Ain't Skeered...

It's Friday the 13th and a full moon, and Wheaties Boy and I had plans to do speedwork in the cemetery. If there was anything creepy waiting for us, we would just have to run faster!

As far as I was concerned, Friday the 13th already happened yesterday. The water pump on my car sprung a leak, so I had to get that replaced, and then the dishwasher died. Not exactly the kinds of things that you enjoy dealing with, especially when you're living on a limited budget. But...what can you do?

The dishes.

It was freezing again in the morning, this time it was 48 degrees, and I kept my long sleeved shirt on during the warmup. My legs have been toast all week. Actually this morning when I went downstairs to make coffee, it was the first day all week that it didn't hurt my quads to go down the stairs.

I woke up at 1:14 am, and couldn't go back to sleep. At 2 am I gave up, got up, made some coffee, and started reading my e-mail. I got to the cemetery early, I needed to get a good warmup in before Wheaties Boy arrived and I picked up the pace. When he showed up, he said his legs were toast and he didn't think speed was going to happen. I felt the same way and we decided to bag the mile repeats and just run laps around the cemetery. That was perfect. I got 10 miles in at a decent pace, even though it was slow, it was faster than I would have run alone. And Wheaties Boy and I finally had a chance to catch up, we usually only can do that on our recovery laps, warmups and cooldown.

As we ran I was describing my running plans to him and I realized how silly I was, thinking I'd do 100 miles this week. First, I have increased my mileage consistently over the past 4 weeks, so it would be time for an easy week anyway. And then, I don't need a lot of long runs yet. It's only early June. I just raced 5 weeks ago. It made more sense to back off this week, and since my legs have already been worthless all week and I was unable to do tempo or speed as a result, might as well back off the rest of the week and then make next week a reasonable week, but nothing extreme.

I don't know what I was thinking. I need speed more than endurance now. I can run forever but I need to make my legs turn over, and beating the crap out of them with long miles is not going to help that. Lucky that I got a chance to verbalize all this with Wheaties Boy. Sometimes you just need to say it out loud before it makes sense.

So the plan is changed. No long runs this month. I don't need them. In July I can start a few longer runs.

When I got home it was light out and I could see the flower garden when I pulled up in the driveway. It's not as spectacular as it's been in past years, I might have to re-seed for next year, but it looks nice anyway. I went in the house, said good morning to Dennis and the girls as they were waking up, made some breakfast, and went back to bed for a couple of hours.

Now I'm out in the woman cave, turned on the AC because it was like a sauna in here, and Iris is looking out the door, where it's even hotter outside. I gave the girls a bath with the hose earlier. It's supposed to hit 90 degrees.

I've been making some progress this week with getting marketing projects done, and I actually spent 6 solid hours one day doing client-related work. Progress. I have a radio show coming up and then I need to prepare for a presentation I'm giving at the local running store.

I've had the itch to get back to my writing project, and I need to get some of these business projects done so that I can clear space in my mind for re-reading and making sense of all the stuff I have so far, getting back to the main idea I want to convey and what I want people to take away from reading it. That will make a lot more sense instead of what I have now, probably a couple hundred thousand words floating around in unorganized chapters, much of which is redundant. I need to pull it together in a more organized pile that is focused, and then it will be editable. Is that a word?

I need more sleep.

This is Your Brain on Drugs...

This is your brain on endorphins.

This is your brain with sore legs on a 15 mile run the day after a 15 mile run with sore legs the day after finishing an 80 mile week with sore legs from Rock Repeats at the end of the week.

My legs hurt again today. I started out the day with a relaxing run with Emma, followed by a run with Iris, followed by another run by Warren Lake. I noticed this "thing" in the grass yesterday but didn't check it out. I thought it was a rock someone placed there, or a piece of fabric that got blown across the grass by the wind.

Today it got my curiosity so I went closer and there it was...a giant shroom.

Psychedelic and mind-blowing. A giant fungus, in the middle of perfectly green grass. That's how much moisture we've had this spring.

