It's twelve degrees outside right now. I am snug inside with a space heater and a humidifier. No way on God's grean earth will I be running today. Weather is so much an issue on this trip. But also, I'm still sick.
At six this morning, I woke with a pounding headache. My sinuses are fully clogged and miserable. I've been trying to take it easy, relax and get over this thin but it feels like its just settling in further. I started coughing in earnest last night. The problem with HMOs is found here: the closest facility is in Colorado. That's a hell of a drive for a fifteen minute visit to get a few pills. And I'm not sure our car could make it anyway.
Yesterday, JE and I were trying to get see some of the beauty of the area. We drove up Provo canyon, on our way to Sundance and the car began to overheat. JE pulled off and called a tow truck. He and a brother in law worked the rest of the day changing the thermostat. As he drove home from the shop, it started to overheat again. He thinks the water pump is going out.
I wonder if we will ever make it to Santa Cruz for the reception. Maybe we will breakdown on Donner pass and go cannibal. Seems right in keeping with the tenor of this trip.
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
My iPad memory got wiped out. Hateful. We were on our way to Utah when I realized this, so there is no way to know if my backup worked. That was a rough day. The same day JE forgot to bring his suit to Utah for the wedding.
Could things have gotten worse. Yes, they did. But just briefly. But we a choosing to ignore that And now we are still in bed at twenty after one on a Tuesday. Gotta love the holidays.
Hoping for snow today, so that it will warm up here. It was so cold when we arrived, there was hoarfrost on the trees. So pretty.
Hoping for a swim sometime today or tomorrow. It's so cold, my lungs hurt when I run.
Could things have gotten worse. Yes, they did. But just briefly. But we a choosing to ignore that And now we are still in bed at twenty after one on a Tuesday. Gotta love the holidays.
Hoping for snow today, so that it will warm up here. It was so cold when we arrived, there was hoarfrost on the trees. So pretty.
Hoping for a swim sometime today or tomorrow. It's so cold, my lungs hurt when I run.
Monday, December 12, 2011
Monkey see, monkey do
When I awoke this morning, the sky was still dark with a heavy set of storm clouds. The weather channel app said that my area was on alert for severe weather in the form of thunderstorms and torrential rain. How fun! It cemented my thoughts of going for my long run today, before my week heats up exponentially.
My trail runs riverside, next to one of those big concrete ditches that usually only hold a trickle of water and a medley of wildlife in the soft bottoms. As the river passes under the 405 freeway, the river is sent into a concrete channel, almost narrow enough to straddle, with a wide cement sidewalk on either side. Just below this bottleneck, is a series of large concrete teeth used to catch the debris before it enters the ocean, a few miles away.
The river was fast and full of debris. Not garbage, so much as leaves and branches. Probably left over from our wind storms of last week. The channel was full and spilling onto the walkways in places. It excited an instant of fear at the realization of the power and swiftness of that river. Already the guardrail had sticks lodged in it from earlier in the day. The water must have been at least a foot deeper.
I ran in my bike brights, a neon green zipper front jacket with back pockets across the rear. As JE was driving to his work with me in the passenger seat, I looked over at a truck next to us and saw the driver sporting bike brights. I started looking around at his vehicle to find his bike and realized that both the passenger and the driver were looking at me and looking around the car to find my bike. Completely recognizable as bike wear. But, it saved me. My ten miles was fun, but wet and cold. My inner thermostat kept my core warm, but my limbs were all wet and chilled. But, I felt invigorated by the rain!
I was the only person running out there today. I passed two people on bicycles, but that was it for my entire ten mile stretch. When I think about how many people live here and probably ended up at the gym today, I have to laugh. Can you imagine the humidity from the sweat generated by all those bodies? Yuck! And you're breathing that stuff...
When I got back to the freeway underpass, the river was impassable. I sent JE a text asking if he would pick me up at a nearby store. My phone battery went dead even before I knew if he had gotten my text. But when I got to the store, he was waiting for me in the car with the heat cranked up and the seat heaters on. That is love!
