Thirteen Hundred Fifty-Eight

 

December 22, 2021

4.53 Miles in 50:33

Mood: Feeling like progress is happening, albeit slowly.
Soundtrack: Pokemon Go Radio and TBTL

My range has been shrunk a bit by the fact that I'm not running as far these days as I was before I hurt my calf in October, but I'm slowly trying to push it out a bit. I stuck mainly to the Highline Canal trail this morning, but I did spend a tiny bit of time in the neighborhoods west of Broadway today, and I'm hoping to keep expanding it back out with time. I didn't get back to five miles this trip like I did on Saturday, but I felt like four and a half is respectable, and I am feeling a bit stronger every time I go out. The next step is to go more often than every four days, and we'll get there!

Thirteen Hundred Fifty-Seven

 

December 18, 2021

5.11 Miles in 55:38

Mood: A happy Saturday run and a goose on ice.
Soundtrack: Taylor Swift "1989"

I finally did a run over five miles! Granted, it was barely over five miles, and I was super tired by the end, but I did it! Not only that, but I got to watch a goose walk on ice, so this was a major win of a Saturday run. Never mind that my legs were super wobbly as I finished, I finished! 100 mile months are still a ways away, but at least we are ever so slowly trending in the right direction. 

Thirteen Hundred Fifty-Six

 

December 14, 2021

2.71 Miles in 30:20

Mood: Not my best effort
Soundtrack: TBTL

This run was a bit of a disaster. It's the first time I've tried running two days after running. I've been getting too much rest between runs, and I was going to try out my usual schedule of every other day, but I was NOT ready. I couldn't really ever get going on this run, and because I had gotten up super early this morning, I wasn't really fully awake, my legs were still sore from running on Sunday, and I couldn't sustain much more than a third of a mile at a time without having to stop and walk for a good bit. It was nice being out, but it's had to qualify this as a successful attempt at a run. Oh well, at least I'm continuing to try! 

Thirteen Hundred Fifty-Five

 

December 12, 2021

4.28 Miles in 47:02

Mood: A great weekend with my bro!
Soundtrack: Wash Park sounds

I went on an early Sunday run with my brother who was in town to go to the Broncos-Lions game. We were talking so much as we got ready that I forgot to grab my earbuds, which was a bit of a bummer as he wasn't going to run all that much which meant I left him behind and had nothing to listen to apart from the natural noises of the world. 

Having him around was a bit an incentive to push myself so he wouldn't be waiting on me, and although I didn't run FAST, I at least did a decent job of continuing to run and not devolve the outing into a walk with occasional bursts of slow running. The bar is so low right now.

Still, I got four miles in, I felt good, and I got to hang out with Bruce, so this was definitely a win. It continued a trend of a great weekend which included getting to hang out with him at the Christkindl market downtown on Saturday and introducing him to the wackiness that is Meow Wolf on Friday night. Twas a very good time, indeed!

Thirteen Hundred Fifty-Four

 

December 8, 2021

3.15 Miles in 35:20

Mood: Gotta keep that blood sugar up!
Soundtrack: TBTL

This run started out promisingly, but a low blood sugar kind of dragged it down halfway through. I only ended up with a little over three miles, but for the first two miles I felt pretty good and thought I might get a decent distance in, sadly that went away once the blood sugar dipped, but for me, running with diabetes is part of the deal, so weirdly...it felt like getting back to normal in some ways.

Thirteen Hundred Fifty-Three

 

December 4, 2021

4.45 Miles in 47:33

Mood: Gotta reign myself in so I don't do too much too soon.
Soundtrack: Taylor Swift "Red (Taylor's Version)"

Saturday morning at Wash Park! I did two laps of the park plus a little extra, and I managed to get in a little more running this time than I did on my very first rehab run a few weeks ago. Still couldn't manage to get all the way to five miles, but I managed almost four and a half. Felt good most of the morning, although my calf definitely was bothering me towards the end, and I ended up abandoning a plan to run one more half loop around the park to get to over five miles. I'm still early in recovery, and I have to remember not to push myself too hard. I do NOT want to re-injure myself and have to start all over again. So I continue to listen to my body and take it slow. This was a beautiful morning, though. Temps in the 60's which do NOT feel like December.

