Monday 4/5
 
On Sunday I thought the stomach issues were a reaction to non-dairy light ice cream (I mean what is in there that lets it taste good but not have very many calories). But I am exhausted and my stomach isn’t great. It’s not that my stomach hurts, it’s that I feel like I need to go poop constantly, but if I try – nothing. This will make teaching super fun!
 
The weather is so nice that I decide to give running a try. I don’t get a lot of miles because it’s not easy to run when you feel like you need to poop, but it’s better than nothing. 
 
Tuesday 4/6
 
The goal today was to get some climbing done. I can run pretty much straight up my street to a path that heads towards Casper Mountain. If I add just a bit to the run I can end up with 10 miles. It gets me almost 800 feet of climbing. Later in the day I take a look at the map on Strava to see how I can add more to the run, hopefully with more climbing. I have been told there is a back route to Casper Mountain, this might be it? The stomach is still a situation. 
 
Wednesday 4/7
 
The stomach bug continues, and I am so sleepy. I decide to sleep in and run I am crossing the street and some lady in the far left lane decides that crosswalk is extra stopping space for her car. I was coming from her left, she had plenty of time to see me is she would just pay attention. I give her a glare as I avoid being hit by her. Then I stop at the corner because I need to cross the street to get to my apartment. This bitch almost hot me again as she starts to turn right. This I time I throw my hands up and yell “what the fuck?” She just looks confused. If you are confused about pedestrians downtown, stop driving. Not to mention you just almost hit me less than a minute ago. Figure it out. On the other hand, I might need to figure out how to control my anger at people who almost hit me. It’s not the size of Phoenix, and I might quickly become known as the runner who curses at people. But also, I follow all the rules. I will wait at a light that I don’t really need to wait at because I don’t want to accidentally miss seeing a car. So, really you should pay attention if you are driving a car. And stop trying to beat me through lights. 
 
Thursday 4/8
 
I went back up my route towards Casper Mountain. Then I took a turn through a neighborhood that I really want to explore, but I have a mission and that is toc check out the road that I think is the back way to Casper Mountain (whatever that means). I find the road and it is awesome. Very little traffic and a really nice wide shoulder. It’s really beautiful scenery and peaceful. So, when I have more time, I definitely want to run a little farther. It’s definitely got some climbing, but it levels off for a break too. 
 
Friday 4/9
 
I’m sorry, what season is it? It started snowing overnight. When I was up in the middle of the night, I saw that it had started. In the morning I got dressed and headed out hoping that it wasn’t icy, and it wasn’t. It was actually quite beautiful. At 5:30am it was quite and peaceful. Everything looked so beautiful covered in a light layer of snow. I just ran circles in the neighborhoods around my apartment. I was about a mile and a half, maybe two miles away from my apartment when a heavy ice storm started. It was insane! It felt like a million needles were poking me in the face and more importantly my eyes! It was so painful. Not only was I in pain, but I couldn’t see. I couldn’t keep my eyes open because it hurt so much. I honestly didn’t think I could make it home and was trying to figure out where I could take shelter. And then, just like that, the storm was over, and I was running in perfect weather. I decided to get to 10 miles and call it a day, not knowing what the weather might do next. The upside is that the stomach bug seems to have gone away. Finally!
 
 
Saturday 4/10
Dilemma – it’s very cold and dark when I leave to run, but I know that a little over an hour in it is going to be sunny and warm. How does one dress for this when headed out for a long run? I opt for shorts because I hate running in leggings. I have only done it once or twice in my running life.  I only own one pair and somehow made it through the winter with just the one pair because I hate the idea of spending money on them! I just wear them 2 days in a row and the wash them. But I have decided to look for some on sale this summer, so I have a couple more pairs. So, shorts. A long sleeve, short sleeve over it and my wind breaker/rain jacket. I went with my lighter gloves but doubled them up and used my last handwarmers. I thought I was in the clear, but with cold weather and snow coming next week I am going to have to order more. I spent the first hour or a bit longer just freezing. My hands were so cold.  I was cranky about being cold. And as I suspected, the sun came up and I started to warm up. Ugh. At mile 12 I somehow managed to stop my watch and save the run. I am not sure how that happened because I never stop my watch. Unless I know it’s an extended stop, I leave it running. Luckily, I realized it pretty quickly and was able to restart it. A couple miles later I am uncomfortably warm. I stop to take my jacket off, but It’s too big to shove in my shorts pocket. I tie it around my waist and that is annoying. I end up putting it back on. I head over to the river trail. I could stop by my house and drop off my extra gloves, hat and jacket, but if I go inside my apartment, I know I won’t leave. The wind is going to be terrible in the afternoon, so I know I won’t be going back out for a second run. This is a bummer because it’s in the 60’s and sunny. I would love to be outside. So over to the river path I go. I manage to shove my hat in one pocket and one pair of gloves in another. I unzip my jacket to try to get some cold air in and cool me down. It wasn’t my best long run, but I got the miles done.
 
 
Sunday 4/11
 
Right about the time get ready to leave it starts to snow. I don’t mind the snow when it isn’t making the roads icy. I actually find it peaceful and lovely. Until it became a low visibility snowstorm that felt like needle were blowing into my eyes. I didn’t find that lovely or enjoyable. As usual, once I decided screw this and head towards home, the conditions improve. The last half mile was me running up and down streets and in circles to finish my run. I let the traffic lights determine my path. If I had the go to walk – I went across the street. If I was going to make it, then I just made a turn. Luckily the early morning traffic on a Sunday isn’t too bad. 
 
My run was blocked by a much more charming animal this morning. The cutest young mule deer was standing in the middle of the path. He just stared at me as I approached. I stopped and talked to him a bit. I walked slowly towards him, but he never moved. I went out into the street to go around him and he just went back to munching on some grass. Adorable! I know this puts me in the minority in living in Wyoming, but I will never understand hunting. So you snuck up on an animal and shot it with a gun from a far distance. What exactly makes you feel good about yourself for doing that? It doesn’t seem like a fair fight. I know there are people who will make an argument about eating the meat. Okay, except there are plenty of people just killing these beautiful sentient beings for no reason other than sport. Not a fan. 
 
So, after a few weeks of trying, I finally made it 80 miles! The last couple of weeks I ended up being just about 4 or 5 miles short. I have emailed my planned 50 mile race in a few weeks to ask to defer to next year. It is just too close to my 2nd Covid vaccine shot and I don’t want to spend all that money just to have a crappy day because I’m not feeling well. I did put my name in for a race in July, but I won’t know if I have a spot until June. In the meantime, I will keep looking for a flat 50 mile race. There is a good one on Idaho in May, but it would mean delaying my trip to Phoenix and I am ready to go home and see my family.
 
The plan was to go to yoga in the afternoon, but I didn’t go. I just don’t love it enough to force myself to go. I really should just cancel my gym

​Monday 3/29
Jewish holidays are not a lot of fun if you are by yourself, in case you were wondering. I could have run today, I thought I would run today, but the wind kept me inside. Running in wind sucks, but when it is 20 to 30 mph I can still get some miles in. Yes, I end up irrationally angry, but at least I get some miles done. But when the wind is gusting 50 to 60 mph it is ridiculous to even attempt it. It’s not even the possible large objects blowing at you, but the problem is with your own body. I end up tripping myself as the wind blows one foot into the other leg. Or sometimes I just lose control of my own body and end up struggling to keep from blowing into the street. Not a fun prospect if there is traffic in said street. People often joke that I am so tiny that a strong wind might blow me away, but it seems this is actually true. I kept hoping the wind would die down, but it did not. So, I didn’t run.
 
Tuesday 3/30
My typical morning is wake up, check the weather, get out bed for coffee. It’s freaking cold out. Like in the 20’s or something. I am done with it. While these temps didn’t feel cold a month ago, they now feel like living in the artic circle. This is the problem with going home to Phoenix for break.
 
I ran 8 miles and ended shorter than planned because my hands were so cold. Running into the wind was so chilly. Ugh!
 
It’s spring break for the K-12 schools here so all day there are teens tromping up and down the metal stairs in my alley known as Stairway to Heaven. Two skater girls take up residence and blast their crappy emotional teen girl music. At least play decent music!
 
Wednesday 3/31
 
The wind! The cold! I get 6 miles done and call it a day. I had thought I might get out for a second run, but my day was full of meetings and one of those meetings was rather late in the day. Never mind. Drink wine and try again tomorrow.
 
 
Thursday 4/1
For the love! I had set today as the day to start adding in climbing to train for Silverton Alpine. I head out a run that will give me some climbing without being an overwhelming amount. Except now I am running uphill into the wind. I am less than thrilled about this. I try to create a route that allows me alternate into the wind and back to the wind. The pace isn’t great, but I am able to talk myself into 11 miles. 
 
I went ahead and paid for my gym membership. I should start swimming again, but I probably won’t. The real reason I joined this gym was for yoga. It’s the only place in town with hot yoga. Except, I hate the yoga there. I haven’t been in so long that I can’t remember why I don’t like the Thursday class. It should be getting ready to leave, but I am not. Then the power went out. My landlord was working at one of his businesses in the building, so he called up to let me know. The funny thing is that I had no idea the power was out until he called. Without internet I can’t do too much so I decide to go to yoga. Of course, I was late. I hate being late. I remember why I don’t like this class. The teacher is a big fan of Kundalini yoga and I am not. But she is such a nice person. After class when I apologize for being late, she says, “No problem, I am just glad you came.” Now I feel bad about not liking her class. 
 
Here is the yoga situation. (Feel free to skip this paragraph if you have already read my yoga struggle previously.) Pay for hot yoga that I don’t like at a gym where no one talks to me and I never leave feeling good. I am pretty sure this gym is not my people. There are all these signs about how kids of the opposite sex over 4 must can’t accompany a parent into the changing room. Good grief! Meanwhile, there are elementary age boys running free all over the club all the time. My other option is to go to the yoga studio a block from my house, much more traditional yoga, which is not my favorite. But the people are nice and it’s a small group, so I actually get to talk to people. I may not love the classes, but it feels nice to talk to people. What am I to do? I don’t want to give up yoga and I will not force myself to do it every day at home. Also, I think it is good to have something to get me out of the house in the afternoon. Can someone please open a power yoga studio that plays hip hop music? Is that too much to ask? Since I live in a town where men literally said to me, “I don’t feel comfortable renting to a woman living alone” I am guessing it is too much to ask. Don’t get me wrong, there is a lot to love about Casper, it just often feels like it hasn’t made it to the year 2021 yet. 
 
When I get to downtown there are police cars, fire trucks, and city workers all over the place. It was crazy! There are roads closed so I have to do a little out of the way driving to get to my parking garage. Back to my apartment and the power is still out. I don’t own a flashlight, but I do own a giant box of Shabbat candles. I check the power company website and it says the power should be back on by 8:30pm. I light some candles and read by candlelight until the power comes back on.
 