I was so cold and hungry, we stopped by the closest burger joint and got lunch from the drive thru. As we were waiting in line, we watched several people going in and out of the store. Most of them hunched over, bending their knees and squinting with their foreheads ready for spring planting. It was sort of comical at first and uproariously funny by the end of lunch. My favorite was a woman in a raincoat and goulashes clutching a bag of food to her chest as she huddled over to protect it on the way to her car. We parked, facing the entrance, to eat--just so we could watch people's response to the rain. Some Californians do not do well in wet weather.
Maybe this sounds sort of mean, but I grew up in Seattle, where rain is a given. So, seeing so many people interacting with these rare southern California rains, was an experiment on culture!
After lunch, I was still frozen, so JE took me to a coffee house to get a cup of something hot. As we got out of the car, JE called to me that I needed to hunch down and furrow my forehead to stay dry. We both took long steps, coming from the hip, with our shoulders bent toward our knees. JE was fast in that position, and I called to squint his eyes if he wanted to stay dryer.
JE's quote of the day, in reference to anyone who may have seen us playing fools: those guys are smart. In that position they are likely to get less wet!" well, I was belly laughing...
The one problem with these big runs is how remarkably calorie deprived I feel afterward. I'm not entirely sure it isn't the cold making me feel like this. In Nar'yan Mar, in the sub degree temperature, I sought high calorie foods all the time. Tatiana Ivanovna owned a countertop deep fat fryer. Perhaps arctic Russia is one of the truly excusable place to own one of these things. Often, after a long day at work, she would turn on the fryer and 'boil' hotdogs in it until the skin turned golden and split. I never developed an affinity for this. My high calorie food was French toast fried in endless amounts of butter topped with black current jam. I'd eat it with a piping hot cup of peach or blackberry tea with a healthy dollop of sweetened condensed milk stirred in. Yum.
My trail runs riverside, next to one of those big concrete ditches that usually only hold a trickle of water and a medley of wildlife in the soft bottoms. As the river passes under the 405 freeway, the river is sent into a concrete channel, almost narrow enough to straddle, with a wide cement sidewalk on either side. Just below this bottleneck, is a series of large concrete teeth used to catch the debris before it enters the ocean, a few miles away.
The river was fast and full of debris. Not garbage, so much as leaves and branches. Probably left over from our wind storms of last week. The channel was full and spilling onto the walkways in places. It excited an instant of fear at the realization of the power and swiftness of that river. Already the guardrail had sticks lodged in it from earlier in the day. The water must have been at least a foot deeper.
I ran in my bike brights, a neon green zipper front jacket with back pockets across the rear. As JE was driving to his work with me in the passenger seat, I looked over at a truck next to us and saw the driver sporting bike brights. I started looking around at his vehicle to find his bike and realized that both the passenger and the driver were looking at me and looking around the car to find my bike. Completely recognizable as bike wear. But, it saved me. My ten miles was fun, but wet and cold. My inner thermostat kept my core warm, but my limbs were all wet and chilled. But, I felt invigorated by the rain!
I was the only person running out there today. I passed two people on bicycles, but that was it for my entire ten mile stretch. When I think about how many people live here and probably ended up at the gym today, I have to laugh. Can you imagine the humidity from the sweat generated by all those bodies? Yuck! And you're breathing that stuff...
When I got back to the freeway underpass, the river was impassable. I sent JE a text asking if he would pick me up at a nearby store. My phone battery went dead even before I knew if he had gotten my text. But when I got to the store, he was waiting for me in the car with the heat cranked up and the seat heaters on. That is love!
I was so cold and hungry, we stopped by the closest burger joint and got lunch from the drive thru. As we were waiting in line, we watched several people going in and out of the store. Most of them hunched over, bending their knees and squinting with their foreheads ready for spring planting. It was sort of comical at first and uproariously funny by the end of lunch. My favorite was a woman in a raincoat and goulashes clutching a bag of food to her chest as she huddled over to protect it on the way to her car. We parked, facing the entrance, to eat--just so we could watch people's response to the rain. Some Californians do not do well in wet weather.