It was another perfect day and I ran past Warren Lake twice. The roses are starting to fade but I caught a few still blooming. The scenery and giant mushroom helped take my mind off the discomfort in my quads. They HURT! But I know why they hurt, and I just have to run it off.

After tomorrow I will take a day off. I only have 10 miles planned for tomorrow. Maybe when I wake up in the morning they won't be so sore. Those Rock Repeats are the ultimate quad killers! Maybe the mushroom was just a hallucination. Do Rock Repeats make you hallucinate? I guess I'll have to go back for more and find out.

It's Monday and My Legs Hurt

As predicted, my legs hurt like hell today. I wasn't going to let that stop me though. Last night it cooled off dramatically and we were actually COLD. I got out an extra blanket and closed the windows.

This morning it was freezing! To me, 44 degrees feels like freezing. It was a perfectly clear day though, the air was crisp this morning and a perfect running day.

I started with the girls for a mile and a half, then did another 9, then another 4 1/2 tonight at Warren Lake for a total of 15 for the day. The morning wasn't too bad, a bit rough getting started, but I didn't really notice the soreness except for going up and down the stairs. Tonight's workout was a struggle. The soreness really started to kick in.

I'll see what tomorrow brings. I'm supposed to meet Emma early in the morning for a run. I hope I can climb out of bed!

I want to go up in the mountains but I'm too busy this week. if I get all my stuff done, I can go up next week. I'm also running the Estes Park Half the weekend after next. But I want to hit the trails up high, even though I know my ankles won't like it. I just need to get up there on the trails, way up high, and see, and breathe.

Today is our 24th wedding anniversary. Dennis went for a run, which is cause for celebration. Maybe he realizes that I might chick him by our 25th if he doesn't do something now. But he also brought home a key lime pie. It could have something to do with that.

I'm hoping this soreness will go away by mid-week. I'm looking pathetic. This is worse than after a long ultra. A few more quad-bashing sessions and I should be bombproof!

Carb O.D. at the Silver Grill

It was long past time to get back up on the hill and do Rock Repeats. I miss this workout, but I wasn't doing a lot for hills all year. I don't need much vertical for what I do, but it helps for strength, and it's a good break from the usual pavement.

The Rock Repeat course is a wide service road in the park, it's dirt with a few slightly rocky sections but nothing approaching technical. It's a good compromise for my weak ankles, a chance to get off the pavement, go up and see the views, without dealing with rocky stuff that hurts with every step. In the summer it has the added benefit of being wide enough to see the snakes.

Wrapping up an 80 mile week today wasn't too bad. I thought I'd be tired but I felt good. So good that I ran two Rock Repeats at a pace I haven't run since 2007. Almost my best splits ever on that thing both up and down, and I walked a majority of the uphills. I felt strong on both the uphill section, and coming down, I could feel that I have more turnover in my legs. What holds me back on the downhills is my brain, worried about my ankles.

There were no snakes to be seen today, though. It was a cool morning, I was cold at the top when I stopped to take some pictures. The flowers were out everywhere, we've had some rain lately and everything is green and blooming. The trail was busy with hikers and mountain bikers but very few runners. I got started late, didn't get to the trailhead until 8:30.

After the second Rock Repeat I knew it wouldn't be wise to do another whole one, because as past experience tells me, I will most likely be extremely sore for several days after this. I went partway up the dirt road, for about a mile, then came back down and finished the last couple of miles on the paved road to Redstone Canyon. Not a bad 13 miles with 3000 feet of climb and the same of descent.

After I got home Dennis twisted my arm into going to the Silver Grill where I downed two huge plates of food. A plate of cinnamon roll French toast and another huge plate of hash browns with green chile. More carbs than I've eaten all week, but it's what I needed today. If you are ever in Fort Collins you should eat breakfast at the Silver Grill. I think it might be the oldest restaurant in town, or close to it. Anyway it is an ideal place to refuel after a long run.

I'm refueled from today's run, and getting prepped for next week's triple digit mileage. As Wheaties Boy would say, "now shit gets real".

Loose Animals Stampeding Between Naps

Today this sign is perfect for the day.