 
Friday 4/2
No work today because the college is closed for… Good Friday? Early Easter? I don’t know, but I’m not complaining. My hope was to sleep in, but not so much. My body is too used to getting up early. I flop around for a while and the finally get out of bed. 
 
It is a beautiful morning! A little more windy than I wanted for speedwork, but I get it done. After I warm up, I am able to get a very fast mile done, but it nearly kills me. The next mile, about 6:45 pace feels a lot more comfortable. The third mile was 6:35 pace, not terribly uncomfortable. The last mile was 6:23 pace. I had managed to get down to low 6’s a few times but struggled to stay there. That felt like a lot of work. Not the best speed work of my life, but not the worst. It’s a place to start and give me a plan for moving forward.
 
I went to yoga at noon. I have never been to this class. It was okay. Again, I am not in love, but it was fine. I might add this into my schedule for the rest of the school year. I should have brought my running clothes for my 2nd run. I didn’t think of that until after I got to the gym. Maybe next time.
 
Later in the afternoon I get out for an easy run. I feel like I am barely moving, but I am running faster than I planned for this easy run. Plus, with every mile I get faster, but I still feel like a slug. This is when I need Hayley or Norm to keep me from running too fast.
 
 
Saturday 4/3
I have a normal Saturday long run plan, but I decided today to do something different and see if I could follow the path to Paradise Valley Park. I was a little over 3 miles into the run when there was a bunch of young turkeys in front of me. I normally run the other direction when I see wild turkeys, but these small guys started running ahead of me. It was like have a pace car, except there was probably 10 to 12 of them. FYI – those guys can run pretty fast. I kept telling them to just go chill in the grass, but they wouldn’t listen. Finally, the found a place they seemed happy to settle in and I continued on but not for long. All of the sudden there was a very large male turkey with all his feathers out strutting back and forth in front of me. For those of you not sharing your town with wild turkeys, strutting is the technical term for when they strut in front of you to intimidate you. And it worked. I tried to tell him to go away, but that didn’t work. I consider picking up a large stick and using it to fend him off should he attack as I try to pass. I look around but don’t really see a good stick and also realize that it’s probably a dumb idea. First, this guy is at least half my size. Also, I know me and I am not going to want to hurt an animal so I would be nervous about trying to push him away. In the end, I decide to go back the way that I came and take a different route. What an asshole. 
 
After a few warm up miles I drop to 7:45 pace and keep that up until I get to about mile 10. On my way to Paradise Valley, I see about 8 deer crossing the river and stop to watch. It’s just so amazing to see! I do find my way to Paradise Valley park and use the porta potty. After mile ten I drop below 7:30 pace and I am able to run about 7:15 or lower. The best part of this is that I feel good. None of this feels too hard. I have been looking at changing races for my Desert Solstice qualifier. By the end of this run I have decided that I definitely want to run a qualifier and will change my race. Later in the day put my name in for the Kickers 50 mile race. I won’t know if I have a spot until June. The race is the weekend after Silverton Alpine. So, depending on training I will either skip Silverton or run Silverton and Kickers. I usually run really well when I stack races back to back. As long as I feel like I am good shape, I will do both. Plus, I really miss being in Silverton.
 
 
Remember when I was complaining about living in a small town? Here is why you live in a small town. I was renewing my passport and it said I could go to the library to submit my paperwork. Great! I sign up for an appointment online. Then I realize it says they don’t do renewals, so I cancel the appointment. A few minutes later I get an email from the librarian saying they can help me, even with a renewal. I email back to say I was confused by the website and after a few emails we clear things up and she invites me to head over any time in the afternoon. I can’t seem to get my hair colored here so I am using sun for my highlights. No one has messed my hair up I just can’t seem to get an appointment. The first place I tried, I couldn’t get the receptionist to understand I wanted color, she kept talking about a cut, so I let her schedule a cut and then later called and cancelled. The next place has people make appointments online. I scheduled and appointment. Then about an hour before my appointment the hair person called to ask what I was wanting. We had a conversation where she totally annoyed, and we were not communicating well. But the whole reason she was calling was to cancel my appointment because as she said, “no one ever schedule the right kind of appointment.” Well then maybe you shouldn’t have people try to guess and schedule online.  Back to today, I wash my hair, spray in some sun in and go sit in the sun on a random bench to dry my hair. Once my hair is dry, I head over to the library. The librarian was so nice and helpful! We got all of the paperwork done, the picture taken, and I am on my way. And there was no fee for the picture or processing. Yay! And hopefully I will have my passport in time to visit Canada this summer with Enzo.
 
Sunday 4/4
My stomach was not feeling great in the morning. That made it really easy to run my easy day nice and slow. I am also tired of running the same routes. There are only so many options when 4 or 5 miles gets me all the way across town in any direction. I managed to get 14 miles before my stomach couldn’t take it anymore.
 
I am teaching psychology of exercise and sport this summer, so I spent most of the day working on putting the class together. I love creating a new class, but it is so much work. I didn’t get anywhere near as much work done as I wanted. It was really a collection of materials, but I did come up with a general outline of a plan.
 
 
 

​Monday 3/22
I am not sleeping well. I am also less than thrilled about going back to running in the cold. There is also the ice issue. The days get nice and warm with the sun shining and then all the melted snow freezes into sheets of ice (I think I have complained about this before.) I waited to run until later in the afternoon. I never leave in the afternoon feeling super excited about going for a run, but once I get going, I am usually happy. I was feeling great and after heading back to my apartment I decided that I wanted to run more. Although the traffic in downtown had died down a lot, I am now trying to run in the neighborhoods, and I am getting frustrated with people not paying attention. Yes, I want to run more, but I also want to stay alive. It’s tricky. I am still getting use to time change and feeling uncertain about when it will be dark. 
 
I was careful when I first headed out because of my foot. It was still bruised so I had decided that if it hurt, I would go back home. But I never had any pain. It was great!
 
Tuesday 3/23
The weather is meant to be crappy, so I had already planned to take the day off. So, I followed through with that, even though I would have been totally fine to run. I told myself I would do weights and yoga, but I am liar. I am still not sleeping well. In general, I just seem to be struggling to get back in the groove since coming back to Casper. It feels that are a lot of things unresolved between me and Norm.
 
Wednesday 3/24
It’s a beautiful day! The plan was to run after work, but I forgot I had a meeting. And after the meeting I spent an hour talking to someone from work. When I got home, I could have gone for a run, but I was hungry, so I had coffee and a snack. An hour later, I still could have gone for a run, but I didn’t. I know I am going to regret it, but I can’t get myself out the door. 
 
Unrelated good news, I will be teaching a new class (for me) in the fall. I am teaching marriage and family. I am really excited about teaching this class. Yay!
 
 
Thursday 3/25
Thought about trying to run between office hours and meeting but decided to work until the meeting. My meeting was relatively late in the day. When I got home it was 5:30pm, but I had already skipped 2 days, so I needed to get out the door. What I learned was that waiting to run until 5:30pm was actually a really good idea. Most of the downtown traffic had cleared it and it was a lot less stressful to get to the river path to run. I only have less than a mile to get to the path but getting there is so stressful because people just keep trying to run over me. I will never for the life of me understand why me running makes people in cars angry. What the fuck are you so angry about? I also don’t understand the need to try to beat me through the intersection. It’s interesting to me that people in the early morning tend to be more kind and patient with me. 
 
But I did have a great run. I felt great and was able to push the pace. I felt great and to be honest, pretty with happy how easy it felt to push the pace. I ended up with 10 miles.
 
Friday 3/26
I should have run in the morning, But Norm and I had this big discussion the night before and I ended up tired and with a headache from crying. What I didn’t realize was that it hadn’t gotten very cold overnight and all the wet areas hadn’t frozen. After teaching I left to go get my first shot of the Covid vaccine. We are getting them in an empty department store building at the mall. I use the term mall loosely. I am told that it was once a Macy’s. I can’t believe there used to be a Macy’s here looking at how crappy our Target is. 
 
The shot wasn’t so bad. My arm was definitely sore. But about an hour after the shot I felt exhausted. Maybe it’s psychosomatic. I wasn’t worried about this shot, I was actually worried about the 2nd shot because I am meant to have it a week before the 50 mile race I signed u for. I keep flip flopping on spending the money to go ace, but what if I get sick from the second shot? Would I feel better in time for the race? 
 
I eventually give in to the tiredness and take a nap. I ended up sleeping most of the afternoon. When I finally pulled myself out of bed, I had a cup of coffee and worked up the energy to leave for a run. At first, I had zero energy. It got a little better, and my pace increased, but it always felt like I was slogging through waist high mud. I finally felt like I found my groove around mile 8 and was able to get 12 miles down. 
 
The warm weather means it is time to order more Squirrel’s Nut Butter. There was a bit of chaffing and I don’t need that to continue. I had used up the small amount I had left when I was in Phoenix. 
 
Saturday 3/27
I underestimated how cold it was out and suffered for it. One, because I was freezing. Two, because all the snow that had become wet stuff had frozen and I had to contend with that nonsense. It may have snowed overnight too as there seemed to be odd pockets of snow. I was also still feeling very lethargic. I hadn’t slept well due to my arm hurting, but I also think I was still feeling side effects of the vaccine. I just told myself to try to get at least 15 miles done. When I was running into the wind it was frigidly cold. Because of the mounds of snow, I am having trouble finding a place to pee. I am just totally over this run. 
 
I am heading out of the neighborhood I usually run through on my long runs when two off leash dogs see me coming. These dogs across a busy street from me. A truck is coming down the road and the dogs are moving towards me. As I am trying to decide of I need to step into the street and wave my hands in what will hopefully make the truck stop, I hear the wonder calling to the dogs. I freeze in attempt to get the dogs to also stop. The truck goes by and I see the owner has one dog but the other is perched on the curve. Oy vey! A couple cars drive past and the dog darts across the street to me. I put my hands out and the dog seems friendly. The owner soon darts over with the dog he was able to get on the leash. Leashed dog is jumping on me so the owner hand me the clip part of the leash and asks me to leash the dog so he can pull the jumpy dog away from me. I work to get my frozen fingers to work so I can clip the leash on the dogs collar. The dog owner and I exchange some laughs and then I wish him a good day and move on.
 
