Running with guns

I was reading an article (in Runner's World online) yesterday about the governor of Texas shooting a coyote while out running. I no longer have the link and its not that important anyway. Of course there were tons of comments on this site as well as on facebook, from anti-gun people to anti-coyote people to anti-politician people, etc., etc. While it seems perfectly reasonable to me for the governor of Texas to run with a gun for his own protection (there might be people out there who want to shoot him!), and coyotes don't have a very good reputation, I am feeling especially sensitive lately about people shooting and killing animals. Just because you have access to a loaded gun, it doesn't mean you have to kill something!

Maybe the coyotes out here in Montana are nicer than the ones in Texas, but we've never had any problem with them even though we've seen them plenty. They've never even come after our chickens. Several times Wesley and I saw coyotes in the woods, and one time a coyote even stopped and looked at us for a while before running away. I never felt threatened, maybe because Wesley was so big and could be scary looking. Even if I had a gun, it never would have occurred to me to shoot them.

Now, if I had run into a bear or a mountain lion and I had a gun, the thought of shooting them would certainly cross my mind. However, the real reason for carrying a gun out there in the woods is in the rare occasion that you might run into a scary wild animal, you could shoot it to make a loud noise to scare it away. And if they are actually attacking you, it's probably too late anyway. The point is, I don't want to kill anything, especially just because I happened to roam into their territory and surprise them.

The one time that Jim ran into a bear out in the woods behind our house (with her two cubs!) he didn't have a dog, a gun, or bearspray. When she chuffed and started coming at him, he did the first thing that came to mind (after the thought to run - he had the sense not to do that) - he screamed at the top of his lungs. I don't think it really scared her but it surprised her enough that he was able to slowly back away, and after he got a safe distance around a bend, ran home. He hasn't seen her since.

Wesley

Yesterday I lost one of my best friends, and my only running partner, my 8 year old dog, Wesley. He was also a great body guard and security system, even though he was actually a big sweetheart. I always felt safe running out in the woods with him, because he had a ferocious look about him when he was being defensive. However, in reality, he was afraid of roosters and would usually run away if we ran into other dogs out there.

We got Wesley from the Humane Society animal shelter when he was three months old, several months after  our 16 year old dog, Cody, died. Wesley had already had a rough life, living on the streets, and there was something wild and weird in his character that we were never able to extricate, no matter how much love and security we gave him. He was especially weird about food. In fact, just last week while we were out, he ate an entire extra large bag of English muffins off the counter. He had a great weakness for baked goods.

People either loved or hated Wesley. Those who feared him threatened to shoot him. Eventually someone did. Those who loved him knew him as an overly affectionate dog who was great with kids, letting them climb all over him without the slightest grumble. When we were away during the day, he would lay on the most comfortable bed in the house, ours, even though he knew he wasn't supposed to. He had such keen hearing that he would be up and waiting at the window downstairs before we got in, but we could always tell by the hair on the bed. He never missed "story time" at night when we put the kids to bed.

We never knew what kind of dog Wesley was, but he got many compliments on how beautiful he was. I have often thought that he must be part pitt bull, because of his personality and massive jaw. If you have ever loved a pitt bull you know that they can be the sweetest most lovable creatures, and then turn into terrifying monsters if provoked. But of all the animals/dogs we looked at to try to figure out what Wesley was, the one he most resembled was a dingo:

Which of course brings to mind the line "maybe the dingo ate your baby." (These last two pictures are of actual dingos, not Wesley, although it is hard to tell the difference.)

Of course the animal shelter called him a "husky cross." They couldn't very well advertise that they were giving away dingos, I suppose.







Wesley will be missed by all who loved him, most of all me.

CF Fundraising

Just thought I'd throw this out there: I'm doing the Great Strides Walk again this year to raise money for the CF Foundation. Please check out my home page and share with anyone else who might be interested in participating or donating.

Thanks!

With an audible CRACK!

