to make a left turn and there was a lot of traffic. Then this woman in a car slowed down, was pointing like she was turning right, but didn't have a turn signal on. I thought she was letting me go across the intersection, but then she started coming toward me.

I tried to get out of my clips because I had to stop fast, but I didn't get out in time and fell on my left side again. This time I was moving but I didn't crash as hard. I thought, shit, I'll screw up my back again. But other than a small bruise on my left knee and a sore left wrist, I seem to be okay for running. I have to stop crashing on my bike!

I'll be putting the miles in until Across the Years, even if I'm tired. I need to get my butt out on the hills too, I've been avoiding hills all year. Not on purpose, either. I'm just too lazy to drive across town to park at the dam and run at Horsetooth. Soon I'll have no choice unless I want to run the bike paths all the time, because the streets will be too icy in town. Getting wimpy on the hills is not like me.

I added my wish list for 2013 races to the blog. I'm not planning on doing all of them, and there are other ones I haven't listed that I might do, but it's a work in progress. Badwater dates have been announced for July 15-17. I'm really hoping to be able to get out to Death Valley again next summer. If I do, it will be on the medical team again, not to run the race. We've been told at work not to plan any vacation time in July because we're switching to the new computer system and I guess they anticipate chaos.

Why they chose July is beyond my comprehension. July is known to be a bad month in health care anyway, since the chaos of the incoming crop of new residents makes July the most dangerous month for hospital stays anyway...not to mention that anyone who has kids would want to take vacation in the summer, and things never go according to the planned dates anyway! Last time we switched the system over, just 3 years ago, they made a much bigger deal of it than it actually was. We'll see, I might be able to free myself long enough to work the race.

Registration opens on Sunday for Delano Park 12 Hour Run, and I'm signing up. That will be my first race next year. I'll have to see what the budget looks like, I'd like to go down to Arizona and run the Pemberton Trail 50K again, Arizona is usually an inexpensive trip for me since my parents live there.

Still in search of that elusive fast 50 miler on the roads, preferably on a loop course. I know it's out there.

Fourteen Degrees

Hey mom! It's eight o'clock! Fourteen degrees! Time to go for a run!

The squirrels are out! Fox tracks to sniff! Goose poop to eat! Get my leash out of the closet NOW!

We're ready to go, mom. If you would start running, you'd warm up.

Pick up the pace mom, we're dragging you.

Thanks for the three mile run. Have fun going out for another ten, we'll stay here and keep the couch warm.

The Paradox of My Profession: An Apple a Day...

I'm going off on a tangent here today, but bear with me. I read this article today in one of the email newsletters I get daily on happenings in the world of medicine.

This is a blog about ultrarunning, and I am convinced that nursing is also ultrarunning. Nurses who can't imagine what it's like to run 50 miles at a stretch don't realize that they are doing it every single day they work. I get less exhausted by running for 12 hours than I do by working a 12 hour shift.

I really love what I do to pay the bills. I'm a nurse, I came to it later in life, started my first nursing job at age 42, and I'm now in my 7th year of nursing. For a little over 2 years, I have been working in a hospital-based outpatient clinic where we give infusions, which are intravenous medications that run over a period of time. Those include everything from antibiotics to blood transfusions, IV fluids, special medications, biotherapy, and chemotherapy. We give injections, start IVs, change wound dressings, maintain IV access devices like PICCs and central lines. We also administer sedation for bone marrow biopsies done by oncologists at the bedside. Patients come in for appointments that range anywhere from 15 minutes to 12 hours.

I feel fortunate to have landed in a hospital where for the most part, employees are treated very well, and working conditions are better than I would guess 99.9% of the other places I could be working. Things are not perfect, but no job will ever be perfect. I think mine is about as perfect as it can get, even though there are days when I question my sanity for going into this profession at all.