 I get to about 16 miles and the sun comes out. I start to thaw out. The wind is still cold and annoying, but I am able to talk myself into more miles one mile at a time. My original goal had been 24 miles. My mistake might have been turning back to my house too soon. I just couldn’t talk myself into another mile and ended at 23 miles. The traffic has picked up downtown so between cars and people not paying any attention on the sidewalk, I was done with running around downtown. I thought I might get out for a few miles in the afternoon when the sun came out, but the sun was not reliably shining, and the wind had picked up. When I walked over to the wine shop the wind was miserable. Side note: I miss buying wine in a grocery store where I can just browse and not feel judged about how much I want to spend on a bottle of wine.  The other problem with buying wind here is that the small selection in the grocery store is pathetic, but the liquor store selection is pricey. I miss my large selection of wine in the grocery store. With the 50 mile race most likely off the calendar, I don’t have anything to think about until Silverton Alpine in July. Plenty of time to build up mileage.
 
As has become custom I made my blueberry pancakes! If you are gluten free, I highly recommend the Birch Benders paleo pancake mix. 

Sunday 3/28
The temperature has improved, but the wind is back. I did a lot of running in circles in the neighborhood. It helps keep the wind from being too ridiculous is I stay in the neighborhood. And if I run in circles I can alternate dealing with the wind and being free from it. Eventually I decide to risk it and start making my way to the river path. As I get close to the golf course, I decide to try to figure out how to connect the path to head towards Paradise Valley. The pedestrian path (which I sometimes call trail but is really a concrete pedestrian path but the city calls a trail) doesn’t always connect in a very obvious way and the few signs available are not helpful. I was happy to figure out the connection and get on the path towards Paradise Valley. More amazing views of the river. And the something odd. I see a sign that says something along the lines of “ Cyclists beware you are entering off leash dog area.” I am all for dogs having an off-leash area to frolic, but who thought it was a good idea create an off-leash area right on the middle of a pedestrian path? First, I am afraid of dogs, so I am not a fan of having dogs running up to me. I am assuming the dogs running free are friendly, but I still think this is poor planning. I ran until I couldn’t tolerate the wind anymore and decided to turn back. With the wind at your back I can be easy to forget how annoying the wind is when you are running into it. From the map, I think I made it to almost the point where the concrete path would end. The map indicates there is a planned trail that would connect to Paradise Valley Park. Maybe tomorrow I will try the trail again and run to the end point.
 
With about to mile to go my Suunto started to act up. It’s about once a week now that the pace is totally off. Which I don’t always care about, but I do care that it messes up my mileage. Luckily, I knew how much I needed to get home so I let the watch run to 14 miles and the stopped it because I knew I would get 14 miles by the time I would get to my house. But I really have to do something about this watch. If this happens at a race, I am going to be super pissed. So now I have to plunk down $200 for a Garmin when I already own a watch that cost me over $500. Ugh! Stupid Suunto!
 
I am regretting taking off Monday for Pesach. Three days of sitting in this house alone. Ugh! I should have gone to Moab for the Passover celebration that I had thought about attending. I know I am not meant to be working and should be celebrating/observing but how much of that can you do when you are alone? If you aren’t familiar with Pesach, it’s pretty much a lengthy meal situation. With no option here (I have been told the shul here may no longer be in operation) I am thinking about joining the Adventure Judaism Congregation in Boulder. Right now, they are doing a lot of online programming. They also do a lot of really cool outdoor celebrations. While I am not thrilled about having to drive to Boulder for high holidays it is better than nothing. 
 
 

Monday 3/15
My mom was meant to fly out of Denver, but due to the blizzard it’s not looking likely. We texted and chatted as I tried to help her figure out what to do. Her flight wasn’t canceled but there was no way she was flying out. Eventually her flight would be canceled and she would be able to fly out the next day.
 
Why have I never run through Moon Valley? I have thought about so many times, but for some reason it never happened. I headed out on one of my favorite runs and as I headed back to home I decided to turn and take a tour of Moon Valley. It was finishing with 16 miles and I felt really good about the pace. I slowed down a bit when I got to the trail and had to tell myself to just stop being a baby and just run fast on the trail. And I did. It was pretty perfect running weather.
 
I am back on weather watch. I am meant to fly into Denver on Sunday and then drive to Casper. It’s going to be raining in Denver and snowing in Casper. Light snow, but I will be driving in the late afternoon and evening and as the temperature drops, I don’t want to be stressed about icy roads. I might have to change my flight to Saturday to avoid the nasty weather. Ava asked me to what and see before I change my flight, and I said I would. 
 
The tour of Phoenix food continues with dinner from Via Delosantos. It is so yummy! 
 
Tuesday 3/16
Listen Phoenix, I didn’t come here for cold and wind. I have worn the same sweater every day since I got here because it’s the only sweater that I brought with me. I brought sundresses, light cardigans and flip flops! I headed out for a nice easy day. I was very happy to discover that that bathrooms at the park were open and even better, the water fountain is on! In Casper it is too cold for the water fountain to be on right now. I was close to home at 13 miles, but 14 miles would give me a nice even number for the last 2 days, so I ran in circles a bit to finish at 14 miles. 
 
In the afternoon, Enzo and I went to do some shopping but were quickly annoyed by all the spring breakers. After one store we went home. Later I was feeling like I needed to visit a decent Target, so Enzo and I went but again, I wasn’t in the mood, so we were there about as long as it took to drive there.
 
Weather watch continues and it still isn’t looking good. Saturday the weather looks great. I hate to leave a day early, it’s so nice to see the kids, but the weather is stressing me out.
 
I needed a break from eating out, so we are having eggplant Parmesan tonight. There are so many meals that I miss because I live alone. When I give in to a craving and try to make a small amount of something I still end up eating for 4 meals, which gets annoying. Eggplant parmesian was one of the things I had been craving.

​Wednesday 3/17 
When I leave the house without going poop, I always makes me a little nervous for how things are going to go during the run. And of course, the need to poop struck during the run. I thought I could make it the bathroom, but I was wrong. Good thing I know all the “private” spots on the canal. It was a doozie! I had to sacrifice a buff, but it was unavoidable. Worried about how things might turn out if I kept running, I headed towards home. I ended with 11 miles, which wasn’t the goal, but I at least I managed to avoid pooping my pants. 
 
Enzo took a new job in Phoenix since we arrived and the other young man who lives with us had his car totaled on his way home from work yesterday. I am now sharing a car with two other people. That’s making it harder to go do the shopping I wanted to do while I am in Phoenix.
 
It was finally warm enough to get some sun and I spent some time in the morning laying in the sun. We (meaning Ana) made black bean tacos for dinner and they were amazing!

When I had done my long run I had seen the mural project on the canal. I had told Ava that she would love seeing this. On Wednesday she decided she was ready to leave the house and go out in public since it was an open space. She was a bit nervous when we first got there, it's been a while since she has been out in public. We walked along the canal and when we paused to watch some ducks in the canal, the ducks came to make friends with us. I guessed that they were looking for food, but even when we clearly had none, the ducks hung out right next to us for the longest time.

If you haven't seen the murals on the canal, you need to go check it out. It's amazing! 

​Thursday 3/18
I left the house thinking I would get my long run for the week done today. Wrong! I had zero energy and felt like terrible. I was just in no mood. When I got the bathroom, I realized why – I had started my period. Ugh! I made peace with the fact that I was going to feel like shit and I kept going the best I could. The good news is that I can feel crappy and still run a decent pace. I was able to talk myself into 14 miles before heading home to have coffee in the sunshine. With the snow in the forecast for the whole week afire I get back to Casper I am soaking up all the sun that I can!
 
Enzo and I did a little thrift store shopping in the afternoon. We had Flower Child for dinner. Flower Child is one of the places I miss so much! It was as delicious as always.

​Friday 3/19
The plan was for today to by my long run. I left the house, and the weather was really nice. Piece of cake I was thinking. Since this will be my last day running in Phoenix, I wanted to run one of my favorite spots that I hadn’t been yet.  I am about 6 miles in when my left foot starts hurting. It starts on the bottom but eventually is the whole of the front of my foot. This weird because yesterday it was my right foot that was hurting. I was worried the day before that my foot was going to break again. Today the pain is very reminiscent of when my foot broke. Not as intense, but it’s this indescribable bone pain. I reroute to head toward home, but it isn’t going to be a quick trip home. I am three to four miles from my house. But after about two miles of running, I went from being worried about running on my foot to no pain. Okay, so I guess I will keep running. Whatever. 
 
The morning warmed up and I pulled my top off to run in my sports bra. I ended up with 15 miles because Brandi and I were meant to be meeting and I wasn’t exactly sure what the plan was for the day. I ended up having plenty of time and could have run more, but it was probably better for my foot for me to be off of it. I ended up spending the morning soaking in the sun. A friend from work texted to jokingly ask if I was coming back? I said no way and sent her a picture of me enjoying my coffee in the backyard with sun shining bright. 
 
I went out with Brandi and we went for Nekter smoothies. We used to go get these pink flamingo smoothies all the time when she I went to yoga regularly. We did some shopping for her new apartment and got caught up on her life. 
 
When I got home, Enzo was gone with the car, Norm texted he was going to be late, and I had no way to get the food we wanted for dinner from Whole Foods. We ended up ordering Via again. Too bad there isn’t a juice bar in Casper because I might need a cleanse after this trip! I was meant to have dinner with Hayley, but I canceled since this was going to be my last night in Phoenix. I had thought I might meet her for a drink but since I didn’t have a car that wasn’t really an option. It’s my last night in town and I didn’t get to see my friend, my husband was coming home late, and I am feeling very frustrated.

​Saturday 3/20
Up early, well actually my normal wake up time at home, to get ready for the airport. I finish packing my bags. Norm is driving so slow to the airport. I am really trying to not criticize his driving in our last minutes together, but he is stressing me out about getting to the airport with enough time. I have to check bags and you never know what is going to happen in security. 
 
I hear it a lot, “oh it must be so nice to live alone.” Sure, my house is never dirty or even messy. No one ever eats my leftovers (not that I ever have any because I mostly eat frozen dinners and a few veggies and some bread). But I would go back to my messy house if I could hang out my kids every day again. It’s actually pretty boring and lonely to live alone. Sure, I have met people here, but everyone else has a life, it’s not like when you are twenty. When you are young, most people don’t have husbands and kids, so they are always game to do something. I tried flying home every month but that was costing me a ton of money. But it also makes me a little bitter. Maybe I don’t always want to go home. Maybe sometimes I want to do something else. Plus, it’s always a bit of a bummer to then come back to Casper and be by myself again. My marriage is definitely not benefitting from spending less time together. But I live my job and it’s a good job and Phoenix isn’t offering that. I am not willing to go back to being poor and struggling to live in Phoenix. A tenure track job was the dream, the dream just didn’t also involve me being alone.
 