Today our neighbors behind us are having the fence replaced and I'm keeping the girls in so they don't herd the guys working out there. They would have no fence to fight across, so they would be loose bison!

As Wheaties Boy says often, "Let the animal out" and I did that today with whatever was left in my legs for cemetery mile repeats, which wasn't much! My legs are toast for speed even though I took yesterday off. That's okay, I need to get them going again and usually it takes a few weeks before they respond. Today my splits were between 30 and 50 seconds slower than the last mile repeat workout I did. Wheaties Boy was blazing fast, as usual.

I can always tell how fast I'm going without looking at my watch by how far ahead he is at different points in the mile loop. Today, I ate Wheaties Boy's dust. There was a loose bison mom aka Buffmom, Mom of Buffaloes, in the cemetery this morning, at the back of the stampede.

I woke up at 2:55 am, 5 minutes before my alarm went off, and left the house just before 4 to meet Wheaties Boy. We only needed our headlamps for the first mile, then the sun was up. We should enjoy this daylight for at least another 6 weeks where we won't need our headlamps much.

I was home by 6 am and I had 9+ miles done. I wanted to get at least 20 today and hoped to be able to finish right after the speed workout, but I was toast. So tired and hungry, I just wanted to eat and sleep.

I came home and made some blueberry pancakes and scarfed those down, and then I showered and got in bed and slept until 9:30. Then I took Iris for a short run and after bringing her home, I went out to finish my run. I decided to head over to the track because I wanted to be someplace where I could relax and not worry about traffic, and let the miles happen.

When I got there I saw some runners I know finishing up their speed workout, and I started out by running a cooldown with them. Then I got into my pace and cranked out miles on the track for about an hour and headed home. I ended up with 22 miles for the day. Now I'm ready for food again and another nap before I have to run out to set up my booth for tomorrow at the 5K.

My legs actually felt decent in the long miles, I just didn't have any turnover this morning. That will come back. I'm not running the 5K tomorrow, and I plan to do some Rock Repeats this weekend to get some hills in.

Let the animal out! After another nap!

Long Time Coming...

Today I ran a little over 20 miles. I started out the day running with Emma. We did about 7 miles and then I was meeting Cat below the dam for more miles, and we did about 11. Then I came home and took Iris for a couple of miles. Three of my favorite girls to run with, what an easy and fun way to get 20 miles in.

It was a busy day, I had some work to do, and the Cancer Center ribbon cutting was this evening. It's always an interesting experience going back... I saw several of my former patients, and a few others I know from other cancer-related groups in the community. It was so great to see them. Especially the ones who are still going and living the best they can, despite some pretty rough odds. It is a beautiful facility. And it was truly built by the community because there was so much contribution from so many people.

It will serve it's purpose better than what was there before. And walking through the upstairs infusion center I remember writing on the beam "bless the nurses" and that is underneath on the south wall. It's going to be so nice for both the patients and the staff to be there instead of in a dingy little cramped windowless cave like the one I worked in at the hospital. Patients can look out the window at the mountains and they can even go out on the deck and sit outside as they get their infusions.

I do hope that the brighter environment will contribute to better overall patient care and outcomes, and I really believe that it will. When I think of all those days that I was working and feeling so bad for the patients having to sit in those little spaces with ugly old curtains for hours on end, with no privacy, no view except for a roomful of other sick people under fluorescent lighting, and I know how I felt just having to spend 12 hours a day in there and I wasn't even sick!

Since I know so many people where I used to work, it's always nice to catch up with people socially, and I did have fun. Of course there were the long-winded speeches from administrators and others, including the mayor, because it was a huge public community event. When I listen to those speeches I know that despite the good intentions of many people, there's the reality of today's health care systems that will mandate as little staffing and budgeting as possible, so it will be interesting to see if the lofty ambitions that everyone started with can be met.

I am skeptical, of course, because of what I've seen. It's very hard for people in health care, who went in because of good intentions and wanting to make people's lives better, but then having to juggle the profit motive that trumps everything else.