Thirteen Hundred Fifty-Two

 

November 29, 2021

3.51 Miles in 40:08

Mood: Up and at em. Mornings come awfully early these days!

Soundtrack: TBTL

The hardest thing abut getting back into a running schedule is going to be getting up early to do it. In the month that I took off to allow my calf to heal, I have become very used to sleeping in, and getting up early for runs is going to take some sacrifice and some discipline to get to bed earlier and get out of bed when the alarm goes off. I ALMOST slept through this one, but I managed to pull myself out of bed and get in a few miles. I did half of this run at Southglenn, and the other half at DeKoevend Park, and it was a rather short one, but at least I got out of bed early before a day of work. Prior to this run, all my rehab runs have been on weekends or days off, but I need to get used to running more than once a week! 

Thirteen Hundred Fifty-One

 

November 25, 2021

4.87 Miles in 53:46

Mood: Thankful for being able to put one foot in front of another.
Soundtrack: TBTL

I'm thankful to be able to get out and run again! My third run back came on a lovely Thanksgiving morning, and someone had posted this Thanksgiving banner in a tree along the Highline Canal trail. Seemed like a perfect thing to post, and although it was slow, I managed almost five miles and felt pretty good doing it. I'm still taking too many rest days between runs, but at least I'm getting out there. A hundred mile month feels more like something from days of legend right now, but the dream is not dead. The rehab continues!

Thirteen Hundred Fifty

 

November 20, 2021

2.76 Miles in 29:49

Mood: Taking more steps in the right direction
Soundtrack: "Saint Cloud" Waxahatchee

Comeback trail, take two. Hit up the Highline Canal trail, and while my right knee continues to feel less than perfect, my calf is holding up like a champ. Slight tightness when I'm done, but considering how bad it was mid-October, it's doing great. I'm doing my best to take it slow, and boy am I slow. Still under three miles, but it was slightly more than last time, so that's a plus. I might have done a little more this time out, but I was hit with a low blood sugar, so it was cut a bit short. And actually, it's probably just as well that I didn't go a whole lot longer. This was about right for now.

Thirteen Hundred Forty-Nine

 

November 15, 2021

2.14 Miles in 23:32

Mood: Finally back on the road. (With training wheels)
Soundtrack: TBTL

I'm back, baby! Two miles is pretty pathetic, but since it's been over a month since I ran, I'm taking very small steps to get back to where I was. It's going to take some time. After blowing up my left calf muscle, I took a month and two days before this run and my conditioning has not improved. Yikes, I got tired quickly, and had to take a LOT of walking breaks, and I did two laps around Wash Park (a 2.5 mile loop) in order to get 2.14 miles. So...I've got a ways to go, but it felt good to actually run again, even if it was herky jerky and my right knee felt some twinges, and I was unable to really go. At least I was out there trying again. My calf felt a little tight at the end, but we're going to slowly get back to normal. Can't start out running eight miles right away!

AND! I managed to take a terrifying picture of a blood soaked head and torso hanging from the eves of someone's million dollar home in the Wash Park neighborhood. Halloween has been over for two weeks...now you're just being creepy.

Thirteen Hundred Forty-Eight

 

October 13, 2021

7.02 Miles in 1:15:15

Mood: Should have enjoyed it more!

