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.
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.
My friends in Casper - the birds who live in my alley. I talk to pigeons and owls now.
I am not sad about this wine I bought. It's from Slovenia - who knew? Pretty nice rose and didn't break the bank.
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.
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.
Great, earth friendly toilet paper in cute packaging. No plastic involved! I love this stuff! Who Gives a Crap is a great company.
