...in which I overreact.

Warning: if you don't like hearing about dead animals, this post is not for you.

Trail running is a whole different ball game than running on roads. You run slower, run more hills, wear beefier shoes, and have different dangers that you have to be on the lookout for. On the road I'm worried about getting hit by a car, getting hit by a bicyclist, or getting attacked by someone's "precious" dog. On the trail I'm worried about stepping on sharp rocks, falling off the side of a steep trail, and getting attacked by much larger animals than dogs.

Last fall, on my last run up to Lava Lake, I had the unnerving experience of coming upon cat tracks and not knowing how old they were. Two days ago, I had the even more unnerving experience of coming upon a mutilated animal and not know how old the carcass was. Even worse, the trail was an out-and-back and I didn't see it while I was running out. I saw the fur and the blood, but not until I stopped to look on the way back did I see the pile of intestines and then, turning my head to the left, I saw the deer that they came out of.

And then I screamed. Loud. And then I ran. Fast. Both of which were probably not warranted. But even though I think that the deer had been moved off trail by a trail crew, it was still fresh enough that I had no idea what had killed it, what was eating it, or what was waiting to come back and eat it. I ran the last 3.5 miles as quickly as my aching feet would take me (La Sportiva, I love the tread on your shoes but the fit is terrible). I ran the last 3.5 miles whooping every quarter mile as loudly as I could. Animals don't much want to eat humans, but they're going to attack if you surprise them. I wanted to announce my arrival as far in advance as possible.

On an unrelated note, I am going back to work today. So far I don't have the chills that showed up periodically yesterday and I haven't felt any nausea for 36 hours. I may or may not have a fever, but I don't have a thermometer to check that with. Good thing I work alone, no chance of infecting anyone else with this weird bug.

So, to review: be aware of your surroundings while running on roads or trails, thermometers are useful diagnostic tools.

...in which I'm laying low.

It would appear that I may have a touch of the flu. Tomorrow I'm going to recount my semi-terrifying trail running experience from yesterday, but today I'm just going to link you to a post written by one of my favorite people, Blair.

Strong is NOT the new skinny

...in which something goes missing.

Can you guess what it is?

.......
.......

This week's Misconduct Monday post! I wrote it. I saved it. I scheduled it to run on Monday. But when I look at my blog, it's not there. I'm not going to rewrite it, but you didn't miss much. Apparently nothing was amiss in Bozeman last week.

Let's put the past behind us and move forward! I know I haven't made anything in a while, but last Friday night I was determined to use my sewing machine and at least try to complete a project. And I (almost) did! I made a purse out of an old button down shirt. Let's see how this works.

Step 1: find an old button down shirt. A large one, depending on what size bag you'd like to make.

This shirt was left in the laundry room of Rob's old

apartment. Who knows how old it is or who it belonged to. 

Step 2:  cut a square out of the front & back of the shirt

Step 3: Hem the top edges of the front and back of the bag.
Step 4: Place the front and back panels together, wrong side out, and pin the left, right, and bottom sides.
Step 5: Sew the three pinned edges.
Step 6: Turn right side out. This is as far as I got so far.

Oh look, my toes have made an appearance.

Yes, I have a black toenail. I can thank running for that.

Step 7: Attach handles. I have nothing for handles at the moment. I'm sure you can use other pieces of the shirt. I just didn't get that far yet.

In other domestic news, my coffeemaker has ceased to make coffee. This is distressing, partially because I am addicted to coffee and partially because it was an awesome machine. It made a full pot in 3 minutes. 3 MINUTES!

In addition to my coffeemaker breaking, our bathroom suddenly decided to fall apart.

No, we did not duct tape the window. Whoever installed the shower duct taped the window. Ways to know that your contractor isn't on the up-and-up: they use duct tape as a waterproofing method.

...in which we conquer the trails.

