Running Chick

Almost two weeks have passed since my last update? Sheesh, where does the time go?

I’m just coming to the end of week 2 of my 12-week half marathon training program, and things are going well. I’m quite a bit faster than I anticipated I’d be (more about that in another post) and I’m not having any leg-related issues. However, I’m about to start creeping into the weekly mileage danger zone and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t concerned. Fingers crossed.

Last Saturday, we spent the afternoon in Copper Harbor tromping around Fort Wilkins, boozing at Zik’s and cheering James on in the Backcountry Ski Race. He came in first in the downhill race and second overall. Yay James! There’s lots of photos in the gallery, but here are some of my favorites.

Orange juice? No, bottom of the barrel Bell’s Winter Wheat. Um, pass.

Josh has a camera that takes videos. Joy.



He has a YouTube channel, too.

This weekend is the Copper Dog 150 and we’re helping out with amateur radio controls. I have a primo control point on the Mohawk/Gay Road so I’ll be able to get a good look at the teams as they go through. It’s going to be a late night, though, the last team isn’t scheduled to go through my checkpoint until 12:30AM!

I think Mother Nature is getting a good laugh at us poor Yoopers right about now.  She gave us a gorgeous 70-degree day on Friday and then turned around and dumped over 10” of snow (some areas got around 15-20" - check out Josh's place) on us in the span of 2 days.

My yard, which was snow free on Sunday, looked like this on Tuesday morning.

Ha, ha. Not funny.

I did get a giggle out of these little tracks on my parking lot.

Even the seagull was probably saying "What the hell!" Join the club, buddy.

Here’s hoping that this little weather blip is our last of the season.

I was able to run on Monday (2.5 miles @ 10:19), although with the mix of snow & rain, I got pretty drenched.  I ended up cutting my run short because it was getting pretty nasty and I didn’t fell like getting run over due to poor visibility.

I also ran six lovely pain-free miles today (@ 10:32).  I didn’t intend to run the entire six, but my shins were feeling fine, I was feeling fine, the sun was shining, the birds were chirping and the roads were bare.  Usually at this point in my training, I’m so beat up and tired that I find myself questioning my sanity every time I lace up my shoes.  Today I was reminded why I run in the first place.  It was perfect.

Now, I just hope my body doesn’t pull a Mother Nature and unleash some sort of injury avalanche on me.  Speaking of not funny…

I was completely surprised this morning to find that at least five inches of snow had fallen overnight and I had a plow ridge that was about double that.  So much for my run.  I did decide to put on my gps while I removed snow, just to see how much far I go.  It ended up being around 1.5 miles, but it would have been farther had Dorf not come home.  It is impossible to do snow when he's out there, we just get in each other's way.  So, while he was doing his snow thing, I killed time shoveling off my deck, digging out my a/c unit and a few other snow-related things before finally giving up and going for a walk around the block.  When I came back, he was still out there, so I gave up and went inside. I think I was outside for around 90 minutes in total.

I hope to make up for my missed run tomorrow, but we're under yet another lake effect snow warning tonight with 4"-6" expected so my run may not happen. I have mid-February levels of snow in my back yard, I really hope things taper down soon.

Here's my silly map from tonight.  All those squiggly lines are me going back and forth with my scoop.  I'm not sure why, but mapmyrun.com says I only went 1.87 miles, yet my Garmin said 2.00.  Oh well, whatever.