Friday, May 16, 2008

Moving Forward

All right, enough about depression. Time to get off the couch, get positive, and start enjoying this wonderful HOT weather we're having. Welcome to summer! Hope you all survived your runs at Pony Express and Silver State.

After my last post I received a lot of supportive comments and I really appreciate it. I know some of you are also going through injuries but I didn't expect my post to hit so close to home. Seems we're all in the same boat heading to Gilligan's island...............

On Tuesday I had a rare spare hour and fifteen minutes before work so I decided to explore an area just off I-80 called Negro Canyon. I last visited there in January where I took the photo that was at the top of my blog. I've since changed the picture to something more "spring/summer" feeling. It was taken along the American River during the AR50.



Looking south toward Tinkers Knob, Jan 2008



Mid-May, 2008


It's a south facing canyon so there's very little snow left so the hiking was easy. After a climb straight up the middle of the canyon the road tapers off to the west and intersects with the Donner Lake Rim Trail. I haven't hiked any part of this trail so I eagerly hopped onto it heading east. It basically followed the contour of the hill with some fun rollers so I eased into a very slow jog. Painful. Oh well, I wanted to have an accurate description for the orthopedic specialist that I was to see the next day.



Donner Lake Rim Trail


I eased back into a walk as I headed downhill back to the car. It occured to me that I don't particularly enjoy walking since becoming a trail runner. It's just too slow and takes forever to get anywhere.






Spring is coming to the high country


My visit to the orthopod Wed was quick and to the point. He took an x-ray there in his office and was able to read it. Still no stress fracture despite all the running during the month of April. Next step is an MRI that I should get next week. In the meantime, sometimes it hurts, sometimes it doesn't. Whatever.

Friday Pat and I finally got a chance to do a nice ride together. The kids were in daycare and we were both off work. One of the rides we've been wanting to do is ride the American River bike path from Beals Point to Fanny Ann's restaurant in Old Sacramento, have lunch and ride back. But with temperatures projected to be around 102 we decided to wait another day and head to the mountains instead. Truckee was only suppose to be 80 on Friday and that sounded much better. We parked at Cisco Grove off I-80 and rode Old 40 over the summit and down around Donner Lake. The climb back up to the summit went ok, we're both lacking some fitness but at least it wasn't too hot. The best part of the ride is the return down Old 40 to Cisco. All those miles of moderate uphill become a blast downhill. After the ride we drove over to Truckee for lunch. Weren't sure what we were looking for but we sure found it with Smokey's Kitchen BBQ. I made a pig of myself with a pulled pork sandwich and we shared a small order of onion rings. Topped it off with a chocolate milkshake. Mmmm, mmmm, good.



Following the Yuba River


Pat's training for his first triathlon, the Donner Lake Tri in mid-July that uses this same course. Should be a lot of fun and quite a challenge that I know he'll be up for.



Crossing Rainbow Bridge with Donner Lake in the background


Another project we've been working on is starting a garden using raised beds. This will be my first attempt at growing vegetables (my mom says we had a garden when I was really young but I sure don't remember helping out at all). We've started with the basics: tomatoes, zucchini, bell peppers, about 3 different types of cucumber (I didn't know what I was buying), and herbs.



Yes, that's a kids rake, but it worked pretty well





We also planted a bunch of flowers to add some color around the house. We started this project for our girls. We wanted them to see the whole process of planting something, helping it grow, then eating what it produces. Plus it'll be fun (I say that now............)



Caitlyn's watering the bell peppers




Sara's checking out the pretty flowers


The diet and exercise still isn't what I want it to be but at least it's better and my attitude is improving. Baby steps. I can also be pretty hard on myself so maybe I should just lighten up. Carpe Diem.


1 comment:

Mark Tanaka (Ultrailnakaman) said...

Walking is slow, but you DO get to enjoy the scenery more without risking falling on your face (or off a cliff, or into poison oak)

I wish our backyard were was big as yours...