Health care is changing, I am glad to see that enough of the general population values health care to vote in the interest of reform. I don't believe that most people have even wrapped their minds around what this means to them, having access to the health care system, because they have had to do without it for so long. Anyone who uses the term "Obamacare" is usually using it derisively, and I think they are fools. I would personally like to see an entirely not-for-profit health care system. When you see on a daily basis, the consequences of people not having access to basic health care, preventive services, and mental health resources, you would see how desperate the need is.

So what does it mean to be a nurse? Perhaps the word "nurse" is misleading, it is tied to an image of a white-clad, lamp-wielding Florence Nightingale changing linens on a bed or an angel holding someone's hand. Maybe we need to change the name of title of our profession to something else.

The title "nurse" does not mean I am a self-sacrificing, altruistic angel. I am a highly skilled professional.

I clean up shit, puke, blood, and pus, but I also know what to do if your heart stops beating, you stop breathing, or start bleeding profusely. I keep doctors from making mistakes that will get to you and kill you. I am the one who sees, hears, and can evaluate your overall state of health and well-being because I spend the most time with you.

I'm the one who makes sure I wipe down the siderails of the bed you just touched with your hands after the last patient didn't wash their hands after using the bathroom. I'm the one who has to chase the housekeeper down to clean up blood, urine, poop, or whatever other infectious body fluids you leave behind, and if the housekeeper doesn't do their job, I have to make sure it gets done.

I'm the one who calls the doctor, sometimes in the middle of the night, and risks getting yelled at because I want to make sure you get the right dose of medication, whatever you need for your comfort and well-being, and save you extra doctor appointments.

I'm the one whose license is at risk because it's so easy for doctors to blame us if something goes wrong. We're considered an expense, and expendable, while doctors are considered to be the revenue generators. No one ever considers that people come to hospitals for nursing care after the doctor cuts them open.

I spend hundreds of hours, many of them unpaid and unreimbursed, each year keeping my skill levels and education up, so that I am aware and informed of the latest research in health care, which benefits you. I don't have guaranteed hours at work, I can get sent home if we're not busy enough to keep every one of the nurses running their tails off, and I am constantly having to make more and more sacrifices regarding pay and benefits in my job.

For all this I am paid not much more than an auto mechanic or truck driver. I didn't go into nursing because of the pay. We don't get paid very well for the level of responsibility we assume and the skill level we acquire. Our benefits aren't all that great, though these days just having good health insurance is a huge thing. It's not an easy job, ever.

I work 12 hour or longer shifts, most of which is spent on my feet and running for something for you. I might not get to go to the bathroom for hours, or have anything to eat or drink. I rarely get a break in those 12 hours, everytime I think I can put my feet up someone needs something from me.

I rarely get to sit down and take a full 30 minute lunch break off my feet over that entire shift, without it getting interrupted or cut short by a doctor's phone call or a patient's need. We don't get another 15 minute break during the day either, though we might be entitled to it under labor laws for a 12 hour shift. If we need to go to the bathroom or grab a snack we have to rely on the good will of our coworkers to watch our patients for us, in addition to their own, in order to take time away.

If it's the end of my shift, and I'm tired, you giving me a hard time or talking to me condescendingly is not something I'm going to take kindly to. I might have helped a family with a dying person just before I saw you, or called a code when someone had a reaction to a drug, or spent cumulative hours on the phone with doctors offices and their uncooperative secretaries just to get an important detail taken care of so that my patient gets the best and safest care possible.

So if I'm 11 hours into my shift and I don't laugh hard enough at your stupid joke or I forget to bring you that extra package of crackers or warm blanket that you could easily get up and get yourself, get over it and be glad you're only here for a day or two instead of hooked up to a machine that breathes for you and a tube in every orifice and your body being turned and your butt being wiped every two hours by the six nurses it takes to turn your big inert body and keep you from developing pressure ulcers and blood clots.