Running Recap for March 12 - March 18:

 
Total miles run: 34.3
Total days run: 4
Types of runs: hill, easy, long/hill, easy
Hill: 8 miles up Bozeman Creek 
Easy 1: 4 miles at work

Long/Hill: 16 miles at Lewis & Clark with the SNOTRs group (SNow On Trails Runners). Rob, Blair, Tyson, and I did 2 laps and an out & back for our mileage. Over 1000 feet of gain per lap. And apparently at mile 12 we get a little loopy.See for yourself!

SNOTRs group!

The Blair, chowing down on 2 Gus. 

 Rob and Tyson, acting goofy.

 Me and the dudes.

 The view from the (almost) top.

I don't know what's happening in this

photo, but it cracks me up! 

And we're laughing.

Easy: 6.2 miles down the Sourdough Trails.

Cross training: An hour of spin class on Tuesday morning.

2012 total miles: 298.5

...in which I'm in denial.

Winter is seemingly over in Bozeman. After a 12 inch dump of snow last Sunday night that let us all pretend that winter was finally going to arrive, we seem to be solidly heading into spring with temps consistently in the 50s and 60s. I'm pretending that winter may still be on its way.

This is what we call the stage of denial.

In honor of the winter that never was, here are a couple of professional photos that I bought from the Bozeman Ice Festival.

...in which I use bullets.

Bullet points, that is.

• I woke up late today. 
• Finally got my oil changed. 4,000 miles too late.
• I think I have managed to strain the obliques on my left side. No side bends for me.
• Yesterday I watched the movie Defiance. It was excellent. Once you manage to interpret the sometimes terribly fake Russian accents. And once you stop staring at Daniel Craig's impossibly blue eyes. You should watch it, it's one of the thousands of amazing true stories about ordinary people taking on extraordinary challenges during World War II.
• I have 498 movies on my Netflix queue. Apparently they cut you off at 500. Apparently I need to watch faster. But it's hard when the temperatures here are in the 60s and sunny! And now it stays light until 8:00, which is awesome.
• I'm going back to school. For another BA. This time in art history.
• I have a running adventure brewing. It's a secret. But more news to come in April & May (if all goes according to plan).

Well. This is not the most thrilling of posts. So here's a picture of me in a dinosaur costume.

 And Sandy is standing next to me.

Sandy, please come back to BZN.

We miss you.

...in which life is too short.

Authorities have found what is likely the body of Sherry Arnold, the school teacher in Montana who went missing during her morning run in early January. In February, thousands of runners around the country ran in her memory.

The run I organized is pictured at 0:34. 

I can only hope that this slightly eases the pain that the Arnold family is no doubt feeling.

Perhaps this is my own fear talking, but I sincerely hope that the two men responsible for this receive the harshest punishment allowed under law.

I don't want to make it sound like Sherry was being unsafe or doing something wrong, because she wasn't. But I do want to take this opportunity to share a few safety tips for anyone, male or female, that goes running or walking. 

• Tell someone where you're going and how long you expect it to take you. If I run alone, I leave a map on my computer with my route.
• If you're running in the early morning or late at night, run with a friend.
• Runners are known for having schedules, but try to make yours unpredictable (that's a bit of an oxymoron). Run at different times and on different routes. If you run the same day at the same time on the same route, you make it a lot easier for someone else to learn your routine.
• Don't run with headphones in, or run with only one headphone in. Be aware of your surroundings.
• If you run on the road, run facing traffic. That way you know if the oncoming car is going to give you enough space or if you need to move.
• If you run in darkness, wear reflective clothing and lights. No, it is not enough to only wear reflective clothing.

It's an unpredictable world out there. Don't be afraid of it, but be smart about it. 

...in which I cycle down.

Last week was a cycle down week for me. It was nice to only run 13 miles for a long run instead of 18 or 20.

 

Running Recap for March 12 - March 18:

 
Total miles run: 27.1
Total days run: 5
Types of runs: easy, easy, easy, long/hill, tempo
Easy 1: 1.3 miles with the dog I was watching for the week
Easy 2: 4 miles at work

Easy 3: 4 miles in Boise on the Greenbelt. 