I arrive in Denver. If you haven’t been traveling and you are thinking about it, be advised that no one is staying socially distant. It almost felt safer to be traveling when the pandemic was worse. Flights weren’t as full and people were more careful about distance in the airport. I get to my car and it’s still early so I think about stopping for groceries in Denver so I won’t have to do it in Casper. Plan foiled by an accident that has closed I-25 (the highway that goes from Denver to Casper) right outside of Denver at about Loveland. I am being detoured and since I don’t know the area and I am just following the people in front of me. After adding about an hour to my trip home I am on the road to Casper. The roads are clear, but wet from the melting snow. 
 
When I get to Casper, it is mounds of snow that have been plowed and pushed to the sides and middle of roads. Some taller than me. The one in the grocery store parking lot was at least 8 feet tall. My Starbucks barista asks if I am enjoying the weather (it is pretty nice in Casper today) and I say, “No, I just got in from Phoenix.” The barista feels sad for both of to be here and not there. I start dragging my bags to the apartment. The alley is what I call “a river runs through it.” I throw the bags in my room and head to the grocery store. Snow is coming this evening (and all week) and no groceries in this house. I had heard the stores were pretty empty, but except for banana’s (odd?) the shelves seem good to me. I honestly didn’t even know what I bought. I was just throwing things in the cart. I usually have a bit of a plan and buy a week at a time, but I think I bought 2 weeks
worth of food. 
 
Walking back to the apartment I consider going for a run. It’s mid 50’s and no wind. And I know it’s going to start snowing in a few hours. But by the time I get to the apartment and put groceries away I am feeling hungry. I am also unsure when the sun will set since daylight savings happened while I was gone. 
And maybe I should rest my foot after the weird foot pain and bruise from the day before. 
 
I eat dinner, drink wine, don’t unpack, and as I go to bed, it starts snowing.

Sunday 3/21
I woke up in the middle of the night and in my half asleep confusion was trying to find Norm’s hand next to me. See, this is why I hate the going back and forth. 
​
I slept in pretty late for me, but also Casper is now an hour ahead of what I am used to… I really hate time change. Another thing to love about Phoenix, no time change to deal with. It’s still snowing when I get up. I want to go for a run later in the day, but I am not sure what my options are. When I drove into town yesterday I could see that the path I use all the time is covered in snow. If I go out, I will wait until late in the day because the traffic will be greatly reduced and also hopefully some of the snow will be cleared or melted. But the odds of me getting out the door are not good. It feels like it doesn’t matter since I have decided to skip the 50 mile race I have planned at the end of April because I don’t want to spend a $1000 for travel, hotel and rental car. If the weather forecast is to be believed, I just have to get through this week and then the snow should end, the temps should go up, and the sun will come out! But that could all be false and my training could go to shit again.
 
I did unpack and start laundry. I have a ton of things I could be doing, but I have zero motivation. I feel tired, like I could nap even though I slept about 10 hours. I tried napping, but I never fell asleep. In the afternoon I watched the movie I’m Thinking of Ending Things. Possibly the worst movie I have ever seen. 
 
I am pleased to announce that I got out the door for a run. I had told myself that if I just got 5 miles done I would be happy. But it was so beautiful out that I ended up with 13 miles. I kinda wanted to keep running, but I wasn’t sure how much daylight I had left as it was almost 6:30pm when I got back to my apartment.  I was really happy to see that most of the pedestrian path had been cleared. It was strange that it would randomly not be cleared. A few times I had to walk through some deep snow, but mostly it was amazing. I was running in shorts and a long sleeve top and I was perfectly warm. I am so glad that I didn’t try to deal with the snow this morning, 
 
My foot did hurt a bit at mile three and I thought I was going to have to head back home. I turned and started back towards home but then there was no foot pain. I decided to keep running and my foot felt fine. When I got home and took off my shoe, my foot looked a little swollen. The bruise is still there. Is it worse? I am not sure. I ice my foot and Google stress fracture on top of foot. The picture of bruises looks just like mine. But I don’t have any pain when I touch it or when I walk. And only a small amount of temporary pain when running. I feel like I probably should just stay off of it. Unfortunately, like most runners my thought process is pretend it isn’t happening until you can’t pretend any more.
 

Unrelated what to watch information. I just finished The Investigation on HBO. It is amazing! I mean sad, but so good.
 
Monday 3/8
Winter storm warnings abound! But for now, the weather is beautiful. I headed out early in hopes of getting 12 to 15 miles done. Normally I wouldn’t be pushing the mileage the after a long run. But knowing that I have nothing but bad weather in my future for the rest of the week, I wanted to get as many miles done as possible. Everything was fine but my knee was bugging me. It only got worse and at about mile 6 I stopped to pee and also rubbed my knee. That only made things worse. The pain is on the inside of my knee. I had this happen before and it was my bursa and there doesn’t seem to be much you can do except not run. So, despite wanting to run more miles, I headed home and ended with a disappointing 8 miles. I iced my knee and took some Advil knowing that I might not run much the rest of the week.
 
I am on weather watch Spring Break 2021. Please don’t send me hate mail, I know lots of people are not traveling. But I have been traveling since the summer because if I didn’t, I wouldn’t see my husband and kids. I wear a mask, I wash my hands, and so far, so good. So, I am going to Denver to meet my mom, youngest sister, and Enzo. Enzo and I head to Phoenix after 24 hours in Denver. Unfortunately, Denver is going to get hit with a massive winter storm on Friday and through the weekend. Casper is getting a major winter storm Tuesday night into Wednesday. How was it 60 degrees today and we have a winter weather watch for 2 days from now? 
 
In an effort to be able to drive without crying and having a nervous breakdown. I changed Enzo’s flight and we will be arriving on Thursday ahead of the snowstorm (fingers crossed).

​Tuesday 3/9
Up early and out the door. It was a beautiful morning. A little windy, but not terrible. I would take this every day. I was actually hoping to get my long run done today. And then at a little over 8 miles my watch went crazy – again. Listen Suunto, this watch cost me $500, I am pretty annoyed with this situation.  This might actually be the push I have been looking for to buy an Apple watch because I hear they are fairly accurate with distance and I would have a backup for the shitty, expensive Suunto. 
 
So best guess, I got a little over 16 miles done. I would have run more (even thought my knee was bothering me a bit the last few miles) but it’s annoying to be guessing mileage. Iced my knee and took my Advil before going to work. 
 
In the afternoon I talked to my mom. She is concerned about coming to Denver since 15 inches of snow is predicted over the weekend. I am a little concerned about being able to leave Denver for Phoenix on Saturday night. I call the reservation line for the hotel in Denver to say I want to check in a day early and the lady makes this big deal about how I can’t change the reservation because it had to be done a week before check in, but maybe she can do something to help me, she needs to check. I just say, this is ridiculous and hang up. I have prepaid for an expensive hotel room and I am telling you want to pay a stupid amount of money to stay another night and you are acting like I am putting you out? I call the hotel directly and in like 5 seconds they add the extra night and everyone moves on with their life. Marriot Bonvoy – get your shit together. Note to self – never call the reservation line again. I usually make all my reservations through the app so lesson learned, only use the app. I can’t for the life of me understand why Norm like dealing with an actual person. I don’t even check in with a person at the hotel, I just use the app and get the key on my phone. 

​Wednesday 3/10
It hard started snowing around 8pm and was still going strong when I woke up. We probably had 5 to 6 inches on the ground. I decided to do a weight work out and wait until things had been plowed before heading out later in the day. The snow was so deep that running through it would be difficult. A little before 7am I got a message that highways and K-12 schools were closed. Shortly after that I got the text, phone call, and email that the college was closed for the day. I have been told that never happens so you know this is a bad storm. So, after weights I did some graded, attended some of a conference I am signed up for and I between did laundry and cleaned a bit. 
 
At about 10am it felt like it should be almost evening. This day was going to drag on forever. I decided to take a break and go out for a run. I went down the block, made a left and came right back up the ally to my apartment. Then I just stood outside my door trying to decide what to do. It was slushy! Like my feet are already wet and I ran for maybe a minute. I decided to head out a different direction. Okay, so not great. Where the sidewalks had been cleared it was so slushy, but not icy. I quickly realized that I wasn’t going to slip, but I was definitely going to be wet. Where sidewalks had not been cleared the snow was up to my mid calf. If I could run where someone else had previously walked it was fine, but if I came to a spot where no one had walked yet it was high snow, and I had no idea where to step and not to step. 
 
Running in the road was the best option where I could. Despite pretty much everything in town being closed, there were a ton of people driving around. Where are they going? There are major puddles everywhere. I had wet feet from pretty much the beginning. I kept thinking I would have to stop running because my feet were wet, but they never really got cold. It seemed like every puddle I stepped in was bigger than the last. By the time I got home I was wet from toes to knees. If I hadn’t been stressed by the traffic and needed to pee, I would have kept running but I was happy to get 6 miles done since when I left, I wasn’t even sure I would run any miles at all.
 
It finally stopped snowing around 2pm and the sun came out a bit. I am trying to pack to leave for Denver tomorrow. I am literally packing two bags because it is going to be cold and snowing in Denver and beautiful and warm in Phoenix.  Honestly, I need one of everything. The good news is that I can leave my cold weather clothes in my car at the Denver airport. 

​Thursday 3/11
I got up early, like always, had my coffee and went to check out the odds of actually running. Just as thought, the town is a sheet of ice. I knew all that wet yesterday was going to become a city wide skating rink when the temps dropped over night. I got ready, answered some emails and got ready to load my car up. The first pass of carrying bags to my car was scary! My ally was totally iced over. I barely made it to the street. Coming back, I decided to go through the building to make life easier. If I go through the building, I come out on the sidewalk that was less icy and scary. What I learned going to my car was that the streets were not as clear as I would like. It was icy just leaving my parking garage. I head out thinking I just need to make it the half mile to the highway and I will be fine. But I was terrified the whole half mile. My legs were shaking, and I kept repeating, “you can do this, you can do this.” I get to the highway only to discover things are not better! The speed limit is set at 45mph and only one lane is open because the other is covered in snow. And the fog is terrible. It normally takes me 4 hours to get to the airport in Denver, but that is driving the 80 mph speed limit. At 45 mph it is going to take me 8 hours! This is not good. Luckily, I was about 30 minutes outside of town when the fog lifted a bit and the roads were totally clear. Soon I was back to my normal speed and mostly the fog wasn’t too bad. The timing worked out perfect for getting Enzo from the airport. I hate the Denver airport! Is there anyone that thinks it’s a good airport? 
 
We go to the hotel and check in and then head out to do some shopping and get a bite to eat. We went downtown to some thrift places Enzo wanted to check out. We found an amazing stretch of thrift stores and had the best sushi and sashimi that I have ever had. It was delicious! And happy hour pricing meant it was super reasonable. And they were super nice about me needing everything to be gluten free. Since Enzo and I were sharing, the waiter said to write down what we wanted and he would make sure that everything was gluten free and any sauces that couldn't be gluten free he would bring on the side. I tried really hard to use my chopsticks but was only marginally successful and eventually lost my patience and asked for a fork. I am an embarrassment to my half Asian children.
 
