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!
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!
When the sun comes out this is what you are left with, a slick death trap of ice.
There are a few blueberries in my pancakes.
Stupid expense pizza from Racca's but it was pretty yummy.
