Posts Tagged ‘vacation’

I hope you all had a great holiday week with as little family irritation as possible.

We escaped from the world for a few days with the most romantic, non-angst-ridden holiday I can remember.  The B&B we stayed at was empty, even the owners were gone, so we had the place completely to ourselves. Christmas day we went to the “Grand Canyon of PA”  (that cracks me up every time I type it), hiked in the snow a little and happily froze our asses off because it was so beautiful and serene.   I was this close to having a 3-day non-running vacation, but ended up doing a 4-miler yesterday morning before we left, just to add Wellsboro, PA to my list of places I’ve run.

Back to Philly and running life, something strange has been going on with my running this last week.  I suppose it’s the culmination of those weeks of speedwork and tempos in conjunction with races (can’t beat 5Ks for speedwork) because all of a sudden, my “normal” easy pace has taken a dive.

I did that 5K last Saturday, then the next day I ran 9 miles, avg pace 8:29.  Tuesday I ran 12, avg pace 8:31.  Today I ran 13, avg pace 8:29.  And each of these runs started the first couple miles with 8:40s, the bulk of the runs averaged around 8:15/mi.  They felt comfortable, not strenuous at all, so I’ve been doing quite a few double-takes looking at my wrist.  If I hadn’t been running  my usual measured route, I’d think my Garmin had gone batty.

But there’s more to these runs than a new pacing, I had actual bouts of Runner’s High on Tuesday and today.  It occurred to me that maybe the high is due to getting faster (big wad of happiness right there) but it’s more than that, it’s an amazing feeling, like dancing all out or fucking, for that matter.

It’d probably be a good idea to wear the HR monitor on tomorrow’s 9-miler, but on the other hand, what makes it special is how it feels and monitoring my HR will surely put a damper on it (because of course, it must be too fast…McMillan’s finger is probably cramped from wagging it at me).  Then again, the monitor and McMillan are all about “proper aerobic conditioning”.  Must every second of running be the best possible science?

OK, so I hereby declare that my Christmas present to myself is to leave the rulebook at home until mid-January when the new training cycle begins.  Just run because it feels good, whatever that may be.  Belated, as far as gifts go, but perfect for someone who likes to get high.

First off, thanks for all the comments on the previous installment, you lovely people. If I could, I’d give you all a big fat hug for sticking with me to read this mush, so virtual hugs for everyone!

End of Day 9 – Yellowstone, MT

If you’re as unenlightened as I was about the geysers of Yellowstone, check out this photo of a geyser when it’s not spouting. I had no idea they were such a beautiful blue:

And this is how it looks when it goes off:

There’s this cool area in Yellowstone where you walk among a grouping of geysers that go off randomly. You have to stay on the boardwalk though, because it’s boiling water all around. Unexpected and weird….exactly what I live for.

Days 10 & 11 – Zion National Park

In the morning before leaving for south Utah, I ran an hour around West Yellowstone. I dressed warmly because it was sleeting outside (in June!) and found a snowmobile trail near the hotel to explore. It was another high altitude run, so slow going but by now, expected so ok.

One day-long drive later, we get to our hotel in Cedar City, UT. It was the closest place with vacancies near Zion Park. Now we know for next time to book stuff way in advance when you’re doing the park thing. I should mention we had brought a tent for the trip with the idea to possibly camp, but between the crazy temperatures and rental gear availability, we stuck to hotels.

Zion National Park is good and bad. The good is Kolob Canyons, a smaller area north of the main park that’s absolutely beautiful and not at all high traffic. The bad is that cars aren’t allowed in Zion park proper, so everyone takes shuttles to the hiking spots, which is great environmentally but meant more crowds of people than we’d experienced anywhere on the trip. We kept saying “and this is just the beginning of June, can you imagine this is August?”

Speaking of unexpected, in a tiny town before Zion Nat’l Park we passed this Ostrich ranch. They could probably hear me in Idaho yelling “Stop the car, stop the car!!!”

Here’s my squinty self in another tiny town right after the ostriches, Virgin UT, with our spiffy little rental.

While in Virgin, it’s customary to visit their only store and fondle the Native American Indian security guard. It was in the guide book, I swear.

Day 12 – Kolob Canyons & Las Vegas

The hotel had a treadmill so I got my last vacation run in, then we returned to Kolob Canyons for a final 3-hour hike before hitting Vegas again. Las Vegas is an especially unpleasant place to be after a total submersion in Nature, but a fitting end I suppose.