We went to the grocery store to get some food, water, and alcohol for the room. That was a nightmare! First off, I had realized that was a Whole Foods right behind the hotel, I would never have gone to King Supers. And I will never go there again. With the impending blizzard the place was a madhouse. It is less than desirable to try to shop in a grocery store that you are unfamiliar with when it is over run with people. 
 
Our plan was to go to the gym to work out when we got back to the room, but Enzo was really tired and not feeling great so he went to sleep. I could have gone to the gym to run by myself but I did not. I had wine and popcorn and watched tv. 

​Friday 3/12
Up early (of course) I went to Starbucks to get coffee and when I finished that I left Enzo a note about when I would be back and headed out for a run. I had to pick my mom up at the airport so I had a limit on my running time. It was the most beautiful morning and our hotel was steps away from the Cherry Creek trail. I was also super happy to get a pretty speedy run done. I am pretty pleased with what I can run when it isn’t icy, windy, or both.
 
I get back to the hotel and slowly peruse the breakfast selection. Not great but I grab some “just in case” food. I get up to the room and talk to Enzo a bit before looking at my phone. Oh no! My mom forgot about the time change and she is at the airport! I thought we had an hour and was going to shower before heading out to get her. We jump in the car and race to the airport. 
 
After we get her back to the hotel and I clean up we part ways. She goes with my sister Jamie (she lives in Denver) and Enzo and I go do some more thrift store shopping and eat more sushi. While we were shopping I get a notice that out flights for the next evening are canceled. Because we have separate reservations we are on our apps doing a coordinated dance of rescheduling to make sure that we are on the same flight. We tried to get out that day, but no options were available. I am very stressed about when the blizzard is going to arrive. 
 
After lunch, We went to the Museum of Contemporary Art. It was eh. The roof top deck was my favorite part. It was beautiful and peaceful and they had a cool bell system that was really nice to listen to. Enzo bought a cool book about a guy who paints monsters.  We got coffee and tried to pick out a baby gift for a 1 year old birthday party we are going to that evening, but settled for a gift card and headed back to the hotel. Enzo swam with my littlest sister while my mom and I sat by the fire pit and got caught up.
 
After the birthday party my mom came back to our room. We spent the night telling Enzo stories about our family. It was a lot of fun! Enzo and I watched Grease and I went to bed. When Enzo and Ava were 5 and 3 there two favorite movies were Grease and Twister. They watched Grease because Enzo was in youth production and I was all, oh shit! This is not for kids. But it was too late, they loved it. I don't remember how they fell in love with Twister, but it happened. 

Saturday 3/13
The weather keeps changing and we have a lot of stress about getting to the airport. We decide I will set an alarm for 2am and check the weather. I wake up at 2am and there is no snow outside and my weather app says that the snow isn’t going to start until 6am. I set an alarm for 5am and when I wake up there is no snow and the forecast is saying that the snow is coming later. I went ahead and get up. I thought about going for a run but I felt exhausted. Too much wine the night before and not enough sleep. I showered and take the bags to the car. Enzo gets up and we head to the airport. We get through baggage check, and security. There were so many people that I didn’t even get screened, they just waived me through. 
 
Any benefit of that is all lost when I have to stand in line for 30 minutes to get coffee at Starbucks. And it was shitty coffee, so watered down I was basically drinking hot water. Enzo and I ate our breakfast and watch a plane come into land. Travel complete we land in Phoenix! I thought I would get a run in but I felt bad to tell me family that I had to leave for a run when they wanted to hang out with me. 

Sunday 3/14
There is no saving my mileage for the week so I just head out and figure I will run what I run. Almost immediately I have a major side cramp. Like so bad, that I tell myself to het to 5 miles and if it isn’t better, I will quit and just go to yoga. Around mile 4 the cramp goes away. I run some of my favorite weekend route. When I get to the canal on 3rd Avenue (this makes sense to Phoenix peeps). I start running west and realize they city has artists doing a mural project, so I ran past 15th street, which is further than I have gone before, because I am enjoying the murals. 
 
I turn and go back on the canal. I am thinking maybe I will go for 30 miles, but somewhere right after 10 miles I start having a pounding a headache. The headache will feel unbearable and then feel better and then feel unbearable again. I have a feeling it is because I am dehydrated from traveling the day before. I run everything as a depletion run so I don’t have any water or food with me. I talk myself into 20 miles, but as I get closer to that number, I start trying to talk myself into a little more. I was hoping to get to 25 but decided to settle for 23 miles. When Enzo asked how far I had run, and I said 23 he said, “isn’t it funny that some people have to train all year for that, and you just go out a decided to run that amount.” I mean that is only sort of true, but I see what he means. 
 
I went out for drinks and appetizers with a friend in the evening and we sat on the patio. It was a lovely evening. Then we had Blaze Pizza for dinner. My tour of Phoenix food is beginning. 
 

​Unrelated information. You must watch these three things. 1. The Painter and The Thief. I didn’t even look at my phone once. That’s huge! I am always looking at my phone. 2. For Heaven’s Sake is a documentary series that was amazing! Two young men decided to try to solve the disappearance of a family member 86 years ago. It was funny, it was moving, it was perfect! 3. Three Identical Strangers. I have been meaning to watch this for a while now. It was fascinating on so many levels and I can’t believe that people aren’t addressing the ethical issues while the can. Shame on Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Service and Yale University! 
 
Okay – here is the running stuff. 
 
Monday 3/1
Yay March! I officially have Spring Fever! It was so beautiful that I ran more miles than I realistically had time for and was running around like a crazy person to get ready for work. When I left work the sky was sunny and the wind wasn’t too bad and it was close to 50 degrees out. I know that isn’t that warm but considering it was negative 30 a week or so ago, this feels like beach weather.
 
Tuesday 3/2
It was a bit windy but if I stayed in the neighborhoods it was manageable. I was able to get 10 miles and weights done and still had plenty of time to get to work.
 
Unrelated, but I will be very excited when NPR gets a new sponsor and I don’t have to listen the annoying ads for therapy. I am all for therapy if that’s what you want to do, but the way the lady talks in those ads just drives me nuts. 
 
 
Wednesday 3/3
I actually wore shorts today! And no jacket! I didn’t even need handwarmers in my gloves. I thought I might even try to get some fast running done since I the weather was so nice but somewhere around mile 5 my watch started to go berserk and was displaying paces that are not even possible. This also meant that in a few steps it was displaying I had covered a whole mile. Good grief! I ended up just turning my watch off. So, I am not exactly sure, but I am pretty sure that I got 10 miles done. I am going to be really sad when time change takes place in a couple weeks because I love having the sun come up so early. 
 
Thursday 3/4
It was so freaking cold! I mean not really, but after it was so warm yesterday and felt terrible today. I really had to will myself through the miles. I started by telling myself to just run 3 miles and from there every mile was me telling myself to try for one more mile. The upside – there was no wind!
 
Friday 3/5
I woke up at 3am very sick. I will save you the details. But going back to sleep I turned my 4 am alarm off and turned on my 6am alarm. This means I will have to drag myself out to run in the afternoon. It is supposed to be in the 50’s and sunny so that makes it easier to want to run. 
 
I had to go home early to let the fridge repair man into the apartment. Good news! My fridge is working again. I will no longer have to play the role of horror film victim to go get food from the banquet hall kitchen. I went to get some food. I tried to make a very detailed plan so that I won’t have to throw things out before I leave for Phoenix. 
 
I did get out for a run. While the temperature was awesome the wind was not. I decided to try a few half mile repeats so that I could alternate running into the wind and not into the wind. It didn’t go too bad. I was able to play around a bit and figure what felt comfortable and what definitely did not. Low 6min/mile feels like work but nor terrible. 6:30min/mile feels easy. Running 5:40 to 5:50min/mile felt terrible. I could do it, but I wasn’t fan. Good to know for the future. I really did want to try to get a couple more repeats done, but I was feeling really thirsty. So, home I went. I should have done yoga, but instead I took a nap.
 
A week from today I will be in Denver with Enzo, my mom and my sisters. Yay!
 
Saturday 3/6
Usually Saturday is my long run day. The temperatures were in the 40’s and I was looking forward to the run. Except about 2.5 miles in I needed to head back home to poop. While home I decided to shed the long sleeve top and the 2nd set of gloves because I had been so warm. This pretty quickly seemed like a mistake.  The wind was so strong and seemed to be coming from every direction. Is that even possible? Then 2.5 miles after I had left my apartment for the second time, my watch started going crazy again. I am definitely sure I was not running a 2min/mile pace. I don’t care about that, but it is messes up my distance tracking. I tried to turn my watch off and turn it back on, but that didn’t help. So now I am running by time. It was a struggle to make myself keep running. There are some days that I where I can deal with the wind and there are days where the wind makes me absolutely lose my mind. I have read some research that says the wind is worse for women than men and the theory behind that seems to be hormonal. I wonder if I get more angry in the wind when I am on period? Maybe I need to do a case study on myself. Luckily the wind will die down tonight and tomorrow looks like a much better day to get a long run done.
 
My landlord came with someone to check out some floor issues in the apartment. After they left, I did weights and then wasted time I should be using to work on my dissertation. 
 
A week from today I will be back in Phoenix with Norm, the kids, and Pasta! Yay! Unfortunately, my mood declined as the day went on. I took a nap and woke up like a cranky toddler. I managed to talk myself into doing yoga. Every now and then I hit these moments where I just don’t want to live here anymore. I don’t want to be alone, I want have more choices on where to shop and eat, I want to buy cheap flowers from Trader Joe’s that last almost 2 weeks. Sometimes it can be hard to be here despite the things that I love about being here.
 
Sunday 3/7
The temperature was perfect and there was no wind! The sun was out and it was a beautiful morning. I thought I had a plan for the route I would take, but after I left my apartment, I felt like I needed something different. In a town where if I run 4 or 5 miles in any direction I am completely at the end of town, it can be tough to get a long run done. I ran a few miles trying to figure out what my plan would be when I ran past a trail map. There was a route I had been trying to figure out, but I could never figure it out. Also, when I say trail, I mean concrete pedestrian path, but the city calls it a trail. The trail seemed to dump me onto the side of the highway, and I couldn’t figure out where the connection to the rest of the rail was. So, when I passed that map, I decided to it what would be in my mind as going backwards. Start at the place where I was trying to end to figure out how they connect. I had driven down to this park with access to trail before, so I had an idea of where I needed to go. I was headed to the park when all of the sudden there are 4 or 5 large deer right against the sidewalk. There is also traffic coming toward us on the road. These beauties had some serious antlers and I didn’t want to get that close to them. I also did not want to send them into traffic as I approached so I stopped. The deer and I stared at each other as I calmly kept saying “stay there, stay there.” Luckily, they were well behaved deer and followed directions. As soon as the cars passed, I crossed the street. Which actually was the right thing to do because the sidewalk ended shortly after I crossed. Why do cities do this? Abruptly ending sidewalks, especially on a busy street is insane. 
 