Could reimbursement changes possibly result in changing nurses working conditions? I've always felt that 12 hour shifts are insane. However, nurses need to work long hours because we are so undercompensated for our skill levels and the responsibility we assume. I believe that if the nursing profession would reform itself and advocate for its members as professionals, instead of highly skilled, overworked, glorified angels who are paid marginally.

Twelve hour shifts do not allow a person to adequately recover from a stressful day. The body needs rest, nutritious food, sleep, personal time, and family time. You go home 13 and 1/2 hours after you left the house and even the slightest need for attention from your family feels like another demand on you, you've been serving people all day long and you're exhausted. And exercise? Who has the energy to exercise after a day like that?

If nurses were compensated adequately so that they didn't have to work long hours and so many days that they burn out, then nurses would be able to deliver even better care. We're always looking for ways to be more efficient and less wasteful of resources. When people are tired they are not as efficient. When the nurse goes to work feeling exhausted, the nurse is not going to operate in as efficient of a manner. Mistakes are more likely to happen, and errors are more likely to get missed.

Doctors have a huge responsibility too, and we are expected to carry out their orders. We have to scrutinize every one of those orders though, because our job is to ensure patient safety, so we have to check the orders and make sure they are appropriate for the patient and their condition or diagnosis.

If something doesn't look right, if the order isn't legible or or we can't understand the order, it is our professional responsibility to question the order. We call the doctor to ask. Sometimes we get yelled at for doing that, but we have to be thick-skinned and know that we are doing the right thing for the patient.

Not too long ago, at the end of my shift, I caught an error where a doctor ordered 200 times the normal amount of a medication that we rarely give. I wasn't familiar with the medication, it was something I'd only given in ICU before, not in an outpatient setting. I didn't know it was the dose that was wrong, I just couldn't make sense of the way the order was written, and I called the pharmacist to ask if it made sense, and she saw the error.

So then I called the doctor, and had to get a new order. I stayed late because I needed to wait for the doctor to call me back so I could make sure the order got fixed before the patient arrived the next morning. I had to see it through, or it could have been the patient's life, not to mention my butt and my license.

You can see how if a nurse is having an off day, how easy it would be to miss some little detail, yet we are expected to be on top of things, and mentally sharp, for entire 12 hour shifts, with little break to restore ourselves. And when you work 12 hour shifts day after day that becomes more difficult as your fatigue builds up.

Some people think that nurses just sit on their butts and surf the internet all day. There are a few nurses who try to do that and get away with it, unfortunately they set the rest of us up with a bad reputation.

There are a lot of overweight nurses too. But I would say that our working conditions contribute to that as much as anything else. And the nurses I work with who are overweight, work just as hard as anyone else. I would say they probably end up a lot more tired after work.

Stress causes you to secrete more cortisol, a stress hormone, which can contribute to the development of insulin resistance, which leads to weight gain amd worse health problems.

Gulping down a hamburger or some fries and chicken fingers is easier to do when you're short on time than crunching on a salad, that takes more time to eat, and provides less energy. Nurses are rushed. They don't get to eat slowly. I bring an apple with my lunch every day, and the apple is what tells me what my day is like. I consider myself lucky if I have time to eat my apple.

What gets me about nursing is the working conditions. Even if you work for what's called a magnet hospital, as I do, nurses work damn hard and most people don't even understand what our job is, and they ask us for all kinds of inappropriate things, and they expect it from us, which makes our job more difficult. And by cutting back on ancillary staff, like nursing assistants, as management often does, it makes our day more rushed and stressful.

We keep getting asked to do more and more, little extra details, changes to documentation that take longer, working with fewer staff on hand, taking more and sicker patients, getting compensated less for anything we do above and beyond, such as professional certification.

We are expected to do that on our own time and at our own expense. I spend a lot of time studying for my oncology certification. I don't get paid much extra for having it, either. I get paid $500 for the first year then $250 a year there after for maintaining it. And some hospitals don't even pay a cent to their nurses for it!