I left the physical therapist on Monday still not feeling quite right, and went immediately out to run 4 sucky miles. At the time I figured I just needed more rest. But then the next couple of days I found that my right leg was "wiggly" again. I could feel that my hips were out of balance even just walking. So I went back down for a quick fix. It's beginning to sound like I'm a PT junkie.

They say it takes 2 weeks, at least, for the hips to get used to their new position, and you've got to keep them that way or start over again each time you get re-adjusted. Consider me back at square one. I am taking it very seriously, because the more I am unable to run, the more I realize that I really love running. Of course the PT was right too when she said that running is just hard on your body and you need to do other things to cross-train. That's why this summer I plan on really learning how to swim, and getting a road bike. Which fits in nicely with my goal to do triathlons someday.

So anyway, Jim was still at work so I brought the kids with me to the PT for a quick adjustment. They were out of control wild and we could barely talk with all of their noise, but that's how they are. That's why it was all the more surprising when Kate (the PT) asked me to push one way while she pushed the other and we both heard a loud "CRACK!" in my pelvis. It was shocking, but not painful. And after that, I knew things were level again. I could totally feel the difference and it was amazing.

Hopes Dashed! Must make new goals

Well I was so excited after my visit with the physical therapist last week that I went out and ran a bunch. The weather has been fantastic and I felt great everytime, until about mile 6. Then my hip started hurting again. So I went back to the PT and she recommended cutting back on mileage, on building up very slowly, even more slowly than the typically recommended 10% per week rule. I'm pretty bad at math but I was able to fairly quickly figure out that I wouldn't have enough time to build up to the Missoula Marathon in July.

Now I've done most of the route of the MM a couple of times (and the whole route once), and while it is nice as far as a road run goes, it's not that great compared to other fantastic runs (ie. on trails) that can be done around here. The main reasons I wanted to do it were to be a part of this great running wave that is sweeping Missoula (especially with Runner's World magazine having bestowed upon the MM the title of Best Marathon this year), and because I wanted to do it better than last year (faster and with less pain afterwards). Alas, that goal will not be acheived this year.

However, if all goes well and my hip heals up and I keep increasing my mileage by painfully slow increments, I should be able to do a marathon in September, and I've had my eye on the Two Bear Marathon in Whitefish ever since Jim ran it two years ago. At least half of this marathon is on trails. And the more I run, the more I realize that this is the kind of running that I am most interested in.

Another advantage of figuring out this hip problem of mine is that once I do get it all worked out, I should be able to run longer AND faster, since I will be running more efficiently than ever before. So, I am excited about the future.

And as for the Missoula Marathon, I think I will volunteer and cheer everyone else on.

Looking Back

I've been doing a lot of looking back this week. Dug out the old journals and pictures for a story I want to write, and of course got sucked into "The Box." I had been trying to remember exactly when it was that I started running, and I just happened to stumble upon it in an old journal.

I was 26 the year I started running. That was also the year that I traversed the country six times (by planes, trains, buses, and automobiles), and got Lyme’s Disease. When I started running, I was still a smoker. But these are not compatible activities, and eventually running won out. This was also the year that I ended up back in Montana again, and have been here ever since. At the time, however, I was living with my father in upstate NY.

The journal entry states that I went out and bought some trail running shoes. I'd been working out at a gym in the mornings before work but the weather was finally getting nicer (spring!!) and I planned to let my gym membership expire and start running outside. So I guess I've always been a trail runner. When I moved to Missoula, I started running in Pattee Canyon.

I ran to stay fit, and to be outside. I didn't train for anything, and rarely even knew how far I had run. It wasn't until after I had two kids, and needed to get back into shape, that I decided to train for anything. My first race ever was the Missoula 1/2 marathon in 2008.

It is fun, looking back, and seeing how far I've come.

Thoughts on the book I just read

This is not really a book review, but just thoughts I had after reading a book about running.