It's always interesting to hear the comments from people who don't realize I left the place, and so often I get the comment that it takes a lot of guts and they ask me if it's scary to be on my own. Well of course it is but for me, I'd rather not be stuck in a box because I'm too afraid to peek outside of it.

Even though I am not directly involved in the Cancer Center anymore I am glad it was completed and there is that small spark of pride in seeing what all of our efforts built. Some of my blog readers contributed too, and I want to thank you for that.

Tomorrow I have a photo shoot for a magazine I'm being interviewed in, thanks to Wheaties Boy. I am really happy about the opportunity, more about that later. The only drawback is that I really don't like putting makeup on for the studio photography but I'll come home and decontaminate myself afterwards!

After 45 miles in the last 3 days, my legs are a bit sore and tired. I might even take tomorrow off, definitely won't do more than 5 miles. Between Friday and Sunday I have some intense workouts planned.

I'm looking forward to some sleep!

Like, Totally Tubular, Dude...

It's super hot outside today. We suddenly got this blast of warm air and a hot breeze along with it. I woke up at 3:15 am. Why, I don't know. But after trying to go back to sleep unsuccessfully, I decided to get up and get my run in. I wanted to get 15 miles with a tempo run of 5 miles, so I made coffee, and headed out to the Power Trail just as the light was filling the sky.

I have been working on more business stuff today. I finished the practice display for my booth at this weekend's Pink Boa 5K.

I am staying plenty busy, it seems like each week I look ahead at the following week and the calendar is clear, but by the end of a week, the coming week is jam-packed. That's a good thing. I will be ready for a break in July when I escape to Badwater and then later in the summer when we go to Manhattan Beach.

This morning I started out slow and stiff but after a few miles I was feeling good, so I proceeded south along the Power Trail and got a hair over 5 miles in 39 minutes and change, just under 8 minute pace again. I did 11.2 miles, so I need another 4 or so.

I need to finish running easy this afternoon so I'm waiting for the temperature to peak in the 90s, I need that heat training.

The neighbors behind us are replacing the fence between their yard and ours so I'm having to keep the girls in today, which is fine because they wouldn't want to be out in the heat.

I finally took a break and got some food, ate, and decided to check the mail. All junk, except for one thing.

The colonoscopy report.

I didn't get any phone calls, so that's a good thing. I had that little flutter of dread and fear in my gut that I always have after a mammogram, regardless. I opened the letter, hoping it would say, cleared for 10 years.

Denied!

Dammit. But I am still off the hook for 5 years. As long as I have no symptoms, that is.

The little polyp they removed was a tubular adenoma, those are the most common type of polyp, and they do have the potential to become cancerous. But it's out of me, and I can continue doing what I do, and eat lots of fiber, and go back in 5 years and hope there are no more polyps. They say that these polyps are more likely to be trouble if they grow to 2 cm or more. My little polyp (and I say that affectionately) was 4 mm.

This just confirms the importance of getting these screenings done. If that polyp was in there, and who knows how long it has been, and I didn't know about it, even at 4 millimeters, who knows how long it might take to grow to 2 cm, or larger. Who knows how long it might take to develop into cancer?

I could be walking around with colon cancer in a few years if the right set of cellular or molecular circumstances or triggers happened. Or maybe not. But I'm glad that thing is out of me, cute little polyp that it was, maybe I should give it a name. If it, or another one of it's buddies, wants to cause trouble, it will have to start from scratch.

As much as I found drinking the magnesium citrate to be the worst part of the whole experience, even worse than pooping a gazillion times in 12 hours, worse than having an impossibly sore butt for several days, I would gladly do it again in 5 years if it means I get to avoid colon cancer.

And it's another reason why YOU should not put off screening. Done with my public service announcement soapbox.

Back to running, I am planning to run with two different friends tomorrow, I should get lots of miles in. I run with Emma first thing in the morning and then with Cat at 9. I can still feel those hills from Horsetooth last weekend. The soreness is almost gone but it sucks to get out of the habit of doing hills. Next time I'll do some Rock Repeats, hopefully no rattlesnakes.

Time to go out and run. It is officially 90 degrees.