Maybe this sounds sort of mean, but I grew up in Seattle, where rain is a given. So, seeing so many people interacting with these rare southern California rains, was an experiment on culture!
After lunch, I was still frozen, so JE took me to a coffee house to get a cup of something hot. As we got out of the car, JE called to me that I needed to hunch down and furrow my forehead to stay dry. We both took long steps, coming from the hip, with our shoulders bent toward our knees. JE was fast in that position, and I called to squint his eyes if he wanted to stay dryer.
JE's quote of the day, in reference to anyone who may have seen us playing fools: those guys are smart. In that position they are likely to get less wet!" well, I was belly laughing...
The one problem with these big runs is how remarkably calorie deprived I feel afterward. I'm not entirely sure it isn't the cold making me feel like this. In Nar'yan Mar, in the sub degree temperature, I sought high calorie foods all the time. Tatiana Ivanovna owned a countertop deep fat fryer. Perhaps arctic Russia is one of the truly excusable place to own one of these things. Often, after a long day at work, she would turn on the fryer and 'boil' hotdogs in it until the skin turned golden and split. I never developed an affinity for this. My high calorie food was French toast fried in endless amounts of butter topped with black current jam. I'd eat it with a piping hot cup of peach or blackberry tea with a healthy dollop of sweetened condensed milk stirred in. Yum.
Severe weather alerts for this morning. How exciting! I'm going for my third ten miler, with the anticipation that this rain and possible thunderstorms will be energizing for me. I asked JE if he wanted me to wait and run with him tonight, and at first he said yes, then we both realized that I'm going to have to get lost in my day today. On top of my self induced commitments, I'm also working this week. Today is my only truly free day and I'm going out to enjoy it. I love this!
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Cold
JE's comment as we finished our run tonight was poignant, "Why is it that 48 degrees feels colder than 48 degrees here? In Utah, 48 degrees is nothing!" I was shaking by the time I got into the car. Thank goodness for heaters! Even still, my lips were blue by the time I got home.
Earlier in the day, I made a huge pot of borscht with far more beef than would be found in any authentic Russian soup. But it was so good and nourishing, accompanied by a good dark Russian sour bread. The bread was a far cry from the black heavy loaves speckled with bits of seeds, nuts and raisins that I had up north, but still delicious. Especially after a solid 10 mile run.
Ten miles.
JE keeps asking me if I ever dreamed that someday I'd be running 10 miles with so little effort. I wanted to smack him when he asked that. My run tonight was such hard work, so much effort for me to keep going. If it hadn't been so damn cold, I think I would have walked a lot more often. But it was cold, so to keep from hypothermia, I ran.
Some days are just stronger than other days.
JE has an effortless ability to just keep going, to run and not seem to feel it. Some days, he runs circles around me, literally. But match us on a pool or on a distance bike ride, and I can kick his trash.
Earlier in the day, I made a huge pot of borscht with far more beef than would be found in any authentic Russian soup. But it was so good and nourishing, accompanied by a good dark Russian sour bread. The bread was a far cry from the black heavy loaves speckled with bits of seeds, nuts and raisins that I had up north, but still delicious. Especially after a solid 10 mile run.
Ten miles.
JE keeps asking me if I ever dreamed that someday I'd be running 10 miles with so little effort. I wanted to smack him when he asked that. My run tonight was such hard work, so much effort for me to keep going. If it hadn't been so damn cold, I think I would have walked a lot more often. But it was cold, so to keep from hypothermia, I ran.
Some days are just stronger than other days.
JE has an effortless ability to just keep going, to run and not seem to feel it. Some days, he runs circles around me, literally. But match us on a pool or on a distance bike ride, and I can kick his trash.
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Small change
As I swam back and forth in the pool this Arvo, my mind was engrossed with all the motivations for change. What is change? What motivates it? How do people find the motivation to continue on a new chosen path? What is a life changing event?
