Actually, I may have been hasty. While my girls definitely have Covid and I have had a sore throat for two days now, I haven't managed to get a positive test. Just took my third on the third day, another negative. Could be a coincidental cold...

3-1 - 1.0 mile walk on the driveway
3-2 - 1.0 mile walk - 2.50 mile run out the road
3-3 - 2.0 mile walk in the neighbor's field looking for cows
3-4 - 1.0 mile walk - 1.8 mile run on the driveway

9.3 miles/60 mile goal

I didn't have to leave for work until 11:00 today, so I went out to do my run at 8:15 am. It was near perfect weather at 47°F, sunny, and no breeze. I decided to traverse a total of 2.8 miles today as my way of remembering my anniversary. Had John lived, we would have celebrated 28 years of marriage today.

I walked one mile total for warm up and cool down (3.8 mph average pace) and ran 1.8 miles (4.5 mph avg pace). It was a very scrappy run...slow, but not really horrible for driveway laps. Crappy, I just couldn't breath well and felt like I was working way harder than I should have been to just get it done. I was glad I had decided against running 2.8 miles. SCRAPPY, because I had to be a scrappy person to finish today.

I’ve run twice and not run once since last post. Just not feeling very social right now! It’s boring hard work getting my fitness back and not much fun to report. Also @Tramboman I will miss you so much! Belated happy birthday!

First run of March was a “fast” 5k on the trails where I took the photos of the flooding. By three days after the flood when we got out there, no standing water, but the paved trails were heavily coated in river mud and silt. Yucky! Trying to push it as much as possible to get adjusted to my meds. Two more or less not crawling miles, then a slow mile, but didn’t have to drop to a walk to recover, so that’s progress. 5k 30:30ish if I recall, so, really slow for me comparatively but much better than the 34ish it’s been for the past couple of months. Progress.

Second run on trails across the river, where the worst flooding was. I expected some mud but actually there is so much sand in the Wolf that it was mostly dry, just sandy. Only problem is, you may recall we had stopped running over there due to fears of the river undercutting the trails? And then the park service did a bunch of work on them and put in new bridges, concrete shoring up, etc? Well… it wasn’t quite enough. The trail has collapsed down the riverbank (which is a fifteen/twenty foot drop off) in two places. It’s possible to get around the collapsed bits, but yikes. All in all a good run though. Weather warm - probably too warm for most of you! But I am a southerner and nearly 80F feels nice to me, at least in the shade on an easy run. Didn’t really have enough daylight for a proper run but got in almost five miles before the park closed. No meds, so far I haven’t had a problem on easy runs.

So, then today I woke up with a posterior vitreous detachment, which is when the clear part inside your eyeball comes unstuck from the back of your eyeball. This is normal as people get older but can lead to retinal tears which can lead to retinal detachment which means blindness. And there’s no way to tell whether those floaters and flashers signify a tear or not without a doctor checking it out, so today was spent at an emergency optometrist’s appointment, and then afterwards I didn’t trust myself to drive with blurred vision from the dilation so we walked rather than running, in our neighborhood. Eye is fine btw, which is a relief since I had quite a big black floater plus cobwebby bits and lightning flashes, which are all scary signs! Also I have photos of myself with differently-sized pupils like Bill the Cat. Or David Bowie, which would be cooler I think.

So, no run today, but fortunately the health scare turns out to be okay for the moment, and the eye doctor says no reason to stop running or lifting.

In other news, @kgirlhart this made me think of you and all your skunk sightings! One of my little raccoon buddies got SKUNKED the other night! My little band of trouble brothers was originally five babies plus momma, and now that it’s breeding season momma and two of the babies (probably girls) have formed one clan and the three boys have formed a second clan. The two clans take turns living in my unused, doorless storeroom and a second location somewhere across the drainage ditch behind my house, and I frequently see them at dusk wandering back and forth and playing in the water.

