Running Chick

I can’t believe it’s already September. Wasn’t it June like two weeks ago? Guess it’s time to recap the running for last month. I managed to log 58 miles in August before I jacked up my ankle. The last time I was able to run was August 24th, so that’s makes about 3 weeks that I’ve been on the injured list. I’ve been riding my bike and doing yoga in the interim so I don’t feel like I’m wasting away or anything, but holy cow I feel like running. Things are moving in that direction, though. Last week I managed to run about two steps before I stopped due to pain. Sunday, I managed two minutes and tonight I think I ended up with about seven.  It. Was Awesome. My ankle was a little sore afterward, but I stuck the ice pack on it for about 20 minutes and it feels just fine now. Slow and steady.

Pictures! We took a ride to Marquette to do some shopping and general bumming around last Saturday. Spotted this old Model T driving around, and then it showed up at a garage sale we stopped at.

Our main visit was to the Farmer’s Market in downtown Marquette. We’ve been there earlier in the summer when it didn’t have much, but it sure is in full swing now.

We bought all sorts of fruit & veggies and a couple of ribeye steaks from grass-fed beef and a free range chicken. We had the ribeye, it was delish and I’m hoping to make the chicken this weekend.

Check out the Puli.  I’ve only seen them in dog shows on tv, never in real life.

Check out the balloon guy. I’ve only seen them in real life, never on tv.

Shorts Brewing Company was at the UP Beer Fest which was held in the lower harbor. We almost went, but decided that since we had to drive home that night, it probably wasn’t the best choice.

In keeping up with the interesting car theme of the day, we saw this peaceful van in the parking lot.

And then this hybrid monstrosity in another parking lot.

It’s a dump truck (or something big) turned into a camper van. That’s a real 21’ camper with the axles removed on the bed. Fully plumbed and everything. Both cool and weird.

And then there was this 4x4 factory van that Josh said I had to take a picture of. I thought my car was way more impressive with it’s TWO ham antennas.

The Portside has been replaced by the Blackrocks Brewery as our new favorite place to go. Good beer, good atmosphere.

But, the KBC is still my favorite and probably the graffiti artist’s as well.

Unless this is some gang-related graffiti. Who knows these days.

Anyway, some other stuff I did was lean how to can cucumbers. A friend of mine gave me a lesson and now I have six jars of pickles percolating in my larder.

Did you know that MTU now has a first responder team? Check out their bad ride. We saw them up @ Fat Tire in Copper Harbor over Labor Day weekend.

Time for a beer.

I logged another 16+ mile week this week, capping it off with a 6-ish mile run this morning. My total for July was 71 miles. That’s my highest monthly mileage ever. The last time I was close to that was back in March 2008 when I logged 65 miles. They were not pain-free. Milestones!

Since I don’t have anything more useful to say, here’s a summary of the last week in arbitrary, strange and meaningless pictures.

My lunch. The pizza was made with more natural ingredients than the yogurt. Tasted better, too.

Hot rod and trailer on US41.

Somebody got fancy new running shoes.

The Great Lakes Research Center is coming right along.

August 14th, I get my HamSexy on.

It is not necessarily cooler at McLain Park but the trail sure is pretty.

I wanted to knock over this little rock tower that somebody painstakingly erected. I took a picture instead.

Lighthouse @ McLain Park. I did not go swimming.

New fire truck.

Old fire truck. I think it said 1919 on the front.

Probably part the reason why the first three miles of my morning run sucked so much. That and the million beers I had.

You know, I never really checked to see if anybody was inside the wax building at the Tech Trails while I was narcissistically snapping pictures of my reflection of the windows.

My new claim to fame: running on the new sidewalk by the Tech football field before it’s actually a sidewalk.

I picked up a giant crow’s feather to bring back for Kitty. I didn’t have anywhere to put it, so I stuck it in my hat. It’s the next fashion craze, I’m certain of it.

My new and bestest running partner who just completed week 3 of the Couch to 5k program and is already faster than I am.  What a booger.

Wow, it’s the last day of 2010 already. Where did the year go?

I was looking back through my blog posts to put my recap together when it because pretty clear that this year was pretty much about Simon. I’d say probably 85% of my posts were about his latest crisis or an update on his health. The last eight months of his life were an emotional rollercoaster for me.  When I left work in the morning, I worried about him all day long. When I’d come home, either from work or being out, I worried that I was going to come home to find him dead. I think that was my biggest fear, coming home (or coming downstairs in the morning) and finding out that he’d died alone.  I don’t think I could have ever forgiven myself if that happened. I’ve known people who have simply dropped their pets of at the vet clinic to be euthanized, which I really don’t understand.  I realize that there are probably circumstances in which that is the only option for the owner, but it’s something I could never do. Simon’s well-being was my responsibility from the day I got him, and it was my responsibility to see that when it was his time, it was done with compassion and love and no suffering on his part.  I made the call to the vet (as incoherent as I probably sounded), I signed the papers, and I was holding him when he died. It was really heartbreaking but I know I made the right decision.

Even though it’s been over a month, I am clearly still grieving for him. I think about him every day and he frequently shows up in my dreams - in the strangest places, too. Last night I dreamt I was on a boat, and he was there with me. The night before, I was out hiking with a backpack on, took it off & opened it, and out he popped. One night last week, I was wrapping presents and he kept on trying to eat the red ribbon I was using. It’s a little bit strange, but I guess as long as I don’t start seeing him when I’m awake, I won’t make an appointment with the psychiatrist just yet.

Moving right along (*puts box of tissues away*), the rest of my 2010 was spent trying to get my running injury/injuries under control. The custom orthotics, which were supposed to solve all of my problems, actually caused me more issues than they solved. After going back to the podiatrist four (or maybe it was five?) times, he finally decided that he couldn’t help me and sent me to specialized therapy. Thanks, pal. I did see improvement after a month or two of myofascial release therapy, and it was enough to get me back running again. But as is typical of me, I went crazy with the running and started to teeter on re-injuring myself, so I decided to back off and rest for a week or two. Well, that turned into two months and I’m just now starting to get back into the swing of things with a few short runs this week and a training plan which will start in February.

This really has nothing to do with 2010, other than I purchased them during the last few weeks of the year, but I got new shoes, the Brooks Cascadia 5.  Everybody together now, “Ooo, pretty.”

I’ve always done my winter running in my road shoes and YakTrax, but this year I wanted to try shoes that were designed to be in the snow, mud and slop, so I went with bonafide trail shoes. So far, I really like them. They do really well in loose snow both up & down hill. I imagine hard packed snow will be a problem, so I am planning to put screws in the bottom of them for extra traction.

Well, enjoy the last day of 2010. See you next year!