Averaged out over the roughly 1500 hours a year I work, that's 33 cents an hour extra, BEFORE taxes, the first year, and thereafter I get 16 cents an hour extra. And if I worked full time, the average amount would be even less! Meanwhile, my professional nursing organization insists that certified nurses get paid $7 more an hour on the average. I'd really like to see what drugs they're smoking.

And I keep up my advanced cardiac life support which isn't a requirement of my current job, but I feel that I'm giving drugs to people that could have unintended consequences, such as sedation during a bone marrow biopsy, especially to people who are older and have multiple health problems, so I think I should know how to rescusitate a person beyond simple CPR. And just recently I was informed that I will have to pay out of pocket to do that, another job perk taken away.

I feel sorry for nurses who don't have magnet hospitals to work for, like I do. Non-magnet hospitals can completely abuse their nurses on the job, forcing them to work overtime, and their employers get away with it.

So, now we have health care reform moving full speed ahead. The drivers of reimbursement will now be patient satisfaction scores and patient outcomes, all of which have already been linked empirically to nurse working conditions.

Twelve hour shifts are insane. If we were compensated for what is expected of us, we wouldn't have to work so many hours that we burn out. We could work 8 hour shifts, and few enough of them that we wouldn't burn out, and we'd arrive to work sharp, rested, exercised, well-nourished, and restored by adequate sleep.

Nursing is an expense, but where is the nursing profession in advocating for better working conditions and compensation for nurses? Who is saying that we need to reform nursing, and attitudes toward nurses, and the way we look at and pay for nursing care as a delivered service?

Nursing schools should assume some responsibility for getting things unstuck from the dark ages. They have direct ties to professional organizations. Yet many nursing school faculty haven't worked the floor in years, and haven't a clue what it's like anymore.

They teach the same material year after year when working nurses are constantly being educated on the newest equipment, medications, techniques...and health care is becoming increasingly delivered in ambulatory settings, yet nursing schools still insist on sending their students to the floor for the majority of their clinical experiences. And, might I mention, their hackles raise when suggested they do it otherwise.

Yes, we're in the business that calls itself Health Care. Yet nurses, and other health care workers, are living a reality that delivers neither health, nor care for its own members. It's a paradox. We're in demand, but no one wants to pay for us.

So...you tell me...are you glad that nurses exist? Do you think we're compensated adequately? Do you think we're insane for being in this profession?

Woman Cave Wisdom: When The French Chick Speaks

This election week wiped me out! I slept 11 hours after coming home from work yesterday and still needed a two hour nap this afternoon! First, the election, then running.

I was so nervous on Tuesday. I was supposed to work, it was my extra shift, and it was slow so I ended up getting cancelled. I wish I could have worked because I had so much nervous energy, I was pacing. I ran a total of 15 miles, studied a lot, took a nap, and ate like a pig. It was all comfort food, I was terrified of the election results. I had to work Wednesday so I was hoping I'd be able to go to bed at a reasonable hour.

Finally at 7 pm I got the guts to turn on the computer and start watching election returns online. At first it was scary because Romney was winning some of the early states to finish counting, but they were all small red states expected to go to him.

As time went on, and the swing states were looking bluer and bluer, I was getting less worried. And then it was over. The results came in so fast and so early, I went to bed at 11 pm much more relaxed but terrified that I'd wake up to some nightmare the next morning like there had been some glitch and everything turned upside down. But it didn't.

It's been interesting hearing the post-election excuses, in the newspaper, on the news, and on Facebook. I do agree that the country has changed, for the better, in my opinion, and the old guard has to get over it, get over the fact that we're no longer a predominantly WASP, male-dominated society. Even heterosexual privilege is getting a few dents in it. That whole dinosaur mentality is experiencing the final nails in the coffin, for the good of all of us.

I just look at these pasty old bungholes on Fox News, the old guys seated next to the young blonde women with their legs crossed despite the fact that their clothes are rather tight on their curvaceous figures...the way women are "supposed" to look. I just want to say to them, "I know it hurts, but it's for your own good."