 

 The Greenbelt. I did not take this photo.

It was 5:15 a.m. and raining when I ran here.

 

Long/hill: 13.6 miles (2 laps) at Lewis & Clark Caverns State Park. Approximately 1050 feet of elevation gain (and subsequent loss) on each lap. My quads were not ready for this.

Side note- I got pulled over by the state police on my way there because I don't have a front license plate. Well, I do, but it's not attached to the front of my car. I like to think that my short shorts helped get me out of a ticket, but I don't think the officer was ever going to give me one in the first place.

Side note 2- I was chased by a man with a stick approximately a mile away from the end of the run. He was just joking, but it was still a bit disconcerting to see an old man running behind you and waving a stick over his head.
Tempo: 4.2 miles around town

 

Cross training: An hour and a half of spin class on Wednesday. 

2012 total miles: 264.2

...in which the ground is unforgiving.

Misconduct Monday, brought to you by the Bozeman Police Department and the Bozeman Daily Chronicle.

• A caller said he was looking west and the sky looked very red. He was wondering if there was a fire by Jackrabbit Lane. It's called 'the sunset.'
• A woman huddled in an alley along North Willson Avenue was bleeding from her nose. She was highly intoxicated. She had fallen face first onto the ground.
• A person was advised to pick up dog feces over the weekend in the yard.
• A woman reported that a man was possibly trespassing on her property. He used to live at the house but was never on the lease. He is now living in his truck in front of the house.
• About half a dozen people were partying in a hot tub that was not theirs on Trout Meadows Road at 3:30 a.m. Brian, do you know anything about this?(sorry to everyone else for that inside joke)

...in which the elderly attack.

Misconduct Monday, here to start your day off with a laugh. 

• Someone stole cigarettes and a radio from a car parked on North Willson Avenue but left behind some condoms. Some might call that a fair trade.
• A boy, who forgot to reset his clock for daylight savings time, missed the bus and therefore could not go skiing. He got upset and threw a temper tantrum. A deputy warned him. It's the end of the season. Skiing is serious business.
• A resident on Hunters Way was being poked with a cane by another resident. 

...in which Idaho is gorges.

Or is that Ithaca?

I am unimpressed with southern Idaho. Although the Malad Gorge and the Snake River are pretty cool.

...in which I'm on spring break.

Whooooooo!!! SPRING BREAK!!!

Except at this point in my life, spring break no longer means trips Cancun or Florida. Instead, it consists of a two-day road trip to Boise, ID for work.We're meeting a conservator about an artifact that needs to go on display soon.

Who am I kidding. At no point in my life did spring break mean trips to Cancun or Florida.Although my hotel room is above a bar and it's about 60 degrees, so it might be as close to a stereotypical spring break experience as I ever get.

I woke up at 5:15 to go for a run along the river. A short run, but I figured it would be good to get moving before I get back in a car for 7 hours.Then I went and snagged a bunch of bagels from the free continental breakfast. This is not the best continental breakfast I've ever had. And I'm a bit of a connoisseur. Which really means that I usually take enough food from the breakfast to last me for days. I'm not kidding. But there's really only enough here to sustain me for about a half of a day.

Now I'm off to take a shower in a giant rainfall shower before I plunder the breakfast bar again.

This is the shower. It is bigger than

the bathroom in my first apartment.

And possibly bigger than the kitchen. No joke.

This is the courtyard outside my room. 

Those are fire pits. And behind them, you can

see the steel grates that cover the entire hotel.

...in which I give my opinion.

Which I suppose I do most days.

If you know me, you know I tend to lean pretty liberal on most issues. Recently, there has been quite a flurry of outrage over Rush Limbaugh's attack on Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke. Limbaugh called this young woman a 'slut' and a 'prostitute' because she testified that contraceptives should be covered by insurance as part of women's comprehensive health care. This does not mean that contraceptives would be paid for by taxpayers, just that women should have the ability to have contraceptives covered by a health plan that they are already paying for. In full disclosure, I support this provision in the Affordable Care Act.

