Just one more day: Days 16-22

Day 16 – January 16, 2012

A funny thing happened on the way to. . .

1) practice. The kids showed up at 10 am (no school). Too bad no one told me the head coach changed practice from the afternoon to the morning. Oops.

2) my daily miles. It went from having great feeling legs despite the 17 miles yesterday to wishing I hadn’t eaten a peach/pineapple salsa for a late pizza to an emergency pit stop between a hay bale and a spreading cedar tree. I thought I was hidden. Guess not. A neighbor’s car screeched to a halt to get a better look. Double opps and so embarrassing.

Total – 6 road miles

Day 17 - January 17, 2012

It was one of those days when I had to act like a coach instead of run the majority of the workout. I managed the 12-station, 45 sec each circuit training and the mile warm-up. But when they took the track for either a 1600, 800, 1600, 800 or a descending ladder of 2000, 1600, 1200, and 800 at a hard pace, I took to the stop watch. They felt accomplished. I felt like a wus.

My son Seth and friend KT came for dinner and once they left, the road was calling me. With headlight and reflective vest donned, I stepped into the night. Oops. Wind and rain. Oh well, it wasn’t cold so off I went. It was actually fun. Only one car swerved at the sight of a runner on a lonely road. The time was short but the mile and a half- priceless.

Total – 2.5 road miles

Day 18 - January 18, 2012

This was a great day to romp through the woods with my team. It turned out to be a girl thing. The key was to run aggressively on their choice of gravel roads going down the mountain. Of course, what goes down has to go up. Fun time!

Total – About 6 miles

Day 19 – January 19, 2012

We called it “O’dark 30.” It was our team’s code word for a dark run in the woods. Many had never been in the woods at night let alone run. But they embraced the idea and punctuated the event by wearing crazy loud knee socks with their tights. They were excited! As dusk descended, we started down the mountain. Headlights turned on one-by-one to show the way. It was constant chatter and a few screams as teammates hid behind trees only to scare the bezeebers out of those at the end of the line. About a half a mile from our end point, we gathered and turned off all the lights. I wanted to prove they didn’t need them. Though hesitant to believe me, they continued hiking up the mountain sans lights—and love it! At the top we gathered in a circle and took some time to pray together as a team. “Can we do this every Friday, Coach?” I guess they liked it!

Total: 5.5 miles in the dark

Day 20 – January 20, 2012

Help replace a water heater and fix a garage door opener. Clean and organize a garage. Scrub and organize a terribly neglected kitchen. . .and all the cupboards, stove, fridge, cupboards. Grocery shop and cook a meal. Serve the meal. Freeze left-overs for carefree future dinners. This is what happens when a weakened Grandpa comes home from the hospital and needs help. Exhausting but necessary- and sort of fun, actually. When I finally stepped out to run 9:15 pm, it was cold and raining. When I returned, I felt warm and pleased. A short run? Yes. But a run? Yep!

Total – 3 miles road

Day 21 – January 21, 2012

Another day of bleaching, decontaminating, organizing, and cooking at my father-in-law’s house—after I cleaned out front flower beds in a steady rain. 86 year-old guys don’t seem particularly interested (or capable) of keeping a clean house. This time, I got supper in the oven in time for another soggy, cold rain. It’s funny. I actually looked forward to the conditions. It was oddly amusing to see motorists make incredulous faces at me as they passed. It was as if they were saying, “You is crazy, woman!” I liked that.

Total – 6.5 road miles

Day 22 – January 22, 2012

It was not raining today. Yeah. Cold and damp but no rain. But after a four hour trip home from work-a-whirl couple of days at Gary’s dad’s place, I wished to curl up in a ball and nap. I didn’t. Rather, on went the running clothes so that I could register a short run: I figured my minimum standard of a single mile would do. But with legs feeling good, I added a few more miles to the short jaunt. Glad I did. It hardly makes sense to sweat for just a mile.

Total – 4 road miles.