run

Early Mornings and Teaching What I Know

/ Sloan / 2 Comments

In case you’ve been wondering what I’ve been doing on Tuesday and Thursday mornings you can read about it HERE… this little group has re-energized my running. It’s made me remember that I love getting up early, having breakie and a cup of coffee and taking off in the quiet snow for a few miles.

Thursday was the second day of ‘class’ and I woke to snow falling and an inch already on the ground. I had to decide between running and riding my bike, I figured I’d freeze my fingers off on my bike so opted to run the 2.2 miles to work, work where I happened to be teaching/coaching people to run, cool deal!

I got outside, it was still dark, and was reminded of the long runs I used to do in college along Lake Michigan at 5:30 in the morning. Having to get 12 miles in before work at 9:30—how much I love the weird silence snow brings, the beauty the flakes have as they fall, one by one, landing on my cheeks and melting. It’s a great way to start the day and I am finally motivating myself to start my days like that again!

Then I got to run with a group of 11 eager women (and one man) for 3 more miles and talk to them about running, life and all those other random conversations we have while we run. It was fantastic!

GOOD MORNING

GOOD MORNING

 

Now I need to post this and get on my run so I’m not late for work this morning!

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!

Crisis Averted? Crisis Continues? Crisis Not a Crisis…

/ Sloan / Leave a comment

If you are my Facebook friend and/or follow me on Twitter or have the pleasure of having hung out with me recently, you’d know that I’m in the middle of some sort of crisis. Not actually sure if you could dub it a true existential crisis, a freak out, quarter life craziness or what, but something is going on within me. I’ve since reached out to friends that I find to be wiser, more creative, have it more figured out than me, for advice. And what they’re telling me is and isn’t what I want to hear.

From what I’ve gathered this feeling never goes away. We never know what we’re put on earth to do, so we should just enjoy it, damnit. My friend/professor/fellow Bianchi lover said to me:

“The journey IS the destination. There is no “there” out there.”

SO true. In a figurative sense such as life and in a literal sense, like when you’re actually in the woods on a journey.

My run/hike today was a 9ish mile loop to a place we call 4-corners, (yep you guessed it, four roads meet up at the top of this ‘hill’) I went with one girl who is in great shape and another girl that hadn’t really every been on the trail in years, (I hope we didn’t scare her away.) Today was sunny, warm and the woods were clear and crisp. We took three hours to do our loop—it really shouldn’t take that long but we took our time, ran, walked, hiked, talked about why each of us live in Southern Oregon. We’re all in different points in our lives, moved for different reasons.

We got to the top, our destination, and really, 4-corners is rather anti-climatic. The view isn’t that great, there’s a big hole in the middle where water pools and it’s all muddy and gross, or frozen if it’s cold. We stretched, hydrated, chatted a bit more and then ventured back on the trail. The run down was FUN—kinda like a roller coaster for our feet only without the nausea and long lines of some lame theme park in Florida.

At one point we stopped and just looked at the setting sun beaming through trees. Winking a quick goodbye before lowering behind the mountain. We all took a mental snap shot and someone said “This is why we moved here girls, this.” This journey is just some thing we have to ride, enjoy and absorb I guess.

It’s hard not to get caught up in the race of moving to the top, being ‘successful’. But then that makes me question the definition of success—and that will be a whole other blog post. For now, I’m going to revel in my tiredness of a longer run, a good day with friends and feeling a bit calmer about my life because I have great people all over helping me from all corners.