Running in the Rockies

Arrived back in CO with a nasty chest and head cold on Saturday night. Didn't do much but laundry and cleaning on Sunday, went to face the hundreds of emails and to-do items at work on Monday, but crashed later that evening. I was sick. Stayed home sick today and tried to sleep in, but the cough wouldn't allow that. 

Did a little work and then attempted a short 2 mile run with the pup. Not acclimated at all and coughing up a lung, it was probably silly of me to even attempt it, but I felt guilty that the pup hadn't gotten much exercise while we were gone (our friend house/puppy/kitty sat for us, but he said he didn't get him out very much). Anyways, we started out on one of our favorite trails and immediately the pup took off. However, he only went 50 meters and then stopped suddenly and lifted his paw up- turned around and looked at me as if to say 'ouch'.  He turned around and started to trot again, but was limping pretty badly. Yesterday, when we were out playing fetch, he stumbled at one point and when he brought the stick back he lifted his paw and gave me the 'i hurt myself look', but he wasn't limping last night and seemed okay. I didn't want to push him and since I wasn't feeling well, we turned around and headed home. I took him in to the vet and it looks like he's jammed his toe. Probably not broken, but it's definitely black and blue and he acted like it really hurt when the vet was handling that part of his paw. So- he's on some doggie IBUprofen and under orders to take it easy for a couple weeks (no running, no playing fetch, and probably no rough-housing with his puppy friends).

 I rode the bike for an hour after we got home. It was probably for the best. I kept the tissue beside me and blew my nose every 5 mins. Ugh. Being sick is no fun, but at least I made it through finishing the dissertation, two conferences, and a marathon before getting sick.

4 miles in 9:07 avg pace on Boulder Canyon trail. 

Feeling much better today. Attempted to work on my form a bit. I have a very lazy form, my knees don't come up very high and I have almost no kick- in most pictures it almost looks like I am speed walking.. pathetic and ugly! I think I have a much different form when I sprint though, it's almost like I have two modes.. fast or slow and they have totally different running forms. My dad says that when I was young I always used my 'sprinters' form even when I ran longer distances, but this changed when I got into high school. He swears that once I started being coached by the high school coach that my whole running form changed and I didn't stand as tall, I slouched a bit more, I didn't used the full range of leg motion- i.e., the speed walking form. He said it was like I just started to run conservatively all the time. I don't know if this is true or not- but I've definitely noticed that I don't have good form and that I would probably benefit from some improvement in technique.

The usual 3 mile loop in ~10:33 avg pace.

Ran with the hubby this afternoon. He did really well and almost ran the entire loop. He mentally breaks down on one of the really long steep uphills at the end of the run and sometimes stops to walk for a bit.  My lungs are getting better, only had a few coughing fits last night and they felt okay on the run. The roads are super icy with only the south facing sections relatively free of ice. Wore the Kahtoola microspikes and didn't have any trouble.

The usual 3 mile loop x2 in 10:44 avg pace.

Beautiful crisp morning for a run. Enjoyed watching the mountains turn from pink to white in a crystal clear sky. I didn't see one car or any other people and enjoyed the company of singing birds and a lone fox.  The roads are still icy, so I wore the microspikes and the crunch, crunch, crunch sound was very satisfying. Excellent way to start a holiday.