Soundtrack: The Killers "Imploding the Mirage"

In hindsight, I wish I would have enjoyed this one more. It's not that it wasn't a nice run, it's just that I took it slightly for granted and now I don't know the next time I'll be able to run. Two days after this run, I was playing ultimate frisbee with family and blew out my calf. The 100 mile month streak ends at 26, sadly, and it'll be awhile before I'm out running again. Although I am healing, it's happening slowly for me and I don't have any idea when I'll feel healthy enough to actually run again. It's only been within the past few days that I've been able to even walk with my foot flat on the ground and I've still got a fairly noticeable limp. Gotta heal. That's the goal for now. Still, on this nice Wednesday morning back when I was healthy, I could have enjoyed it more.

Although, I did enjoy seeing a sign that said "Free" without anything to actually take for free. 

Thirteen Hundred Forty-Seven

 

October 11, 2021

7.20 Miles in 1:18:33

Mood: Hitting the Southglenn circuit
Soundtrack: The Bill Simmons Podcast

I didn't have much motivation to go anywhere, and I needed to replenish the Pokemon Go supplies, so it was a run around Southglenn kind of morning. I slept poorly before getting up for this one, and kind of sleep walked through the run. It wasn't ideal and I was slow, but at least the podcast I was listening to was entertaining and I got this very cool pictures of roses in the morning sun with Southglenn buildings behind them, so not a total loss. This was also the first run since the spring where I had to break out my running hoodie to stay warm enough as it was CHILLY when I started out. 

Thirteen Hundred Forty-Six

 

October 9, 2021

7.30 Miles in 1:15:47

Mood: Perfection!
Soundtrack: Tre' Burt "You, Yeah, You"

I've now had several Saturday afternoon runs happen due to my weekend mornings being taken up by my son's flag football team. I'm really enjoying watching him play those mornings, and as we get further into fall, the afternoon runs are becoming better too. The first game of the season I skipped a morning run because it was early September and super hot. This weekend, however, it was legitimately perfect with bright blue skies, temps in the low 70's, and even lovely cotton candy clouds dotting the sky. It makes it easy to get out on a Saturday when the conditions are perfect. Although it'll probably be snowing in two weeks. Sigh. 

Thirteen Hundred Forty-Five

 

October 6, 2021

7.29 Miles in 1:18:34

Mood: A nice looking morning. 
Soundtrack: TBTL

Autumn colors and bright morning sun are an awesome combination. I'm sad the days are getting shorter and colder, but watching the process via morning runs every couple days is quite beautiful. 

Thirteen Hundred Forty-Four

 

October 4, 2021

7.21 Miles in 1:19:30

Mood: Halloween is beginning to take shape.
Soundtrack: The Bill Simmons Podcast

I have too many vacation days that won't carry over, so I have some long weekends coming up that are courtesy of vacation time. This was one of my extended weekends that allowed me to run at Wash Park on a Monday...which is a little weird. Wash Park was less crowded than my typical weekend run, but there were still a decent number of people enjoying the park. I decided to head up to Cheesman Park and then back, and while in the neighborhoods in between, I saw this terrifying grass monster, which I assume is a Halloween decoration, but I didn't get too close just in case it was there to eat me.

Thirteen Hundred Forty-Three

 

October 2, 2021

7.16 Miles in 1:14:16

Mood: What is this?
Soundtrack: Twenty One Pilots "Scaled and Icy"

This is the definition of a house divided. You shouldn't be allowed to fly both of these flags on the same house. Granted, they haven't been in the same college conference for a very long time, and they BOTH left the one they shared (The Big 12) to go to two different conferences (The Big 10 and the Pac 12, respectively). Still. I will forever not be okay with Nebraska. 

Thirteen Hundred Forty-Two

 

September 30, 2021

7.59 Miles in 1:21:09

Mood: Pushing closer to a new record, but a long way to go.
Soundtrack: TBTL

It took until the last day of the month, but with this run I hit 100 miles for September. That now makes 26 straight months of 100 miles, which means I am now over halfway to my record of 51 straight months. It was a gloomy and cloudy morning, but it felt nice to be out and on the Highline Canal trail, so I'd categorize it as a pretty positive run!