Colorado 2016

The past few weeks have just been me getting back into it after some toenail issues.  After my last blog post in August, I realized my toenail was bothering me again.  Instead of waiting until it got really bad, I went right back to the podiatrist and asked her to just permanently remove that portion of my toenail.  In order to do that, she had to chemically burn part of my toe, so recovery took a bit longer than last time.  I had planned on getting it done after our Colorado vacation, but I really didn’t want to spend our vacation in pain, so I risked it and got the procedure done about 2 weeks before we left.

By the time my toe was feeling almost normal, we were on our way to Colorado to enjoy a week long runcation!  It was absolutely perfect timing – luck was definitely on my side.  I spent vacation alternating between running (in sneakers) and hiking (in sandals) to keep my toe from getting sore.  It was totally worth it – I ended up running 21 miles in Colorado despite taking time off for a few weeks before!

It was really great to have Matt’s best friend Matt (I know, very confusing) on the trip with us.  Matt had to get a lot of miles in for Grindstone, so it was really nice to have someone there to hike and run with while he was off running 10+ miles every day!  We spent a lot of time hiking and trying to catch our breath – it was a little embarrassing. I had forgotten what it’s like to run in Colorado!

While there, I took my first real trail fall.  We had run/hiked up Green Mountain and just reached the peak, and had about 7 miles to go until we got back to the car, when I tripped over a VERY obvious rock and started sliding off the trail down the mountain.  It’s scary to think about it now, but at the time I got up and just burst out laughing at how typical it was of me to fall at the TOP of a mountain.  Luckily nothing was too deep, so I picked myself up and ran the 7 miles back down.  I was feeling pretty good – until I had to scrub rocks out of the dried blood on my hands in the shower… yuck!  We had lots of beers to numb the pain, so don’t feel too bad for me 😉 Luckily I’m finally all healed up and have a few scars with a fun story!

Now that we’re back to reality, I’ve been trying to steadily increase my mileage for the past few weeks without going crazy.  I’m basically the queen of too-much-too-soon, so I’ve scaled back to 10-15 miles a week for a few weeks, and am just now starting to add on a few more miles.

My goal for the year is 1,000 miles.  While it may not be a lot to Matt, to me it’s huge.  Hitting 1,000 miles while overcoming a few injuries, going through physical therapy, getting a puppy, and starting a new job would be a dream come true.

It’s been hard for me to prioritize running since starting with Bantam Cider Company, since I’ve just been putting everything I have into learning as much as I can as quickly as I can.  That means leaving for work by 8:15am and not getting home until 7pm or later, which doesn’t leave me much motivation to run.  It’s easy for me to forget how much my stress levels build up if I don’t run – and after a few days off I remember why I run.  I could have a bad day at work, a frustrating day of puppy-parenting, or just the usual crushing realization that I’ll be in debt from college until my grandchildren are long gone, but it all goes away while I run.

As of now, I need to run 16.4 miles every week through the end of the year to reach my goal, so this is me asking you all for your help!  Help me stay motivated!  Offer to run with me on my days off!  Make me #verbal for NP or TBC!  If I can reach my goal of 1,000 miles this year, WHO KNOWS what next year will bring!