Home

Back to reality and one more foot/ankle crap update. It was on the mend, but with a single swimming kick on our first day in Vegas, it hurt again, so while on the road I made an appt with Matt’s wonderful podiatrist for this afternoon.

Hallelujah!! Diagnosis is an inflamed bursa sack in my heel. The doc said I probably was dealing with two separate things as I’d suspected and what’s left is this. It’s no biggie, I can keep running, just ice afterwards and do some exercises.

Nice byproduct is that I brought my running shoes and he was surprised by the lack of wear on the 300 mile pair, so I’m good to go till 500 miles. That should save me some cha-ching. He also said that while I’m a heel-lander, I shouldn’t change my gait unless it’s causing me problems and I guess bad photographs aren’t exactly “problems”, so maybe I’ll finally relax on that score.

And that, my dears brings me back in front of a computer again, on a 104 degree day in Philly. The desert was so much cooler!

I hope I can keep this feeling of spaciousness and perspective from the trip for awhile. I was in a rut when I left and now I feel refreshed with the world. Lucky for us, America is huge, gorgeous and always open and summer camping in the East will be heaven.

With that, I leave you one last road picture from the Wild West:

Grab a snack and have a pee, this is a long one.

Day 1 – Las Vegas

We picked up our rental car (a cute red convertible) and checked into a cushy Jr. Suite at the MGM Signature hotel.

That evening we enjoy wonderful pre-dinner entertainment reading the exorbitantly priced menus at the restaurants in MGM Grand. My favorite was the tasting menu at $385 per person. Per Person! For Food! Vegas is a ridiculous place in so many ways.

After dinner we saw KA (an amazing gravity defying Cirque de Soleil show), then I lost $20 on the slot machines but managed to take a long time doing it, so I believe I got my money’s worth.

Day 2 – The Grand Canyon

My first vacation run! It was sadly hilarious as I waved bye to Nick, told him I’d be back after 7miles so expect me in an hour, only to find that I hadn’t accounted for altitude – 7000 ft. makes a difference. It was disconcerting expecting to bound like a gazelle only to wheeze out the slowest miles I’ve done in forever. My ego and lungs got the best of me and I cut it to a short but painfully slow 4.5. Check out the satellite photo of my run from SportTracks. Wild, huh?

The next day was the famous Mule ride down the canyon. They take you in groups of 6 and yes, it’s scary because you are right on the edge, but the mules are so sweet and surefooted that you just give in to them knowing what to do. Here are Nick and I at Plateau Point, where you eat lunch before heading back up the canyon.

Day 4 – Mexican Hat, UT

We stayed at the Mexican Hat Lodge on our way to Moab, UT. I’d picked this lodge out from the internet. It had good reviews on Trip Advisor but I hadn’t seen photos.

Here is the lodge.

Here is the lock to our room (note the door is sliding glass).

That evening before dinner we drive out to Valley of the Gods, a miniature Monument Valley that is so beautiful and secluded that you think you’re the only person on earth. So what a surprise when Nick says, “Look!” and out of nowhere comes a small group of runners with their support car in tow. In my excitement, I jumped up in the convertible and yelled like a madwoman, “Go Ultra Runners, Go!!!” and got some surprised and delighted expressions and waves in return.

Valley of the Gods was so intensely gorgeous with all it’s stark monuments, we drove out again when it got dark and sat with the convertible top down, watching for falling stars.

Days 5 & 6 – Moab, UT

This fabulous little sporty town is a bicyclist mecca and a big rafting haven due to the Colorado river being right there. It was 91 degrees the afternoon we arrived, so I scrapped the idea of an outdoor run and got 7 in on the treadmill. The elevation was only 4000 ft. so it wasn’t at all as hard as Grand Canyon.

The next day we went on a full-day rafting trip down the Colorado. There are two rafting guides when we get to the loading site. One is smart and experienced, the other is a young cute guy who is dumber than a box of nails. He reads out our guidelines and instructions from a card, stopping occasionally to say, “Whoa, that’s on there? that’s cool” inspiring little confidence but giving Nick and I much to laugh about.

We start down the river, 2 large rafts of people, then Nick and I in an inflatable kayak. Nick is an experienced kayak guy, so I feel safe with him, but it’s a little scary since it’s only my second time rafting. No problem though, we manage the rapids well and the guides compliment us during a rest stop, saying we look like we’ve got it together and they’re not worried about us at all.

