oregon

Even Hot Soccer Players Do It

/ Sloan / 2 Comments

Winter has finally hit us here in the valley. Usually I think of February as nearing the end of winter, but Papa Winter has hit us with a cold blast that no one was expecting—atleast I wasn’t. I was happy running in knickers and a short-sleeved top; now I’m still in the knickers (because I lost my pants,) but have layered on a long zip up, a fleece vest, gloves and hat.

 

So, seasoned runners, I must ask: come wintertime do you utilize the best booger-removal-system we have available to us? The epic Snot Rocket? (Definition here.) I even have a fleece sleeve that goes over my hand or glove to act as a snot wipe, I think I got it at some race–pretty awesome if you ask me. Today on my bike ride to work I was forced to clear both nostrils using the only method I had available, and it worked out in my favor each time—trust me, there were multiple times, I’m on the verge of a cold. No snot on my clothes, shoes, passersby– I was pretty impressed with myself and so was the guy walking his dog. (HEY, at least I wasn’t picking up poop!)

I think as runners and cyclists we are given a free pass on blowing all we got on the road while we’re in running clothes. Those in normal street clothes? It is not okay. Please use a tissue, and preferable excuse yourself to the restroom. Thanks.

Super hot soccer player blowing a snot rocket

Super hot soccer player blowing a snot rocket

Who knows how long this weather will last? It could be 60 tomorrow for all I know, but for now I’ll be bundling up!

VD, Scrapes, Run and Confusion

/ Sloan / 4 Comments

Sorry I keep talking about how beautiful the views are here. I know many of my friends/famiy that read this are stuck in the mid west with zero elevation gain and flat lands for miles (but you DO have the lakes! Oh I miss the lakes!) I just wanted to report on another ahhh haaa moment I had on my Valentines Day run.

My friend and I drove up this super steep long road that started as dirt and slowly became snow. I’m not used to this. I’m used to snow all the time, all over, knee deep annoying and cold… but here I have to seek snow out and I don’t have a car to scrape off in the morning—I kinda like it. Any way, we hit the trail and ran a few miles out and back and enjoyed the chill of February 14th. I was cold and hot at the same time, sweating profusely for some reason, but then really cold from the chill of my own sweat, (does this happen to anyone else?) It was invigorating and the air was fresh and clean at 6,000 feet.

On our way back down we drove slowly, we wanted to take notice of the houses, (my friend is looking for a house for when her significant other moves out here,) the houses are beautifully nestled in the mountainside but pretty far removed from town. My house is small, quiet, cold, (mostly because we don’t want to pay for heat) but really close to town, really close to trails, stores, bars and two great grocery stores. Location! Location! Location!

I love my roomies, I love this town, my jobs are pretty awesome, yet why do I keep reading travel blogs, reading poems about Wanderlust and yearn for life on the road again? My Valentines Day consisted of loving where I am but dreaming of something else? Weird, right? Oh, AND I fell off my bike. It was a well-rounded day of scraping my knee, re-spraining my ankle and confusing my head, heart and body. Oh well. I’m here right now, so I’m enjoying the views while I can.

 

Breathe, Sloan, BREATHE.

 

Ps: I’m fine, just whiney about my knee and ankle. I ran this morning. J

RICE

/ Sloan / Leave a comment

RICE: who knew it actually worked?

 

Thursday last week was my only day to get in a long run. Needing to go somewhere new, my running partner and I set out to climb to Ostrich Peak. If you know me at all you know that I have my dads sense of direction: AKA I’m always lost, always getting myself more lost, not afraid to ask for directions but usually mess them up anyway. In my running life this has become more of a blessing in disguise. My runs are usually longer than I anticipate with even knowing it!

So when I told my partner that we had to turn right on Strawberry, then right again on Hitt Road I figured she knew where Strawberry was… a few miles later we figured out where we needed to go—basically we just needed to up, up and up higher! So needless to say our run turned into more of a five-mile hike, which is fine, the trail was great, the day was perfect—until we reached the top and started back down.

The view was great. I could see Mnt Shasta (I think) and some other mountain in the distance…I’m horrible at identifying them! On our run back down it was just a straight shot down hill, rocky terrain, and with my awesomely weak ankles I stepped on a rock in just the right spot to feel like I tore all the ligaments and broke the bone. (DON’T WORRY, NEITHER OF THOSE HAPPENED. They were just my first thoughts that entered my brain.)

Sweet View

Beatuful View

I limped along for a while and when I decided nothing horrible actually happened we started running again. But when I got home I used the RICE (Rest Ice Compression Elevation) method to get better as soon as humanly possible. Along with taking fist fulls of ibprofen it was feeling better soon. Who knew that by actually doing what all those running magazines tell you to do you can actually reduce the time it takes to get better? CRAZY!

Roommates frozen peas

My roommates frozen peas

I haven’t run yet, it’s still tender, but I did elipt my heart out today and plan to run tomorrow morning. Still icing it to keep the swelling down, and not doing anything too crazy this week. I’d rather be hurt a bit now then totally injured later!

 

Had any injuries lately? How long did they last?

 

What did you do instead of run or impact?

I actually started doing some of my work out DVDs at home. Friday I did a Denise Austin pilates total body thing…it was good! Denise is super annoying, but I got a good work out in. On Saturday I did a yoga burn DVD with my friend–we opened all the windows and doors in her house so it felt like we were outside, SO GREAT!