November Leaf Shuffling

[yellow]

Happy November, ladies.

I give you this, to start the running discussion for the month-that-started-a-week-ago:

The Colors of the New York Marathon

I loves me some Bill Cunningham (and understand that I am almost completely fashionless--but I enjoy his commentaries).

I ran yesterday. It was gorgeous. And, yes, I did shuffle through some leaves

[skhill]

My legs felt dead this morning, after an hour of leaf raking yesterday. Kept the run short, just 4 miles, and now I'm about to return to the raking. There's a huge, elderly, fragile maple tree in my backyard that turns gold then drops them overnight it feels like.

Yes, I'm enjoying the sights and smells of fall, and especially the sunrises the end of daylight savings time has me out running in!

[OakLeaf]

Yellow, so glad you're back to running! Hope the break accomplished some good healing.

Cool photos - I especially liked the little girl with her leaf.

I've been fighting cold after cold, nothing major, plus I managed to strain something in my foot, so I'm taking it easy. Pity, because the weather is so beautiful. Might get out for some light cleanup in the garden this afternoon, anyway.

[VeganBikeChick]

My legs felt dead this morning, after an hour of leaf raking yesterday. Kept the run short, just 4 miles, and now I'm about to return to the raking. There's a huge, elderly, fragile maple tree in my backyard that turns gold then drops them overnight it feels like.

Yes, I'm enjoying the sights and smells of fall, and especially the sunrises the end of daylight savings time has me out running in!

I love that 4 miles is a short run. That'd be almost a marathon for me . I'm trying to ease back into running - again. I went for a 2 miler yesterday, walking about 50% but still got myself out there. Felt very accomplished afterwards - and the hot bath was a great treat.

[solobiker]

LOL...I went on a 4 mile run yesterday and today raked for about 3 hours. I love to rake so it was great weekend for me.

[Wahine]

Good job ladies!

I started to run agian after about 1 year off. I've also changed my running form substantially. So I started out with 2 miles run/walk. I built up to a "long" run of 5 miles but when I went out for the run I was really fatigued from an epic bike adventure 3 days previously and I injured my Achilles. This is the part that makes me proud, I stopped running the moment I injured myself and walked home. I did 3 weeks of proper rehab and finally, today I went out for that 5 mile run again. Success!!

I've done a lot of distance running in the past and I'm registered for a marathon Mar 2. So I'm pretty happy to run my 5 miles, even though I've run much farther. Building back up from ground zero.

The great thing is that I love running in the fall and winter here. Soooooooo much better than riding in the soaking wet and 40 degrees.

[GLC1968]

The great thing is that I love running in the fall and winter here. Soooooooo much better than riding in the soaking wet and 40 degrees.

OMG, so true!!

I've been really good at getting in my runs and lately I've noticed some real changes in how I feel. I did a 5 mile pace run last week on the treadmill and it just flew by. I was kind of shocked. My outdoor runs are super pleasant now too...even when I work harder. Yesterday I did 9 miles with my husband and I was playing coach for the last mile because he wanted to throw in the towel. I felt like I had at least another 5 in me!

This week is a 'rest' week for me with no long run and slightly reduced mileage. I've been wanting to add another day to my run schedule, so I think I'll do it this week. I won't increase the mileage at all, but I may split one of the 4 or 5 mile runs in two. None of the runs have any training focus this week, so I don't feel badly messing with the schedule (they are all 'easy' runs).

[skhill]

Got in my 6 miles this morning, it was a beautiful chilly fall dawn. Kept speeding up the whole time, the first mile was in 9:15 and the last in 8:25. Fun!

They're predicting rain turning to sleet turning to snow overnight, so tomorrow may end up being a rest day. Although if the footing looks good and there's a little flurry going on, it might be fun to run. Have to wait and see...

[VeganBikeChick]

WTG Ladies! Got out again today but hardly drank any water yesterday - never knew how awful a run could be when you're dehydrated. I've been catching up so much today that I must have gone to the restroom at least a half dozen times so far!

[skhill]

Well, I didn't run Tuesday-- it wasn't the snow or the 32F temp that put me off, but the 25mph wind that went along with all that. Then I didn't run Wednesday-- it was 23F and I wimped out. Today, however, I finally got out again. 27F and clear skies and almost no wind, it was beautiful. I went about 5.5 miles at a pretty quick pace, and there were a lot more runners out at 6:30 am than usual. A whole flock of us were circling around the north end of campus, all bundled up.

It's supposed to be warmer over the next few days, hooray!

[OakLeaf]

Well, I haven't run all week. The last cold caught me good, and turned into a sinus infection, but thank my lucky stars I seem to have headed off bronchitis. I *know* it would've gone down into my lungs if I'd tried to run, so I'm okay with it, even though I'm jonesing.

But I've got good news anyhow. That foot pain wasn't getting any better, and with where it was and how it felt, I was really starting to worry it was a stress fracture. I was seeing the DO this morning anyway so I asked him to look at it. Clinically he didn't think it was fractured, and he eased my cuboid back into place, fixed the rotation of my first and second metatarsals, and the pain is gone. If it comes back I'll obviously need to get an MRI, but he thinks that's unlikely. Yay.

[rocknrollgirl]

Hi Guys,
I have been running, but I have been too lazy to post. Things are busy at school and it sucks the life right out of me. We have just been doing shorter stuff, nothing over an hour. Since our race 6 weeks ago we have been mountain biking a lot, so the running as scaled back, which is fine. No need to push at this point, especially because we are planning shorter races this year.

So Tuesday, I too wimped out because of the 25mph winds. Yesterday we did a trail run for 45 mins.

[Crankin]

You did the right thing, Oak. Been there, done that. I am going to try and avoid bronchitis this year.

[yellow]

I use a remote/online/phone coach who trains several ultrarunners. He put me in touch with one of his other clients who was going to be visiting SLC so this other client and I could talk trails for him to run while visiting. He is from NC, closer to the ocean, so you'd think the altitude (and very low humidity and cold) might get to him a little bit. He flew in to town last Monday and we went for a great run in the foothills. Nothing like soaking in the enthusiasm and joy of someone who is grateful to be running in a new place (and really freakin' excited about it). The altitude didn't seem to phase him. It was all I could do to keep up with him on the downhills.

Fast forward to Saturday, when he wanted to go for a ~2 hour trail run. Oh, and he was going to bring along another guy who he met at this class he was attending in SLC. Other guy is from NJ and not a runner, but he is young (20-something) and an elite rower (as in Olympics-level elite). It was snowing and these guys only had shorts (but they did have jackets and gloves). No worries. Off we went on a beautiful snow covered trail. The guys couldn't get over that the snow was not slippery to run on and the fact that it was snowing and they were out running in it. There was a lot of man giggling. We all had a great time and the young non-runner guy had no problem popping off an 11 mile trail run in the snow at altitude (the longest trail run he'd ever done). Ahhh, youth.

Not that I really need reminding, but it was a reminder to be thankful for what I have, where I live, and where I run. I enjoyed sharing my trails with someone new. I usually run alone (mostly because I haven't been successful in finding a compatible trail running buddy), so it was a real treat to run with other humans who were very much in the moment. To witness the joy and enthusiasm of these guys was priceless. Here is a picture from Saturday. Look at those smiles! (Yes, I am short, but they were both tall so that makes me look extra short.)

Back to running with me, myself, and I today. We had a lovely little jaunt. Perfect fall evening.

[VeganBikeChick]

What a lovely photo, yellow! Kudos to everyone getting their runs in!

I'm really starting to enjoy my outdoor runs here, although I sure do miss running in the chilly weather in CO with the sun shining down to keep me warm.