“An Honorable Run,” by Matt McCue, is a nice little story about a coach who influenced a young man to succeed, not only in running, but in life in general. And even if at first I didn’t quite relate to his story personally, by the end I loved Coach Brown as much as everybody else. And I certainly got the message: you don’t have to win to succeed. And other great sayings that can help get you through like, “do the right thing, even when no one is watching.”

I finished reading the book the other day and I’ve had it in the back of my mind, thinking about what I would like to say about it. I would like Jim to read it too, so we can talk about it, because I’m sure he can relate much more to McCue’s experience of competing in high school and college and having a great coach. When I look back on my high school experience, this is something that I find was definitely lacking. I didn’t really have any great role models or mentors. I had to figure out a lot of shit on my own.

Makes me think of Paul Simon: “When I think back on all the crap I learned in high school, it’s a wonder I can think at all…my lack of education hasn’t hurt me none, I can read the writing on the wall.” The only running advice I ever got in high school was wrong. I remember the little red-headed dyke who was our field hockey coach (but can’t for the life of me remember her name) specifically telling us to run “heel to toe” and I repeated the mantra to myself as I ran, trying to force my body to run in a weirdly unnatural way. Since then I have taught myself how to run with good form (with the help of lots of good books and articles).

And I didn’t have a whole lot of natural athletic talent, that I know of. In fact, I always thought that my body was not built to run, that I didn’t have the right frame for it or something. So it was funny to me the other day at my appointment with the Physical Therapist when she analyzed my running form and said she couldn’t find anything wrong with it, that I had great running form and it looked like I had one of those rare bodies that was made for running. Ha! I always thought I was too short and stout and busty.

Anyway, yeah, this is about the book. But it’s also about me and how I relate to it, so bear with me. So I walked out of a store yesterday and I saw this guy sitting on the sidewalk with a sign asking for money. And I thought, how does someone end up there, on the sidewalk. It’s all about the choices we make. Life is a series of choices and sometimes you can look back and clearly see how some have taken you down drastically different roads than you otherwise might have gone on. Other times the choices are not that clear. And it all starts with one choice: choosing your parents wisely.

This is a joke, of course. Because it’s not only the choices that we make, but the options that we are given and what we do with those options. McCue had a great coach. He also obviously had a really supportive family, and grew up in a nice community. The guy had opportunities. Plus he made good choices. That guy all bundled up on the sidewalk next to his pack, who knows what opportunities or choices he had?

Sacroiliac Hypermobility

According to the information sheet I got from Frenchtown Physical Therapy yesterday, I should "attempt symmetry in all actions and postures." Apparently seven years of carrying children around on one hip can seriously put one out of alignment. But putting it back in place seemed to be a deceptively simple thing to do for those wonderful folks. Suddenly, my life is more in balance. In trying to do things equally on both sides, I am becoming much more aware of the way that I hold myself, as well as how I carry things, get up and down, etc. Now that my hips have been leveled, so to speak, I feel more balanced and grounded, even just walking around. I am so thankful that I took the time and spent the money to go down to FPT and have them take a look at my sore hip. It is really amazing to me what a difference it has already made, and I haven't even gone for a run yet. That will be the real test.

It is so easy for us to develop habits that put us out of balance. I have noticed that not only was I carrying children on my left hip, but also almost always carrying the heavier load there, whether it was laundry or groceries or library books. I would stand with most of my weight on my left leg while working in the kitchen. I sleep on my left side. And all of these things messed up my right hip!

An Honorable Run

I've started reading a new book about running, "An Honorable Run," by Matt McCue, a recommendation from the Run Wild Missoula / Runners' Edge people, who are starting a book club, that I might go to if I can get myself to drive into town next Monday night. So far, I can't really relate. He's talking about running competitively in high school and college (in fact I think the whole thing is about a great coach he had) and I've never run competitively or had a coach for my running (unlike Jim who was a champion in cross-country).