Then the young stupid guide says, “Hey, you wanna get wet? Just follow me”. That sounded exciting, so Nick and I line up to follow as he takes his passengers across without incident, then it’s our turn.

About 2 seconds into the rapids, a 4-foot standing wave lifts the front of the kayak (where I am) and I see the tip of it rise higher and higher till it’s vertical. It flips backwards, throwing me into the rapids, dumping Nick out a millisecond later. There were long moments of absolute panic as I swallowed gulps of water, the raft out of reach so nothing to hold on to, and Nick on the other side of the raft calling my name and swallowing the river too, unable to see me, thinking I hadn’t resurfaced. It gives me chills thinking about it.

I finally float from the rapids and give the OK signal to the larger rafts. Nick is relieved to see I’m alright and eventually one of the larger rafts gets close enough for me to hold on, but the current is so fast I can’t get pulled onboard for a while, so when I’m finally pulled in from the 50 degree water, I begin to shake and shake and shake so hard it’s unreal. Shock mixed with cold.

Undeterred, we finished the rest of the raft trip without incident, albeit on the stupid guy’s raft.

Day 7 – Jackson, MT

We got an adorable cabin in this great little town outside the Grand Teton National Park. We drove 10 hours to get here and what an eye-popping drive it was, from the red desert monuments to snow-capped mountains. Actually it’s been a huge eye-popping experience wherever we go. The American West is spectacular, that’s all I can say.

Day 8 & 9 – Tetons and Yellowstone, MT

Spent yesterday morning and afternoon driving north, exploring the Tetons, hiking a few hours around a lake, then continuing on to Yellowstone, looking like idiots driving with the top down in 45 degree temp, but it was too gorgeous to want to put the top up.

Just for a “what a freaky world this is” reality check, this was our environment on the morning of day 7:

One day later at Yellowstone:

We’ve seen marmots, bald eagle, elk, mountain goats and so many bison, I’ve lovingly dubbed them “The Cockroaches of Yellowstone”. Here’s the sweetest coyote sitting on the side of the road checking out all the people checking him out.

That’s it for now. Tomorrow we leave West Yellowstone for (I think) Zion National Park. We’ve left the last days open and Zion looks like a cool destination. Stay tuned for the final installment.

How cavalier I was when last I left you folks, spouting this little morsel, “Going out for 4 today and will keep it at 4 for the next couple days” After I returned from my run I realized that running 4 days in a row is reckless when you’re repairing yourself, so I took yesterday off. It rained all day anyway, so I wasn’t that tempted.

The UPS guy brought my ankle brace, which I like quite a lot – it’s a lace-up one, so I feel like a boxer in it. It works, too! Started my run today with my usual trepidation of “how bad is this going to feel and for how long?” but the discomfort disappeared sooner than it has for the last few runs, so I did 5 miles at my pre-injured easy pace of 8:49. What a relief.

There’s a huge regatta going on in my stomping ground, so it was a lively run, maneuvering around people, boats, and people carrying boats. I passed by this one girl who was running and reading at the same time, which deserved a double-take because I could have sworn it was a paperback, but I was too shy to turn around and check it out.

It reminded me of my diving days when, on an especially deep dive that requires a long decompression stop (to rid your body of nitrogen so you don’t get the bends), some people bring books to read while they’re hanging there. Clever idea, since holding onto a rope mid-water for an hour or more is the most boring non-activity in the world, though I always imagined the pages floating away so never tried it. That said, I’m not even tempted to read while running.

Anyway, I feel like I’m officially on the mend which means the next order of business will be revisiting my marathon plan starting point, but first…vacation!! We’re going out West in a couple weeks for a 12-day sojourn; doing the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Moab, Polygamist Sect National Parks tour.

Our first activity that is already reserved (and I am terrified of) is an all-day mule ride through the Grand Canyon. The mules walk perilously close to the edges of cliffs you wouldn’t dare hike on foot, so eeeeek!! They say they haven’t lost a mule yet, which should be heartening, though how can one not respond with, “there’s always a first time.”

Looking forward to seeing what running holds for me out West. I’ve been told Yellowstone has plenty of bears so it’s not a good idea to run there, but I’m sure every place will be different. Nick is so cute, he’s promised to ride along side me on a rented bike and if that’s not available, by car. Payback will be me on a bike in Moab, the bicyclist’s mecca, with a smile on my face and no comments like, “yeah, biking’s ok, but not half as fun as running”. What we do for love.