So, late last night I heard snarling and carrying on and stepped outside to listen, and it sounded like two raccoons were seriously getting into it with each other. Then there was an unfamiliar barking sound, like no animal I’m familiar with, and then a raccoon squealing and whimpering which sounded like weep weep weep weep… and then about ten seconds later, it reached me, the all enveloping odor of skunk. Followed by the scurrying rustle of many raccoons running like hell in all directions.

So this night I saw the culprit. His brothers have shunned him and he’s hiding under the neighbor’s deck because they won’t let him in the storeroom. Which is frankly a good thing from my perspective. Going weep weep weep continually. He has been soaking in the kiddie pool and smells not too bad, my guess is he’s been trying everything to get clean, poor little guy. Since he was so tragical and the neighbor has been feeding them anyway I gave him some cat food and marshmallows and he never did stop whining but he enjoyed the marshmallows. Hopefully he will survive okay long enough to get unstinkified, and learn his lesson. Unlike a predator, he can continue to eat while stinky, and he doesn’t really have to hide from large predators here, plus the weather is mild, so he should be okay for a while, I’m thinking.

3-1 - 1.0 mile walk on the driveway
3-2 - 1.0 mile walk - 2.50 mile run out the road
3-3 - 2.0 mile walk in the neighbor's field looking for cows
3-4 - 1.0 mile walk - 1.8 mile run on the driveway
3-5 - 1.0 mile walk - 2.75 mile run out the road

13.05 miles/60 mile goal

I went out at around 11 this morning for a run. It was 70°F and sunny, so another beautiful day. But, it was another scrappy run. I had intended to run for 45 minutes, but quit at 35:19 minutes and 2.75 miles. My legs felt fine. My HR was good - high was 155. But I felt like I wasn't getting enough oxygen. I was huffing and puffing, like I had been sprinting. Really weird.

I did get tickled at a cow and calf that stopped their trek and just stood and watched as I ran by. I felt so judged. LOL

Went out for my 4 mile walk after lunch. Managed to run 1.52 miles after the walk. But I did take a couple 30 second walk breaks. It was a pretty day but a bit warm for a run.

1.52 of 20 miles completed for March.

March goal: 60 km

03/01: 5.3 km along the Danube shore
03/03: 7.7. km around the old town
03/03: 7.6 km - hello NY!

What else is to do when you wake up at 5 am jet lagged and everyone else including the cat are still asleep? Go for a run along the Hudson river!

Total: 20.6 km

@Scott6255 we certainly have had a taste of warm and humid again. But just wait a few days. We are currently in the "spring of deception". I hate when my tech fails. At least you still had one ear bud. Currently at 25.41 out of 150 sttttrrretch goal. Ran 2 miles 2x today to work on speed. Matched my 8:39 pace on my second one. So there is STILL hope for improvement as you get older. And it's not like I am new to running but I did start seriously again in 2017 when I needed to drop weight. 4 years later I have gone from avg maybe 11 min pace or more to consistently being under 9"30. Today my avg pace for the rolling year dropped under 10 min for the first time ever. Must be the shoes. I am not totally sure why Apple thinks I care significantly about my avg pace for each day of the week?

3-1 - 1.0 mile walk on the driveway
3-2 - 1.0 mile walk - 2.50 mile run out the road
3-3 - 2.0 mile walk in the neighbor's field looking for cows
3-4 - 1.0 mile walk - 1.8 mile run on the driveway
3-5 - 1.0 mile walk - 2.75 mile run out the road
3-6 - 1.0 mile walk in the neighbor's field

14.05 miles/60 mile goal

I took my Sunday walk today in the neighbor's field. There are some trees blooming - I think Bradford Pear. It's way early for that and some even have leaves. I fear this weekends predicted 16 degrees is going to get some of the things that have been fooled into thinking spring is here. (It's 76 right now and I have my windows open.) I also saw a couple of bluebirds and a bunch of robins.

quilteryoyo wrote: »

@Aine8046 Wow! I'm amazed that you got out and ran at 5 am with jet lag. You are amazing. The view from your hotel is pretty awesome too.

Thank you! This is not a hotel, but my son’s place I thought one can see his cat I actually wish there could be hotels with cats to nap with and dogs to walk with!