Stacy's Blog

Got to run outside! Temp was 8 and there was some windchill. The road was like a skating rink with snow. The snow actually helped with traction. But I still ran gingerly. It was lightly snowing and the sun was trying to shine through the clouds. It was a very pretty day and if the roads had been better I would have run farther.

Six miles, not quite MGP. Ron and Bayly ran with me. It was another foggy late afternoon. Kind of cool. Everything was so quiet and kind of muffled. There is white as far as the eye can see, broken up occasionally by the gray trees. All the ditches are filled with snow and even with the road, so it is hard to tell where the side of the road is. Still really icy. We were very frosty when we got done.

The weather service is putting out rather dire warnings about another flood this year. The mayor of Fargo says it is to early to push the panic button. I'm going with his assessment. He has fought alot of floods. Not sure what the forcast is for the river by us. It was ugly last year. Took 40 miles to get to church, which is normally only 7 miles, because of all the washed out roads. Ahhh, life in a lake bottom.

Took Bayly to the vet for her wellness check. Vet said she has very good muscle tone and still has her girlish figure for an 8 year old. I told him she is my running buddy and he said, don't tell her she is a senior citizen. :)

I don't know what it is with weekends and storms, but every weekend I plan to do a long run the weather is bad or the roads are to treacherous to even attempt a long run. The temp. was great but we got freezing drizzle Friday night then snow. Ron had to go out of town and I promised him I would not try to run outside with him not here. So I ran on the treadmill. I decided to run by time rather than mileage. That did help. Took me about 2 hours at a slow, easy pace.

The days are getting longer, yea!

8:34 pace on treadmill. No school today, blowing and drifting. Same old story. My daughter lives in Fargo and she said there is nobody running outside right now. With the mountains of snow and ice and streets half the width and sidewalks covered with ice and snow it is not great running weather right now, even on nice days. Can't wait til spring. It will look like bears coming out of hibernation. :)

Tempo run:

1&2-8:34

3-8:00

4&5-7:41

6-8:57

Shoveled this morning for 2 hours. Temp. 9 with some windchill, but the sun is out! Amazingly I can already feel some of the warmth coming back to the northland. The weatherman said we have 46 inches on the ground right now. The moisture content is about an inch less than it was last year at this time. Some of our heaviest and wettest snows come in the next 6 weeks. Time will tell. A lot of flood talk right now. Heading to Bismarck for a couple of days to see our daughter. She hasn't been home since Christmas break. Life of a college student. Or maybe I should say *social* life of a college student. :)

Got home from Bismarck early Sat. morning. Got up early for a meeting. The track coach asked me to be Ass. Coach for Girls on the Run program she is starting. Our daughter is the other Ass. Coach. So after our meeting my daughter decided we needed to have lunch and run errands together. By the time I got home I was wiped out, but since I didn't run for 3 days I had to do something. Ugh! Ran on the treadmill and watched Apollo Ohno and the women's moguls. It was a grueling 4 miles. My legs felt like lead weights.

Took every ounce of energy to go down and run. I was supposed to run an 8 mile tempo run. I was lucky to tough out 6. Legs felt lousy again. Got done and went to bed. The weather is really starting to get to me. This time of year always gets to me. It's like winter is still got a strong grip but spring is not that far off. The days are longer and brighter and the sun is starting to feel warm again. But all you can see for miles and miles is white mountains of snow. The intersections are really challenging, can't see over the snow banks, so you have to inch out very carefully.

Mile 1- 9:13

2-8:49

3,4,5&6-8:34

5 miles in 41:45. Ok, that makes up for the pathetic "tempo run" last night. I feel better now.

Took the Maggie and Bayly for a walk. The wind has been blowing hard since yesterday morning. But the sun was out and it was a "spring sky" so we went for a mile. It was really cold. I kind of wanted to see what shape the roads were in. Not good. Even though they are gravel they are still really icy. Temps are not going to go up any time soon. I would like to do my long run outside this weekend. Have to see.

The mayor of Fargo wants a million sandbags filled by March 15. They estimated they used about 6 million to save the city last year. They are saying there is an 86% chance of major flooding on the Red River. Haven't heard anything about the Sheyenne or Wild Rice.

Bayly and I decided to risk the ice and snow. The sun was brilliant and temp. was 24. I ran on the very edge of the road where some dirt and grass was showing. However, due to the wind the last couple of days there were alot of drifts. They were so hard I ran right over the top of them.   92 days until the Fargo Marathon.

"I run because it's so symbolic of life. You have to drive yourself to overcome the obstacles. You might feel that you can't. But then you find your inner strength, and realize your're capable of so much more than you thought."  -Arthur Blank

Ran the Brain Freeze 5K today. It was a fun run fundraiser for one of our local heroes who suffered traumatic brain injury in Iraq. What a great great guy! He has come a long way and has a long way to go, but he was out today to start us off and then shook everybody's hand as we finished. When our son came home safe and healthy from Iraq I made a decision that I would do everything I could to support those who were not so fortunate. The temp was around 20 and there was a light snow falling it was a great day for a run!

Now I just have to figure out where I am going to run 15 miles tomorrow. Hopefully I can find some place where I don't need ice skates. :)

Three things, as a runner, I hate. Dogs, cars and ice. Fortunately Ron and I managed to find a route today that had a minimum of all three. The sun is warm enough now that the black top roads are pretty clear of ice and snow. I had planned on doing 15 miles, but not being able to run on pavement since last fall took it's toll. At mile 9 my legs and hips felt awful. The last three miles I was on auto pilot. Ron was not feeling much better. At least we got to run outside and the weather was great. The sun even graced us with it's presence for awhile.

Bayly was not happy when we got home. Twelve miles was way to far for her 8 year old body. However, she would disagree.

Flood preparations are kicking into high gear. Some people are not even finished repairing their homes after last year's flood. Still not sure what the rivers are going to do. It is mostly guess work right now. All depends on how fast everything melts and how much moisture we get in the next month.

Treadmill.  Back to winter and cold windchills. (deep sigh)

Bayly and I found a stretch of gravel where the ice is finally starting to break up. Still really slick, but the day was so awesome we had to go out. Temp was 4, windchill, a little nippy. The sun was brilliant and the sky was so blue with not a cloud. North Dakota has it's own kind of beauty on crisp winter days. Everything is so stark and clear against the white snow and blue sky. It was awesome! Suppose to warm up into the 20's on the weekend and 30's next week! Yippee!  :)

The mayor of Fargo issued a state of emergency yesterday and the earth moving equipment is moving clay for dikes. The Red hit 40 feet something last year. Ron predicts 37 feet this year. Still a major flood since flood stage is 18 feet. The stress is starting to set in. We need warm days and cold nights and no more moisture to avoid a repeat of last year. Prayers going up.