Training: March 20 – 26

Week Total: 25.7 miles

March 20 ~ 2.1 miles
The rain can not deter me. Can. Not. Deter. There is no waiting for the good weather. It’s crunch time so I suit up in my rain skirt and umbrella and brave the muddy path of enlightenment. Things are beautiful and drippy. My phone jingles and I score a sub job between heavy breathes, sniffles and working muscles. Multi-tasking at its best. Video here.

March 21 ~ 3.2 miles
The full billow clouds hang low during this brief respit from the rain. I march out for an easy back and forth on the flattest road I can find. I just want to move, and move quickly. The sky flashes a brief blue as I make the turn for home. Visit the chickens, haul the firewood, jet in to catch Warriors basketball just as the sky opens up and drops a wall of water.

March 22 ~ 2.2 miles
I need to be washing 12 dozen eggs but if don’t do my training hike right this damn minute, I’ll never get to it. So around and around I go, passing the reservoir until sprinkles fall from the sky. I send Cherub a voice note and that helps make a couple loops disappear. Finally by 8pm, the chickens are tended, firewood hauled, eggs cleaned and loaded and I can now have dinner.

March 23 ~ 0 miles
After egg deliveries, I arrive home at 530pm and opt to do my chores of chickens and firewood first. Now it’s 6pm and the extra dark sky is the predecessor of the downpouring storm front. I told myself that I get a break from training one day a week. This is that day.

March 24 ~ 1.3 miles
After getting home late and doing my chores first, it’s now 710pm. Too late to get in some miles, right? Wrong! Despite the light moving into prime mountian lion appetizer hour, I push a mile because one is better than none.

March 25 ~ 12 miles
I start out thinking about all those miles I need to hike. I think about the end and how far away that is. Those thoughts weigh me down but regardless, I must push myself. Not even a mile into my hike, I meet an excavator coming up the hill whose continuous track tank tread is shredding the saturated and soft road. What the fuck are they thinking? It’s the perfect day for hiking though. Partly sunny and cool, good weather for climbing. There is a lot of traffic down in the valley and most I do not recognize. Non-land owners setting up marijuana gardens no doubt. After a break along Robinson Creek, I am ready for the long climb back to my ridge-top home where the silence gives way to the gentle breeze in the trees.

March 26 ~ 4.7 miles
I just want to get these miles done as fast and as easy as possible. Besides, it’s going to start raining around 11am. I really thought I might not be able to move today after my exersions yesterday but I underestimate my body. I’m a little stiff so the motion feels good. A few tunes help the miles pass quickly and I bless the passing of a bird.