I make it to the park and keep following the path. It takes me through a disc golf course and along and the always beautiful river. I feel a little nervous as it feels really isolated. There are some dirt tracks that have been made by bikes, but I stick to the path because I do not want to get lost. I see a big group of antelope and an eagle. It was amazing! There are also bunnies and ducks and song birds. It’s so lovely! I connect to part of the path that I wanted to connect to so my plan was successful. 
 
I did a loop around the river and the golf course, my normal running spot. I really want to run back through the area from where I just came, but it was so empty that I wondered if I should be nervous. In the end I decided to go back that way because it was an easy way to get the miles I needed. The alternative was running around in circles to try to come up with 5 or 6 miles I needed to finish my run. 
 
Heading back, I decided to pick up the pace and was thrilled to get some fast miles going. Occasionally my pace was slowed to deal with some dog traffic, but this was what I needed to feel good about my upcoming 50 mile race. While I know all those long slow days are good for me, I was still feeling nervous about having the speed I need to run a Desert Solstice qualifier. As you might have guessed from the dog traffic, there were lots of people in the area that earlier had been empty and scary. It was now the busiest part of the path I have ever seen. I am starting to learn that I am one of the few people who is out and running at 6am, so you can imagine that when I am out 5am I definitely alone. As I was finishing up the last fast mile I was approaching a spot where I would have to cross the highway. Not an intersection I wanted to go into while trying hold a sub 7min/mile pace, so I made a turn into a very large Uhaul parking lot and was able to finish the mile. I slowed to run the last 2 miles to get home but was still able to stay around 7:30min/mile pace. 
 
The sunshine, animals, and good run definitely improved my mood. What is not helping my mood is that my achilles tendonitis is randomly acting up. I can feel the pain in my heel today. I haven’t run too much, I haven’t done too much climbing, I don’t get it. I feel like achilles tendonitis and the hamstring issue will never go away. They get better and sometimes I go long stretches of time with no issue and randomly I am suddenly have some minor pain again. I have a full time job, I can only do so much injury management. So, I guess I have to add massaging my achilles back into my daily plan. 
 
I am currently on weather watch for Denver because it looks like snow on Friday. Not thrilled about driving into Denver if it’s going to be snowing. We have already established that I am useless at driving in the snow.  

I try to keep track of what my run was like every day, but I didn’t do that this week. It was quite a week. 
 
Unrelated to running, two of three appliances in my apartment broke. The washer wasn’t such a big deal I was fortunate that it broke as I finished my last load of laundry. The refrigerator broke a few hours after I bought $150 worth of groceries. Good news, there is a banquet facility on the second floor of my building, so I was able to move my food to the kitchen down there. I’m not going to lie though, going down there in the dark to get my food feels a little horror film waiting to happen. 
 
On Friday I happen to come home when there was a guy here to take a look at the fridge. The report is that it will take some time to get the part. I will be taking part in the horror film kitchen situation until at least Friday. After the guy left there was water dripping from the water dispenser. Interesting, since the fridge is not dispensing water. I stick a towel under the dispenser and then have my back to the fridge while I am in a Zoom meeting for about half an hour. When I get up from the meeting there is a pool of water all over my kitchen. I put clean up the water and rush downstairs to ask my landlord to ask about the water turn off. (Luckily he is in the building.) Maybe I should have just looked behind the fridge, but I wasn’t thinking straight. When I get back upstairs to deal with the water, I facetime Norm to help me. Why did I think turning the water off would be complicated? This should be easy, but the even with the water off there is water dripping from what Norm tells me is the supply line. I tell my landlord and he called a plumber who comes to take care of things.  
 
I am back in dissertation classes and back being angry with Grand Canyon University. Because I have been out of class for a few months I did not know that they had changed to a new proposal format and I am no longer grandfathered into APA 6th edition. This means I paid them money to work on changing the format of everything which I could have done with it paying for a class. I paid for feedback and am stuck in a situation where I am not getting feedback.  I have said this before and I will say it again, go anywhere but GCU for your PhD because there love to take your money and couldn’t care less about actually working with people to finish their dissertation. It would have been so easy for my advisor to tell me that all of this was happening so that I would know that I should work on making format changes before paying for a class. I thought I was starting a class with a proposal that was ready to start getting feedback from my committee. 
 
Any remaining free time was spent writing syllabi for two classes I proposed at the college. The one calls, Psychology of Gender, I have taught before and has been taught at the school so that was pretty easy to put together. The other, Psychology in Film, isn’t taught many places and is something I have wanted to do for a long time. Since I am creating this from scratch it takes a lot of time. I want the class to be approved so I spend a lot of time on the syllabi so that it is perfect, and the committee will see that it’s a good idea.  I finally got that sent to my boss on Thursday. 
 
But maybe you just come here for the running. I didn’t make notes last week so I will do my best to recreate from my Strava. 
 
Monday the 22nd was windy. Shocking, I know. I got 6 miles done around the river. 
 
I did not run Tuesday the 23rd. When the wind is gusting over 60mph it doesn’t even make sense to try to run. Since I was up at 4am (my normal wake up time) I did a weight workout and yoga before heading to work. It was nice to be relaxed getting ready for work instead of my normal running around like a crazy person to get ready in 30 minutes or less. 
 
Wednesday the 24th there was no wind, no snow, and no traffic if my Strava title is to be believed. I got 10 miles done before being at work to teach an 8am class so I must have let pretty early. My routine is to get up, listen to Up First podcast by NPR and The Daily while I drink my coffee. The only time that differs is if The Daily is interviewing children. I have zero interest in listening to interviews with children. People often find my general disdain for children confusing since I love teaching at the elementary school. I love teaching and I love building relationships, I do not love children in general. I think they are disrespected and treated like crap for the most part and that makes me sad, but I don’t want to sit next to them at a restaurant.
 
On Thursday the 25th my Strava title says that it was cold but beautiful out. That must mean there was no wind because I didn’t even run by the river. 
 
Friday the 26th I clearly remember! The other part of my daily routine is after I listen to my podcasts and drink my coffee, I go poop. Despite feeling like I needed to go, nothing was happening. I left for my run but the feeling that I needed to poop would not go away. I thought going home and trying again about mile 2 or so but kept running. I did decide not to stray far from my house. Good thing because I suddenly hit a point where I really had to go. I think I had a little less than a mile to my house and I was not sure I would make it. It was close! I thought I might be able to get back out the door for a few miles, but I was in the bathroom for a while. It was pure joy! If you have never had a poop so good that it makes your whole day awesome, I feel sorry for you. 
 
Saturday the 27th was meant to be my long run day. I managed 18 before I couldn’t take it anymore. Which was quite impressive because I really didn’t think I would get very many miles. There is a neighborhood on the other side of town from me. That means it is a whole 4 miles away from my apartment. But it’ s a great neighborhood to run in. It’s one of the few places where I see a lot of runners so I must not be the only person to think this. I did take a new route and make an connection of a streets that I know but I didn’t know connected to each other. 
 
Sunday the 28th I thought I knew the weekly total but would find out I was wrong later. Light snow had fallen in the evening on Saturday but then the skies cleared and that meant it was bitterly cold on Sunday. And of course, the ever present wind was blowing and driving me insane. I really wanted 70 to 80 miles but ended up with 67 miles. Good enough, I guess. 
 
My yoga streak has come to an end twice now. I can't seem to get myself to practice at home. I miss Phoenix yoga so much! Can someone please move here and open a hot yoga studio that is fun and plays decent music?

​Monday 2/15
 
I have decided that I really need to get back to doing yoga. I signed up for my favorite online yoga teacher and completed a class that was a little over an hour. It kicked my ass. The sun came out and the temps warmed up. I headed out for a run around 1pm. First, I have to deal with the traffic. This is why I hate running in the afternoon. Second, the snow is melting and because we had about 4 inches of snow since Thursday afternoon and the melting snow is creating huge puddles. Of course, I step right into one of these puddles and now my foot is wet. I finally get to the pedestrian path by the river and the encounter a whole new set of problems. My wet foot is getting and I am not sure how worried I should be, the snow is so deep that it is difficult to run, and the wind is blowing pretty hard which is not only hard to run in, but is blowing snow into my face, which basically feels like shards of glass. I had hoped to get at least 5 miles but had to settle for 4 miles. Amazing how many people have no idea that their cars have turn signals. If you don’t want me to cross the road when you are planning to turn the use your effing turn signal!
 
Tuesday 2/16
 
Before I even went to bed on Monday, I was worried about running on Tuesday. All those puddles I stepped in yesterday were sure to be slick frozen death hazards in the morning. In the morning I spend about 45 minutes to an hour having coffee and listening to my news podcasts. I spent the whole time stressed about running. In the end I decided to run the stairs instead of risking my life outside. I could have run in the afternoon, but I knew I wouldn’t. It’s so weird because when I run in the morning I don’t even notice the cold, but in the afternoon when it is warmer it feels too cold to go for a run. I know, it makes no sense. I start running the stairs and I notice that it is light outside. It’s 6:30am so it’s a little later than I would want to get started but I don’t have to be at work until 9:30am on Tuesday and Thursday. Yes, it was in the teens but the temperature felt perfect. Where the sidewalks were clear it was fine, but when I had to try to run in 4 inches (or more) of snow it was not so easy. The bathroom was still locked at 7am, that never happens. Fine, I’ll pee at my hidden spot. Except there is a cop there. WTF? My spot is tucked away under an overpass, but this cop will see my tuck under there. I mean is he going to jump out of his car and come see what I am doing? Probably not, but it feels a little more ballsy than I am up for. I have to wait until I get to my other secret spot tucked in some bushes. Listen, there is so much shit from geese in this area that my human pee is not a big deal. Also why isn’t the bathroom open at 7am? Some days it is open at 5:45am and sometimes it is closed at 7am… let’s get it together Casper. I finally get to the pee bushes but I am surprised to find the pedestrian oath here has been cleared. This is so great! I go from hoping to get at least 8 miles to knowing I can get 10 miles.  I get back to being within blocks of my apartment and I am short of ten miles. This means I have to run in circles downtown. This is always a nightmare due to the traffic. I get it done, but it slows my pace and I end up rushing to get to work. 
 