For some time now, I've been consumed with the notion that life changing events are drastically smaller than most people think. If I call some small little thing, "life-changing," people giggle, get uncomfortable, think I'm being overly dramatic. But really, when do true changes occure? Where is the trailhead? If all my life I have been on a chosen path, for me this was being negligent of my health, and I remain on that path, I will eventually end up at the destination of poor health. Because consequences follow actions. Period. One day I wake up and see where I am heading. I have to make a choice: stay on that path or change. But change is hard. Change takes work. Life is comfortable. But the seed is sewn, that thought exists, and an intelligent mind will keep working out how to change. The change is already underway.
Tiny changes begin to happen: choosing the broth soup over the cream soup, salad instead of fries, walking up the stairs rather than the elevator, go for a run just because it feels good to move. The mind gets happy with these changes, endorphins begin to arise and clean out the cobwebs of sadness and loneliness. The world gets brighter. There is time to think and sort and figure things out. Life looks better and better. Suddenly, I wonder how on earth I ever lived without sweating everyday?
It started with a salad.
For some time now, I've been consumed with the notion that life changing events are drastically smaller than most people think. If I call some small little thing, "life-changing," people giggle, get uncomfortable, think I'm being overly dramatic. But really, when do true changes occure? Where is the trailhead? If all my life I have been on a chosen path, for me this was being negligent of my health, and I remain on that path, I will eventually end up at the destination of poor health. Because consequences follow actions. Period. One day I wake up and see where I am heading. I have to make a choice: stay on that path or change. But change is hard. Change takes work. Life is comfortable. But the seed is sewn, that thought exists, and an intelligent mind will keep working out how to change. The change is already underway.
Tiny changes begin to happen: choosing the broth soup over the cream soup, salad instead of fries, walking up the stairs rather than the elevator, go for a run just because it feels good to move. The mind gets happy with these changes, endorphins begin to arise and clean out the cobwebs of sadness and loneliness. The world gets brighter. There is time to think and sort and figure things out. Life looks better and better. Suddenly, I wonder how on earth I ever lived without sweating everyday?
It started with a salad.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
As I stepped from the shower, I could hear them chatting animatedly. These two kind men who grace my life. I have no idea what they were discussing, but it was fun to be privy to their tone of voice. Dad had gone to a Family Home Evening organized for seniors at my church. He was in high spirits, all night long. His body doesn't seem to ache so much, when he feels good.
JE and I went running tonight, ten miles. That was a first. In reality, we went a bit further. Each time I stopped to stretch, walk or wait to cross the street, JE would pause to odometer/speedometer/calorimeter/chronometer. We had completed our seven mile loop, and were heading west on the trail. At mile eight, I was ready to be finished. But, when things are broken down into manageable sizes, it's tough to argue against it. We knew we had a mile and a half out, then the same distance back. So, when we got to mile eight, and only had half a mile of that leg, it was worth it to just keep keeping on and finish that leg. And then the return... But I had already run an mile and. half, and if that that was all that was left, I could do that. Except when we arrived at the trailhead and still had just under half mile to go. It took JE asking me if I was really going to quit with only .38ths of a mile left to complete our goal.
I did it. I finished. I am nowhere near comfortable with it, but I did it! In less than two hours.
Afterward, JE treated me to Chipotle. Getting in and out of the car was painful. Chipotle now serves brown rice, and not just white rice! Awesome
JE and I went running tonight, ten miles. That was a first. In reality, we went a bit further. Each time I stopped to stretch, walk or wait to cross the street, JE would pause to odometer/speedometer/calorimeter/chronometer. We had completed our seven mile loop, and were heading west on the trail. At mile eight, I was ready to be finished. But, when things are broken down into manageable sizes, it's tough to argue against it. We knew we had a mile and a half out, then the same distance back. So, when we got to mile eight, and only had half a mile of that leg, it was worth it to just keep keeping on and finish that leg. And then the return... But I had already run an mile and. half, and if that that was all that was left, I could do that. Except when we arrived at the trailhead and still had just under half mile to go. It took JE asking me if I was really going to quit with only .38ths of a mile left to complete our goal.
I did it. I finished. I am nowhere near comfortable with it, but I did it! In less than two hours.
Afterward, JE treated me to Chipotle. Getting in and out of the car was painful. Chipotle now serves brown rice, and not just white rice! Awesome
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