The excuse I love best for voting for Romney and Republicans is, "We're not racist, we're not homophobic, we're not misogynistic, it's the debt stupid...". Yeah, but remember after Clinton's 8 years we had a surplus? And what happened to that?

Now we have to spend money to dig ourselves out of a hole caused by $600 refunds to everyone (weren't you soooo glad get those checks in the mail!) and going after Saddam Hussein who flew planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, oops, wrong guy, 2 wars, and lack of tax revenue due to loopholes that benefitted the richest people and those who sent jobs overseas. Not to mention the crowd who bows down to follow the naive rantings of some freak named Grover Norquist who developed his anti-tax ideas as an adolescent...

To imply that much of the country is lazy, looking for handouts, feels entitled, compared to the white, traditional American WASP portion of the country, which happens to be the minority now...has alienated a shitload of people. I don't think that any immigrants to this country ever expected a handout when they got here, most of them came here looking for a better life, more opportunities, and expected to work their butts off to get it, and they do.

My paternal great grandparents came through Ellis Island in 1917 from Russia. They were white, but they weren't the right kind of white: Russian Jews. The history on my mom's side of the family isn't as clear, far southeastern Europe, somewhere around Bulgaria, and around the Black Sea, not sure when they arrived here, but it was before World War I. We don't know, exactly, but they were not white enough. Dark complections, big noses, "ethnic-looking", and worse, not Christian either. You know, the same U.S. citizens who got stopped, searched, and questioned, or detained at the airport after 9/11.

And three generations later, I haven't assimilated. I'm not a Christian, so I don't pretend to know what Jesus would do, or what he would say, think, eat, drive or whatever... but don't you kind of get the feeling that helping the poor sort of goes along with the inscription on the Statue of Liberty below?

New Colossus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

But she's a French chick, you say? Go ahead, eat some freedom fries, I'm sure you'll feel better.

I'm glad Obama won and I feel bad that we still have a totally screwed up Congress, but I was really happy to see Colorado go blue again. I'm also glad that those disgusting pigs who made the ignorant and insensitive rape comments were rejected by the voters. And that being gay and out is becoming less of a reason why someone cannot win a political seat.

What we need are more women in politics, more women in positions of political influence, and I'd love to see Elizabeth Warren in the White House someday. Maybe even in 2016. Women will work more collaboratively, and they will engage the men. They'll get things done instead of the current ass-dragging Congress of putzes.

So today, I am recovering from one long day of work with a major headache which I attribute to the flu shot I got yesterday, and tired from sleep deprivation and hot flashing, and Isabelle has a leaf on her butt. I managed to study a little but needed that nap. Just 5 miles today, I was too tired to do anything else. Tomorrow I hope to get some decent miles in before my work weekend. And then next week, back on it.

We're hanging out at the woman cave, enjoying the last of the fall color and mild temperatures. Happy running!

Supafast 2: The Sequel

After yesterday's mediocre 5K, I didn't have any expectations for myself in this morning's Tortoise & Hare 5K. I just wanted to get out and be with the running club, push myself hard and it didn't matter what the result was.

Again I stuck to the tank shoes, no lightweight trainers. It was cold again, but not as cold as yesterday. I didn't have a neck gaiter on and my two top layers were lighter. Since the Tortoise & Hare series is a handicap race, they had my predicted time as something like 26 minutes, based on the last time I ran this one, which was probably two years ago.

There was a good turnout this morning, and Felix showed up at the start. Note how he's dressed compared to everyone else.

When it was my time to start, within a half mile I realized I was a lot faster than before, because I was flying past everyone. My first mile split was 7:08, which surprised me, after yesterday. It felt strangely comfortable. The next mile has a gradual uphill, followed by a turnround in a culdesac, with a short downhill. I hit the two-mile mark in 14:43. Again, surprisingly comfortable.