My high school didn't have a track or cross-country team. No, when I was in high school girls had five choices for "athletics." We could play field hockey, basketball, volleyball, softball, or be a cheerleader. I played field hockey and basketball and softball. The only running I remember was before field hockey practice, doing laps around the ball fields. I seem to remember being one of the slower ones. I've always been more defensive than offensive, and I ended up playing goalie. Goalies also had to do hill-running drills at the end of practice, with all of our heavy gear on. Maybe that's why running hills in the woods doesn't bother me too much, but I'm still not very fast.

Or maybe I was so slow because it was before the invention of the sportsbra. While I was running slow laps around the ball fields in order to minimize the bounce (which did not go unnoticed by the boys' soccer teams), a small group of women in the next state over (Vermont) were just putting two jockstraps together to come up with the first "jogbra" (see history in link above!). I believe that this invention, more than any other, has liberated women to be able to participate more fully in athletic activities.

I don't know if I would have been interested in running in high school even if there was a track team, or jogbras. It is interesting to read about someone else experience though, and maybe learn a little bit more about my running now from it. (More about this book later as I read more of it!)

Badass Shoes

I went running today, bear spray in one hand (it's that time of year), hanky in the other, for the first time in a week. It feels like longer. Last Monday's run didn't really count since I had to stop every few steps to cough or blow. But today felt pretty good. I also set up an appointment at Frenchtown Physical Therapy to get my hip looked at, and yesterday I went to see the good folks down at The Runners' Edge about my badass mountain running shoes.

Now I'm no badass mountain runner, at least not yet, but I would like to be. I actually got these awesome shoes, back in February. Because I suffer from chilblains, I wanted some trail shoes that would keep my feet warm and dry in the winter when I run. Anyway, I wore them a couple of times but they felt too wiggly, a little too loose, and I was afraid they were actually starting to hurt my feet, and may have even been the cause of my hip injury.

So as part of my re-commitment to running, I went down to the Runners Edge to see what we could do about the shoes. They are so great down there. They gave me some insoles to try out and I took em for a test drive today. I am happy to say, they worked great. Hopefully that has solved the problem. Of course, the real test will be the long run, which hopefully I'll work my way back up to soon.

Back at it

A while ago I bailed on this blog without warning. I thought I was done with it, that it had served its purpose. But as the days passed I started missing it. The blog had become a way for me to ground myself - writing about running kept me focussed on writing, and running. Without it, I started to feel a bit adrift. And that's when I realized that it was really just all about me and that's ok. I want to share my thoughts/experiences that I have while running because it helps me to feel more connected - with other people as well as just with myself. So here I am, back at it again.

I actually haven't been running much lately. After the "Snowjoke" 1/2 marathon in February, I decided to take some time off to let my hip heal. The week before the 1/2 marathon it had started to hurt a lot on a long icy run in the woods, and at the end of the race it was pretty painful. I finished the race about ten minutes slower this year than last year because of it, but really I was just happy to be able to have finished, considering my injuries last year.

I started running again mid-March with plans to make a plan as soon as I figured out where my hip was at. After a couple of weeks of every-other-day mellow runs, I was about to set up my training plan for my next marathon when I got hit with the nastiest cold/virus/flu/whatever-you-want-to-call-it I've ever had. I've been sick for two weeks now! The first week I actually continued running, but it was ridiculous and miserable.

So I've just been watching Jim train. Last weekend he did a ten-miler on Saturday, then 20 miles on Sunday. He's out there right now, actually, taking his bear spray for a run in the woods on this sunny Easter Sunday, while I am inside blowing and blowing and blowing my nose. LAST YEAR on Easter Sunday I ran the longest I had ever run at that point - 19 miles - almost all the way from my house to our friends' where we went for an easter egg hunt and brunch that lasted all day. I am concerned that I might not have enough time to build up my mileage slowly enough and be ready for the Missoula Marathon in July.

But as they say in AA, "one day at a time." Today, I can barely walk across the kitchen without getting off-balance because of all the snot in my head. Maybe tomorrow? I don't know. Sometimes I wonder how long I will be able to be a runner, because it seems there is always some injury. And sometimes I'm pretty sure I'll keep doing it for the rest of my life. It's just part of who I am now.