But this isn't about my opinion on the provisions made by the Affordable Care Act. This is about the hate speech that is rampant in our political system. This is about how it is never acceptable to hurl insults towards a person in hopes that those insults will shame that person, shut them up, make them cower in a corner. It is not acceptable for conservatives to do, it is not acceptable for moderates to do, and it is not acceptable for liberals to do. It is not acceptable in a political campaign, it is not acceptable on a talk show, and it is not acceptable in any civilized discourse.

I do not always support the decisions made by the Obama administration, but I do think that this is a timely statement spurred by the Fluke incident:

“I thought about Malia and Sasha, and one of the things I want them to do as they get older is to engage in issues they care about. Even ones I may not agree with them on. I want them to be able to speak their mind in a civil and thoughtful way. And I don’t want them attacked or called horrible names because they’re being good citizens. And I wanted Sandra to know that I thought her parents should be proud of her. And that we want to send a message to all our young people that being part of a democracy involves arguments and disagreements and debate. And we want you to be engaged. And there’s a way to do it that doesn’t involve you being demeaned and insulted, particularly when you’re a private citizen.”- President Obama

And this should extend to public servants as well, not just to private citizens. Don't support those who spew hatred and don't spout that hatred yourself. Don't allow yourself to be misinformed by the lies and manipulations that are rapidly appearing on our media outlets as this election season gears up. Encourage others to rise above the hatred.

Good luck.

...in which the sun gets the best of me.

Running Recap for March 5 - March 11:

 
Total miles run: 30.2
Total days run: 4
Types of runs: hill, easy, long, easy
Hill: 5 miles on the South Cottonwood Trail
Easy 1: 6 miles around town
Long: 18 miles with Rob, Tyson, and Kalari (Tyson's dog). 10:17/mile. 63 degrees, full sunshine at the hottest part of the day. There is a severe lack of trees in Bozeman. I have a nasty sunburn. And my right calf had had enough at mile 16.5, where I had to walk and stretch for a while. Note to self: bring more water on hot days.
Easy: 1.3 miles running with Daisy (the dog I'm watching for the week).

2012 total miles: 238.4

...in which hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

This is later than usual. I'm dogsitting for a week so my internet access is sporadic. Nevertheless, here is your Misconduct Monday! It's also a "Supply Your Own Commentary" week.

• An officer gave an intoxicated man reportedly “rolling around” in a North Seventh Avenue parking lot around 3:45 a.m. a ride home
• A caller reported a wild rabbit hiding among some trees downtown. The caller said it seemed scared because of dogs and traffic. An animal control officer told the caller to let traffic settle down and the rabbit should move on.
• A woman yelling and screaming outside around 2:15 a.m. sounded “like she (was) trying to sing.”
• A drunken woman called 911 from a bar upset that the bar was closing before 2 a.m. She wanted to know “if it was state law that they had to stay open until 2 a.m.”
• Bozeman officers assisted Montana State University officers with a man, who after taking hallucinogens, was found talking incoherently and wandering in a parking lot wearing only a T-shirt, sweatpants and socks at 4 a.m.
• Drivers had to swerve to avoid hitting a man standing in the middle of Willson Avenue and talking on his cell phone at 2 a.m. He was reportedly wearing flip-flops and a T-shirt.
• A woman retaliated against a man who broke mirrors off her vehicle by driving her mirrorless car into the side of the man’s vehicle, damaging it.
• A man and woman got into a fight around 6 p.m. during which they threw blue paint all over each other. Police gave them a warning.

...in which I want to start a revolution.

The burning question of the week: What do you want to revolutionize?

Danielle says that she wants to lead a revolutionary life. Which, no offense, but that answer isn't particularly specific. Her answer (to me) is overwhelmingly inclusive. How can you revolutionize anything when your goal is to constantly be revolutionary? That's a lot of pressure. But to each their own, and if her answer fits her then that's great.