I wondered if I was going to crash and burn. But somehow I didn't, I just kept passing people, and I wasn't getting tired. The time at the finish line: 22:40. Nearly 2 minutes faster than yesterday, and my fastest time at altitude this year.

I guess it takes an ultrarunner a couple of days to warm up for a 5K, that would explain the difference between yesterday and today. Now I'm in search of food, and a hot shower, to warm myself up before my bike ride this afternoon. It's overcast and cool. I might even have to break out the cold weather riding gear. Wish me luck...

Supafast!

I woke up this morning at 4:42 am, which sucks. Just woke up, sweating as usual.

It's a Saturday and I thought I would have to force myself out of bed at 6 am so I could run the Heart Center 5K at Boyd Lake. Starts so early for November, 8:30 am. It's cold. So glad I didn't sign up for the half marathon, which is really the main event, I think. That would have hurt.

It was freaking freezing at the start. My hands were ice cubes, and I was wearing all sorts of layers, most of which I forced myself to remove before I ran over to line up at the start. I was thinking, how can they call ultrarunners crazy? Here are hundreds of people, in the freezing cold on a Saturday morning when they could sleep in, and they want to sprint 3 miles and tear every muscle in their bodies.

THAT'S CRAZY.

Oh, wait...I was out there with them.

I ran my warmup in the beautiful sunrise, and of course I took some pictures of the mountains west of Loveland.

I considered running in my Brooks Adrenalines. It's a 5K. But after I ran the course as a warmup, I thought, what a dork. They're not racing flats, but I feel really silly wearing lightweight shoes, as if I think I'm Supafast...

And it's not the fastest course in the world either, not certified, starts out in a sand pit for the first 50 meters, has a half mile section on dirt and grass, and bike paths that have lots of curves. But what the hell, part of my training. I settled on my usual tank shoes, the Addictions.

I waited to the last minute to line up at the start, I stayed in my car until then. When I got to the crowd of people, you couldn't tell which end was the fast people and which was the back. Everyone was asking and nobody knew.

So when we finally figured out which way the race was starting, they lined us up in a sand pit- which was part of a playground. The first 50 meters or so were across this deep, soft sand pit until we could all get up on the narrow bike path. So you get a little burst of lactic acid built up right out of the starting line.

The first mile was uphill, and when I got to the one mile mark, I looked at my watch and almost started laughing. 8:26. It feels like I'm running my ass off, and all I can do is 8:26? I just kept pushing, thinking, this is going to be pathetic.

I don't know if the mile markers were off, or even if the course is accurate, but my two mile split was 16:15, and that included the cross country section on a rutted dirt two-track. I hit the finish line in 24:26, which is still sub-8 minute pace, not bad for one week out of racing an ultra. Far from Supafast.

I actually felt strong and consistent the whole time. Though I did finish second in my age group by 2 minutes, I got beat by some 41 year old chick...with no ass, I might add. I'll get you, my pretty...and your little dog, too!!!! Just wait 'til I get some real speedwork...and if all else fails, only 16 months to the new age group! Ha!

On the agenda for tomorrow is the second of back to back 5Ks: the Tortoise & Hare 5K in the morning at Warren Park. Fort Collins Running Club T & H events are low-key, and there's been a good turnout lately. The run is at 8 am, but that's really 9 am because we're turning the clocks back tomorrow, ugh. No dragging myself out of bed.

I prefer daylight savings time. I like for it to be light later into the evening. Mornings are for quiet, who cares if it's dark. But at least in the fall we get an extra hour to sleep. And for once I'm not working on time change weekend. How did that happen?

I got on the bike again Friday and took the day off from running. I was having little aches and pains after my 15 mile day on Thursday. I can tell I haven't been on the bike. Why? Sore butt.

Tomorrow I'll ride with Troy, even though it won't be cold out, he is motivating me to get my butt on the bike and make it a point to ride when the weather cools down.

