Don't Like The Weather? Wait Five Minutes

I know everybody says that....but it ought to be the Colorado state motto. It's been all over the place this week-we've seen everything and anything. I've kind of felt off and all over the place in the same way. I haven't much felt like nonchalantly blogging between things other people have gone through this week, and other difficulties (though small in comparison) we've been hit with on the homefront.

Like many others who "know" Mickey and Cody, I've felt really sad about his loss even though it's not my child, and in a way I don't feel like I've got the right to be upset about it. Still-it really has hit close to home. My middle daughter is six years old and it just reminds you that this could happen to any of us. From reading his blog, seeing the photos and videos....it's obvious that they're a fun, fantastic family to begin with. It stirs up a ton of negative emotions that something like this could happen to them.

At the same time-and knowing that they'd rather be coming together to meet at a race, or at a restaurant for a beer-it was heartwarming to know that several forumites in the region made it to the trip for the wake and funeral. There were many parents from Cody's school who brought their children to say goodbye. It's a positive reminder that in this fast-moving, technology-based society, people really do still care for one another on a human level, and will slow down or take breaks from their daily life to be there for others when they need it most.

And, what a testament to Mickey's courage and strength that he signed up for the New York City marathon shortly after Cody passed, or that he got out for his first run in awhile. I truly wish for peace and healing for Mickey and Diane-they've worked so hard to care for all their children and to make Cody's days on earth meaningful. Because they shared their wonderful son with all of us, his memory will be alive for years to come. I look forward to plugging Mickey's bib number into the marathon tracker for NYC, and celebrating his run that day.

Back here at my house, we are dealing with yet another reduction in my husband's work hours. Our local economy has been better here than other parts of the country, but we don't live on an island so it's caught up a bit here. We've almost always been able to work and figure our way out of tight spots in the past but it honestly could not have come at a worse time this time around. Still, we're choosing optimism and the "work the problem" approach, as aspoused in Apollo 13.

As much as I would have liked to stay in the class, I immediately withdrew from my ballet class. That's easy money to save. With my marathon a month off, it is likely I would have skipped classes in the taper and recovery anyway in order to avoid any stupid non-running injuries. The studio director also has some extra odd jobs and tasks we can do that will essentially zero out the cost of the kids' classes, so that helps. We've got several other possible solutions in the works, so I am going to have faith that at least one of them will work out. It is again an odd blessing that everyone's hours have been cut at the office. The alternative is layoffs, and nobody at their small company can really afford to be out of work right now. We're just going to have to hope that things pick up in the spring, and that everyone keeps their jobs.

On the running front, the theme has been "never the same." One of my running friends came up from her city, about forty-five minutes south of here, so that we could put in a 20-miler together. Her long run route features unleashed and wild animals, sketchy drunks, and roads with fast moving traffic and no shoulder. We figured that this time she could come up here, where I've got a safe and scenic route, and that next time, I could head down there so she doesn't have to do her sketchy route alone.

The forecast was for rain and snow, so she came up early because it usually gets worse as the day goes on around here. It was a nice change for me to not have the iPod ear buds stuck in my ear, and get to chat about everything from family to running to our younger days of mayhem and debauchery.

We did get some rain and snow. It wound up being that pleasant, refreshing variety where it was not frigid or windy. We also tested out a new variation of my 20-miler route, and lo and behold it was the first one that never covered the same trail twice. We both agreed that it was like splitting one long run up into several shorter runs-definitely a keeper.

Once I got the run out of the way, expecting the weather to just get worse-well, the clouds moved out and it was crisp, sunny and in the upper fifties by late afternoon. When Sunday rolled around, my lucky husband and daughter got a perfect, sunny sixty degree day for their run. Of course, Monday rolled around, and we had a windstorm. Giant tumbleweeds flying down the block, and my house feeling like it would blow over as we slept Monday night.

This was not before I got in a fun speed work session in the new evening daylight hours, outdoors. Hey-great practice for Kansas, right? It's going to be somewhere between a little windy and gale force winds so I'd better be prepared. It was actually a lot easier to do the intervals outdoors...the wind challenged me and brought on this feeling of "bring it on!" And being off the treadmill...it was great. I'd get up to what felt like 5K pace, check my Garmin to make sure I was there, then just look up and keep my eyes on some landmark down the trail. Fun stuff. Then, last night brought eleven miles on a treadmill. I'd planned to go hybrid and start outdoors, then come inside to the mill of dread when it got dark. I had a surprise dumped on me late in the day, though-so it was pretty much a choice of treadmill, or treadmill. Oh well. I put in the miles, so I guess it doesn't matter where.

So, that's my gigantic mixed bag for the week. My apologies to the couple of people who visit that I'm all over the place in the post-I'll strive for brevity and better clarity next time. Sometimes life happens, and in this case it's been a lot more like weather in the mountains than a well-scripted reality program.