Wonderful jaunt

Ready the dog and I headed up to Yreka yesterday for our long run...15 miles on the Humbug Trail, which is a lot of climb (four miles up to the summit), then a very short level section, then a lot of descent. Then we turned around and came back. The weather was completely awesome. The sky was very dark and forboding (in Arkansas, I would be worried about tornadoes), but as the hours went by, we were treated to everything from light sprinkles to warm sunshine to hefty winds on the ridges, and a beautiful rainbow. Almost all the snow is melted, there are pretty yellow flowers (the first of the year) bravely showing up on the warmer slopes, and we even disturbed a very noisy eagle. Then, we decided that we had to get a cheeseburger for our good effort. He got all the fries and half my burger.
Then we went home and slept the sleep of the REALLY tired.

200 miles

That's my total mileage thus far for 2009. I've been consistent enough that Coach Weber is officially coaching me again. The first goal is a 12 hour run in June...we'll see how far I can get.
So, this week, I'll be doing 35 miles, with 10 miles being the longest run. I LOVE being able to get outside...nothing like a near-death experience to restart your life. It's analagous to a patient being in V-fib, with chaotic, purposeless cardiac activity...being shocked back to a regular, life-sustaining rhythm. Working impossible hours, not taking care of myself, dealing with unending guilt...those things have changed for the better. I can't believe that I let myself get so ragged.