So my answer that fits me is this: I want to revolutionize my consumption. Not of food, this is not a post about dieting. I'm attempting to revolutionize my consumption of fossil fuels. I've been driving to work every day, even the days when I'm working in town. I only live 1 mile away. And we have a free public transportation system here. FREE! That's way cheaper than $3.29 a gallon.

So there you go. My own little revolution. Viva la revolución!

...in which I feed the cat.

We only have one month of easy access ice climbing left. The road up through Hyalite closes for about a month starting April 1, yikes! Rob and I headed out this past Sunday to try two new climbs, the Matrix (WI4, although I'd bet it was more like a 3 based on the route we took) and Feeding the Cat (WI3+).

Before we could climb, we had to get there first. The photo below shows you that I am struggling through a trench of waist-deep snow. The photo does not show you that this was taken right after I sunk in snow to my chest and had to have Rob help me out while I hooked an ice axe onto a tree branch and pulled. 

 "Note to self, do not run 16 miles the

day before hiking to a climb."

We made it, but not without some extreme frustration.

The red line is our approximate route.

The Matrix is normally a mixed route, but the snow drift was so high below the climb that we could walk right up to the ice. It starts over a cave, which is cool.

Inside the cave, looking at our starting point.

My view looking up about halfway through the climb.

We made it! Hanging out at the top.

 Me, rappelling down. If there existed

an award for slowest rappel, I would win it

Man, I hate rappelling.

Matrix, check. Rob decided to practice placing some trad rock protection while I went exploring. To be honest, we weren't sure if the climb we had just done was the Matrix. We were expecting a rock start and there wasn't one. And there is a nearby climb called "Cave & Gully." Since there was a cave and we climbed up a gully, we thought we had possibly not gone far enough to reach the Matrix. But then I trenched my way around a corner and saw the next climb on our list: Feeding the Cat. We realized we were at the right place after all.

Feeding the Cat, with our route highlighted.

Feeding the Cat was pretty fat, and it looked like there were a lot of options for people who didn't necessarily want to take a difficult route. Rob & I went up the most vertical route, but if you look toward the left side of the picture you can see that there is a much more gradual route. By this time of day (mid-afternoon) the ice was definitely getting soft thanks to the 40+ degree temps and the full sunlight.

 

 Ice in a little alcove to the right of

Feeding the Cat.

Rob, starting to lead the route.

P.S. he made that backpack!

Placing protection.

Rob's comment on his attire: 

"I look like a happy meal."

 Gosh, I'm such a follower.

 It was really warm on the ice.

Also, my face got sunburned.

Oh, and besides cleaning the route, I had to clean the anchor. I've only done so once before, while rock climbing. It was a good experience, but also scary because I was by myself.

 So I had to get the orange rope out of the 

carabiners connected to the blue/green rope

and put the orange one through the rappel

ring. Then I had to take down the blue/green

rope and carabiners. And then reattach myself

to the orange rope and rappel down.

 And the hole time I was putzing with the anchor, this

is what was keeping me from falling off the climb.

I made it. And even remembered to bring everything down that I was supposed to.

The goal for next weekend? This bad boy:

Bingo World.

...in which the procrastination monster attacks.

Running Recap for February 27 - March 4
Total miles run: 31.1
Total days run: 4
Types of runs: tempo, easy, long, speed
Tempo: 4 miles, broken down as follows: 1 mile at 7:32, 1 mile at 6:50, walk .25 miles, .75 miles at 6:40, 1 mile at 6:55
Easy 1: 6.1 miles around town
Long: 16 miles with Rob in the country, mix of dirt & paved road, 10:00/mile
Speed: 5 miles, 1.5 mile warm-up, 2 miles worth of easy straights & hard curves on the track, 1.5 mile cool down.

2012 total miles: 208.2

Ok, the speed workout was actually done on Monday. But I was totally exhausted from ice climbing on Sunday (pictures to come tomorrow), I just couldn't get the energy to run when we got home at 5:45.