I was down to an orange, a guac mini and bag of frozen green beans so I had to go grocery shopping after work. I get home, do some work and at 4:30pm lay down for a quick nap because I am exhausted. My quick nap lasted about an hour. This means my 30 day yoga streak ends after one day. Maybe the goal should be yoga most days? It’s hard to get yourself motivated to do yoga at home, but I don’t love the yoga classes here enough to pay for yoga. Well, not totally true, I do like some of the classes at a yoga study a block from my house, but I’m not making it there today. 
 
Wednesday 2/17
 
On Tuesday night, after that late day nap, I made dinner and answered some emails, wrote my blog for the day and then went back to sleep at 7pm. I slept a solid 10 hours! I struggled to get myself out of bed even after that. I finally got out the door for my run and discovered it was snowing. And that snow became heavier as the minutes ticked by. It was beautiful. I have been wanting to write poems about the river. I feel like I always create these amazing poems when I am running and then I get home and my poem sounds like something a 2nd grader would write. But I haven’t given up. I am still working on it.  I currently have 2 poems I am working on.  
 
Back to the running. It is a beautiful morning! Because I got out the door a little later than I wanted I only had time for 5 miles. I have learned that I always think I can get ready for work so fast and it always takes longer than I think. Approaching a stop light I didn’t slow as I came to the light and instead came to an abrupt stop which turned into a slide. Yikes! I managed to right myself and not fall on my ass, but that was my first close call. 
 
I did force myself to do yoga, even though I didn’t want to. And then I picked a video where the persons voice was grinding my nerves. And the first 20 minutes or so of the class I was annoyed by the class, it was boring I don’t want to do sun salutation A for 25 minutes. I told myself when I wanted to start a 30 days of yoga streak for it to count it only had to be 30 minutes for it to count. So, I told myself to get through 30 minutes. By the time I got through 30 minutes I was able to keep at and get through the class. 
 
Thursday 2/18
 
Finally, a perfect, magical, amazing morning of running. When I was in Phoenix, I had routes I really enjoyed but I think it was rare for me to have a day that felt magical. I definitely have a lot more days like that here. But I also didn’t have a lot of days in Phoenix where it felt like running was annoying, bordering on making me angry. I for sure have more days here where I just want to be running. In Phoenix most of my days, were just days running. I like running, I like being outside, it was all good. In Casper I have more days that extreme, magical or fucking annoying. 
 
All my good vibes came to an abrupt end when I had to drive to work. Normally the get the road cleared and sanded pretty early but when I left at 9am the roads hadn’t All my good feelings abruptly came to an end. The roads hadn’t been cleared yet. I only have to come out of my parking garage and take one road about a mile to work. The road is a main road and it’s always cleared. I honestly thought about walking, I had plenty of time. But I decided to drive and within minutes I was sliding into an intersection.  That’s it! No more driving for me. If the roads aren’t clear I am just walking. I just can’t drive in this shit!
 
 
 
Friday 2/10
 
Before I was even out of bed, I knew I wouldn’t be running. The noise of the wind told me everything I needed to know. I checked my phone to see the wind was blowing 50mph. The wind is meant to die down in the afternoon and the sun is going to come out. The good news of the day is that I realize my favorite yoga teacher from Phoenix has videos on Instagram. I knew that but I thought that the videos didn’t stay permanently for some reason. Since I had lots of time, I did a yoga video, got ready for work and headed in early. 
 
The sun came out, the wind died down a bit, and as much as I didn’t want to, I got myself out for a run.
 
Saturday 2/11
 
It was meant to be a long run day but the was probably the most treacherous running I have done. I knew this was going to happen, but it was even worse than I thought. Because it had been sunny the day before the big piles of snow that have accumulated from the trucks that clear the road or the people who don’t clear their sidewalk are now death traps. The top of the snow melted yesterday and now they are a slippery nightmare despite looking like crunchy piles of snow. I slipped more times in one run than I have the whole time I have been here. I even had one of those cartoon character slips that wrenches your back. I now officially hate anyone who doesn’t clear the sidewalk in front of their house.  It was a shame that I couldn’t enjoy the view because the storm that is coming this afternoon was brewing over the mountain and it was beautiful. I came to terms with it not being a 20 mile run pretty early on. But if I could get 15 miles done I would be happy. At one point it started to seem like I wasn’t going to make it much past 10 miles. I thought maybe some loops around the high school because I knew the sidewalk would be cleared but right when I got there a ton of high school athletes were arriving so that was a no go. But I managed to run in circles and by my apartment and get 15 miles done. And you know where I did those last few miles? In the neighborhood that my real estate agent kept telling me wasn’t safe. I run though there all the time and it’s plenty safe.
 
Sunday 2/21
 
It’s amazing how the wind here can suck the joy right out of you. But let me back up. I was up all night with terrible stomach issues. I spent all night thinking I would either shit my pants or puke all over myself. Not so much fun. But I guess the plus side was when I finally went to sleep at 3am I got a few hours of sleep and was able to sleep in until sunrise. 
 
We had about an inch of snow overnight so for the most part it was enough to be crunchy and safe to run on and not the slippery death track from the day before. I went out on one of my favorite routes that eventually turns to dirt. Dirt covered in snow is the easiest to run on. The sun was shining, I felt warm despite the cold and best of all, no wind! It’s an out and back route so it was 6.5 miles of bliss! With the exception of some moments of panic when I scared some deer who kept running into the road, then back onto the path where they would stop only to be scared off by me again. I was so stressed they would get hit by a car when they darted into the road. I stopped at a road to wait to cross and luckily the deer and I got separated. Thank G-d!
 
Maybe a half mile before I hit the point where I turn around, I could feel the wind at my back, but I had no idea how bad it was until I turned around. I immediately went from feeling joy from wanting to give up. Except, you can’t give up. You have to get home on way or the other. The wind was not only making running anything faster than a 9min/mile pace impossible it was making me terribly cold.  It was miserable. I kept having to remind myself that I didn’t have any choice but to get my ass home. When I got to the 2.5 mile point it starts to feel like you are in town, really you never left town, but the houses and buildings are closer to the path now. This is when it starts to feel like I might actually survive. I think the buildings help to shield the wind a bit which makes it less terrible. 
 
I eat my blueberry pancakes. I have been making enough Saturday to also have them on Sunday. I watch some tv while I go through a weigh workout. I watch some more tv and then do yoga. I’m on a two day streak!

Monday 2/1
When I make the decision to sleep I and run later I always know that it will be a poor choice. So why do I do it? Ugh!
 
It was really hard to force myself out the door. The wind was freaking ridiculous. Like the kind of wind that made me irrationally angry. I tried running one of my favorite routes on some trail and around a small lake. But I was in a bad mood the whole time. You know people say you will never regret a run? That might be true. I didn’t regret this run. You know how people say a run will improve your mood? False. I was cranky the whole time. I felt a little proud of myself for getting it done, but I wouldn’t say that my mood was improved. I was relieved to get goal mileage for the day done. I was able to run in shorts which is much welcome change. While I have gotten used to running in leggings, I still don’t like them.
 
What I did learn from today is that if I am going to run in the afternoon, I should take my stuff with me and run from the college. I can access a pedestrian path and trail from campus. That’s a lot better than dealing with the traffic the mile it takes me to get to the campus where I can access those two running options.
 
Tuesday 2/2
Wind sucky, temperature awesome. I did get to wear shorts so that was a plus. The slower pace due to fighting the winds meant that I didn’t get as many miles done as I wanted but 12 miles was a decent run for the day. I now bad weather is coming so despite the wind I just tried to focus on enjoying the 40 degree temps. 
 
 
Wednesday 2/3 
Third day in a row running in shorts! I didn’t even wear my jacket today. When I wasn’t running into the wind it was perfect! But the wind could be a nightmare when it gusted. 
 
I took my rent to my landlord and told him we needed to talk about renewing my lease (it’s up at the end of May). I knew was going to be renewing but I couldn’t bring myself to say it out loud, until today. That was only because I felt like I needed to let him know. I felt sad after I said it. I miss my family and I miss my dogs. But for the next school year it is just going to be me here, so I’ll stay in the apartment. Don’t get me wrong, this apartment is really nice, and I love living here. I just wish I was in a house with a yard, with my husband, and with my dogs. 
 
Thursday 2/4
I had this horrible dream that Norm and I had broken up and I was sad in my dream that as I was waking up, I struggled to get rid of that sad feeling. It was 3:45am and tried to fall back asleep, but I couldn’t. So, I got up and had coffee. This meant that I was able get running earlier than planned. Glass half full. I got 13 miles done. 
 
Friday 2/5
The good news about not sleeping well is that I am up early and can get out the door to run. I teach at 8am on MWF so being out the door by five meant that I could get in more miles than normal. With calm winds for Casper and decent temps (in the 30’s) I was happy to get 10 miles done and have plenty of time to get to work. I ran through campus more than I usually do and I am definitely adding this to my early morning running. Campus is pretty big and the lighting is good so I can get 2 to 3 miles done just by running around campus. I was shocked to see much activity so early on the morning. Staff and students were out and about. What is everyone doing? I debated trying to get in a couple more miles knowing that the weather is going to be colder and snowy this weekend, but decided I didn’t want to cut it too close to get to class. But it was a blissful morning of running. 
 
Saturday 2/4
When I know it is meant to snow during the night I am like a little kid. When I wake up in the middle night, I always go to the window to check for snow. I thought I was going to be so happy to be running because I love running in the snow. I didn’t check to the temperature so I had no I did that it was single temps but felt like below zero. So much for a long run because it was a struggle to get to 10 miles.
 
In the afternoon I headed to the running store in town. Lucky for me it’s right across the street my apartment so I didn’t have to deal with the snow too much. . I told them I needed some help because I was coming from Phoenix and needed gear to run in the zero degree temps were are facing this week. As I explained the people at the store, I will not run on a treadmill. I will deal with whatever is happening outside so I need the right gear. I bought the warmest gloves the Dakine makes. They cost me the low, low price of $70.  The people helping me explained that it’s better to put the handwarmer on top of my hand instead inside my palm. They have a pocket to put my I also got a face covering. I look like a bank robber. The one thing they didn’t have is Kahtoola nanospikes. The did have the screws that you can buy to put in your shoes yourself, but I would rather have the nanospikes so I can slip them off and on. So, they are now on order from Amazon prime. While I much prefer to shop local, sometimes I can’t get things here and sometimes I don’t want to wait a week for something to be delivered.
 