Troy is my motivation for a lot of things, including starting this blog 5 years ago, and getting me off my ass to run Badwater in the first place back in 2008. He's an amazing dude, he's like a human 4 wheel drive vehicle, he's like a tank on the outside, with a marshmallow on the inside...

He's been through the wringer this year, actually this year topped off the last couple of years. His wife, Ornella, died this past April from ovarian cancer. They had been dealing with it for 10 years, but the last few years have been extremely hard for them, as she kept getting sicker and weaker despite her refusal to give up on treatment.

I've written about her before on this blog, and how they both motivated me to raise funds for the cancer center and just to get off my butt and do the things I dreamed of doing. Life is short, and you never know what can happen from day to day. Don't put things off.

So then in June when the High Park fire started, Troy was forced to evacuate his home for several weeks, and the fire came way too close- just the next ridge over was burnt to a crisp along with the houses there. And then a few weeks after he came home, a truck was coming down the road with some logs and ran him off the road into the ditch, tearing a hole in his oil pan and doing a bunch of damage to the car.

He's getting over a recent bike wreck where he got hit by a car on his bike and broke 6 ribs, that was just about 8 weeks ago, and I think if it were me I'd be freaked out about getting back on the bike, at least on the roads, but he was determined to get back to it and has been riding for a few weeks already. Like a tank, we should all be that strong and resilient.

I'm not that hard core when it comes to the bike, but I can pretty much get myself out to run in anything cold, wet and windy, even though I whine like a big baby about anything cold and wet. So when I think of Troy, I remind myself that my minor discomfort is no excuse.

Looking back over the past couple of years, I ran two races where it was COLD, at Across the Years in 2010, and at 24 the Hard Way last week. I have done so much heat training over the past several years that I think my body's thermostat has been permanently altered, or at least my perception of the heat is changed. I have become a COLD WIMP!

Then this summer I whined about the heat, because my body is now into hot flash mode, and cool air actually feels good. But as I discovered last weekend in Oklahoma, and again this morning, I'm still not used to running in it. I was wearing three layers while other people were in shorts and tank tops!

So one of my projects for this winter is to make myself be less of a cold wimp. I did go to REI yesterday and bought shoe covers and super warm gloves for cold weather cycling. Doesn't look like I'll get to use them for at least another week, though, with our weather forecast.

The plan for next year's racing is falling into place. I've picked out about a dozen races, mostly training run half marathons and marathons, but I have 3 ultras already in mind and I'm still in search of that fast 50 miler. Or two. If anyone knows of a good, fast road 50 early in September, preferably on a loop course, that's not a major hassle to get to or to deal with once you're there, please send your suggestions my way!

I need to go take these Buffaloes for a run before they stare holes through my back...

Eight Weeks To Spring!

Happy November! How did THAT happen? What ever happened to this year? Spring is just around the corner!

To remind you in case you forgot, in Alene's world, January marks the first day of spring. In my world, winter only lasts about 10 days, the time from winter solstice to January 1st.

I am having a good recovery week after my race, I've been on the bike, and I got a couple of good runs in today for a total of about 15 miles. My legs feel a bit tired but not bad at all.

This morning I took the girls out in this sunrise. Isabelle did almost 2 miles, Iris did 3 1/2. Then I went out and did a few more on my own with strides.

Tonight I ran with Wheaties Boy, we did an 8 mile run. We actually kept a decent pace, like 9 minute miles, but it wasn't anything I'd call a hard workout. It just forced me to turn my legs over faster than I would have by running alone. And we got to catch up on news and running plans, since we've missed our runs together for a few weeks.

I have my week figured out, I'll get on the bike again Friday with an easy run, then the 5K with extra miles afterward on Saturday, and a bike ride with Troy on Sunday, plus some easy running. This is my easy week since I didn't taper before the race, it's my reverse taper.

And next week, it's back to business. I have a 24 hour race to train for...