Lesson learned from this past week: Procrastination is bad. Don't leave 4 days of scheduled running for the last 4 days of the week. It's just not gonna happen. And your muscles will let you know that they are not happy with the amount of activity you try to pack into the end of the week.

In totally unrelated news, yesterday the temperature was 55 degrees. Today we have at least 2 inches of snow on the ground in the past 2.5 hours and more on the way. Montana, what's the deal?

 

...in which we have a cameo by ugly naked guy.

Misconduct never sleeps. Thank God, because if it did we wouldn't have Misconduct Monday!

• A woman believed someone took her puppy while she was out. Well, ma'am, is the puppy there or not?
• A man holding a slice of pizza and a soda was running out into traffic and yelling at people on North Seventh Avenue around 6 p.m.
• Upon leaving the detention center at 4:30 a.m. an officer observed a vehicle still running and parked in the roundabout outside the jail. A man was found passed out in the passenger seat. Officers discovered this was the same man they had ticketed for drinking underage earlier in the evening. He had been driven to the jail to bail out a friend by another female friend, who then left him and her vehicle in the roundabout. She was gone and could not be contacted by phone, so the passenger was given a ride home by the bail bondsman that bailed out his friend. The vehicle was towed.
• A bicyclist was warned for riding on the sidewalk on the wrong side of the street. Just riding on the sidewalk is illegal. I was unaware that there exists an even more exact crime of being on the wrong side of the street.
• An officer spoke with a man whose neighbors complained about him walking around his house naked in the evening without closing his blinds. Ugly naked guy! I hope the dude was naked when the officer showed up.

...in which I must protest.

Dear Spike TV,
You are not known for quality programming. You know it and I know it. But seriously, you have stooped to a new low level when you decided to begin airing American Digger. Let's take a look at a description of the show from your website, shall we?
This new unscripted original series follows former professional wrestler turned modern day relic hunter Ric Savage, as he and his team from American Savage target areas such as battlefields and historic sites in the hopes of striking it rich and capitalizing on unearthing and selling bits of American history. The only thing standing in their way are the homeowners themselves, who Savage must convince to allow them to dig up their property using state-of-the-art metal detectors and heavy-duty excavation equipment. What artifacts they find, they sell for a substantial profit, but not before negotiating a deal to divide the revenue with the property owners. [source]

And let's compare that to a new show aired on the National Geographic Channel.

Dear National Geographic Channel,
You actually have a reputation to uphold. Despite this reputation, you still opted to air the show Diggers. Although I can't manage to find a description on your website, all external sources describe the show as a competition for who can find the most valuable artifacts from battlefields and historic sites.

To both channels: while I realize that you're filming these shows on private lands, your methods and messages are deplorable. Let me sum up some of the major issues.
1) The shows violate archaeological ethics, including those concerning commercialization. Archaeologists and other professionals oppose the buying and selling of artifacts with the understanding that making artifacts commodities then encourages destruction of important sites by treasure hunters such as those featured on your shows. [source]
2) Removing historic artifacts without recording where and when they were found renders those objects virtually useless in the telling of our collective history [source]. In the museum world, we call this 'provenance.' Let me break it down for you: knowing where something was found, what was found around it, how deep it was buried, when it was dug up, the type of soil it was found in, and a variety of other factors work together to give us contextual clues about what happened in the past and help us recreate the past. This is especially important because you'll be searching areas such as battlefields.
3) You are messing with my history. With my family's history. With my friends' history. With the history of people that I don't know. You're taking potential information and knowledge out of the public realm for monetary profit. Once you take those artifacts out of the ground and sell them, we cannot get that knowledge back. It's lost forever.
4) There are lots of other issues at stake here. I encourage you to read statements by the following organizations:
-International Committee on Archaeological Heritage Management
-Society for American Archaeology
-National Trust for Historic Preservation
-Archaeology Southwest

I urge you to boycott watching these shows. If you'd like to raise your voice in opposition, I encourage you to sign the following two petitions:
-Petition against Diggers
-Petition against American Digger