 
Sunday 2/5
Ready with new gear I headed out into the negative temps. Snow had just started falling again when I got up to make coffee. I was hoping it would pick up because that would the slick spots would be covered with the less slick crunchy snow.  When I first headed out I wasn’t sure how far I would actually get because the of the slick spots. It was just tough downtown but better when I got to the pedestrian path. Not because of the path, but because I could run in the grass next to path. At about 2.5 miles the path switches to dirt and gravel. Much better for running in the snow. Things were going great until they weren’t. All of the sudden I started feeling like I was going to pass out, like something was wrong with me. I pretty quickly realized that I was having a panic attack. My guess was that my breathing was wonky because of the face mask. I pulled the face mask off of my nose and mouth and I felt better instantly. My hands were perfectly warm until I needed to pee. In order to pull my pants down I had to take my mittens off. My hands are of no use with the mittens on. But once the mittens were off my hand got cold, despite still having gloves on. Once I put the gloves back on my hands wouldn’t warm up. I ended up having to take the hand warmers out of the pocket and shoving them deep inside the mittens. That helped my fingers warm up. But my face was becoming a situation. My cheeks had gotten cold after I pulled down my face covering. I pulled it back up but because it had gotten wet from my breathing it had also frozen into a hard crusty shell. I got it pulled back up but I wasn’t sure if it was helping or not. It was wet from my breath and that was making my nose cold. Like painful cold. But my cheeks and chin were warmer. There was also snot running down my face that I couldn’t do anything about. Gross. 
 
 
Normally I post a week at a time, but there is much to say about the week that followed. I knew that I wasn’t going to get much running done because the temps were going deep into the negatives once you accounted for wind chill. 
 
Monday 2/8 
I got up and left for a run. It was miserable. It was so cold out that my watch wasn’t working correctly. I never went far from my house because I was struggle to deal with the cold. My body and hands were okay, but my legs were cold through my tights and my face was painfully cold. My best guess is that I got 4 miles done. 
 
Tuesday 2/9
I didn’t run, thinking maybe I would be able to get a run in after work. I did get up and do weights and plyo because I was up so early. I normally would be up to run so my body just naturally woke up. I did not run in the afternoon. No surprising. It’s always hard for me to get out in the afternoon. I do have a gym membership. I could have gone to the gym and done some running, but I didn’t. I hate the treadmill so much. 
 
Wednesday 2/10
When I left work it was sunny out so it was easier to get myself out the door. And the first few miles were great. I actually was getting too warm and regretted all the layers. That wouldn’t last. I was able to unzip my jackets a bit and that helped cool me down.  The wind is really light, maybe 10mph, but as soon as I turned and was running into the wind I no longer regretted the layers. My face was going numb and I had snot running down my face, but my lobster claw gloves make it hard to wipe my nose. Now the snot is making my face wet and that makes it even more painfully cold. But I manage to get 7 miles done and I feel really good about it. But the really cold weather is still to come.
 
Thursday 2/11
Zip, nada, nothing. No excuse. Did I mention I am paying for a gym membership that I am not using?
 
Friday 2/12
With the wind chill it is negative 30 out. It’s so cold that after I take a shower the inside of the window in my bedroom is covered in ice. It has been snowing of and on for days, but the roads were still okay when I drove to work. I was determined to make myself go to the gym to use the treadmill after work since I leave work around 11am on Friday. It really starts coming down sometime mid-morning. I can hear the snow plows clearing the roads on campus and the smaller plows clearing the sidewalk outside my window. Reading the daily newsletter I get from the local news I see an announcement that states that the roads are slick because whatever it is we put down on the roads doesn’t work when it is this cold out. I only have a mile to drive home and I seriously wanted to leave my car on the side of the road and walk home. In just a few blocks from leaving my car had started sliding twice when I needed to stop for a red light. It was the longest mile of my life. I was so nervous that my legs started shaking. Thank G-d no one was ever around me because I was driving so slow they would have been totally annoyed. Definitely not going to the gym.
 
Saturday 2/13
Up at 4:15am with a headache. I took some Advil and tried to go back to sleep with no luck. At 4:45am I gave up on sleep and got up for coffee. I think not exercising in affecting my mood so I ran up and down the stairs. I did it for ten minutes at a time and then would stop for 3 minutes of weights. I turned my watch on to get an idea of mileage and elevation. Not sure how accurate it is, but at least it gave me an idea. In a little over an hour, I got 5 miles. My pace is recorded at 13:17/mile and 1358 feet of climbing. I’ll take it. Then I did another 20 minutes of weights when I finished. At this point this week isn’t going to do anything to contribute to my training, but for my mental health I need to work out. I also doubt I am going to be able to afford to go to my planned 50 mile race at the end of April because it is costing me so much to go home for spring break.
 
Sunday 2/14
My calves are sore from the stair running the day before so I decide to do a cardio workout. I did a combination of weights and plyo knowing that tomorrow the temps will be in the high 20’s and I can finally get back outside. 
 
 

​Monday 1/25
 
If you are tired of hearing me talk about how magical the running the running is in Casper, this is the day for you. Today was anything but magical. My phone said it was 7 degrees but feels like 1 degree. Okay, I suit up and head out. Miserable, right from the get go. While running in the snow is amazing, running in snow that has been driven on and melted then refrozen is the exact opposite of amazing. I was struggling to find places I could run and not be in danger of slip sliding to my death. My hands were so cold. Since the temps have dipped into the single digits I have been using handwarmers in my gloves. They were doing absolutely nothing for me this morning. My hands were hurting so bad. I didn’t run 8 miles, but I toughed it out for 5 miles. It was taking so long that I was running out of time. On top of that, when I got home my fingers hurt so much, I wanted to cry. I had to skip a shower because I knew a hot shower would make my hands hurt worse. Instead, I stripped out of my cold clothes to put on something warm and then just sat on my hands waiting for them to warm up and stop hurting. Terrible pace but something is better than nothing I guess. 
 
Tuesday 1/26
 
With the exception of yesterday I have been fine winter running. I haven’t been cold and running has gone fine.  I am not always running as fast as I want due to wind or because the surface is a little tricky or because it seems to take me a lot more miles to warm up body to do any fast running. But after how terrible yesterday was, I felt a lot of apprehension about running this morning. But I knew if I waited until the afternoon, I would regret it. I would have to deal with ice and snow with the added pain of dealing with traffic. 
 
It was actually a pretty nice morning. I ended up running 13 miles before needing to get home to get ready for work. 
 
 
Wednesday 1/28
The wind is back. These 20 to 30 mph winds are pretty normal and not so bad to run in, but the gusts were 60 to 70 mph. What I have learned about that is that is that it’s dangerous. One because I have trouble controlling where my body goes and two because things can fly at me. Things like tree branches. It’s not good. My gym membership is still on hold until February, so I didn’t have access to a treadmill. I decided to take a rest day and just tried to let it go.
 
Thursday 1/29
Those 60 to 70 mph gusts are still blowing strong. They have taken down some big tree branches and even a whole tree at the park close to my apartment. There was no way I was running outside. I thought about paying the day fee at YMCA because it literally across the street from my work. In the end I decided to run up and down the stairs in my apartment building. I would run up and down for 5 minutes and then do 3 minutes or so of weights. I did that for an hour. I am pretty sure I used muscles I never use. I am going to pay for this. Not a run but for an hour my heart was beating a lot harder than it does when I am running. 
 
Friday 1/30
I woke up and I couldn’t face the idea of dealing with wind and dodging ice in the dark. Campus clears out by noon on Friday so I figured I could get in an afternoon run. I rationalized it by telling myself that it would be better to wait until I had picked my resupply of handwarmers in my work mailbox. What I forgot at 4:30am when I woke up was that I had a nail appointment at 1:30pm. By the time I left for my nail appointment I knew I wasn’t going to be running. The wind had picked up and the traffic downtown was a nightmare, it always is on Friday afternoon. Some guy decided he just HAD to beat me through the light. He was turning right, and his car slipped and skidded. This idiot could have taken me out as well as other cars on the street. I had already almost been taken out just trying to walk less than a block to the bank.  While I was getting my nails done, I saw a woman run past the nail salon and thought for a minute that I might talk myself into running, but that was a lie. My total mileage for the week was never going to be what I wanted if I ran today or I didn’t.
 
Saturday 1/31
I drank my coffee as slow as possible to avoid running in the dark as much as possible. Dressed and ready to head out I grabbed the new handwarmers. They were not what I thought. Before I was using a pack that when opened had 2 small handwarmers. This large packet had one large handwarmer. This is bad because it means the box I bought is not going to last anywhere near as long as I planned. I was worried about them fitting it my gloves, but it worked out okay with my cotton gloves. I’m not sure they will be such a great fit in my Gore-tex gloves. 
 
There is a route I have run once before that I have been wanting to run again but involves get to the other side of town, a whole three miles from my apartment. But it requires crossing quite a few big intersections with stop lights and I worry about being seen in the dark. It’s a great neighborhood for running. As evidenced by all the runners I saw. This was the most runners I have ever seen out at one time since I got here. 
 
This was the kind of run where I started out thinking I would just be happy with whatever I got but the turned into the kind of run where you start thinking you can run tons of miles until it all falls apart. I told myself to not worry about mileage and just run until I didn’t want to run. But I was in my heart hoping for 20 miles. It was the perfect weather for running. Unfortunately, when I got to about 16 miles or so my hamstring and IT band on my right side started act cranky. The hamstring is probably a holdover from aggravating it running in the snow. I think the cranky IT Band might be related to my super tight and sore calves from all the stair running. They had been bugging me a bit the whole run. But I did it. I got 20 miles done. 
 
In the afternoon I causally glance out the window and see it’s snowing again. I don’t mind the snow, what I don’t like is the after math of the snow. I keep telling myself to just get through February and the weather will improve. I have no idea if that is the truth or not, but I refuse t try and find out. I want to hold on to that dream. Luckily it was a very light and brief snow.
 
Sunday 1/31
I have a favorite flat route that I don’t get to run often because I am running in the dark usually. I have run this route in the dark and it felt pretty safe except that one time I saw something. What that something was I couldn’t be certain. A dog? A coyote? A wolf? I mean probably not a wolf, but I did see one once and there are reports their populations are on the rise in the area. Once I see a dog just wondering around, I never like to run that route again. It’s rare for me to feel worried about being attacked by a person. I worry a lot about being attacked by a dog. 
 
Once I got myself warmed up, I decided to try to push the pace a bit. I figured I could just keep trying to lower the pace and see what happened. My legs were tired so it wouldn’t be easy, but it would be good practice for late in a race. It was tough but going okay. The path I was running is dirt/gravel and in the later miles it was hard to get traction.  Fine but it was making my hamstring very upset. It’s an out back route. On the way back I was running into the wind and the wind was picking up. The wind wasn’t terrible but trying to push the pace into the wind was not great for my hamstring. And the route is a false flat. It’s actually a bit of a climb on the way back to my apartment. It was the hardest workout of my life but after not doing in fast running in a while it was better than nothing.